Bus driver fights with a kid

Question

Hi  Would you say you understand this speaker 100%? Isn't his accent rather thick?Thanks,Tom

Kooyeen · Accepted Answer

No, it's a slow and pretty "common" British accent, and if I was more used to listening to British English I guess I would understand everything. But I'm not used to British accents, so I can miss even the simple words, plus the vocabulary used in that clip sounds pretty advanced to me.
So yeah, I can miss several parts, but it's me, it's not because of the accent, which sounds like "normal" British English to me.

MrPernickety · Answer

No, that was fine.

I understood everything but a small phrase at the beginning. I'm sure that upon listening a second time I will understand it too (I'm short on time now).

You haven't listened to Brits who talk truly unintelligebly (like in the show Office)

Danijela · Answer

Hi Tom,

First of all, sorry for my bad spelling, I am non-native english speaker, and

learner,maybe one life will not be enought for me, despite of that,

should we have to disscuss about the understanding of English in this video, or violence behavior of this adalt person.I was upset, and I am still, so I was wondering why this video was published here, is it appropriate and necessary?In my opinion, we can learn English by better examples,

Danijela Stojkovski

Mister Micawber · Answer

This is not a particularly violent video, Danijela. It was shown on public TV, and it is also made clear that the adult received a prison sentence for his action.

I notice that you are a new member, and so I would like to ask you to browse silently through our forums for a while until you get a better understanding of what we do here. If you find a thread that is personally offensive, just leave it quietly; you can also notify a Moderator.

Thank you.

MrPernickety · Answer

All right, gang. This piqued my curiosity and I'm going to take time to write a transcript for it

The phrase "caught on camera" could be more appropriate as a lardy sweat bucket of a bus driver (shows ??? self control as Amy Whitehouse going out for a swift talk) . Watch as the dastardly kids torment the poor responsible adult by going up from their seats and shouting at him. I hope they get what's coming to them from this brave hero. By the looks of things the angry little man was going to test his new fighting techniques on that small blond ten year old girl there on the right. But the sound of truly naughty language makes him realize he should step up his game and take on a ten year old boy instead. We spot one of the kids attempt to swing a punch back. The bus driver at least two times bigger three times older and ten times more psychologically disturbed than the kid is the winner. Well done him. His prize was a big, fat and well eared prison sentence.

I could not get the sentence in bold.

Anyone up to the challenge ?

What flummoxed me is that he stressed the word "adult" the wrong way. He said "Adult" when it should be "adUlt". What's up with him?

Spaced_man · Answer

"The phrase 'caught on camera' couldn't be more appropriate, as a lardy sweat-bucket of a bus driver shows he has all the self control of Amy Whitehouse going out for a swift half.

"Watch as the dastardly kids torment the poor, responsible adult by getting up from their seats and shouting a bit. Oh, I hope they get what's coming to them from this brave hero.

"By the looks of things, the angry little man was going to test his new fighting techniques on that small, blond, ten-year-old girl there on the right. But the sound of truly naughty language makes him realize he should step up his game and take on a ten-year-old boy instead.

"Despite one of the kids' attempts to swing a punch back, the bus driver - at least two times bigger, three times older, and ten times more psychologically disturbed than the kid - is the winner. Well done him. His prize was a big, fat and well eared prison sentence."

He's speaking with a rather subdued South London accent. It's not that thick, Mr Tom. If you want to hear a thick South London accent, watch an episode of Eastenders. I'm not recommending the show, other than as a linguistic exercise.

For other examples of British dialects/accents, take a look at the comedy series Yes, Minister (for the Standard Form, with some regional variants), Last of the Summer Wine (for the Yorkshire dialect), and Still Game (for West Coast Scots).

MrPernickety, stress is often dictated by context. The stress-point of adult has been shifted to draw attention to that word in the sentence, emphasising the fact that it's an adult reacting this way to the kids' behaviour.

". . . shows he has all the self control of Amy Winehouse going out for a swift half."

The artiste Amy Winehouse is renowned for excessive drinking. (A swift half = a quick half pint of beer). It's a sarcastic way of saying that the bus driver has no self-control.

spaced

MrPernickety · Answer

Thanks, Spaced, for correcting my attempt.

What I also distinctly heard is the kid in the aisle yelling "hey, motherfuc?ker" )))

Spaced_man · Answer

Hi.

It's no problem. I should point out that I forgot to change Amy Whitehouse to Amy Winehouse in the dialogue. I need more sleep.

It would seem that wee guy did use MF, yes. That'll be some of that 'truly naughty language.'

spaced

Mr. Tom · Answer

My sincere thanks to all of you.

Could you please also explain what the speaker means by a lardy sweat-bucket of a bus driver ?

Tom

Spaced_man · Answer

Hi,

'a lardy sweat-bucket of a bus driver'

It's a not-so-polite comment on the bus driver's 'surplus' weight. (He's calling the driver fat)

spaced

Bus driver fights with a kid

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