Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: Can't understand this

I can't quite understand this conversation. It's from "The Murder at the
Vicarage", about which I already wrote yesterday.
http://xoomer.virgilio.it/fb83/matv.mp3
Miss Marple: He came along in the village just about five minutes after
Mrs. Protheroe, and...
Policeman: (he interrupts Miss Marple) ?????
		Embarassment
Policeman: Oh, I'm so sorry madam.
Miss Marple: That's quite right sergeant.
Bye, FB
-- 
L'importante è che risplenda tu, sola primadonna e immarcescibile leggenda
del tuo pianerottolo.
(Lucangel su it.cultura.libri)

Miss Marple: That's quite right sergeant.
That's quite alright sergeant.
"Pub" is a short for "Public House" where one socialises and drinks
alcohol (I'm sure you know that) I guess that the sergeant shouldn't
have mentioned that the person they were talking about had been in the
pub.

Miss Marple: He came along in the village just about five minutes after
Mrs. Protheroe, and...
Policeman: YES, THAT'S RIGHT, FROM THE PUB, YEAH.
Miss Marple: OH
Policeman: Oh, I'm so sorry madam.
Miss Marple: That's quite ALright sergeant.
The policeman was rude and interrupted while Marple was speaking. That's all 
that appears to be going on in this interaction. It was quite 'alright', not 
'right' that he interrupted. 

 'right' that he interrupted.
May I just be pedantic and correct Tony and Jonny's spelling of
"alright" to "all right"?
-- 
Mary

 pub.
I suspect it's all about his interrupting her, for I've seen the whole film
-- and I'd read the book as well -- and I don't see why mentioning the pub
or Mrs. Protheroe's hypothetic coming from there should have been
embarassing. And yet there must be something else, because the inspector
and the sergeant don't seem to be so polite people as would apologize for
interrupting someone.
On another note, Joan Hickson/Miss Marple says "sirgent", not "sargent".
Are both pronunciations correct? Well, it's obvious, I guess, but I wasn't
aware the former existed.
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)

 "alright" to "all right"?
This is a forum where pedantry is a virture. 'Alright' is a variant spelling
that I and (obviously) others accept but you are right that many do not
accept it as standard English. Perhaps for non-native speakers it's best not
to propagate a controversial usage.

aware the former existed.
It just sounded like "sargent" to me. I tend not to hear these finer
points of pronunciation that you hear. I wish I did, then I'd probably
sound Italian when speaking Italian.

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I, for one, knew that "alright" wasn't universally accepted. I understand
"awhile" is correct, instead, though commoner in AmEng. Am I right?
Bye, FB
-- 
Una volta ho comprato un salmone all'Ikea.
Sono arrivato a casa.
Era da montare.
(Alessandro "Il Patriarca" Valli su it.cultura.linguistica.italiano)

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I wish I didn't, then I'd probably be practically English.
Bye, FB
-- 
"It sounds appalling!"
"Interesting and appalling. The others just sound appalling!"
(Cold Comfort Farm, the film)

 "awhile" is correct, instead, though commoner in AmEng. Am I right?
'Awhile' is a different case. It's a perfectly fine word, used as an adverb: 
"Stay awhile". This is different than when used as an article and noun: 
'Stay for a while.' Note the addition of 'for'.
You might be thinking of 'a lot' which is sometimes mistakenly spelled 
'alot.' This isn't a variant spelling but a misspelling that isn't accepted 
by anyone I know. 

 interrupting someone.
Where does the sample come from? If it's from a theatre play, as I 
suspect, then the actor playing the role of the sergeant may havejust 
made a mistake.
When I used to attend a local theatre in my town I played a role in some 
shows (including Murder at the Vicarage), and what the actor playing the 
sergeant told sounds just like the average slip that can happen on the 
stage. He probably said someone else's cue or part of the speech, or 
even put accidentally in the play a piece of another conversation.
By the way, I can remember a very funny scene that actually happened to 
me and the other actors I was working with.
It happenend just when we played "Murder at the Vicarage". Few of us 
(not me) were true, experienced actors, but the guy playing Dr. Haydock 
was the very "rookie" of the group.
One day we were playing the last scene, where Mrs. Protheroe gets 
accidentally shot by Mr. Redding. According to the script, the guy 
playing Haydock would lean on Mrs. Protheroe's corpse in order to 
determine her death. Then, he would stand up and state "she's dead".
But that day, after he leaned on her as usual, and we were all expecting 
  his statement in order to show our grief, he didn't get up.
He kept on checking her for at least one minute, far more than he 
usually needed; furthermore, we couldn't even see what the heck was he 
doing because we were all behind him.
He touched her body here and there, then finaly got up, turned toward us 
and with a happy face and voice declared her dead.
We desperatly tried to turn our hilarity into the expected grief, and I 
think we somehow succeeded. I reached a seat and pretended to be praying 
just to hide my laughing. The Vicar's wife pretended to be sobbing on my 
shoulder.
But that's the very best part of working at theatre...
Nebo

 interrupting someone.
I heard a soft "oh" from Marple that preceeded the apology. This expressed
that she was affected by the interruption and might naturally elicit an 
apology.


I might as well linger awhile and while away some time, since I have
nothing else to do. For a while I hesitated to reply, but since you
are leaving soon, I thought you should know that the uses of awhile
and while are probably the same in BrE and AmE.  :>)
Joe from Massachusetts

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http://xoomer.virgilio.it/fb83/matv.avi
 (546.1 Kb)
Bye, FB
-- 
After a year of speculation, inventor Dean Kamen unveiled his mysterious
"It", which is a battery-powered two-wheel people mover. Many believe it
will completely revolutionize the way people get hit by cars.
(Saturday Night Live)

 It just sounded like "sargent" to me.
It is "sargent". I misheard it.
[...]
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 and while are probably the same in BrE and AmE.  :>)
I was sure it was an Americanism, but it's not. I've also read "for awhile"
or "for quite awhile". Those are wrong, aren't they?
Bye, FB
-- 
"Che cos'è un fallo da tergo? E non stiamo parlando della tua vita
privata."
(Intervista della Gialappa's Band a Elisabetta Canalis)

 
http://xoomer.virgilio.it/fb83/matv.avi
 (546.1 Kb)
She does say "oh" even though the camera remains on the policeman.