Posted January 24, 2011 I often get asked the same questions, many of which are hard to answer, or explain. Why don't you sound Scottish? / What is your accent? So, I'm from Edinburgh, and have lived there for 12 of my (nearly) 20 years. But I don't have a Scottish accent. I have this weird thing, which sounds like it could be Home Counties with a West Country twist, doused with a bit of Welsh. Trying to explain this to people... I was born in Germany. "Oh, do you speak German?" No. "Oh, are your parents German?" No, my mum is Irish and my dad is half-English, half-Scottish, but grew up just outside Glasgow. "Why didn't you inherit an accent from them?" It's quite obvious my dad has stripped himself of his west-coast accent (my mum tells me when she first met him when they were 19, he had a very thick Scottish accent), being an officer in the army, you have to be middle/upper class. Apparently my mum has totally lost any semblence of Irish in her voice too. So, that combined with the fact I went to a British school in Germany, where there was a mix-mash of (particularly Northern) English voices floating about... See it's not even interesting, and it takes so long to explain, and I get asked this question all the time. People won't believe I'm from Scotland. Another question I get asked alot is: How did your parents react when you came out? It feels like it should be easy to relay what I'm thinking, but it never is. It's like, I'd need to have a 5 minute dialogue about my relationship with my parents prior to that point, and I'd pretty much have to reenact the situation, because describing it in one absolute sentence wouldn't suffice. Saying they reacted badly is a disservice to them, and like, you wouldn't exactly say they reacted well either. I just feel like "oh I really can't be bothered answering this question" whenever I'm asked. I also find it really hard to explain why I like maths. I don't like numbers. I don't like perfection. I don't like being an anal scientist (LOL!, typed this, then read what I was typing -- I mean a scientist who is so uptight about perfection and accuracy and facts. Keeping that phrasing, for lolz). It just feels like a stunning thing. And I find it difficult to describe what I mean by stunning, since it's evolved so far from "That girl looks stunning" -- how people use it conventionally. I hate explaining stuff to people. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 24, 2011 I frequently have to explain cerebral palsy to people. It's fairly boring and not always comfortable. Also, it comes with a certain degree of fairly traumatic family history that I'm not really sure I should ever tell anyone. I usually don't bother explaining it, but that comes with its own set of problems. I recently found out that the office gossip at my last job was that I have autism. I mean...What? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 24, 2011 I often get asked the same questions, many of which are hard to answer, or explain. Why don't you sound Scottish? / What is your accent? So, I'm from Edinburgh, and have lived there for 12 of my (nearly) 20 years. But I don't have a Scottish accent. I have this weird thing, which sounds like it could be Home Counties with a West Country twist, doused with a bit of Welsh. Trying to explain this to people... I was born in Germany. "Oh, do you speak German?" No. "Oh, are your parents German?" No, my mum is Irish and my dad is half-English, half-Scottish, but grew up just outside Glasgow. "Why didn't you inherit an accent from them?" It's quite obvious my dad has stripped himself of his west-coast accent (my mum tells me when she first met him when they were 19, he had a very thick Scottish accent), being an officer in the army, you have to be middle/upper class. Apparently my mum has totally lost any semblence of Irish in her voice too. So, that combined with the fact I went to a British school in Germany, where there was a mix-mash of (particularly Northern) English voices floating about... See it's not even interesting, and it takes so long to explain, and I get asked this question all the time. People won't believe I'm from Scotland. Another question I get asked alot is: How did your parents react when you came out? It feels like it should be easy to relay what I'm thinking, but it never is. It's like, I'd need to have a 5 minute dialogue about my relationship with my parents prior to that point, and I'd pretty much have to reenact the situation, because describing it in one absolute sentence wouldn't suffice. Saying they reacted badly is a disservice to them, and like, you wouldn't exactly say they reacted well either. I just feel like "oh I really can't be bothered answering this question" whenever I'm asked. I also find it really hard to explain why I like maths. I don't like numbers. I don't like perfection. I don't like being an anal scientist (LOL!, typed this, then read what I was typing -- I mean a scientist who is so uptight about perfection and accuracy and facts. Keeping that phrasing, for lolz). It just feels like a stunning thing. And I find it difficult to describe what I mean by stunning, since it's evolved so far from "That girl looks stunning" -- how people use it conventionally. I hate explaining stuff to people. How did your parents react? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 24, 2011 How did your parents react? It's too annoying to explain. :p Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 24, 2011 It's too annoying to explain. :p So it's not difficult?! OFF TOPIC. I get the same problems as Dan Dare, but with epilepsy instead. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 24, 2011 I didn't know everyone here was so problematic. The worst thing I ever have to explain is why I have an Italian passport when both my parents are Brazilian. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 24, 2011 (edited) These are more questions I get asked too often, as opposed to difficult to answer, but they're a right pain in the arse. Why is your handwriting so slow? Dyspraxia. Why is your handwriting so messy? Dyspraxia. Why can't you catch for shit? Dyspraxia. All 3 are always followed with: You mean dyslexia? No, dyspraxia. What's dyspraxia? I then have to explain dyspraxia, and like all SLD's, people who don't have them don't normally 'get' how you can have trouble doing certain things so it takes a while, but as we're not talking face-to-face, you can just Google it/I'll do it later when I have time. ________________________________________________________________________ One that's a bit tricky to explain is "how do you teach them English if you can't speak their language?" This always confuses me as to why people don't know this already, but then I remember that language teaching in this country's schools is shite. I've found the best way of answer is finding a language I know some of but they know none, and teaching them the basics without speaking English. Edited January 24, 2011 by The fish Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 24, 2011 The accent thing. I have ONLY EVER lived in Scotland, yet have a "normal/typical/generic English person" accent. Over the years I've tried to explain it away by saying my dad is English, my mum is half-american/half-scottish (shortened to just "american" in later tellings of the story to emphasise the lack of scottishness)...but people are just really suprised that english accents exist in Scotland. I don't want to be like...WELL I WENT TO PRIVATE SCHOOL (especially since that doesn't really mean you'd necessarily have an english accent...there's just more people with english or "upper-class scottish" accents at private schools I think). In Scotland no one believes I'm Scottish, in England no one believes I'm Scottish. Nowadays I just say I went to a (relatively) posh school and I'm (relatively) posh. