I’ve watched British mysteries and comedies my whole life, usually with my grandmother and mother, rarely on my own, although Doctor Who got me: it’s unique.
But I remember as a kid when I used to think “Oh, British TV is SO MUCH BETTER than American TV” and my mother was like, “Oh that’s because they ONLY export their best.”
and then… I saw a few shows that were simply awful. She was right.
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I remember one and to this day I have no idea what they were talking about. I know it was technically in the family of English languages somewhere, but I couldn’t make heads or tails of it.
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It was around the same time I saw a Dutch movie from start to finish and understood everything they said but wondered “why the weird accent?”
I think that started my lifelong fascination with linguistics tbh
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One day, there was a funny sitcom playing on TV. Must be 30 years ago now. It was funny – slapstick – but my mother kept turning the volume higher and higher on the TV so that it made more sense.
“You know that’s in Greek ma, don’t you?”
she starts laughing hysterically: “No wonder I couldn’t hear it!”
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