So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[MisterCairo]

As annoying as Flo is, she is ten times more preferable than the Motaur.

Several gents posted before me, but seeing those commercials even in Canada, I too find her pretty hot...

naming their models after Spanish towns ending in the letter 'A'. Only at the very last minute was a model, which would have gone on sale in the UK dubbed the "Seat Tossa"

Canadian-born and bred, but dual citizen from British Isles immigrant parents and a life-long addiction to British telly, I get that...

 

[MisterCairo]

It’s absurd, but at least it’s deliberately absurd. (It is deliberate, ain’t it?)

Insurance company ads don’t annoy me so much as ads for prescription drugs, especially the ones that use little snippets of pop tunes from decades past.

In Canada, maybe ten years or so back, the federal government banned those ads from discussing the medical benefits and risks of the drug, to the point where they can literally say only "Do you have [insert issue here]? Talk to your doctor about "Splagafil"...

I also recall a commercial, cannot remember if it was American, I think so, for an investment company (I think - one of those commercials you remember for the content and NOT for the company/product), but the main point was "be careful how you invest your money, rely on [us] to help guide your investments in reputable stocks".

The commercial has a guy, and I think his dog, watching a drug commercial, and the narrator is heard saying "Talk to your doctor about Splagafil! Side effects may include the condition known as hotdog fingers, children born with the head of a Golden Retriever, possession by the Prince of Darkness...", as the man looks increasingly horrified...

My favourite US drug commercials are those for anti-depressants. "Side effects may include increased risk of suicidal ideation..."

 

[tonyb]

...
My favourite US drug commercials are those for anti-depressants. "Side effects may include increased risk of suicidal ideation..."

The ad itself makes the prospect more appealing.

 

[MisterCairo]

It is E Trade, and I forgot some classic symptoms such as full body hair loss and projectile vomiting"

 

[Harp]

Several gents posted before me, but seeing those commercials even in Canada, I too find her pretty hot....

Elvira is another gal I've always had a crush for.

 

[Trenchfriend]

A good thing!:

I'm always again astonished, how effective after-shave is on midge bites! Splash a little with one or two repeats after some minutes, PHENOMENAL!!

 

[Zombie_61]

My favourite US drug commercials are those for anti-depressants. "Side effects may include increased risk of suicidal ideation..."

This is one of the things that has always intrigued me about most of the prescription drugs advertised on television--when they finally get to the list of potential negative side effects, even the mildest and least offensive potential side effect is considerably worse than whatever you'd be taking the drug for in the first place. "Wait, severe muscle spasms and projectile diarrhea??? I guess falling asleep in front of the TV isn't so bad after all."

Elvira is another gal I've always had a crush for.

Cassandra Peterson, yeah. Elvira, not so much.

 

[Edward]

THe few times I've watched television in the US I've been fascinated by the differences, obviously born of different regulatory regimes. Here in the UK, the ad breaks are much more spearated out from the programme content and there are notably fewer of them - a 20 minute sitcom will air over a half hour slot in the UK (three minutes of ads before, one three minute ad break during, and one three or four minute ad break after, before the next show...). In my experience in the US, it seemed to be clsoer forty minutes with a couple more breaks. (It's interesting watching some US shows on UK TV because you can often spot where it's set up for an ad break that we don't have.) The other big difference is the prescription medicine advertisements, which we don't have over here.

It's interesting, actually, to watch a little local television everywhere you go; even without speaking the local language (I do this in Beijing a bit), it's interesting how much you can pick up about that place fom the television.

 

[MisterCairo]

Cassandra Peterson, yeah. Elvira, not so much.

I'll take one of each please, with a side order of both, to go...

 

[Zombie_61]

THe few times I've watched television in the US I've been fascinated by the differences, obviously born of different regulatory regimes. Here in the UK, the ad breaks are much more spearated out from the programme content and there are notably fewer of them - a 20 minute sitcom will air over a half hour slot in the UK (three minutes of ads before, one three minute ad break during, and one three or four minute ad break after, before the next show...). In my experience in the US, it seemed to be clsoer forty minutes with a couple more breaks. (It's interesting watching some US shows on UK TV because you can often spot where it's set up for an ad break that we don't have.) The other big difference is the prescription medicine advertisements, which we don't have over here...

I've had a similar experience watching BBC America here in the U.S.. The shows usually begin and end on the hour or half-hour, but they'll completely interrupt any scene during the broadcast just for whichever lousy commercial the sales department has chosen. Conversely, they'll regularly air episodes ignoring the intended locations for commercial breaks.

...It's interesting, actually, to watch a little local television everywhere you go; even without speaking the local language (I do this in Beijing a bit), it's interesting how much you can pick up about that place fom the television.

This is also a relatively common movie trope, at least here in the U.S.. Someone from another country (or a being from another planet) comes to the U.S. and learns how to speak English by watching television. Funny thing is, given enough time it seems to work nearly as well in real life. When my wife was very young she watched television with her Grandfather, who had emigrated to the U.S. from Italy. He could speak very few English words, but from watching television learned enough of the language to watch and enjoy certain shows.

 

[Edward]

I've had a similar experience watching BBC America here in the U.S.. The shows usually begin and end on the hour or half-hour, but they'll completely interrupt any scene during the broadcast just for whichever lousy commercial the sales department has chosen. Conversely, they'll regularly air episodes ignoring the intended locations for commercial breaks.