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 24, 2011 I can't really explain what I find difficult to explain. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 24, 2011 How come you're still single? That's my one. I can't explain it either Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 24, 2011 How come you're still single? That's my one. I can't explain it either *Looks at website* I think I can... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 24, 2011 Adoption. Why my sister is a single mother. Dyslexia and Dyspraxia. and what that entails. but specifically being unable to tie my shoelaces. People don't understand my fear of people either and why I sometimes cannot actually physically talk as much as I'd like to. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 24, 2011 *Looks at website* I think I can... C'maahn, I bet they're dripping at the vagina for him. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 24, 2011 It's not that it's difficult to explain, but more on an annoyance as I've told the tale sooo many times but my frequently asked question is, "How did you get those scars on your arm?" Simple answer is "I Broke it" usual response to that is "How did breaking your arm give you scars?" and it's from that point I have to re-tell the story with details. Of course when I was single and asked the above question when out by girls, I was all ways willing to tell them Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 24, 2011 How come you're still single? That's my one. I can't explain it either I get that sometimes. I'm like "Because everyone in this town is awful." Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 24, 2011 Why my mum doesn't look like me is one, it's not particularly difficult in the sense that I know exactly how to word it, just more in the sense that some people can be so rude and upfront about it, it's not something I need reminding of. The other, is actually something that's occurred since working at house of fraser, a lot of the girls have been asking me exactly why I want to be a 3d modeller in gaming, it's fine to explain as I know exactly why myself (what I've wanted to do, gamer etc.) but they don't seem to understand it very well, sort of ''but still, why the heck would you want to do that?'' It's frustrating. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 24, 2011 One that's a bit tricky to explain is "how do you teach them English if you can't speak their language?" This always confuses me as to why people don't know this already, but then I remember that language teaching in this country's schools is shite. I've found the best way of answer is finding a language I know some of but they know none, and teaching them the basics without speaking English. Is it true that it all boils down to learning "tourism" phrases? Or am I misinterpreting things? Annoying questions I often get asked? Simply: How come you don't like cheese? Easy answer, but the concept of someone simply disliking cheese is so uncommon, I usually need to explain, more than one time, that there's no reason or story behind it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 24, 2011 Why don't you drink (alcohol)? Mainly referring to me having never a pint or two while at home or similar (I drink on a night out). "I just don't like it" never seems to be a "correct" answer. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 24, 2011 Ahh so many unanswered questions. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 24, 2011 Why don't you drink (alcohol)? Mainly referring to me having never a pint or two while at home or similar (I drink on a night out). "I just don't like it" never seems to be a "correct" answer. That's always a good one, what ever happened to your own decisions? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 24, 2011 Dyslexia and Dyspraxia. and what that entails. but specifically being unable to tie my shoelaces. Bitch, please. As a fellow dyspraxic, it took me a fucking long time to learn, but it can be done. Is it true that it all boils down to learning "tourism" phrases? Or am I misinterpreting things? Again, I must go back to 'bitch, please'. That would be an improvement! As it stands, they write something like 15 English words/phrases on the board, and the corresponding words/phrases next to them. Then they go down the list telling people to say them. It's so bad, I learnt less French in 4 years than Malay in 4 hours. What French I know is mainly from being in Francophone countries. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 24, 2011 I can't do shoelaces. It's a pain in the nads, it is. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 24, 2011 (edited) Explaining where I'm from. I grew up here (Shirebrook): Until I was 10 when I moved here: Now if you're not from a city/large town then it's not easy to explain where you're from as people won't have heard of it (Holbeck is a hamlet with about 30ish people living there. My friends who've lived about 3-4 miles away for all their lives had never heard of it until they met me). So usually that would entail saying the county you're from. But as you can see I've lived within spitting distance of the border between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire on both sides for equal halves of my life. So I can't say either one so have to resort to "on the border of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire". Another way is saying the nearest city. But Sheffield is the nearest city. So whilst "near Sheffield" is correct, I think it's slightly too removed from where I'm from. It also leaves people thinking I'm from Yorkshire. EDIT: FUCK'S SAKE WHY DON'T THE RED DOTS SHOW UP?!?!? EDIT2: Ok added the maps now. Also I hate the whole northern/southern thing. Most people consider me northern, but as you can see I'm clearly from the middle of the fucking country. Also I get both Look North and East Midlands Today local BBC news. Edited January 24, 2011 by MoogleViper Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 24, 2011 even the internet doesn't know where you live. You're fucked! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 24, 2011 *Looks at website* I think I can... Please note, the thanks is sarcastic and I am now plotting my vengeance against you Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
