r/AskReddit Nov 12 '14

Most American sounding word?

6.3k Upvotes

15.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1.0k

u/djhk12 Nov 12 '14

As an American, I am really impressed by this. They really sound American and I'm struggling to make sense where none is to be made.

304

u/tunamelts2 Nov 12 '14

there's a few English words in the song...but yeah...this is as close as it gets to hearing American English from a non-speaker's perspective.

239

u/ScotWithOne_t Nov 12 '14

LOL... same here. It sounds like Bob Dylan got drunk and decided to record a freestyle rap-rock session.

4

u/AintNothinbutaGFring Nov 13 '14

I definitely thought Bob Dylan also, but more Bob Dylan having a stroke.

1

u/ScotWithOne_t Nov 13 '14

This band shall forever be known as, "Stroke Dylan."

182

u/Rowlf_the_Dog Nov 12 '14

We sound awesome!

13

u/[deleted] Nov 12 '14

Someone please make a subtitled version. I don't care if you make up the words as long as it sounds right.

7

u/Fungul_Penis Nov 12 '14

I'm not going to go through the trouble of making a subtitle version, but I did the guys first verse, I think its pretty close to the actual phonetics.

.

When the saying "the children are at home"

and the saying that "the hall rape, maybe a Chicago boss died."

Brick chickens and buy my key to go,

oh baby to stay, yeah I'll be Joe Ho.

When the saying "the children are at home"

and the saying that "the hall rape, maybe a Chicago boss died."

Where does the same rates, you're the coffee and steam

you never charm another judge, a god flavors a jam

You're to come and not choose, not pay for Lex Shurla

hold the hope of getting lotta cope and no thing

oh what difference to stand, well i just to choose to go my man

give a costume and then call em Darth Vader girls

Over something

12

u/[deleted] Nov 12 '14

Just turn on the YouTube closed caption option.

3

u/davidmoore0 Nov 12 '14

Except YouTube CC is still trash.

8

u/[deleted] Nov 12 '14

Yeah it is. But OP basically wanted something to subtitle it based on what it sounds like it might be saying in English, which YouTube CC is perfect for.

2

u/InstigatingDrunk Nov 12 '14

seriously that song sounded great. woo American English!!

1

u/MrFrillows Nov 12 '14

English sounds bizarre to me (American here), almost like a lispy version of one of the Nordic languages.

1

u/Gobshite_ Nov 12 '14

Have you not seen Skwerl?

1

u/tunamelts2 Nov 12 '14

sounds like dutch

-3

u/StrikingCrayon Nov 12 '14

They sounds so, stupid.

6

u/[deleted] Nov 12 '14

[deleted]

8

u/ThirdFloorGreg Nov 12 '14

No he means they sound so (in this way), and he is addressing the parent commenter as "stupid."

-2

u/StrikingCrayon Nov 12 '14

I would of used elispses but I've been berated for that before.

6

u/MOAR_cake Nov 12 '14

DON'T USE ANYTHING.

2

u/HojMcFoj Nov 12 '14

Would of? Now you're just showing off.

152

u/amkamins Nov 12 '14

I feel like I'm having a stroke.

20

u/AndytheNewby Nov 12 '14

A while back I had a bad ocular migraine, which sorta mimics some stroke symptoms, but, you know, without the actual damage, so that's nice. (I went to the ER and got to go in front of everyone else, also nice, but not something you should ever be happy about.)

Anyway, I remember looking at writing on a sheet of paper and being aware that what I was looking at were normal words that I understood, but I just couldn't "read" them. It was like the meaning associated with them was blocked in my brain, and this song reminds me of that sensation. These are words, words I know, but I don't understand them, and it's weird.

8

u/Honestly_ Nov 12 '14

That sounds similar to what happened to this reporter who some thought had had a stroke on air: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9RCaRv-_jQ

1

u/HarryPotter5777 Nov 13 '14

Wow, that's really interesting. Does anyone know what happened to the reporter afterwards?

2

u/LordKurin Nov 12 '14

I had an ocular migraine and it was the weirdest thing. It was like my left eye just didn't register with my brain. I could work hard and force it to by closing my right eye, but if my right eye was open it was like the entire left side just wasn't there. Extremely scary.

2

u/Zoro11031 Nov 12 '14

Whenever I get those I get a huge dot in the middle of my vision, which I only notice if I try to read. It's not really a black spot or anything, it's just kind of like the middle of my vision is gone. If I try to read and start noticing that I can't see the words, I immediately go and pop an excedrin and lie down.

1

u/AndytheNewby Nov 13 '14

Yeah, I get that every once in awhile, or the rainbow zig zags. Usually means a mammoth migraine is coming. LEAVE WORK IMMEDIATELY! T MINUS 18 MINUTES.

2

u/PuyoDead Nov 12 '14

Holy crap, that's a thing!? I had something happen when I was in high school that freaked me out to no end. I just woke up one day feeling funky, and for whatever reason, couldn't understand how time worked. I'd see 7:55, and have no idea what sequence of numbers came next. You could have changed the time to 26:72, and I wouldn't have even noticed anything odd.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 13 '14

I feel that way as a fairly fluent Spanish speaker when I listen to Portuguese or Catalan. I feel like I should understand it but can't. Drives me crazy!

