Corn flakes with fromage blanc, honey and dried cranberries.
Corn Flakes have appeared in my life again after many years absence. I had them for breakfast this morning, admittedly in a sort of de- constructed, self conscious “foodie” way, but they were very good and served to reawaken childhood memories of a time when breakfast was not breakfast without the presence of the big box that dominated the table.
The illustrated edifice afforded a legitimate and effective hiding place from over attentive adults, and it was covered with stuff to read — over and over again or, even better, until it was empty and a new packet, with a new gift and new stuff to read, arrived. This genre of box, from the 50′s, is probably the style that remains uppermost in my memory. I think the reason for that is that I identified the box, even then, with that fantasy land called America. I only knew America from films, comics and history books and nothing much has changed except for two lightening visits during which I learnt less about America than I had gleaned from the cereal packet. I have met more Americans in the past 5 years, through Camerahols and my blog, than during any other single time in my life and the differences in life, and language, on either side of the Atlantic ocean have become more defined. Spoken and written language have always fascinated me in that written language is also affected by spoken intonation. The English speaking nations all speak the same language with incredibly different intonations so that the same group of words spoken by natives of Cardiff, Mumbai, Glasgow,Sydney and Dallas would be initially unrecognisable to each other and certainly hard to understand. The following is an interesting example of a well known fairy story that is only recognisable when read with a broad, mid western American accent – I think. On second thoughts it works better with an extreme Southern accent – maybe from Charleston.
Want’s pawn term (is spoken as “Once upon a time” is your starter) dare worsted ladle gull hoe lift wetter murder inner ladle cordage honor itch offer lodge, dock florist. Disc ladle gull orphan worry ladle cluck wetter putty ladle rat hut, end fur disc raisin pimple colder Ladle Rat Rotten Hut.
See what you make of that.
ROFL – I can’t understand a word of that text (it looks like German), but I can understand all the spoken American accents, but I think it helps that I lived in the South.
I loved the cartoons on the packet and the free gifts too
If I said “Want’s pawn term” is spoken as “Once upon a time..” does that move you forward.
No not really – phonetic spelling doesn’t do much for me. I gave up on Irvine Welsh quite quickly.
Quite a few people have deciphered it easily, much to my surprise.
Sounds like Scotland or something but not American
Nice bowl picture.
It’s from an exercise written in 1940 by Professor H.L.Chase who taught Romance languages at Miami University in Ohio.It’s said that this excercise was written to show his students how integral intonation is to the meaning of language. I’ll publish a translation in the week.
I’m inclined to agree with Rosemary
Cornflakes, top off the milk, bacon and eggs for breakfast, – jumpers for goalposts –
those were the days. Except for rationing of course.
That was the time Graham. I even remember walking home from a shopping expedition and being trusted to hold onto the ration book as my mother had so many bags to carry.I got bored with the responsibilty and threw it away,over a fence onto some railway tracks. My life continued in that way:)
I got as far as lodge…
For “lodge” read “large”.
Brilliant.
Glad you liked it:)
Ewe nayver gart tuh thuh beeyug bayed werlf.
Mural: yonder nor sorghum stenches shut ladle gulls stopper torque wet strainers
‘Speshly werns wit biyug tayth…
“Oh grammar,water bag mousey gut! A nervous sore suture bag mouse!”
Our Aunty gave us some of her ration tickets and we have them framed to remind us of another era when people could not buy anything just because they could afford it, on the white market that is.
I think I’ve got some of those ration tickets hanging about somewhere. Such a different time.
Someone should tell Grandma there’s a wolf about.
I don’t know how long it took you to write that, Roger, but I sure as hell enjoyed it
Nice one, John. It was written in 1940 by an American professor at Miami University, Ohio. The idea was to show how intonation changed our concept of language.
Corn Flakes never looked so good.
Most of us Midwesterners have little to no accent compared to the rest of the country.
(Minnesota and the Chicago area being the exceptions.) I can barely decipher the passage, so a Southerner may have better luck. Looking forward to the translation.
I have a friend in England, and am constantly surprised at the differences in our language. Kind of like the difference between Parisian French and French Canadian.
Spot on. There are a legion of differences between UK and US English – such as sidewalk ( UK pavement), hood of a car ( UK bonnet of a car) and so on.
Isn’t that the truth!! Laughed after I finished your ‘Red Riding Hood’ tale Southern style, absolutely roared after reading kateshrewsday’s addition
!!! It isn’t just the accent tho’: writing in quirky Australian with an Estonian background anyway, I have been aghast time and again about seemingly having managed ‘Doubledutch’ on international blogs 
!
Excellent, Eha. Glad to see you’ve seen through it. It’s a brilliant little book.
And your ‘advice’ to ‘little girls’ on another part of the blog still is not self-evident to some in today’s world
!
Sadly so.
Hip Hip Hooray, years of living in the South and I still can’t translate that. They can take the boy out of the East Coast, but they can’t take the East Coast out of the boy. Speaking of corn flakes, one of our favorite weekday dishes is still cornflake chicken. Makes one heck or a crust. Or karuhust.
That’s brilliant Greg. I never thought of using them as a crust. Sensational.
No bloody idea mate. .. i use to be able to quote the weetbix box verbatim! now I am going back to your puzzle, i LOVE phonetics… c
Try getting the Old Codger to read it – not trying to translate it, just reading it. Listen to him carefully and see if any words come through.
I will, i see him on wednesday, we can try it then! c
Excellent, let’s see what he comes up with. Don’t forget to take him the clue that I put into the first line of the piece in red text.
Duhduhduhduhduhduhduh. It could be Gullah??? http://www.yale.edu/glc/gullah/index.htm
Uh,uh – just good ol’ American.
can Google translate that for me?
PS Best looking bowl of cornflakes I have ever seen.
I don’t think Google can do it. I’ve had one person who translated it straight away. It’s a matter of being extreme with the Southern accent.
Loved it Roger, had to laugh out loud.
Excellent, Ken, glad you liked it. Hope things are good with you. I’m freezing at the moment – fingers just coming back to life after cutting fire wood.
Ooh, struggled with it but I think I got there in the end. Love your deconstrucetd cornflakes!
I guessed that you’d crack it. I remember the first time that I saw it and was completely baffled.
Thank goodness for the comments as I hadn’t a clue what fairy tale you were talking about! Thank goodness no one talks like that up here. My head would spin.
Okay, I’m clueless as to what that is. Chaucer is way easier to read
Have a look at some of the comments – that’ll give you a clue.
You’re not making fun of us Southerners, are you?
What, l’il ole me!
That’s the fanciest bowl of corn flakes I’ve ever seen.
It tasted pretty fancy too:)
Boy…if you intended us to spend a lot of time at your blog, you did a terrific job. I like the way you eat your corn flakes. I eat mine without milk…just fruit and flakes. Fromage blanc makes it gourmet.
I didn’t want to eat them with milk and sugar, as I did when a child. Fromage blanc is everywhere over here, so it seemed a perfect idea.
Ha! How brilliant!… Corn flakes are my “go-back-to-childhood-breakfast” Unfortunately, with all that fuss of carbs and diets, I don’t eat it very often, and my children prefer sugary versions of cereal, so it’s been a long time since my last bowl… (Imagine that with a slight Panamanian accent
)
As for the riddle, I must admit that I cheated and goggled it… very interesting. But I won’t post the translation…don’t want to spoil the mystery…
You’ve a very generous spirit:)
This sounds amazing (and easy which is always nice)! I am going to have it next week for my breakfasts. Thanks for the idea!
The dried cranberries are very good in it – don’t forget them:)