Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2012 December 30

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December 30

beany

Curious about why they call themselves I Fagiolini (little beans), I found the following explanation on the ensemble's website:

"At New College, Oxford (the group’s home), early music was known as ‘beany’ music because most of the musicians that seemed to be interested in it (both amateur and professional) seemed to have an alternative lifestyle of knitted yoghurt and wholefood pullovers, living on a diet of nothing but pulses and beans." [1]

This was in 1986. Is "beany" still used to nickname that stereotype? Was the word widespread in England at the time, or is it just a New College thing? I'm aware of the comparable use of "granola", but couldn't find "beany" defined this way anywhere. Thank you in advance. ---Sluzzelin talk 21:36, 30 December 2012 (UTC)

Wow, the UK English is pretty thick in that quote. Are "knitted yoghurt and wholefood pullovers" things you wear or eat ? And "pulses" are supposed to be something edible ? StuRat (talk) 21:43, 30 December 2012 (UTC)

There's a fairly well-recognised stereotyped Liberal Democrat voting, Guardian reading, sandal wearing, middle aged hippy, who 'knits their own yoghurt' (sometimes it's muesli they knit). It's a play on words from making their own yoghurt and knitting their own pullovers. Felicity Kendal and Richard Briers in The Good Life are the archetypal examples of this sort of person. Oh, and pulses are lentils. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 21:53, 30 December 2012 (UTC)

• • • By The Good Life, Mike means Good Neighbors. μηδείς (talk) 21:57, 30 December 2012 (UTC)

Nope, definitely meant The Good Life. No idea what Good Neighbours is, unless it's the fact that Good Neighbours become Good Friends. Apparently, though, I meant that lentils are pulses not t'other way round. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 22:02, 30 December 2012 (UTC)

Good Neighbors is what The Good Life was renamed when it was bought by US TV. -- Arwel Parry (talk) 22:56, 30 December 2012 (UTC)

You had The Good Life there? Was it subtitled like Eastenders apparently was at first? KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 23:06, 30 December 2012 (UTC)

• • • • • • • Americans don't have a problem with received pronunciation which was used by the characters in Good Neighbors. However, many shows are dubbed even in that case, as have been recent nature specials narrated by Attenborough, replaced by an American, as well as Thomas the Train, which has a particularly atrocious voiceover by a guy with a New York City Jewish accent replacing Ringo Starr, who is quite easy to understand. μηδείς (talk) 02:49, 31 December 2012 (UTC)

Thomas the Tank Engine? KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 03:41, 31 December 2012 (UTC)

• "So this is what passes for a caboose these days ? Oy vey !" StuRat (talk) 03:12, 31 December 2012 (UTC)

That guy is Michael Brandon, by the way. He's not so bad! And there has always been an American version, hasn't there? When I was younger, George Carlin did the American version and Ringo Starr did the British one. Adam Bishop (talk) 03:50, 31 December 2012 (UTC)

I suppose they might have picked Brandon's voice then because it slightly resembles Carlin's (whose would have been far less objectionable) in order not to bring it to the kid's attention Carlin had died. Nevertheless I find it horribly distracting. But if you ask my niece, who's not yet two, what she wants to watch on TV, she enunciates "Thomas!" quite clearly. μηδείς (talk) 17:58, 2 January 2013 (UTC)

I have been teaching English (and other subjects) to kids, sometimes as young as 2, all around the world for 17 years, and very often they ask me what my father's name is, and when I say 'Thomas' they all crack up laughing. KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 22:53, 2 January 2013 (UTC)

Overdubbing David Attenborough ??!! This really is the end of civilization as we know it. -- Jack of Oz ^[Talk] 04:11, 31 December 2012 (UTC)

In the UK, we have the narrator of Mythbusters in British English, even though the staff (Adam, Jamie, et al.) are not overdubbed, which is just odd, and pretty pointless, because the makers of the show must know that we understand both forms of English for this to even happen. This is the end of the world. KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 10:11, 31 December 2012 (UTC)

• • • • • • • • • • Yes, Thomas the Tank Engine (you'll have to forgive me for not paying strict attention)--and yes--they overdubbed Attenborough for the American broadcast of his Madagascar documentary. Sheer cultural barbarity, that. (PS, forgive the use of asterisks, the right end of my keyboard is malfunctioning.) μηδείς (talk) 19:01, 31 December 2012 (UTC)

While you get your PC fixed, you can copypaste this : KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 02:42, 1 January 2013 (UTC)

As far as I understand, that overdubbing also contains unit conversions. I.e. Adam, Jamie and the on screen graphics use american units, while Robin Banks narrates using SI units. Unlike most real-life situations where you can easily convert a single e.g. distance in feet to metres yourself, Myhtbusters contains various calculations, derivations and estimations done using combinations of several different US Customary Units that just become to much to follow. To me, the UK narration solves that and is useful. /Coffeeshivers (talk) 11:38, 1 January 2013 (UTC)

I'd prefer unit conversion to be handled as captions. StuRat (talk) 22:58, 2 January 2013 (UTC)

I can agree with that, but I don't think most people who watch the program are actually interested in the unit conversions, or mathematical formulae, etc. It's not exactly an educational program about science, engineering, or mathematics. It's a comedy program. Most people watch it for the things that happen in it. Nobody will be using all this data to blow up a concrete mixer with semtex just to see if they can do it as well. Not in the UK, anyway. Plus, when Adam says they will drive a car exactly 100 yards (for example) and the narrator says later on that they will be driving a car 91.44 metres, it's confusing, because it's a different number, and many of us here in the UK are still not used to that French stuff. Most other programs on the Discovery Channel are left as American, anyway. I don't see why this one can't be. KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 00:29, 3 January 2013 (UTC)

Unfortunately, I think you're right that their goal is entertainment, not science, much like most things on the Discover, History, and Biography channels these days. However, I actually am interested in the science, not the clowning part. StuRat (talk) 00:44, 3 January 2013 (UTC)