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“I’ve had a few language epiphanies (C8) over the years,” writes Annandale’s David Evans. “But about 40 years ago, on holiday in New Caledonia (poor weather day), I saw John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn in Rooster Cogburn on TV, dubbed into French. Wayne was voiced by a squeaky tenor. I’m a baritone and notice such things. Quelle horreur!”
“On a visit to my German granny in the early 1970s, she loved to watch Bonanza and marvelled at the cowboys’ beautiful German,” says Irene Wheatley of Heritage Park (Qld). “She wouldn’t believe me when I tried to explain dubbing. I also went to see A Man Called Horse, in German, of course. It was as puzzling to me as trying to decipher northern English and Scottish speech in any of our favourite TV police dramas these days.”
There is an upside, according to Michael Britt of MacMasters Beach: “In the ’70s in West Germany, all foreign films were dubbed, which at least gave Marlon Brando an appropriately commanding voice in Mutiny on the Bounty.”
“Dutch subtitles caused amusement when we saw Flying High in the Netherlands in 1981,” says Martin Unwin of East Tamworth. “We laughed before the main audience because they had to read them. Can’t help wondering what they made of the ‘I speak jive’ scene.”
Reacting to a thread that came out of the underwater hockey debate, Andrew Cohen of Glebe (who fancies the name The Flatheads), gives a salutation to Platts board shorts: “Arguably, Collaroy surfer Kevin Platt’s mum invented board shorts. The waistband, tie-up front and quick-dry nylon ousted the Jantzen and Speedo anachronisms, and even the Hawaiians had swapped their knee-length okanuis by the mid-’60s. Of course, American copies by Golden Breed and others flourished, but the hard-wearing original was the choice of champions and of us wannabes.”
“Hearing an AI response, I told it to give relevant Australian information, not American, and to speak with an Australian accent,” reports Donald Hawes of Peel. “After correcting ‘himself’, the wrong-stressing went on, with a mild Australian intonation. A further complaint brought an apology that he hadn’t been taught Australian English. It’s time Australians started lecturing AI.”
As a near-octogenarian, I’m pleased to report that youngsters often give up their seats (C8) for me,” says Alan Eason of Miami (Qld). “That’s great on a bus, but in the men’s room, it’s a little creepy.”
Column8@smh.com.au
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