Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: Wanted pair of ears

I mean to add a new tag-line to my collection. It comes from a film, "Cold
Comfort Farm" [1] (whence I've taken the tag-line below, too), and I can't
get one or two words of the dialogue. Can anyone help me out? I've uploaded
an audiofile of the dialogue here:
http://xoomer.virgilio.it/fb83/ccf.mp3
 (296.8 Kb)
- What will you live on, or off?
- As you said, relatives, and peculiarly rich xxx. 
- They haven't asked you.
- The London ones haven't, but there are plenty more all over the country.
I'll send off some piteous letters tomorrow.
[1] Based on Stella Gibbons('s ?) novel of the same title, which I haven't
read yet. It features, among others, Ian McKellen (TLotR, Richard III),
Eileen Atkins (Gosford Park) and Kate Beckinsale (I suppose such girls are
no longer available nowadays. Too bad!).
Bye, FB
-- 
"While I'm here, might I make a few changes? I adore my bedroom, but do you
think I could have my curtains washed? I believe they're red, but I should
like to make sure."
(Cold Comfort Farm, the film)

 Eileen Atkins (Gosford Park) and Kate Beckinsale
Stephen Fry, also.
Bye, FB
-- 
Mrs. Palmer, in her way, was equally angry. 'She was determined to drop his
acquaintance immediately, and she was very thankful that she had never been
acquainted with him at all'. (Jane Austen)

 - As you said, relatives, and peculiarly rich xxx.
I can't make it out. He starts speaking at that point and it's
impossible to understand exactly what follows
"rich ...", although perhaps by watching the movement of her lips in
the film it might be possible to catch the obscured word or words.
Joe from Massachusetts

 - As you said, relatives, and peculiarly rich xxx.
Sounds to me like she's saying "I'm peculiarly rich of them."
-- 
The preceding is my opinion of modern, colloquial, American English. I
point this out to avoid confusion; references to British English may appear
to contradict the foregoing.
If you feel the need to e-mail me, un-not my address first.

 Sounds to me like she's saying "I'm peculiarly rich of them."
Definitely so! For some reason, I had decided it had to mean that her
relatives were rich. That's probably why I often understand a word I hadn't
got before by listening to it again after some time: I forget my bias.
Bye, FB
-- 
"Come, dear, we have already missed five, if not six, trains. To miss any
more might expose us to comment on the platform."
("The Importance of Being Earnest", Oscar Wilde)

 I'll send off some piteous letters tomorrow.
Veramente difficile a capire quella parte.
Il libro, temo, non ti aiuterebbe. Vedi 
http://snipurl.com/ac0t
-- 
Xakero
"This is an age in which one cannot find common sense without a search
warrant." _ George F. Will

 Definitely so! 
Ma non c'è una "s" alla fine?
-- 
Xakero
"We must never be afraid to go too far, for success lies just beyond."_
Marcel Proust

 Ma non c'è una "s" alla fine?
Se qualcuno di voi ha tempo, voglia e una linea adsl, posso fare un piccolo
file video. Sono curioso.
Ciao, FB
-- 
Domanda: "Era il figlio di Iside e Osiride".
Risposta: "Thor".
(quiz televisivo)

 Ciao, FB
Li ho, tutti e tre; faccia pure.



Definitely not.
First, there is no trace of the sound "v" (as in "of"), but there
dpes appear to be a hint of "n" and "m", in the area in question.
Second, "Rich of them" is not idiomatic in this context. "It was a bit
rich of him to ridicule the way she dressed, unkempt as he was", is
the idiomatic use of "rich of".
Since there seems to be a suggestion of the sounds "n" and "m"  in the
unintelligible portion after "rich", I decided to do some further
experimentation.
I took the snippet after "rich....." and played it back at a slower
speed, listened to the sounds, and observed the waveforms. Since I
would probably never say I was "rich of them (relatives)", or "rich in
them (relatives)", my ears would not be attuned to expect such
phrases, but after carefully considering both as possibilities,
listening for both "rich of them" and "rich in them", I would have to
say that the elusive phrase is most likely "I'm peculiarly
rich in them".
Joe from Massachusetts

 rich in them".
I think both Joey and I meant "in them". The fact remains that there really
seems to be an "s", as if Kate Beckinsale were saying "thems", which is
nonsense, isn't it?
Bye, FB
-- 
"The doctors found out that Bunbury could not live, that is what I mean—so
Bunbury died."
"He seems to have had great confidence in the opinion of his physicians."



