"Oh, I could be rummaging around in here for ages, I'm never going to find some zebra ears!"
or click here__________
Karen's note: For you Americans out there, yes, zebra is pronounced with a short e sound in the UK. And it's used a lot, because an English "zebra crossing" is a US "cross walk" (black and white stripes, get it?). Thus, embarrassingly, that is how I have come to pronounce it as well.
Audio update (please, god, let it be the last one): A few people were still have trouble. So, just to be safe, I added a backup link to the audio. Anyone who can't see the player should definitely be able to use that.
I nearly missed the audio on this one, because the new player doesn't appear in Google Reader! The previous two (the Google one and the one before it) appeared and worked fine. Any chance of getting this one to appear in the feed?
ReplyDeleteHi Karen!
ReplyDeleteI'm reading you through my google reader on chrome and seems like the audio player you are currently using doesn't show up!
actually I thought this one didn't have audio, but I figure it had because of your note. . .
and it's kinda sad cuz I really love to listen to the audio (it's super funny)
can u go back to the previous players? I think it was 2, 3 or 6 from the audio experimentation thingy.
Thanks!
Ok, further testing tells me that player number 2 is the only one displaying correctly and playing in google reader :)
ReplyDeleteSorry, bmolvi and paul, this was the one that worked for the vast majority of people. Maybe I can simply add a link directly to the audio for those that can't see the player.
ReplyDeleteOf course, player 2 is Google's own player. It seems strange and short-sighted that they would only build Google Reader to allow that one to work.
Sigh.
Adam: Quit wasting your time rummaging around for zebra ears. I'm sure you can buy some at the store or find 'em online. Or you could visit your local zoo. :D
ReplyDeletethanks ,the audio (both players) works for me
ReplyDeletei use firefox and pc
Actually the British pronunciation of "zebra" came up way back when with "My pony's for sale". Perhaps Adam finally traded in his pony for a stripy zebra, but was only able to get one that was missing its ears.
ReplyDeleteTa, works fine for me xx
ReplyDeleteSomehow it seems appropriate to point out the existence round here of signs proclaiming "Humped Zebra Crossing" ahead. Seems to particularly amuse our American visitors.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/chrissam42/3833951952/ for example.
LOL@jackie31337!!!!
ReplyDeleteEverything seems to work fine with Firefox.....
ReplyDeleteYay for iPhone audio!!!! Yay woot-woot!!!!
ReplyDeletei didn't realise people pronounced zebra in any way other than what adam does. if someone said zeeeeeebra to me in real life i'd probably laugh them off the continent.
ReplyDeleteIf you now pronounce it 'zehbra', I assume, like me, you also say 'zed' now as well? :)`
ReplyDeleteI don't think I'm as consistent with saying "zed" because there hasn't been so much call for me to hear that loads. It's the words I hear all the time that seem to have leaked into my brain. A US friend caught me saying "bah nah nah" recently. I also notice that I sometimes ask questions with a different cadence now. Well, I don't notice so much, but all of my American friends do.
ReplyDeleteAh, well, there's a 'zed' in our postcode, so that's probably it. :) I say 'bah nah nah' now, too, come to mention it, as well as 'vahse'. I don't notice the cadence thing much myself, either, but as you say, others seem to; most of the time, I still sound like a California valley girl to myself, though I do catch myself saying the odd thing in a certain way that makes me think, "Boy, I've really gone native now!"
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your experiences; as a fellow ex-pat American married to an (also sleep talkin', though sadly not as prolific) Englishman, it's fun to compare notes. :)
He sounds so very disappointed. Poor Adam.
ReplyDeleteThis brings back a wonderful memory of when I studied abroad at the University of Nottingham and volunteered in the dissection lab of their vet school. They had a big vat of formaldehyde which they preserved random things in. So in preparation for the lesson of the day, you had to go fishing for your item of interest whether it be a whole snake, a cow intestine, a rooster, a pig uterus. Quite a gorey job but inevitably one that makes you laugh! Thanks for the memory.
ReplyDeleteThe audio works fine for me, but I'm not reading your blog in Google Reader.
ReplyDeleteGood one, btw. I never knew that about the pronunciation of "zebra." hmmm...
No no. Embarassing is when you don't live in the UK, you have only spent a grand total of about 3 weeks in the UK (and not all at once, either), but you still use British pronunciations. My friends think it's hiLARious that I say "lehsure" instead of "leesure". (I can't help it, I listen to a lot of audio books with British narrators. Also, it sounds better.)
ReplyDeleteI've never commented here, though I love reading the site. But I have to say that the entries with audio are ten times as funny to me as the ones without, and I think I've figured out why. Besides the fact that the tone and inflection affect things, Adam's accent reminds me of Eddie Izzard. Therefore, my brain is already programmed to think that anything said in that accent is hilarious. Thanks for putting up the audio clips! They make me laugh so hard that I wind up crying.
ReplyDeleteOh sigh! now instead of doing my taxes, I have to hunt around for audio. I'm using Google and the second link brought up Windows Media Player.
ReplyDelete-Canadian Top Cat
Both players worked fine for me. Could Adam please scrounge up a pair for me too??? I've been looking for zebra ears forever!
ReplyDelete"Well, I don't notice so much, but all of my American friends do."
ReplyDeleteI understand your dilemma. I'm a misplaced American in Canada and to my American family, I sound like a Canuck, but the Canadians think I still sound like a Yankee.
Hope Adam finds his zehbra ears soon! Love your blog...
