"Well, I tried."
"Ah beg yer pardon?”
“Well, I’m just saying that you’re pronouncing it wrong.”
“Ah said it just as well as any other person, didn’t I?”
Rarity sighed. She wasn’t getting through to her friend. She glanced at the advertisement that she was standing in front of. It was just a small flyer hanging from a thumbtack stuck into a wooden pole. Right now, though, it was the topic of a debate between Rarity and Applejack.
“No, you did not,” said Rarity, trying to take it slowly. “The way you pronounced it was wrong. It is not Ad-ver-tise-ment. It is correctly pronounced as Ad-vert-iz-ment.”
“Ah heard ya using them funny words earlier,” said Applejack. “If ya wanna sound all fancy, then be mah guest. Just don’t try tah make me do tha same thing.”
“It is not fancy. In fact, I think it’s something even you can understand if you give it some effort.” Applejack looked as if Rarity said that she perferred oranges. “Besides, speaking properly is a part of being a human being.”
“What makes ya think tha way yer sayin’ it is correct?” retorted Applejack. “Ah could say that tha way Ah’m talking's tha correct way.”
“Nevertheless, it is unappealing the way you speak.”
“Maybe tah you.”
“And to all the guys around us as well.”
“What’re ya tryna say?”
“Well, I wouldn’t say that I’ve noticed,” began Rarity. “But I’ve noticed that guys have found me more attractive than you.”
“And you’re sayin’ it’s ‘cause of tha way ah speak?” asked Applejack. “Some people would take offense tah that.”
“Oh, sorry,” said Rarity with a smirk. “I truly meant no offense.”
“Listen, Rarity,” said Applejack, annoyedly. “Ah’m goin’ tah help Rainbow Dash in her garage with her bike. Ah’m gonna have tah see ya later—”
“I’m… excuse me?” asked Rarity. “You’re going where to help Rainbow Dash?”
“Her garage,” repeated Applejack. “What, ya don’t understand basic English now?”
“It seems it is you who does not understand proper English,” retorted Rarity with a smirk. “See, what you are trying to say is Gah-ridge. Not guh-raj.”
“Ah… Ah see,” said Applejack. “So basically, ah’m gonna say whatever ah want to.”
“Hey guys!” said a fast approaching voice. Twilight—from the human world—came up to us, a smile plastered on her face. “What are you guys doing?”
“Oh, we were just sharing some simple small talk,” said Rarity. “In fact, I believe you could participate in it.”
“I have time for some small talk,” she said. “So, what is the topic of the conversation?”
“Ah’m tryna tell Rarity that it don’t matter how ya say somethin’,” said Applejack. “But she’s bein’ stubborn.”
“I’m afraid I don’t understand,” said Twilight. “What do you mean?”
“Silly Applejack,” said Rarity. “She can’t understand you if you use your southern dialect.”
“Ya know, tha more ya talk, tha more ya inch tah racism.”
“When you look at this paper, what do you suppose it is?” Rarity pointed towards the paper swaying in the wind. Twilight looked at the paper for a few seconds then answered.
“A paper,” she said.
“Yes, but what kind of paper?”
“Looks like printer paper.”
“With what on it?”
“A business, it looks like.”
“A business doing what?”
“Selling quilts and sofas, it seems.” Rarity took a long breath and glanced at Applejack, who was snickering.
“Okay,” said Rarity. “What is this business doing? Not what is the business selling; that’s not what I asked. What is the business doing that caused this paper to circulate?” This way, it was impossible for a smart girl like Twilight to misinterpret.
“Oh, now I get it!” said Twilight, a smile returning to her face. “The business is obviously paying people to travel around town, delivering these flyers, so that they can promote their business to other people! Wow. I can’t believe I didn’t get it before.”
“So, uh,” said Applejack, seconds away from blowing up into hoots of laughter. “She won’t understand mah southern dialogue huh?“
“It’s dialect,” said Rarity, annoyedly.
“Correctin’ me ain’t gonna make ya right,” said Applejack, a large smile on her face.
“Anyway, Twilight,” said Rarity, returning to her normal state of affairs. “That long process was leading up to this one question. Do you—”
“Wait, what?” asked Twilight. “That long what was leading up to this one question? I didn’t quite catch that.”
“I said that long process was leading up to this one question.” Rarity repeated. “Do you—”
“Why are you saying process so weirdly?” asked Twilight.
“That’s tha thing,” said answered Applejack. “She only talks in her proper English accent. That’s what she was tryin’ tah show ya here.” Applejack tapped the paper on the pole.
“I speak like a lady. Beats talking like a country bumpkin,” mumbled Rarity.
“Don’t walk in tha shadows, is all Ah’m sayin’,” responded Applejack. Twilight cleared her throat and caught both of their attention.
“Well, since you’re both so adamant about the way you speak, I shall set the record straight. It seems that Rarity is indeed correct when she says that ‘process’ is pronounced ‘Pro-cess’ and not like ’Prah-cess’—”
“Hah,” said Rarity.
“—However, speaking proper all the time is tiring, and is sometimes unnecessary. Many times, we’re just hanging about with friends or at a place where formal talk is seen as abnormal, or wrong—”
“Hah,” said Applejack, similarly to Rarity.
“—However, once again,” said Twilight. “There are also times where being informal is inappropriate. You should both talk in moderation with one another.”
Rarity and Applejack both looked at each other in unison. Through Twilight, they found that they could come to understand each other. Maybe, just maybe, they could learn to understand what the other stood for.
“We could,” said Rarity. “Or, we could not do that at all.”
“Yeah, Ah agree with that,” responded Applejack.
“Well,” said Twilight. “I tried.”