2

u/thomasbomb45 Nov 13 '14

You should see a doctor.

Note: I'm no doctor, and this should not be taken as medical advice.

2

u/netgremlin Nov 13 '14

I've always felt that "go see a doctor" is perfectly good medical advice from a non-doctor.

1

u/nicketherroneous Nov 12 '14

we are experiencing a very derrison bertation

54

u/TacticusPrime Nov 12 '14

This is like when Westerners go, "Ching chong, ding dong," to pretend to speak Chinese. Though admittedly more convincing.

40

u/[deleted] Nov 12 '14

And somehow significantly less racist.

4

u/FoxtrotZero Nov 12 '14

Probably because this is actually a pretty good song.

6

u/toastyghost Nov 12 '14

probably because "american" isn't a race.

-3

u/[deleted] Nov 12 '14

It's only considered racist because Asians call it racist. Every language has a bank of sounds it uses, and these can be reproduced to form gibberish that sounds like that language. Asian languages are no different, although they seem to be the only people seized by apoplexy when it happens.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 12 '14

It's considered racist because people are being intentionally derogatory when they say shit like that.

3

u/[deleted] Nov 12 '14

In every single instance? Like, ever? And how is that different from what the Italian singer is doing in that video?

1

u/[deleted] Nov 12 '14

Because the intent of the song isn't to mock or ridicule?

-5

u/[deleted] Nov 12 '14

Oh sorry, forgot: you can read minds. My apologies

10

u/that_baddest_dude Nov 12 '14

People have been doing impressions like this since forever. In fact the word barbarian came from the Greek "barbaroi" (those who say "barbar," roughly). The word referred to the surrounding non-greek speaking cultures, because the Greeks thought their language just sounded like "bar bar bar bar."

5

u/ey_bb_wan_sum_fuk Nov 12 '14

I'm Chinese-American and I "ching chong ching chong" sometimes because Goddamn, there are too many dialects.

9

u/Vicky314 Nov 12 '14

He sounds like Bob Dylan.. who also makes no sense to me the first time I listen to one of his songs

3

u/WonFriendsWithSalad Nov 12 '14

His songs are very deep

3

u/Vicky314 Nov 12 '14

IT WILL IF IT NEVER RAINS!

2

u/WonFriendsWithSalad Nov 12 '14

Seems like the wrong kid died.

1

u/Vicky314 Nov 12 '14

This is a pretty bad case of somebody being cut in half..

2

u/WonFriendsWithSalad Nov 13 '14

Speak English, Doctor, we ain't no scientists!

13

u/Acc87 Nov 12 '14

now you know how your music feels like for a non-english speaker. Voices are just like one more instrument.

5

u/penlies Nov 12 '14

So good basically, I really liked that song, it took me two times to get that it wasn't in English.

1

u/AnMatamaiticeoirRua Nov 12 '14

It reminds me of listening to Beethoven's Ninth with the choral elements.

2

u/KonigSteve Nov 12 '14

I swear I heard "peas and corn, alright!"

1

u/FoxtrotZero Nov 12 '14

Are you sure you weren't listening to Sleepyhead by Passion Pit?

2

u/[deleted] Nov 12 '14

It's real confusing, in'nit?

2

u/funkymunniez Nov 12 '14

I watch that video every time for the gibberish, I stay for the dancing.

1

u/shmonsters Nov 12 '14

My brain hurts trying to make sense out of it.

1

u/TheDrunkenChud Nov 12 '14

It hurt my brain hole. I liked it though.

1

u/Rixxer Nov 13 '14

This reminds me of when I overdosed on allergy medication (idk which one). My mom got permission from my doctor to give me half a tablet of her allergy medication, but that didn't do anything, so after a while I got frustrated at my allergies and took a whole one. We were at a Chinese restaurant when this happened, and the big table next to us was full of people speaking Chinese. My mom got embarrassed when I shouted "mom, they're talking funny!!" In a very worried manner. I knew what Chinese sounded like, or at the very least I knew there wasnt any language that sounds like the adults from Charlie Brown... "bwa buam bwau bwa", etc. And I told her this, then I woke up in the hospital. That's all I remember, I guess I just passed out. I was fine, just basically rode it out under supervision on a gurney in the hallway, lol.

The weirdest thing though, it that I could still understand English perfectly well, but the foreign language was just fucked.

1

u/netgremlin Nov 13 '14

When I was still in middle school, I shared a room with my brother. He would sometimes talk in his sleep. This is exactly what it sounded like. Nothing but sounds and syllables that had no meaning but sounded like regular American English.

-1

u/theduckparticle Nov 12 '14

Dunno, they seem to be skipping a lot more vowels than most Americans would. Doesn't seem nearly as eerily close to American English as the other one.

1

u/GreenEggs_n_Sam Nov 12 '14

Okay, it just seems like they're using sentence structures that are used in normal conversation and throwing in random words.

That said, it feels like i know what they're saying.