By Kayak - 29/12/2013 23:23 - United Kingdom

Today, I was verbally abused by a tourist because neither I nor anyone else in my country can speak "proper English". We're in England - clue's in the name, dipshit. FML
I agree, your life sucks 44 469
You deserved it 4 490

Same thing different taste

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challan 19

I'm dying to ask what country the tourist was from, but I'm petrified that you'll say the states.

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Damian95 16

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Damian95 16

Nobody. I was just making a point. That tourist was an ignorant guy lol.

oj101 33

The tourist probably went to Northern England (Liverpool/Newcastle), but was expecting the recieved pronunciation type that you typically find in the Home Counties and London as it's the most portrayed on TV. Heck, I'm British myself, and sometimes I couldn't understand northerners when I lived in England. I wouldn't blame the tourist personally. In fact, Cheryl Cole was popular in the US, but no one could understand her, so she didn't make it big there in the end.

who said the people in the car were american? there are different classes of british english in the same way backwoods english is not the same as whatever language they speak in the brox

omgitsmoe 26

I might go and study in Liverpool , am I ******?

I've heard of this kind of prank; maybe they really got you.

Lord_Cornwallis 5

That sounds like something Bostonians would do :P

Posts like this don't get 366 thumbs up for no reason.

You're right, post like these get 379 thumbs up because they're ******* amazing one liners

Before I came to the US, I worked in a supermarket in Ireland. I had a French tourist who didn't speak English, complain that no one spoke French. I so wanted to yell at her that we weren't in France.

#90, I know that this is going to be down voted to hell, but I'm surprised no one there spoke french. It's a pretty common language.

#109 It's not a common language. It's a well known language. And to go to another country and expect them to speak your language (no matter how common it is) is the hight of rudeness. I'm sorry. You're just not that important (the tourist).

challan 19

I'm dying to ask what country the tourist was from, but I'm petrified that you'll say the states.

No. It says it takes place in England which is where the OP is from and where the tourist was visiting. Not where they were visiting from.

Most people in the US speak English. The accent might make it hard to understand, but US tourists find that quaint.

arandomusernameaa 20

Probably American, a lot of us are stupid like that.

I hate people like that. I had an American try to tell me that the American accent was the true way to speak English and we'd changed our accents after the USA was formed.

I was asked by a Turk where I lived as I have a North East accent living in the South East. It's like we all have to speak "British" like all American Tv shows depict us!

There may be a partial truth to that (with the bollocks part being that we went to the effort of changing our accents after the US was formed). Some linguists argue that because American English is closer to Old English than British English is, that the American pronunciations are also closer. However there is a flaw there, in that Scots is also closer to Old English than British English is... so the truth is is that we just don't know.

Gan canny with those wee bairns pet is WAY more English than diapers, potato chips and jelly!

specifically I meant border Scots English. But yes :). In fact (I'm pretty sure I mentioned this on another FML actually), Linguists also believe that Shakespeare spoke with what is now a modern day Ayrshire accent.

It doesn't even matter if you're from the US, in my opinion a person can't claim that they speak in a way that right purely based on accent or their use of different words. I live in Minnesota and compared to other Americans I speak differently. Whether you're from Tennessee or Minnesota.. the UK or Australia everyone speaks differently.. who cares about what's "more english"

duude989 7

I'm ashamed to be an American.

#45, It's like two brothers arguing over who is more closely related to their father.

You're right there really is no such thing as a "British accent" since that was what the language sounded like when it was first created.

Ok that was a really stupid comment I made. It was probably the worst possible way of trying to put what I was thinking into words.

No shit! You're comment makes other Americans feel terrible. You're free to leave anytime.

Check out nickname's before you reply, he's not #53

DaMann360 19

Don't be ashamed. Be proud! I may not like lots of their decisions or some of the politicians but that doesn't change who I am. I was born and raised in the States. I love this country. God bless America! By the way, I'm not saying this with any biases towards other countries. I have no problem with people from other countries.

Not all Americans are like that, some actually have knowledge of the world around them.

My main problem with the "America have the unchanged dialect" argument is that there were so many other nationalities other than English that went into the formation of the USA. Purely for that reason it makes far more sense that their accents would've changed dramatically.

I apologize. I am an official dumbass.

ccubsfan94 1

They are actually somewhat right. But it wasn't because America was formed. it was because the rich didn't want to sound like the poor. then the poor moved.

I had an American ask me what part of England I was from (I was in Paris at the time) - I'm Australian. I was on holidays. Very funny

That is the exact reason I want to move to Canada. At least they realize they're not the only fricken country in the world. America is like an alcoholic family member. You love him, but you don't want to be around him because of the things that he does. And you want to help him get better, but he won't listen.

When being a tourist in someone elses country it is always best to assume they are all wrong in their native language, and it is in fact you, the tourist, who is correct.