Whaddaya know, a music video in two languages and I can't understand either of them. What you need to watch here is the woman translating the song into sign language and who can't help shaking her booty to the music as well. Does anyone here know both British English and sign language? Let us know if she's doing a good job! And what does "put a donk on it" mean anyway?
(via b3ta)
Stumble This
Reddit!
Erm... British English? I think you mean English!
Tom, British English is often incomprehensible to those of us who speak American English. As George Bernard Shaw said, "England and America are two countries separated by a common language."
My mother the globetrotter said, "As many countries as I've traveled to, England is the only one where I couldn't understand people speaking English."
Gee, Miss C ... what would you do without the periodic lessons submitted by Facebook academics?
I'm curious, how does one properly identify the subtle differences in language and dialect amongst the regions that speak English other than to identify it as British English, American English, New Jersey English, etc ... ?
I think we all know what she meant.
Well, most of us.
The question is, does anyone know what this singer meant?
Until I read Vice Magazine's article about the Donk scene of Northern England a while back, I just thought a Donk was the British version of your basic American Douche Bag.
I wasn't being commenting on the differences of the languages, more on the fact that were it not for British English, US English might not exist. Or had England not settled in America, the main language (assuming other English speaking countries had not also moved in) could be something completely different. Speaking of which, what language did Native Americans speak?
Also, I happen to be from the North of England, and he is basically rapping about how good he is. "I'm like superman without kryptonite, fat as hell without cellulite". Sick means good. I would be happy to translate the entire thing were there the demand for it.
And I can relate to the differences between English in America as, although media seems reluctant to let on, we in England are not all Cockneys or incredibly posh!
I am sorry for the essay style response, I shall try to make my next post humourous in some way!
Native Americans spoke many, many languages. The new world was nothing like a single, united country.
Thanks T.J. for the gist of the song. I can't understand anything the guy was saying, however my wife speaks sign language, so I'm going to ask her to look at the translator.
Sure seems like the "donk" is an electronic beat effect that they add to each version of the music "type" they name. Needs a bit of a punch up? Put a DONK on it. I think it's the usual rap bravado with a bit of humor as DONK ends up with multiple meanings. The dooble-ant-tawnd-rah, mate. Brits speaking unintelligibly or in code is nothing new. Talk a la mode or it's Friar Tuck for us.
Lyrics here:
http://www.sweetslyrics.com/573842.Blackout%20Crew%20-%20put%20a%20donk%20on%20it.html
Just for the record she is signing in British Sign Language not American Sign Language which is what I sign. I work as an interpreter for the Deaf and focus on music and Theater interpreting. Language is defined by the culture and geographic proximity to things that influence it. Thus the many different Native American lanuages and the difference between British English and American English and British Sign Language and American Sign Language
It is not that she can not help shaking her booty with the music, it is part of her job as an interpreter (not a translate) to show the beat of the music and feeling with her whole body. It is a hard skill to master that will interpreting from one language to another. The sign that she makes for donk is similar to echo in ASL so I am guessing that it means to repeat the beat to give it emphasis.
"means to repeat the beat to give it emphasis"
... and everyone thought that 'Honky-Tonk, Ba-Donk-a-Donk' was just a silly and meaningless song.