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- RhetCon · 1.2k words · 82 6 · 2.7k views
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Technically, Rarity has a Mid-Atlantic accent, rather than an English accent. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_accent
Otherwise, Great fic!
Nice story
7334759 Thank you for the trivia and the praise.
7334950 Thank you.
Niceu yeash
Me and my Dad have argued about the correct pronunciation of that word since I was little. I say it's pronounced 'Adver-tise-ment' with a long 'i'. There's an 'e' in there, that makes the 'i' long. He keeps pronouncing it 'Advert-iss-ment', like it's spelled totally differently.
Bring me back to all the arguments I had with my dad during my childhood. I was raised In Wisconsin so my accent is primarily Midwestern however when I was 12 I discovered the show "top gear UK." And watched it religiously causing me to adopt more than a few British words. Things like "a bit of a - " and "ad-vert-isement" and my dad's most hated word "bodge." So my BBC butchard accent would agree with rarity in this situation. However while I watched the show I could never agree with there pronunciation of "aluminum."
Fun fact: the 'British' accent is actually one that was developed in the 1800s by the nobility to separate themselves from commoners. The 'original' British accent is actually commonly referred to as the 'American' accent.
With how she's using it, it's not so much racism as class-ism.
7335707 What do you mean "Top Gear UK"? It's just Top Gear, the American version (Top Gear US) came afterwards... Also, you are wrong it's pronounced al-you-min-yum not al-oo-min-um.
Tjakep bener
7336187
Oh no, here we go again...
When people say my name they never get it right. Because, my name is shared with an angel and the devil horns are silent.
This. I like this.
7335707
7336187
The reason for the difference in the names for aluminium (I'm British) is that the man who discovered it kept changing his mind on what to call it. Initially he called it Alumium, but he decided it didn't flow off the tongue very well. Then he changed it to aluminum (the way Americans currently say it) before changing it again to bring back the -ium ending that many other elements have.
I never realised that Americans said "prawcess", actually; and I watched quite a lot of ESEA showcasts on cp_process back in the day. Huh, weird.
7335324 Thanks! At least, I think that you're praising me...
7335345 For me, the arguments started in 7th grade, where I had a teacher who was African. She pronounced schedule differently from me. She'd say Shed-u-al. I had fun back then.
7335368 Rarity is just trying to sound fabuloso.
To be fair, she is pretty fabuloso.
7335825 I had no idea. Thanks for clueing me in.
Now I'll have the advantage at the parties when the conversation dies.
Just kidding. I'm not invited to any parties.
7336050 You're right. Is there a proper term for "class-ism" or is that just what it's called?
7336197 Wut?
7336215 That was hilarious.
7336222 Lucky Europeans. They have cool accents...
7336587 Thank you for liking this.
7337197 It's really easy to miss. I don't normally realize when someone pronounces something differently. Then again, I'm very unattentive.
7337279
Yeah, straight up classism
Though the better term would be something from a different area.. But xenophobia refers to outside your own country..hmm.
7337054
wow i actually didn't know that oh well, the more you know.
7336187
and the reason i specified the nationality of my favorite version of Top gear despite knowing full well it was the first version is out of complete respect for it.
i didn't want people at first glance to even for a second to mix up a show about three of some of the greatest TV presenters who had good chemistry who made a show that was genuinely about the love of a car to be mixed up with a show about three american b list celebrities who do nothing but stand around and be unfunny while they throw there cars off a cliff and wonder why they didn't fly. then they go back to the studio and put a stupid rhyme on every thing they stole from the UK version.
i actually cried when i watched the last episode of top gear uk with Jeremy, Richard and James. and i mean no disrespect to Matt Leblanc and Chris Evens, there are trying to make it there own show and its okay, but the top gear i knew and love since the years before driving was just a fantasy to me is dead.
i would like to apologize to the writer of this story for my off topic rambling.
7337497 Oh OK. I agree with your views on the new Top Gear (Grand Tour is coming out on Amazon Prime soon though - can't wait!)
7337054 TMYK...
7337513 i normally can't stand a support exclisive shows on any format, hulu, netflix, amazon prime.
but if its to see Jezza, Hamster, and Cpt. Slow again, i think i might hold my nose and see it.
7336187 I personally find it more natural to say it as aluminum. Aluminium is just awkward to say.
As long as what was said was understood, then shut the hell up Rarity.
Also:
7337272
Really? Huh, the one I've heard is shed-jul. (I use sked-jul, myself.)
British person here. I thought this was fun, so have a like. For what it's worth, I say "shed-yool" and "ad-VERT-iss-ment". Mind you, some people here do say "sked-yool", and it's about evenly split between "GAR-idj" and "GAR-ahj". Both with stress on the first syllable, though: "gar-AHJ" is most definitely American.
Fun fact: where I was born (not far from Birmingham) the traditional way to refer to one's mother is "Mom". Yes, with an O like in American English, not a "U" like Standard British English. It's always fun when people try to tell me "Mom" is an Americanism, then I can explain that we were using the word before the USA existed. :P
Finally a Rarity and Applejack story that’s not about them being a couple or shipped together. Also this was a pretty good read and funny considering that I am from the south and do have an accent .
Rarity's one to talk about speaking properly since it's strongly suggested in the show that she uses a fake accent to sound more upper class.
Rarity's accent is odd. It sounds like she's putting on an accent, as her singing voice is not English in sound, and her parents and sister all speak with American accents.
7848103
You hear 'mam' a lot in Nottingham, where I'm from.
Great story, loved it. After reading this I firmly believe topic Rarity is the type to pronounce vase as "va:z" and AJ the type to pronounce it as "vies".