[YouTube] I'm just like used to see me

[suprunp]

[...] change them to my actual glasses. Coz I don't know I'm just like used to see me in these.
(YouTube; 1:52)

Would you be so kind as to tell me whether I've heard this bit correctly?

Thanks.

 

[jutfrank]

"I'm just going to change them to my actual glasses 'cause, I don't know, I'm just like used to seeing me in these."

 

[suprunp]

Thank you jutfrank!

May I ask you whether you can really hear it or you assume that's the only way she could have said it even if we can't hear it clearly?

Thanks.

 

[jutfrank]

Yes, I believe I can just about perceive the -ing but it is almost imperceptible. It's probably coming more from the intonation and rhythm of the whole phrase "seeing me in these" (which has a nicely regular DA-ka DA-ka DAA) rather than from the actual individual sounds of the -ing suffix. Without the -ing, the tone phrase would be probably be intonated as DAA DA-ka DAA (with a longer first stress). It's hard to say for sure though, since she's speaking fairly fast.

Also, you're right that I do know that she definitely would not say see by mistake. That is not the kind of mistake a native would make.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

[...] change them to my actual glasses. Coz I don't know I'm just like used to see me in these.
(YouTube; 1:52)

Would you be so kind as to tell me whether I've heard this bit correctly?

Thanks.

You're very close. I'm impressed. It's "seeing," not "see," but you're otherwise exactly right.

She's using a type of slang we call Valleyspeak, which you can Google.

Valleyspeak employs the word like in a lot of unorthodox or unlikely contexts. It originated among high school girls in Los Angeles, California, USA, and infected Hollywood, which enabled it's rapid spread throughout the English-speaking world.

An epidemiologist can explain it better than I ever could.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Yes, she's talking very quickly. She probably hit the espresso bar early and hard. That's why I was impressed that you caught so much of it.

By the way, here are some corrections to your transcription:

. . . change them to my actual glasses. 'Cause, I don't know, I'm just, like, used to seeing me in these.

Punctuation makes it more coherent.

Coz means cousin. 'Cause is the contraction of because. Sometimes people use coz informally, but it's not standard English. (Yet.)

 

[suprunp]

Coz means cousin. 'Cause is the contraction of because. Sometimes people use coz informally, but it's not standard English. (Yet.)

Thank you. Yes, indeed; now that I've checked through my dictionaries I can see that for some reason all of them interpret it only as a (rather archaic) contraction of 'cousin' but one - Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - for them this is already standard English and the only, I assume, valid meaning (because). And purely by chance this was the very dictionary I checked against whilst trying to confirm that 'coz' meant what I thought it meant (because).

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I've heard from one or two of the British teachers here that Longman isn't a completely reliable reference. As I say, people often use coz to mean because, but I don't think it's been recognized as standard English by most standard reference sources.

 

[alexpen]

I am going to make an off-topic comment, but after hearing her for about a minute I feel entitled to do so ;-)

Who on earth can put up with this gab for long? I mean she is chattering like a magpie! If only some bird-watchers... :lol:

PS

She's using a type of slang we call Valleyspeak, which you can Google.

Wow, they now coin terms for every unorthodox linguistic usage! Poor old Google...:roll:

 

[GoesStation]

Valleyspeak goes back to the early Seventies. It was the distinctive speech of Valley girls, teenage girls from the large, nondescript (at the time) San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles. I would not describe the British woman in the video as using it.

 

[GoesStation]

Frank Zappa's daughter Moon Unit Zappa immortalized the style:

 

[alexpen]

I would not describe the British woman in the video as using it.

Oh, no! Do we need another term then :roll:

 

[emsr2d2]

I don't think we do. She seems to be speaking fairly natural, standard, informal English.