British accent stereotypes - 'news'

[Joel S. Berson]

Reminds me of the time I was checking in to a hotel on the Continent,
and spelled my name:  "bee, ee, are, ess, oh, en".  They told me
there was no reservation for Birson.  I changed my name to "bay, eh?,
err, ...".  (Please excuse the approximate phonetics.)

Joel

At 4/4/2008 09:06 PM, Mark Mandel wrote:
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>
>On Fri, Apr 4, 2008 at 6:37 PM, Dennis Preston <preston at msu.edu> wrote:
> > WTF does "zed" (the "word") mean? What consonant letters in the
> >  alphabet (never pronounced "by themselves') would not qualify? Isn't
> >  "b" "bee" and "c" "sea," etc...?
> >
> >  dInIs
>
>
>"Information? I need the number of the Caseway Insurance Company."
>
>"Would you spell that, please?"
>
>"Certainly. C as in cue. A as in aye. S as in sea. E as in eye. W as
>in why. A as in are. Y as in you."
>
>"Just a minute, sir. I'll connect you with my supervisor."
>
>--
>Mark Mandel
>
>(I heard this years ago, but being too lazy to type it in I tried
>Google just now. I found this at
>http://www.dnronline.com/search_details.php?AID=8331&CHID=28
>[but I corrected it from "C as in sea"].)
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org