Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2022 November 5

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November 5

What language do Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee use in Titanic (1997)?

Hi, everyone, I wish you are fine. I have watched the motion picture multiple times and while I know English, I don't quite understand what Mr Fleet and Mr Lee angrily say to each other after the iceberg collides. What kind of English, if English indeed, is it? Thanks a lot, and in order not to clog the page I will not thank by responding, just thanking the editor. Thanks. CoryGlee (talk) 19:34, 5 November 2022 (UTC)

According to various online copies of the script, Fleet says "Oy mate... that was a close shave", but the filmed version seems to be "That was a close shave, wa'n't it?" Lee responds, "Smell ice, can ya? Bleedin' Christ." Shells-shells (talk) 20:41, 5 November 2022 (UTC)

Fleet, at least, was speaking Scouse. Shantavira|^{feed me} 09:25, 6 November 2022 (UTC)

You'd have thought so, but a quick look at a YouTube clip (search "Titanic - iceberg collision scene") has them both speaking Cockney, the working-class dialect of London. In real life, Fleet was a native of Liverpool, so probably spoke the Liverpudlian Scouse dialect, while Lee was an officer born in the Home Counties, so would have used Southern Received Pronunciation (formal English) as a certainty. Alansplodge (talk) 11:24, 6 November 2022 (UTC)