• gmtom@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Americans are goofy af “criss cross applesauce” bitch that don’t even rhyme

    • HeapOfDogs@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Am American, I know the phrase criss cross applesauce, but have never heard it used seriously. I’ve always said and heard, cross legged. Years ago it was called Indian style but I haven’t heard that in years.

      • Dozzi92@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Yeah, was Indian style as a kid in the early '90s. Little kids need some mnemonic device to literally just not fly off the face of the earth, and so that was the replacement they came up with. Cross-legged just doesn’t grab a kid’s attention like mashed apples.

        • Lesrid@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          My teacher had a whole other verse. /Criss-crossed applesauce /Quiet as a mouse

            • TriPolarBearz@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              You’re missing the rest of the rhyme.

              OK kids, come over and sit criss cross applesauce, quiet as a mouse. Do as I say, or I’ll come to your house. That’s where I might just talk to your mother, and see if we should replace you with another.

        • Lesrid@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          American accents seem to prefer the Shakespearean version: “Wicked”, “Dogged” but not “Curved” for whatever reason. Maybe it has to do with the tendency for the word to be used as a verb. “Curved” is usually an adjective but sometimes a verb, while “Wicked” is nearly always an adjective.

          • deo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            1 year ago

            I think it’s often to distinguish between two words that would otherwise be homophones.

            There’s “wick’ed” (two syllables) as in “something wicked this way comes” and “wicked” (one syllable) as in “Grady wicked away the spilled avocaat from Jack Torrence’s jacket with a towel”.

            There’s “dogg’ed” (two syllables) as in “dogged perseverance”, but also “dogged” (one syllable) as in “Javert dogged Valjean for many years”.

            I don’t have one for “curved” though. I think i’ve only ever heard it as one syllable, except for maybe in cases where poetic meter requires use of an “èd”. Although, I think “curv’ed’ly” has three syllables, but I might be making that up. Typing up this comment has given me semantic satiation.

            But, yeah, I think you’re right about the adjective vs verb thing. The two-syllable examples are adjectives, while the one-syllable examples are verbs. Except for curved…

    • Grass@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      I need an example pronunciation of how it doesn’t rhyme because the only way I can hear it in my head rhymes. I’ve never heard of this name for the seating method though.

      • gmtom@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Cross rhymes with boss, toss, moss, loss, Ross.

        Sauce rhymes with horse, coarse, force.

        So for them to rhyme you would either have to say “crawse” or “Soss”

        • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          “Soss” is how we pronounce “sauce” and I don’t know where you’re finding the “r” sound.

              • octoperson@sh.itjust.works
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                1 year ago

                Those are homophones. If I told you about the source of the Nile I could be talking about something Egyptians put on their chips.

                • Underwaterbob@lemm.ee
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                  1 year ago

                  All occurrences of “au”? Audience? Cautious? Daughter? Or is there some kind of restraint like only if the proceeding consonant is hard or soft?

              • Pyro@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                Exactly the same way. Sauce and source are the same for us in England.

                So to us, it’s like OP is saying “criss cross apple source”, which just sounds silly.

            • abraxas@sh.itjust.works
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              1 year ago

              In the US, it really doesn’t.

              The proper American phonetic for sauce is “saas”. The proper american phonetic for cross is “craas”.

              I think you MIGHT be able to defend it for British English, which use phonetics “kros” and “haws” and “saws” for above words. But I would say “aws” and “os” phonetics are close enough to to count as rhyming by most standards, and classical poetry uses far less clear rhymes commonly.

                • TWeaK@lemm.ee
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                  1 year ago

                  Have you ever been to Bristol? The way they pronounce “half” reminds me of American accents. Not “half” like the Queen’s English, not “haff” like some places oop norff, but “haaaff” said with kind of a wide mouth. It perhaps makes sense, as Bristol was a port town that a lot of early immigrants to America started from.

                  That and Scottish kids. I think they watch so much YouTube these days (particularly up in the middle of nowhere) that they pick up a twang of American.

                • abraxas@sh.itjust.works
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                  1 year ago

                  That’s really interesting. I ran it through a british tts and it sounded closer than a lot of classic poetry rhymes… Yeah, it’s not exactly the same, but it’s similar.

                  Run that string through an American English TTS, and you’ll see exactly how perfect it rhymes.

          • gmtom@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Yeah, why do think people as for a “sauce” when someone posts a picture on the internet?

            • Moneo@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              …I thought that was a cutesy joke. But that’s not what I meant. They said sauce rhymes with horse. So either they say “source” for sauce or hoss for horse.

              But that actually checks for a Boston accident now that I think of it.

            • TWeaK@lemm.ee
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              1 year ago

              How can you downvote literal British humour against someone trying to do fake British humour?? Sarcastic depravation is the name of the game.

        • octoperson@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          in British

          😒 Watch it Dutchie, or we’ll start sending more drunk stag weekenders

          (I put in an edit to make clear that I am, in fact, British)

          • kennismigrant@feddit.nl
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            1 year ago

            Well, I still don’t see how it does not rhyme.

            Watch it Dutchie

            😒 Even though I am a slim 2-meter tall blonde blue-eyed rude narcissistic guy with a strong Dutch accent living in Amsterdam, eating sandwiches for lunch, even though I can ride a bike and skipper a ship in any weather with equal ease, and I do enjoy making fun of Brits, I am not Dutch. I also drink more tea than you do :P

    • Pyro@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I literally has this exact conversation back when I saw this on Reddit.

      “History always repeats itself” or something.

    • TWeaK@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Ahhh yeah you can see it, there’s a bit of fluff that looks like it’s the right leg going over, but it’s just fluff.

      Owls are 90% fluff, so this checks out.

      • Emerald@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I mean hey its important to note that its not scientifically accurate. I think its a nice meme though as it really does look like criss cross applesauce.

        • ReluctantMuskrat@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I agree. I didn’t respond with malice… the truth just stole our collective enjoyment of the idea that an owl could and would sit criss-cross applesauce. There’s just something adorable about the notion. :)

          I considered adding a /s but decided to roll with the down votes… lol

    • rmuk@feddit.uk
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      1 year ago

      Always remember the acronym A.V.I.A.N.:

      A - Birds
      V - Are
      I - Not
      A - Real
      N -
      
    • TWeaK@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      I think that’s a hawk.

      Owls have sausage eyes, they are fixed focal length and go back into their skulls, leaving very little room for a brain.

      Edit: with a reverse image search, it seems I’m not the first to say this. My guess is that this is just dodgy taxidermy - maybe it was an owl, but taxidermy is notoriously bad at eyes.