Why do Americans say "Craig" funny?

[McNs]

This thread is too funny! 'Mericans, Strayans, New Zildrs, same but different!

- I have a friend/work colleague from the Finger Lakes district in NY who calls himself Creg.
- We wear togs when we go swimming and hop under the duvet when we go to bed.
- in the U.S. I get blank looks when I ask for wor-tah. When I rephrase as wah-der they then get me water.
- Coke is Coke, Pepsi is Pepsi, Sprite and 7up are both lemonade. Soda is just carbonated water, they are all soft drinks.

Will try and think of others!

 

[samsteele]

I thought of something else that you don't usually hear about (or can get) outside of Canada. The butter tart. Its a dessert . . . brown sugar, butter, egg and vanilla and usually raisins and possibly walnuts or crushed peanuts in a pastry shell.

I think this is a descendant of the English treacle tart or treacle pie?
Anyway, the women in my family have made this for generations. Served warm with a scoop of good vanilla ice cream melting on the top. My Mom and I now make a variation . . . butter tart squares . . . as it is much simpler & faster than baking the individual pastry shells. Besides being yummy, it was a classic go-to years ago because the ingredients could easily be found in General Stores and didn't need refrigeration. My Dad told me stories of how, when he was a little boy, my Grandpa would cut large blocks of ice from the lake in early spring, haul them up onto the shore with a team of horses, then store them in the ice house covered with sawdust for the summer. He would also store butter and beer in the ice house and how one of my uncles as a child would like to sneak in during the summer, swig a bottle of beer and chew corners off the sweet, cold butter. What we do for fun in Canada! To use the ice, my Grandpa would take a large pair of ice tongs and gloves, then haul an individual block up to the house and place it in the icebox. It would then refrigerate the milk, cream, eggs and other perishables. That's one way to work off all those calories from the butter tarts!

 

[Princess Jes]

This thread is too funny! 'Mericans, Strayans, New Zildrs, same but different!

- I have a friend/work colleague from the Finger Lakes district in NY who calls himself Creg.
- We wear togs when we go swimming and hop under the duvet when we go to bed.
- in the U.S. I get blank looks when I ask for wor-tah. When I rephrase as wah-der they then get me water.
- Coke is Coke, Pepsi is Pepsi, Sprite and 7up are both lemonade. Soda is just carbonated water, they are all soft drinks.

Will try and think of others!

I've never used the word duvet in place of doona.
Oh, one that divides Australians: a face/wash cloth? It's either a face washer or a flannel.

We call both hot chips/fries and crisps chips.
And more specifically, chips are usually fat and fries are what maccas (McDonalds) sell.

We are also pretty good at not pronouncing "t's" in the middle of words and "-er" at the end of words.
Eg. A cheater is a "cheeta"
finger is "finga"
Bottle is "boddle"

 

[Princess Jes]

I thought of something else that you don't usually hear about (or can get) outside of Canada. The butter tart. Its a dessert . . . brown sugar, butter, egg and vanilla and usually raisins and possibly walnuts or crushed peanuts in a pastry shell.

I think this is a descendant of the English treacle tart or treacle pie?
Anyway, the women in my family have made this for generations. Served warm with a scoop of good vanilla ice cream melting on the top. My Mom and I now make a variation . . . butter tart squares . . . as it is much simpler & faster than baking the individual pastry shells.

That looks DELICIOUS!! (Minus the raisins... We call them sultanas and I dislike them a lot.)

Also, what the heck is with all the damn cinnamon in America? Ergh!! I HATE cinnamon, to the point that the area where you split off to either go left to marvel island or right to Seuss at IOA, I couldn't stand it. We went into WWoHP one morning and rode FJ and a few rounds on DC and then headed back to that area to get in line for hulk (the waits had been long the few days we were there) and I was nearly sick from that Cinnabon spewing cinnamon stick everywhere.

 

[samsteele]

That looks DELICIOUS!! (Minus the raisins... We call them sultanas and I dislike them a lot.)

Also, what the heck is with all the damn cinnamon in America? Ergh!! I HATE cinnamon, to the point that the area where you split off to either go left to marvel island or right to Seuss at IOA, I couldn't stand it. We went into WWoHP one morning and rode FJ and a few rounds on DC and then headed back to that area to get in line for hulk (the waits had been long the few days we were there) and I was nearly sick from that Cinnabon spewing cinnamon stick everywhere.

Most of us would guess (don't know that anyone knows the answer for sure) that cinnamon found its way into our food via English and Dutch ancestors who monopolized the spice trade along with the Portuguese in the East Indies and brought the spice back for their own tables. Lots of English & Dutch settlers in North America and it became a staple in things like apple pie. I'm guessing that nowadays most cinnamon that we consume in North America is actually cassia . . . a less $ and more pungent substitute. What can I say, we luv us some cinnamon. Those sticky cinnamon buns go great with a cup of Joe early in the morning! Cinnamon knocks the rough corners off the world first thing in the morning

 

[samsteele]

That looks DELICIOUS!! (Minus the raisins... We call them sultanas and I dislike them a lot.)

