MovieChat Forums > Gregory's Girl (1982) Discussion > Scottish vs. English versions

Scottish vs. English versions

posted 15 years ago by TerrierMom
23 replies | jump to latest

Maybe it's just me, but I think the "Scottish" version is much more understandable than the "English" version that they dubbed in for the film when it was released in the USA, supposedly using milder Scottish accents so US audiences could understand it more clearly. The accents used for the English version sound much broader and thicker to me, less mild, more like what those of us in the USA tend to think is a "Scottish" accent than they do in the original Scottish version. I'd think there was an error somehow on the DVD, but in the Scottish version, the Coach, Phil Menzies, when confronting the boy who has no cleats/boots at the tryouts "What's with the sandshoes, boy?! Have you no boots?!" In the English version he says "What's with the sneakers, boy" That they'd be sneakers in the version sent to the US makes sense, as we really do call the shoes he was wearing sneakers. He still calls them boots after in the English version. I like both versions. I've been to Scotland and heard every accent in both versions of the film and then some while there. Just think the Scottish version is the one that sounds "milder' to US ears.

[–] psdhart 12 years ago

Didn't they do the same with trainspotting in the US?

[–] Nikon11 12 years ago

They do this sort of thing because so many Americans don't make the effort to try to understand the accents. You'll see them complaining all over IMDB about this or that Irish or English movie, and not understanding what's being said.

It's embarrassing, really.

[–] slaintemhath 12 years ago

I dont' think it's that they don't make the effort - they just can't. Without wanting to tar a race with the same brush, around 99% of Americans I meet stare blankly at me when I'm talking. Some even go so far as to gurgle "Ahurgh ah gurghy gur gur" or something along those lines and do a wee jig when I come into the room.

During a presentation one pointed out "Well if you call that English" when I stated our company was bi-lingual (Latin American Spanish/English) - and I reminded them we were speaking it a couple thousand years before their country existed.

Frankly they're a bunch of racist ****s.

[–] Nikon11 12 years ago

Well, I don't know if that's entirely true (not being able).

I seem to be able to do it - and I'm no genius.

[–] lima-2 12 years ago

"Without wanting to tar a race with the same brush ..."

"Frankly they're a bunch of racist ****s."

What irony!

[–] klondike6 12 years ago

Irony? Lima, you are too kind. The word is hypocrisy.

[–] Mel_bor_ing 12 years ago

Wait. What? Are we Yank bashing or Pommie bashing?

[–] slaintemhath 11 years ago

I don't get what's ironic about that?

I say that I'm not wanting to take my control group - the Americans I have met and say that is what all Americans are like however the majority of Americans I have met are racist. No irony there at all, simply measured fact through my experience.

Example: If you went to a clan rally you could say, heck all the Americans I met today were racists. That does not mean that all Americans are racist, but your experience of them for that day is that they are all racist.

Likewise, be there a reason for it or not, a huge majority of the Americans I have met are self-entitled, self-important, deluded wastes of air, skin and the large quantities of pharmaceuticals they choke down each day to stay alive. Not all of them, but a good majority. I might live elsewhere and find a completely different experience,

[–] rkhen 10 years ago

Scottish-American here, born and raised in the US. I don't see anything in this comment I can really object to, aside perhaps from the tone, but the poster is apparently Scottish (given the screen name) and so is the tone, so... right then.

It's a fact that Americans make proper eejits of themselves over people from other countries, often while thinking they're being terribly witty. ("Where's your dress??" upon learning my family is Scottish. A fellow hardly knows where to start. Perhaps a crack across the skull with a shinty stick.) I've seen them do the same to just about everybody else: Irish, German, Japanese, Latin American, Australian, you name it. As well as claiming not to understand the slightest non-American accent, while within the States there is at least that much variation and nobody claims they can't understand. So they're either lazy or lying. (I've also lived in Scotland, where exactly no-one claimed not to understand my American accent, or flipped alleged "jokes" about my native culture. On the contrary, the most common encounter I had was people asking whether a given American stereotype was true, while clearly hoping I'd puncture it.)

Sláinte up there maybe a bit prickly (ever seen our national flower? As Billy Connolly says: "Big [effin'] jagged thing"), but these are criticisms Americans need to own and confront. They may not be universally true, but they are embarrassingly common.

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[–] dharmabum1966-1 11 years ago

We're all a bunch of racists? Do you profess to know all of us? I should say not. As for me, I make the effort and I can understand the accent. Oh, but you'll probably discount this given the fact that all of us are too racist. Tosser.

