Seeking American cultural information

[speaker_to_customers]

Help! Cultural information desperately needed!

Do Americans sing "Auld Lang Syne" at midnight on New Year's Eve/Day? My guess would be no, but I could do with some confirmation.

Comments

[usedtobeljs]

Yes. Or older Americans do, at any rate.

[makd.livejournal.com]

Hey! Older American, here. ;-)

And, yes, you're right: we do. Some younger Americans also sing it -- like Republicans and yuppies. ;-)

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[gillo]

I think they sing it in "When Harry Met Sally" at the relevant moment.

(See how culturally knowledgeable I am.:g:)

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[http://users.livejournal.com/opalescence_/]

If you're at a party, absolutely!

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[redwulf50.livejournal.com]

Yep and they even do it in old movies

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[szandara.livejournal.com]

Yes we do, but we're not sure why, and we don't understand what it means. It's kind of a vestigial thing, like a musical appendix.

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[avidrosette.livejournal.com]

Sure we do! They even play it on the big TV broadcast from Times Square that many people tune into to watch "the ball" drop.

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

Sure we do! I had to work on New Years eve this year, and we sang it after the countdown at midnight and the toast with sparkling cider. And we scared the heck out of the babies in the NICU, so I'm guessing we weren't exactly in tune...

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[rahirah]

Yep, we do. Though it may be a more common thing among older folks.

[pfeifferpack.livejournal.com]

Gaaahhhhhh Did you HAVE to say older folk *G*...I just admitted to singing annually (even at home, not just at parties). ...::::mutters "not older, just broken in"::::...

Kathleen

[julia-here.livejournal.com]

Well- yeah, usually singing along with the television; a diminishing tradition, I think, except for large formal parties of the sort I go out of my way to avoid.

Julia, at my house we're too busy letting off fireworks from the res

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[slackerace.livejournal.com]

If you're out with others or at a party, you would. Or at a nightclub. But, if you're at home on the couch, watching TV, then no.

I would think that most americans actually don't know the words and most just hum...

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

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[arclevel.livejournal.com]

Frequently, especially at parties, but generally without actually knowing most of the words.

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

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[elsaf]

We certainly did, though I suspect most younger Americans don't know what the words mean.

When I was young, Guy Lombardo and his excruciatingly bad big band used to play it every New Years on the TV, and they said when Guy Lombardo died, he was going to take New Years with him. Nowadays, Dick Clark owns New Years, though many suspect he's about to leave it to Ryan Seacrest.

[itmustbetuesday.livejournal.com]

Times Gone By :P

[itmustbetuesday.livejournal.com]

Yep, we sure do! Though we really don't know the words to it... ;)

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[nandibble.livejournal.com]

I'd think only those 'Muricans who have read Robert Burns in the original incomprehensible (Scots dialect, phonetically spelled) would know *all* the words. I know most.... All the first verse, anyway.

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

I'd think only those 'Muricans who have read Robert Burns in the original incomprehensible (Scots dialect, phonetically spelled) would know *all* the words

So, pretty much the same as the English, then.

[appomattoxco.livejournal.com]

You don't need me to say that we do but I will anyway. I hate to be left out. My science teacher was bored before winter break my junior year. We learned the words instead of watching a flim. Just don't quiz me, it was a LONG time ago.

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[ezagaaikwe.livejournal.com]

I've always seen it in American movies but never actually done it myself, or actually seen it done. (Erm, heard it done.)

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[pfeifferpack.livejournal.com]

Wrong my furry alien friend! We do indeed sing it (although I doubt many know all the words or have a clue to the meaning, origin, etc.) I should ammend this that most TRY to sing it...most are too sotted up to manage it!

Kathleen
sober and in good voice this year

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[spikeverse.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but just one verse. No one knows any more.

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[cbtreks.livejournal.com]

I've never been in a group that sings it but I know it's done (but I know the words of the first verse and they give me a lump in my throat). When I lived in the midwest, I'd watch the big ball in Times Square and people sing it there - I remember Guy Lombardo's band playing it. Apparently we don't do it in Las Vegas - the fireworks are too loud, for one thing.

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[ayinhara.livejournal.com]

I went to a Gilbert and Sullivan Gala Performance on Dec 31st. The orchestra played Auld Lang Syne at the end. Full orchestra. Trained singers. I only know the words to the first stanza.

I had never thought about whether it was generally known. I would have to guess that older people would be more likely to know it.

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[evilawyer.livejournal.com]

We do. But we tend to pronounce it "All Lang Zine." I don't know, maybe that is the correct pronunciation.

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

No, "All Lang Zine" is not the correct pronunciation; the correct pronunciation is "Auld Lang Syne". The Lowland Scots dialect in which Burns wrote is pretty phonetic in its spellings.

[averageshmoe.livejournal.com]

Help! Cultural information desperately needed!

Do Americans

We got culture?

Dang. When did that happen?

Got to get my wheelchair over to the television box. They got a Guy Lombardo retrospective on VH1.

pgavigan

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

We got culture?

Dang. When did that happen?

Mostly before 1776.

[spikespetslayer.livejournal.com]

How the hell have I missed a Kzin on LJ for so long? I mean, I've read some of your stuff, but hey, never knew that you were Kzin, you hide it so well...must be your amazing adaptability...
N-E-way...friended you, for I am a friend of the Kzin and refused to fight in the Man-Kzin wars, and as written in the histories, man and Kzin can get along, it just takes work and understanding of customs...so there...you are officially friended...welcome!

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

you hide it so well...must be your amazing adaptability...

No, it's because if anyone sees through my disguise I eat them.

Friended you back!