Also, what the heck is with all the damn cinnamon in America? Ergh!! I HATE cinnamon, to the point that the area where you split off to either go left to marvel island or right to Seuss at IOA, I couldn't stand it. We went into WWoHP one morning and rode FJ and a few rounds on DC and then headed back to that area to get in line for hulk (the waits had been long the few days we were there) and I was nearly sick from that Cinnabon spewing cinnamon stick everywhere.

ps don't eat a bacon and egg mcmuffin just before riding the Hulk. Trust me. 'Cause I did this. Not a good idea No more hulk for me.

 

[North of Mouse]

Now, I know Aussie's have a funky accent, and we sound nasaly and bogan like, but it's always bothered me how Americans say Craig as "Creg". Like Greg but with a C.

I do however, love the differences in our vocabulary, one of the beauties of the English language, it varies so much between countries!
Also, sayings! There are things that just don't seem to translate from Aussie to Yank!

Anyway, can anyone shed any light on the Creg situation? ;-)

Too funny! We're Americans, that's why!!

Depending on what region you live, we all have our own dialects, etc. I'm a deep south person and we 'shorten' all our words, if we can, - takes less energy!!!
We've lived different places - have never heard it pronounced any other way!

Now, take Aussies, NZ's, now they 'really' pronounce words funny!!

 

[samsteele]

Too funny! We're Americans, that's why!!

Depending on what region you live, we all have our own dialects, etc. I'm a deep south person and we 'shorten' all our words, if we can, - takes less energy!!!
We've lived different places - have never heard it pronounced any other way!

Now, take Aussies, NZ's, now they 'really' pronounce words funny!!

We don't think we have an accent . . . at all . . . from Central Canada (Ontario). Same with friends & acquaintances from Michigan and Upper New York state. We all think we have a clean, crisp North American speech with no tell tale regional signature. But the reality is, we sound like Northerners. And Canadians, in particular, all have little speech tells. Everyone has an accent or regional signature in North America. Its funny that we all think we have "no accent" regardless of where we hail from, but everyone else on the continent does. What's more, everyone else from other locales in North America can pretty much place where we are from.

 

[NuttyDisneyDad]

Ummm Im confused...its pronounced Greg but spelled Craig...i dont understand the problem here

 

[Princess Jes]

Ummm Im confused...its pronounced Greg but spelled Craig...i dont understand the problem here

I'm not sure if you're being facetious or not but I see an issue with it.
Why is Greg spelled Graig then? Lol

 

[disneysteve]

You know, Jes, when I first saw this thread, I thought the title was "Why do Americans say Craig is funny? I thought you were commenting on his sense of humor.

 

[Princess Jes]

You know, Jes, when I first saw this thread, I thought the title was "Why do Americans say Craig is funny? I thought you were commenting on his sense of humor.

Haha! Oh no!!
If anyone is going to "get" Craig's humour, it's the Aussies. We are all for the dry, sarcastic, pun-tastic humour and we love to "hang crap" on our friends the way he does with Ryno.
I love the universal podcast.

 

[Teleclashter]

I approve this thread.

 

[bjmort]

I'm totally with you Jes! As a fellow Melbournian it sounds weird to me. The character on SouthPark is also Creg. You never encounter a Creg in Australia.if I said "hello Craig" to someone here and they said "sorry it's Creg" I'd be like "get outta my country!"

 

[bjmort]

The worst thing we do as Aussies is the negativity.

"How you doin?"

"Not too bad" (which is just good)

"How do I look?"

"Not too bad"

 

[BagOLaughs]

'Mericans, Strayans, New Zildrs

Oi, what about us Brits???

I've never used the word duvet in place of doona.

Duvet for us, I've never heard of the term doona? haha, it sounds strange to my ears lol

For us its using instults as a greeting or a positive thing about someone.

"Oh I know Ed. He's alright, He's a cheeky git though" = "Ed's a great guy who's loads of fun and a bit mischievous."


Greeting = "Hi Fred you old ****head" = Hi fred my old friend of many years who I appreciate very much.

Haha, loving all these differences

 

[samsteele]

People sometimes put tomato on it too or Vegemite (delicious!!!)

Jes: what's the difference between Vegemite and Marmite?

When I went through frosh initiation (first week of university), I had to eat a couple big spoonfuls of Marmite to get to the next station. Never had it before. I thought it was chocolate. Nope. Definitely not chocolate. We also had to kiss rotten fish hanging from the ceiling, had wet garbage dumped on us and had to sizzle like bacon on the sidewalk. Amongst other lovely things. Those were the good old days. Sadly, a few people abused it (and others) and no more frosh week or hazing at my alma mater.

 

[BagOLaughs]

Jes: what's the difference between Vegemite and Marmite?

Not Jess here but I can help answer this question too. Marmite is what we have here in the UK and Vegemite is an Aussi food (I used to work for the company that made Vegemite )

I personally hate Marmite so have avoided eating Vegemite but they're both yeast extract spreads. Vegemite looks a bit more opaque than marmite does to me. Usually put on toast or crackers here in the UK. From what I saw when I visited, the Aussies seem to do the same with Vegemite.

Do you love or hate vegemite Jes & bjmort?

 

[BagOLaughs]

I think this is a descendant of the English treacle tart or treacle pie?

I have no idea... but it looks so good. *drools*

 

[samsteele]

I personally hate Marmite

Its definitely an acquired taste for sure. I don't think it was ever meant to be hoovered down in big tablespoons like my "experience." Probably meant to be savoured & not swilled. I haven't tried it since. A once in a lifetime kind of thing. Thank goodness!