[–] slaintemhath 11 years ago

I never mentioned every American did I? I said quite clearly at the start 99% of the Americans I meet. That means I've met 100's and out of each 100 perhaps one or two do not make racist comments about me, my accent or the purported habits of the Scots as a nation. The odd couple that don't are among the finest people I've met and I'm very glad to know them and call them friends. Keep in mind that I live in Mexico and the reaction I get from Americans is taken in direct comparison to Mexicans of whom 0% are ever tempted to say "och here comes the hurdgy gurgy gurgh gurgh man" when I enter Starbucks.

Let me repeat and summarize that for you.

Americans who make racial slurs: 99%
Mexicans who make racial slurs: 0%

I meet an American - Oh how you doing - my XXXXgrandfather was from Scotland, so I see you've not got "yer kilt on" - proceeds to hop from foot to foot.

I meet a Mexican - "Hola, como estas - mucho gusto".

To give you an example, it would be like you attending a party and all the English saying "ohh watch out any Vietnamese farmers in the room - here's a yank come to napalm your fields!!" or "Hey did you bring your wife - I thought that was your sister! Oh it's both!" Now multiply that daily by every social encounter and see how long you get by without committing assault. I've had to sack two clients because of that sort of bull****.

If stating that I endure constant stereotyping by one community in direct comparison to another makes me a tosser - well I'll wear that particular badge with pride.

[–] Cinna_Mini_Me 11 years ago

I watched Gregory’s Girl (both versions), Local Hero, and That Sinking Feeling, plus 65 episodes of Monarch of the Glen, and understood every spoken word perfectly. From watching the hundred or so Scot actors and actresses in all of these collective productions, I learned everything I need or want to know about 99% of all Scots. (American sarcasm).
He is so defensive! Reading this guy’s rambling, verbose rants is like watching a train wreck. They are so BAAAD (American hyberbole) that I just can’t bring myself to look away. I want to hit IGNORE, but I just want to see what new bampottery he comes out with next.

[–] Mel_bor_ing 11 years ago

bampottery?!?! ROFLMAO! So yours are getting a "wee bit of jest" outa this fella? :-P

[–] Nikon11 10 years ago

Eh, I met one family from Scotland, moved over when I was growing up. They were a bunch of ass-holes and douchebags. Whatever. I'm not after thinking that you're all like that, though.

[–] orbit991 8 years ago

Nah, some of the British accents are just downright dirty and guttural that they are impossible to decipher, it's virtually a different language.
Having said that, I have not had any problems with this movie or Trainspotting, except for when Begbie spoke, especially in the bar.

[–] nimmy1 11 years ago

It only seems to be the americans who stuggle with British accents. Canadains, Aussies even none speaking native people don't.

Only those with no valid argument pick holes in people's spelling and grammar.

[–] lima-2 11 years ago

Really? I thought we were done with this. Merry Christmas from America to Scotland. We love Gregory's Girl! We love the Scots! We love all British. We love the English. We love the Irish. We love the Welsh. We even love the Canadians and Aussies. And all their accents too :-0 !!!
Sorry, I can't do avatars :-P
Happy New Year.

[–] TerrierMom 11 years ago

I admit that some of my XXXXGrandparents actually did come from Scotland. Several of them emigrated to North America from Scotland between the 17th-19th Centuries. But I promise slaintemhath that I have never babbled "Ahurgh ah gurghy gur gur!" at anyone, no matter their nationality. Never danced a wee little jig upon meeting a modern Scottish person. Although that might actually be quite hilarious to watch, as I've been known to trip over my own feet! My feet are all of a US woman's Size 5.5,so frankly it's amazing I can walk at all. No wonder I don't dance jigs! I have never asked about kilts, either, unless I happen to be attending a Highland Games. Then I will admit I might on occasion ask about kilts. Besides, most of the kilt wearers I might question at Highland Games are American or Canadian rather than Scottish. :P :D

[–] rinblu 10 years ago

I was joking with my husband that the movie seemed to be dubbed from "Scottish" to "American English" and was very surprised to see I was actually correct. We just assumed it had poor sound quality from the age and somewhat low initial production value.

[–] chilidoggg (12998) 4 years ago

Born and raised Los Angeles Yankee here...

That is one helluva accent there! I closed my eyes to see if I could understand it, I maybe got half. Had to turn on the subtitles/closed captioning.

I didn't have that problem with Trainspotting, maybe it was dubbed in the theaters.