speaker_to_customers: (Default)
speaker_to_customers ([personal profile] speaker_to_customers) wrote2006-01-04 01:22 am

Seeking American cultural information

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.
usedtobeljs: (Default)

[personal profile] usedtobeljs 2006-01-04 01:25 am (UTC)(link)
Yes. Or older Americans do, at any rate.
ext_2333: "That's right,  people, I am a constant surprise." (Default)

[identity profile] makd.livejournal.com 2006-01-04 02:25 am (UTC)(link)
Hey! Older American, here. ;-)

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

(no subject)

[identity profile] makd.livejournal.com - 2006-01-04 02:26 (UTC) - Expand
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[identity profile] speakr2customrs.livejournal.com 2006-01-06 03:20 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you!
gillo: (Queen)

[personal profile] gillo 2006-01-04 01:26 am (UTC)(link)
I think they sing it in "When Harry Met Sally" at the relevant moment.

(See how culturally knowledgeable I am.:g:)
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[identity profile] speakr2customrs.livejournal.com 2006-01-06 03:20 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

[identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/opalescence_/ 2006-01-04 01:26 am (UTC)(link)
If you're at a party, absolutely!
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[identity profile] speakr2customrs.livejournal.com 2006-01-06 03:21 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

[identity profile] redwulf50.livejournal.com 2006-01-04 01:27 am (UTC)(link)
Yep and they even do it in old movies
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[identity profile] speakr2customrs.livejournal.com 2006-01-06 03:21 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

[identity profile] szandara.livejournal.com 2006-01-04 01:28 am (UTC)(link)
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.
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[identity profile] speakr2customrs.livejournal.com 2006-01-06 03:21 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

[identity profile] avidrosette.livejournal.com 2006-01-04 01:28 am (UTC)(link)
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.
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[identity profile] speakr2customrs.livejournal.com 2006-01-06 03:21 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

[identity profile] zanthinegirl.livejournal.com 2006-01-04 01:32 am (UTC)(link)
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...
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[identity profile] speakr2customrs.livejournal.com 2006-01-06 03:22 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you!
rahirah: (Default)

[personal profile] rahirah 2006-01-04 01:32 am (UTC)(link)
Yep, we do. Though it may be a more common thing among older folks.

[identity profile] pfeifferpack.livejournal.com 2006-01-04 02:59 pm (UTC)(link)
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

[identity profile] julia-here.livejournal.com 2006-01-04 02:01 am (UTC)(link)
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
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[identity profile] speakr2customrs.livejournal.com 2006-01-06 03:22 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

[identity profile] slackerace.livejournal.com 2006-01-04 02:05 am (UTC)(link)
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...
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[identity profile] speakr2customrs.livejournal.com 2006-01-06 03:22 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

[identity profile] arclevel.livejournal.com 2006-01-04 02:19 am (UTC)(link)
Frequently, especially at parties, but generally without actually knowing most of the words.
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[identity profile] speakr2customrs.livejournal.com 2006-01-06 03:22 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you!
elsaf: (Default)

[personal profile] elsaf 2006-01-04 02:56 am (UTC)(link)
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.

[identity profile] itmustbetuesday.livejournal.com 2006-01-04 03:01 am (UTC)(link)
Times Gone By :P

[identity profile] itmustbetuesday.livejournal.com 2006-01-04 03:01 am (UTC)(link)
Yep, we sure do! Though we really don't know the words to it... ;)
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[identity profile] speakr2customrs.livejournal.com 2006-01-06 03:23 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

[identity profile] nandibble.livejournal.com 2006-01-04 03:05 am (UTC)(link)
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.

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[identity profile] speakr2customrs.livejournal.com 2006-01-06 03:24 am (UTC)(link)
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.

[identity profile] appomattoxco.livejournal.com 2006-01-04 03:52 am (UTC)(link)
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.
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[identity profile] speakr2customrs.livejournal.com 2006-01-06 03:24 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

[identity profile] ezagaaikwe.livejournal.com 2006-01-04 11:23 am (UTC)(link)
I've always seen it in American movies but never actually done it myself, or actually seen it done. (Erm, heard it done.)
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[identity profile] speakr2customrs.livejournal.com 2006-01-06 03:24 am (UTC)(link)
Thanks!

[identity profile] pfeifferpack.livejournal.com 2006-01-04 02:57 pm (UTC)(link)
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
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[identity profile] speakr2customrs.livejournal.com 2006-01-06 03:24 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

[identity profile] spikeverse.livejournal.com 2006-01-04 04:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, but just one verse. No one knows any more.
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[identity profile] speakr2customrs.livejournal.com 2006-01-06 03:25 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

[identity profile] cbtreks.livejournal.com 2006-01-04 06:27 pm (UTC)(link)
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.
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[identity profile] speakr2customrs.livejournal.com 2006-01-06 03:25 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

[identity profile] ayinhara.livejournal.com 2006-01-04 06:36 pm (UTC)(link)
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.
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[identity profile] speakr2customrs.livejournal.com 2006-01-06 03:25 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

[identity profile] evilawyer.livejournal.com 2006-01-04 08:12 pm (UTC)(link)
We do. But we tend to pronounce it "All Lang Zine." I don't know, maybe that is the correct pronunciation.
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[identity profile] speakr2customrs.livejournal.com 2006-01-06 03:28 am (UTC)(link)
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.

[identity profile] averageshmoe.livejournal.com 2006-01-05 01:42 am (UTC)(link)
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
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[identity profile] speakr2customrs.livejournal.com 2006-01-06 03:29 am (UTC)(link)
We got culture?

Dang. When did that happen?


Mostly before 1776.

[identity profile] spikespetslayer.livejournal.com 2006-01-09 08:09 am (UTC)(link)
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!
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[identity profile] speakr2customrs.livejournal.com 2006-01-09 09:25 am (UTC)(link)
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!