Can I just mock the sundry people complaining about the audio links? Is it truly so hard to visit the site to hear the audio? If visiting the site is such a challenge, can't reading the quotes suffice? Does Karen really have to spoon feed pureed carrots and peas to you all?
ReplyDeleteI actually like the zebra pronunciation. *thinks I might start saying zebra that way*
ReplyDeleteI lived about 5 miles below the border of Canada for a year, most of my customers at my job were Canadian. I found myself still occasionally sounding like a Canadian. Sometimes "aboot" comes out instead of about and things like that. BTW, I have no problem hearing the audio.
ReplyDeletewhere do you go shopping for zebra ears? IKEAR! i am so proud of myself right now you have no idea (idear - or is that too much?) - adam
ReplyDeleteI love the way he says "Ooooh". He sounds like Winnie the Pooh looking for zebra ears.
ReplyDeleteLOL@Adam.
ReplyDeleteGood call with the link. Definitely always keep that. Works for iPhone.
ReplyDeleteI bought zebra ears (and a tail) at Target. Of course it was Halloween time :)
ReplyDeleteBy the way, as a Brit living in America, I've now picked up the American accent, but I still feel like a phony when I say words like "leesure" instead of "lehsure" and whatnot!
LOVE the cultural contradiction, above all :-) I say tomato...
ReplyDeleteThat pronunciation thing with "zebra" is interesting. I never knew it was ever pronounced any other way than "zee-bra".
ReplyDeleteAudio is great, Karen, by the way! Awesome!
Hazzah! I can finally hear the audio on my iPhone (via the 2nd link) Thank you!!!
ReplyDeleteFound myself doing an image search on Zebras...for some reason :-s
ReplyDeleteZebra ears (and the ensuing discussion of British vs American vs Canadian English) made me smile but, Adam, "IKEAR" had me laughing out loud. I guess that it isn't just STM who has a great sense of humour!!
ReplyDeletenow audio works great! using firefox. please dont change current player;D thanks! sleeptalkingman ftw!=)
ReplyDeleteFirst time posting a comment!! Love this quote - perhaps a possible t-shirt????
ReplyDeleteDelurking to say "Hey, I can finally hear it". Thanks.
ReplyDeleteSeconded! I'd definitely get that on a T-shirt (just in time for Anthrocon, too.......) 7@=e
ReplyDeleteZebra ears are pretty hard to come by. Unless, of course, you want the Zebra attached...
ReplyDeletezebra.ears hears zeeebras rummaging aboot at the local IKEA store where Adam wakes in the aisles all excited that he just may have found those perfect pair to attach to his pony collection...
ReplyDeleteit's the odd one of the bunch, the stripey one that's a bit off center, and akin to a black sheep in the herd, black-white and red all over..., is what i heard, a heck of a find he had, it was a stampede to the cashout...worth a thousand pounds to an earache at the other end of the spectrum, spockishly handled,
he had to really stick his neck out to reach for these unusual pairs of round ones that turn on a dime; in every direction, huddled and embedded amongst the earwax museum collection that holds long lost ears to dear about and this find was no pieceacake with a history lesson to boot,
zee!hee, was very happy hawwwing about it, finally holding his trophy prized possession now...ze-pair-of-zehbra-zeeebra ear-rings a bit of truth to it, a catchy loot headed for a new home hanging at the head of the household, you could even hear a pindrop at the doorstep---was it's unique wonder unbeknownst to many....a tragic tale to the end...(sorry peeeeeopholes, i have no scruples, most daze at the races :P
This is by far my favourite one ever. Ever.
ReplyDeleteI think that if the audio does not work for you people then A. be thankfull your not blind. B. install a new browser. C. get a non-gaye phone.
ReplyDeleteOh so FUNNY today, both quote and comments! Thanks everyone. Love! the way he says "ohhhhh...." This one comes close to bumping one of my two all-time favorites - Too many whiskers and Don't put the duck there! :)
ReplyDeleteI suddenly realized tonight how long it had been since, having a grand and giggling time of it reading my way down the list, I had to stumble over a comment from someone intent on spoiling the fun. Thanks so much to both of you for deciding we'd all heard several versions of all the variations of naysaying, and it was ok to screen them out!
"By the way, as a Brit living in America, I've now picked up the American accent, but I still feel like a phony when I say words like 'leesure' instead of 'lehsure' and whatnot!"
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean... that's why I always made it a point not to use English pronunciations until they just came naturally, because I knew I would feel like a pretender (even though I probably would have been the only one who noticed)! Now, though, after eleven years, the English pronunciations are generally the ones which come naturally to me*, and I'm actually more aware of American accents on television than English ones, to the point where, despite my own voice, I hardly notice an English accent anymore (unless it's something regional that you'd notice anyway, like a Texan accent would stand out to a Californian)!
* (Except for '*gar*-ridge', which is the way my husband says 'garage' - that pronunciation sounds right to me now, but it's never come naturally to me to say it that way myself, for some strange reason!)
Unrelated to today's post, I know, but I had to let you guys know! I have been assigned a service project at the elephant park in Thailand! I am so excited to go. I am leaving in July. I can't wait to meet Jungle Boy and the other elephants that you guys enjoyed so much!
ReplyDeletewhy would you be embarrased.you are now speaking proper english. not realy it depends where you come from in the world. people are differnt and so is thier language.i actualy find it quite harsh that you should feel embarrased.
ReplyDeleteProf. ZzzMAN-ylizer, you are SUPER annoying
ReplyDelete