Category: english

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Hard and fast

It just occurred to me this morning while I was skimming through a dictionary of English idioms: the “fast” in “hard and fast” has more to do with steadfast and fastener than it has to do with “fast and furious”.

“Hard and fast” rules always gave me the impression of stubborn, inflexible rules that were made in great haste and were therefore poorly considered. In writing the previous statement, it is even more apparent now that the context in which the phrase is typically used rarely suggests poor judgment or haste for that matter – merely a slightly negative connotation. How often do you hear “there are no hard and fast rules” compared to “these rules are hard and fast, stick to them”.

Perhaps the main source of my confusion comes from the relative ease with which one could use the phrase to describe the performance of a 100m sprinter at a race.

Strange how, in seeking to arrive at some form of cognitive coherence, my mind has fabricated its own meaning of the phrase over a word that has multiple meanings.

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How to fake French, Italian and Malaysian English accents

After sitting in on 3 days of Symfony training conducted by French native, I’ve started to pick up a bit of a French accent in the way that I speak.

I’ve always been curious languages, especially the European ones. Usually learning the actual language is difficult, and there is no one to practice it with, so the next best option is to emulate their accents when speaking English.

While there are many aspects and nuances that one needs to watch out for when attempting such a feat, I’d like to share my findings as far as accents go. It’s of particular intrigue for me because of how simple the rules can be, and how effectively it works.

To accent a syllable in a word is to say it louder, or more prominantly than the its sibling syllables. Because accenting is relative to the other syllabi in the word, it doesn’t really affect single syllable words.

Try saying:

When travelling on public transportation in Melbourne, you should always carry an umbrella.

In typical British/American, it is a bit of a mish-mash, but it would go something like this.

When travelling on public transportation in Melbourne, you should always carry an umbrella.

For a French accent, stress the second syllable of every word:

When travelling on public transportation in Melbourne, you should always carry an umbrella.

For an Italian accent, stress the second last syllable of every word:

When travelling on public transportation in Melbourne, you should always carry an umbrella. Spaghetti marinara fettucinni raviolli.

Speaking English like a Malaysian is much harder, but there is a pattern still. The accents are the same across the syllable, but you rely on melody to group the words logically. With the melody, you generally have 3 notes (do, re, mi). The rule: you start low, end your words and phrases with mi.

Examples:

orange (re mi)
origin (do re mi)
original (do re mi mi)
originally (do re mi re mi)
originality (do re mi re mi mi)
an origin (do do re mi)
the original plan (do do re mi mi mi)

So, you will say:

when travelling on public transportation in Melbourne, you should always carry an umbrella.

Cheers!