It's interesting to see ad breaks inserted in BBC shows made for BBC UK originally, as of course they were never designed to have an ad break in them. Bit like the teansition for cinema movies, really. Sometimes it can work in terms of there being logical, natural breaks between scenes, but often it's clumsy and doesn't feel natual, as compared to a show, like, say, Father Ted or M*A*S*H which were written with ad breaks very much in mind. Gonig the othe way around, it's also interesting to see when watching on DVD or netflix how often you can spot where the ad break would have fallen in a 'mae for commercial television' show.

This is also a relatively common movie trope, at least here in the U.S.. Someone from another country (or a being from another planet) comes to the U.S. and learns how to speak English by watching television. Funny thing is, given enough time it seems to work nearly as well in real life. When my wife was very young she watched television with her Grandfather, who had emigrated to the U.S. from Italy. He could speak very few English words, but from watching television learned enough of the language to watch and enjoy certain shows.

It's definitely true that across mainland Europe one of the things that helps reinforce kids learning English (and, I'm sure, other languages) is when they watch English language shows subtitled rathe than dubbed. It's only in recent years in the UK that that approach has become popular. It's just another element of the simple fact that being surrounded by a langueg helps a lot. I know when I've spent time in France and Germany, not have learned the language formally for thirty years or more, it has been amazing how much comes backand what I seem to understan or be able to say without being aware of ever actually learning it is quite surprising. When we were in the south of France a few years ago, right at the foot of the Perennes near the border with Spain, it was really nice to be able to have a conversation with the locals, no matter how basic and stilted, especially with that being an area where many people don't speak much English and are more likely to have Spanish as their secodn language in many cases.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I read a biographical piece the other day about Charles Delaunay, an influential jazz writer and discographer of the 1930s, and the founder of the famous Hot Club of France. He was, as you might assume, French -- but he spoke English fluently. That it to say, he spoke English fluently after learning it entirely thru contact with American jazz musicians of the 1930s. He would therefore write, in a serious and scholarly article about the development of some strain of swing, something like "and so it came to pass that these cats were solid gates, who could always send the gators."

Makes perfect sense to me.

 

[Tiki Tom]

I know more than a few Europeans who speak nearly flawless unaccented American English. You have to listen to them for a while before you figure out that their intonation or word usage is slightly "off". I am always humbled by how good they are. A lot of it is thanks to: American TV, American movies, A semester or two in the States. There are at least two movie theaters in Vienna that only show original language films (usually English) and it is "hip" to see original versions.
!Now to brag shamelessly!: I'm proud that when we moved over here, we decided to use only the basic Austrian cable service for our TV. As a result, my kids' early years were spent watching Hannah Montana, Dora the Explorer, etc., in German. They are now completely bilingual and even speak German with a quaint Viennese accent. The proud father, me, beams about this. Of course, don't ask me about MY German. I understand that my accent is thick as a brick and my grammar is, um, "colorful".
I had a friend who used to do Austrian Radio commercials, on the side, because American Accents are sometimes sought after.
We also know Americans who pay for full access to American TV via satelite (mostly so they can watch their sports team). In some cases they have been here for years and really speak no German. I find that I get better service --and quite friendly-- when I make a point of doggedly speaking German even though we could probably just use English.

 

[Edward]

Interesting difference I've noticed between Berlin and Vienna: in Berlin, as soon as they realise I'm not a native speaker (not hard beyon the first couple of sentences!), they will speak English to me as a matter of politeness. In Vienna, on the other hand, they let me blunder on in German as long as I can manage (even after I've asked for an English menu) before gently stepping in with some English where I struggle a bit. Both equally polite, but very pronounced and different approaches. I remember checking in to a hotle the last tiem I was in Vienna and being monstrously proud I managed it all in German!

Funnily enough, I've found the same difference between parts of France too - Paris (like Berlin), and way down south - Oleron Saint-Marie (Vienna), though I think there it wqas also to do with how much English was spoken locally.

 

[Tiki Tom]

At the end of the day, my wife and I will still often finish debriefing each other about some interaction or another with the proud phrase "and the whole conversation was in German!"

 

[Haversack]

I was lucky in Junior High School to have an extremely good German teacher. Mrs. Royal insisted on pronunciation and grammar, and said your vocabulary will grow with usage. It was true. Nine years later I was in the army stationed at a small base in a small town in Franconia. The grammar and pronunciation all came flooding back. Unfortunately and not, I was living on the economy renting a tiny apartment from a farming family in a yet smaller village near the base. Because of that, I have found my Hochdeutsch became quite adulterated with rural Franken expressions. A lot of it has faded as I have not been in the German speaking part of the world for nearly 20 years. I still find though having to consciously code-switch between Franken and Hochdeutsch when called upon to speak German. (Usually to German tourists looking lost).

 

[Tiki Tom]

Oh, yeah. I’m almost exclusively a Hoch Deutsch kind of guy. When the locals dive into the Wienerisch dialect, I get lost pretty quickly. And it is impressive how many dialects there are in German. I have a little sympathy for my Austrian friends who say they can’t understand a Scottish accent or a thick Southern accent.

 

[Harp]

"

Cassandra Peterson, yeah. Elvira, not so much.

Her Elvira intrigues and is so seductively wicked.
Another lovely lass is the equisite English rose Nigella Lawson.

 

[Zombie_61]

...Another lovely lass is the equisite English rose Nigella Lawson.

I had to look her up on Google because I was unfamiliar with the name. Once I found out what she is famous for it made perfect sense that I didn't know of her because she's a chef and I loathe cooking.

 

[Edward]

I had to look her up on Google because I was unfamiliar with the name. Once I found out what she is famous for it made perfect sense that I didn't know of her because she's a chef and I loathe cooking.

Nowadays she's at least a famous i the UK for her contributions to the Columbian economy.