Althouse: Accents, apes.

August 24, 2021

Accents, apes.

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UPDATE:

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16 comments:

mezzrow said...: I'm not sure if that's Alf, but our cats just left the room and hid under the bed.

That tips it to 'YES' for me.; 8/24/21, 9:21 AM
rehajm said...: That second one is spit take funny...; 8/24/21, 9:54 AM
TwoAndAHalfCents said...: Accidental Alf just made my day.; 8/24/21, 11:41 AM
Ann Althouse said...: This isn't a post for generic criticism of The Onion.

There are 2 comic themes here and I think they are well done. If you want to say these aren't funny, be substantive in some way. Don't just write that you don't like the Onion. And if your comment is deleted, don't put up a comment on that topic.; 8/24/21, 12:10 PM
Ann Althouse said...: One type of comment that I reject now is a comment just saying the source is bad. That's just boring. Think about the readers. Is this something people will benefit by reading. And don't argue with me about this. Write your own blog if you disagree.; 8/24/21, 12:12 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Have you ever known anyone who picked up the accent of the place they visited -- England, perhaps?

There's a good David Sedaris story on this topic, "Mind the Gap" (in "Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls").; 8/24/21, 12:13 PM
Joe Smith said...: I don't follow the Onion, but I've seen some of their stuff and it is usually good for at least a smile.

The Goodall piece made me think of Madonna and her quasi/fake Brit accent.; 8/24/21, 12:15 PM
Joe Smith said...: "Mind the Gap" ties in with my Madonna comment a minute ago (if you post it).

You could drive a truck through the gap in her top teeth : ); 8/24/21, 12:17 PM
Indigo Red said...: Is that a Common Chimp accent or Bonobo?; 8/24/21, 12:27 PM
wild chicken said...: The Onion got noticeably funny again after Trump was out of office. Anyone else notice that?

Now they're giving the Babylon Bee a run for their money.; 8/24/21, 12:39 PM
Gospace said...: Accents- some people pick up the ones where they live, some keep the same one for life.

Pretty much the entire US Army speaks with a Southern accent no matter where they are.; 8/24/21, 12:42 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Ok, then- the readers won't benefit by reading "The Onion". That panel actually wasn't very funny. What would have been funny, for example, would be Hillary Clinton coming back from Mississippi with a new accent.

The other panel, however, was hilarious.; 8/24/21, 1:16 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: "Have you ever known anyone who picked up the accent of the place they visited -- England, perhaps?"

When I was a kid and we visited extended family in New England, my brother and I would immediately pick up the accents of our cousins without realizing, probably because our dad already sounded like that, so it felt natural. Our cousins' friends would ask what school we went to, thinking we lived in the area. Never brought that accent back home though.

We grew up in a place that doesn't have a distinctive accent. It's very neutral. You tell people where you're from, and they say, "No, you're not. You don't sound like you're from there." "I'm not sure what you expect people from my hometown to sound like, but they all sound like this."; 8/24/21, 2:11 PM
Tom Grey said...: Chimp or Bonobo? was great comment.

Goodall reportedly had nightmares about a chimp named:
Satan.
Who killed and ate other chimps, including young.

I learned this from Richard Wrangham, a younger colleague, who wrote a GREAT book:

The Goodness Paradox: The Strange Relationship Between Virtue and Violence in Human Evolution is a book by British primatologist Richard Wrangham. Wrangham argues that humans have domesticated themselves by a process of self-selection similar to the selective breeding of foxes described by Dmitry Belyayev,

Bonobos are South of the Congo river, without gorillas. Chimpanzees are North - sharing habitat with gorillas.
Great book.; 8/24/21, 3:50 PM
Bob said...: Other examples of "assuming the accent" is the current President (the usurper) telling black South Carolinians during the 2012 race that "the Republicans want to put y'all back in chains" and Hillary Clinton's numerous examples of putting on Southern accents when campaigning in the South.; 8/24/21, 7:41 PM
gpm said...: I grew up in Chicago, so I don't have and never will have an "accent." Though I had one embarrassing vocabulary incident when going from Boston to an early high school reunion in the 70s or 80s where I said I had come into town from O'Hare on the "T" instead of the "el."

One of my high school friends had a father from New England and a mother from Texas, but he didn't have an accent either. Because he grew up in Chicago speaking perfect American English.

BTW, don't bother to cite to the "real" Mayor Daley (not Richie!), who, for all his virtues, spoke God knows what language.

Finally, it's Chi-caw-go. If you say Chi-cah-go, you don't have an accent, you're just wrong and ignorant.

--gpm; 8/24/21, 7:52 PM