It would be nonsense if it were "in thems", but there is definitely no
"s". The "m" sound at the end of "in them" is followed immediatly by
the "th" sound; "they haven't a(h)sked you".
joe from massachusetts

 Bye, FB
I originally meant "of them" but I stand (sit, actually; tired now)
corrected. I first listened to it on my laptop, which has shitty speakers.
Having listened again on the desktop, it's clearly "rich in them" (no S at
the end of "them", either.)


 the end of "them", either.)
You know what? You gotta see the avi all the same! Wait... er... ten
minutes. 
P.S. Seriously (bwahaha), you might want to see that film: very good, very
British, very very strange. Anyway, I warn you: I'll keep quoting it until
you see it (look at the tag-line: don't you want to know what was that
nasty something in the woodshed?).
Bye, FB
-- 
"I saw something nasty in the woodshed!"


nasty something in the woodshed?).
You know that luring him to watch the movie using the nasty wossname
in the woodshed is pure evil }:->
It's a very good movie, though I've watched it only in the Italian
dubbed version.
'bye

 nasty something in the woodshed?).
What's a woodshed?


 What's a woodshed?
Una "legnaia". What's a "legnaia"? Heh, class dismissed, we'll talk about
that later. (smiling face)
Bye, FB
-- 
In any case, if you say 'I gotta go' at an important job interview you're
contributing to being allowed just that privilege.
(Tony the ice man on it.cultura.linguistica.inglese)

 What's a woodshed?
The shed where you keep your store of firewood.
-- 
Mary

 The shed where you keep your store of firewood.
VBG. Thanks, Mary!



Although few of us have woodsheds in the USA, the secondary meaning is
still used figuratively.
Main Entry: 1wood·shed
Pronunciation: -"shed
Function: noun
1 : a shed for storing wood and especially firewood
2 : a place, means, or session for administering discipline
In harsher times, a father would take a son in need of discipline "out
to the woodshed" , where he would remove his belt and administer
corporal punishment to the rear end of the wayward lad.
Some say Kerry took Bush out to the woodshed in the first debate.
Joe from Massachusetts

 that later. (smiling face)
Bevi un caffč!
Un "woodshed" č un "wood-shed", un "shed" (
http://snipurl.com/acjk
) dove si
tiene il legno.
-- 
Xakero
"All truth passes through three stages:
First, it is ridiculed.
Second, it is violently opposed.
Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." _ Arthur Schopenhauer

 Il libro, temo, non ti aiuterebbe. Vedi 
http://snipurl.com/ac0t
Sai che a una prima occhiata il film mi sembra migliore? Più asciutto,
acuto dove il libro è un po' annacquato.
Ciao, FB
-- 
Se dico "siedi!" manca l'oggetto.
Siedo chi? Lei o me?
(da it.cultura.linguistica.italiano)

 "s".
Sai cos'è? Si sente uno sfregamento, come di un foglio che viene sfilato da
qualcosa o di una scarpa, forse del maggiordomo.


 qualcosa o di una scarpa, forse del maggiordomo.
That's what I thought: some background noise or even a slight flaw in the
recording. Probably the former.


 dubbed version.
I've seen it in both the original and the dubbed version. Of course in
English it's better: all accents just disappear in Italian.
Bye, FB
-- 
"Something to take to the country." (holding out a bunch of flowers)
"Flowers come _from_ the country, Charles."


Ciao, FB
E' possibile che vuole vivere del "Richernan/Richerman's". Questo č il
cognome della famiglia? 

 cognome della famiglia?
No, Poste.
Bye, FB
-- 
"What meaning of this, Mitter Twain?" "I will tell you, Mr Wang, if you can
tell me why a man who possesses one of the most brilliant minds of this
century can't say his prepositions or articles"
(Murder by Death)

 No, Poste.
Butler: Post, Miss Poste.
Bye, FB
-- 
Nasalization is just a part of life.
(Joey DoWop Dee on it.cultura.linguistica.inglese)