[ad_1]
It is Sunday afternoon and I’m at a lunch within the nation. The general public across the desk are pals – a few of whom I’ve not seen for an extended whereas – however there are additionally a couple of individuals I don’t know. Dialog is diverse and fairly loud. I’m not usually superb at this stuff, however I’ve had two glasses of crimson wine and I’ll inform you what: it’s alarming how charming I really feel.
I’m in the course of being attention-grabbing about one thing after I discover that individuals on the different finish of the desk are attempting to draw my consideration. Maybe, I feel, they need me to say my attention-grabbing factor louder, so that everybody can profit. This might be unprecedented, however you by no means know.
They appear to be asking one thing, or demanding one thing, however I can’t make out what it’s above the noise.
“What?” I say, resting two fingers behind my ear. My pal Alex factors to the lady sitting subsequent to him, one of many individuals I’ve simply met.
“She needs you to say Torquay!” he says. I pause, attain for a close-by bottle of crimson wine, and refill my glass.
“Sadly,” I say, “I gained’t be capable to try this.”
“Go on!” says Alex.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “I can’t.”
“Can’t or gained’t?” says my pal Sophia, who’s sitting subsequent to me.
“It’s a factor he has,” my spouse says. “Certainly one of his many issues.”
“That is very bizarre,” says Sophia. “Why gained’t he say Torquay?”
“Truthfully, I wouldn’t know the place to start,” I say.
“And why are you making an attempt to make him say Torquay?” Sophia says, turning in the direction of the far finish of the desk. The lady I’ve solely simply met leans towards us.
“It’s simply that I learn an article that mentioned People can’t pronounce it,” she says. I take into account this for a second.
“I feel I wrote that article,” I say.
“Oh no!” says the lady, wanting embarrassed. Really I’m in no way sure I wrote the article she’s speaking about, till I test later.
It seems I had lately referred to my lack of ability to say Torquay in print, however solely in passing. My causes show troublesome to elucidate in particular person, particularly in entrance of recent individuals, and particularly with out saying Torquay, which I’m by no means going to do.
Like many People, I solely knew of the existence of Torquay as a result of Fawlty Towers was set there. From the way in which the characters within the programme pronounced it, I at all times imagined it was spelled Talkee or Tawkey. The stress on the second syllable appeared odd, as if everyone was consistently making an attempt to tell apart it from a similar-sounding city: “No, Taw-KEY.” After I first got here to Britain and noticed Torquay written down, I had no concept it was the identical place.
When you have an American accent – and I nonetheless do, form of – there are not any good choices in the case of announcing Torquay. You both should placed on a faux English accent to approximate what you hear, or pronounce it in a means that makes it sound like a special locale altogether. For 30 years I’ve looked for an appropriate compromise, and located none.
“Subsequently I refuse to talk its title,” I say to my lunch companions. “I handle to get by someway.”
“What in case you needed to go there?” asks Sophia.
“I’ve been there,” I say. “It didn’t come up.”
“What in case you needed to describe your keep to somebody?” she says.
“I’d in all probability simply set the story in Brixham as a substitute,” I say. “Nobody’s gonna test.”
“He can’t say pergola both,” my spouse says.
“I can say pergola, I simply select to not,” I say.
“I didn’t realise having an American accent was so troublesome,” says my pal Kate.
“It might probably’t be as troublesome as being English,” I say. “Your accent offers no significant strategy to distinguish between khakis and automobile keys.”
“Right here we go,” my spouse says.
“What do you imply?” says Kate. “Automotive keys and automobile keys.”
“Automotive keys and automobile keys!” says Sophia.
“Take heed to yourselves,” I say. “The place are my automobile keys? I will need to have left them in my automobile keys.”
“Is that your third?” my spouse says, pointing at my glass.
I take one other sip, wanting throughout the desk stuffed with pals outdated and new, all saying automobile keys to 1 one other, and I feel: I’m crushing this.
[ad_2]
Supply hyperlink