It's Not Your Decision [10.26.06]

[Smashing]

That's what I'm saying. If her delivery sounds forced, it could be because she's either not a good actor or because the production is so rushed. I think the actress is from England. We don't know the whole history of her character, but I believe the character just met Bree in "Nottinghamshire" and nowhere else.
I do agree with Hye on one point, her saying "It's your decision" in the video titled "It's not your decision" is incredibly stupid.

[hyemew]

Check this out! Speaking of alumnus, without my knowledge of Brit-talk I couldn't be sure if they actually pronounced it that strangely there, though I had my doubts because it sounded so utterly ridiculous. I decided to see if google could turn up for me how alumnus is prounounced in Britain, and I found this!

"For example, most Britons know that Americans call biscuits cookies and flats apartments, but not so many know what an alumnus or a fender is." So Brits don't even USE the word alumnus?? What do they say instead? That'd be a major blow against Gemma's actually Britishness.

Source (cached to help you find the word):
72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:I7xFxbIVwEoJ:esl.fis.edu/parents/easy/aebe.htm+alumnus+british+pronounced&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=5

Turns out you have to copy+paste to get to that link, so here's the real link too: esl.fis.edu/parents/easy/aebe.htm

[Smashing]

Well, if Britons don't use the word alumnus, and then she pronounced it all weird, that would be evidence to me that the actress is British and didn't know how to pronounce it, and that the writers are American and don't know how British people talk.

[noasinger]

But don't Brits pronounce "aluminum" as ALOOMINEEUM?

So mispronouncing "alumnus" that way would count *for* her having a natural Brit accent.

[hyemew]

No, if Jackie WAS British she would KNOW Britons don't use the word alumnus and would tell them to use another word to keep it real!

[Smashing]

yes, noa.

Edit: Just because she didn't demand a rewrite doesn't prove she's not British. It just proves she didn't want to argue with the creators.

and what do brits call an alumnus anyway if not an alumnus?

[noasinger]

Meh, a 19 year old in probably one of her first roles, being directed by the same guy who got Jess splashed all over the news venues which was the ticket to these girls getting to hang out at Tom Green parties -- she might not be all that likely to sass that director or fuss about Mesh's word choices.

They're writing for what is assumed to be a predominantly American audience; they probably want to keep it as accessible to that audience as they can.

[wednesday]

Please, please, PLEASE forgive me if this is a trout, but what about this comment from mky77?

"Re: Hi Gemma! [10.25.06]
« Reply #5 on Yesterday at 8:27pm »

just in from Jkie..

"RE: Gemmers19
Body:
i was born in south africa and moved to england etc....so the fake accent that people think im doing well thats my own way of talking...plus i never said i was british in the clips. but anyhow i just thought you may want to know."

alissabrooke.proboards56.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=vid&thread=1161826504&page=1

[please also forgive the link and quote instead of a QUOTE. I don't know how to do that from different threads.]

In general I couldn't care less if she is or isn't British (or South African). I certainly don't care for her like I care for Daniel, but I have to say that I'm glad they are trying to flesh out SOME sort of backstory from SOME diffferent person/perspective...even if it really sucks. On the other hand, Gemma makes me cringe, and I'd prefer not to watch if I don't have to (in other words, she'd better move the story along, or I simply won't be able to bear to watch).

That's it. Thanks.

[hyemew]

I'm sure graduate would be a more neutral word known to everyone. One would think that if British Jackie (not saying she isn't, but that it just seems like so many coincidences would have to come together to make that the case it seems a bit unlikely) told Mesh "they don't use that word where I come from" would not be seen as sassing the director. Mesh seems like a smart guy who takes this seriously, I would think he'd be on the side of realism and would want this to see as real as possible. There are quite a few Brits who watch, the boards were actually quite full of them in their heydays. While we don't know if alumnus is actually widely known there or not, I'd say it isn't based on a webpage about Brit/Amer differences saying so is enough for me, if indeed it isn't then I don't see why there'd be a problem with getting removed.
I don't know, everything I'm saying is pure speculation, but then again you've guys have got to admit so are your hypotheses.

[corcaroli]

Gemma's pronunciation of the noun 'commune', with the stress on the second syllable, is unusual, but some people really do pronounce it that way.

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed., lists hers as one of three possible pronunciations of the noun that means a community, etc.

'Aloomnus" is still a puzzle. But I won't be surprised if it turns out that the actress is using her own natural accent, but that it's a bit of a mishmash because she's lived in multiple places. Just like Jessica Rose and her non-American 'been's.

[hyemew]

If that's a youtube response from "Gemma/Jackie", who wants to bet it's just Miles or someone answering from her name as well? It wasn't Jess writing the responses from LG15 so why should we think Jackie responds for Gemma? Also, the South Africa thing sounds kind of like an excuse, I mean seriously I'm personally getting sick of the multitude countries each character seems to be from. Also seeing as I don't think anyone here is all that familliar with South African accents, it gets harder to verify the fakeness of her alleged South African accent. And no matter where she's from she still sounds forced and fake, unless someone can find me a Lonely Planet excerpt which says something like "South Africans are renowned for the fake-soundingness of their accents."

[corcaroli]

Ah. So apparently Will Rogers used Gemma's pronunciation of alumnus. See "Improving Alumni Relations," in The Journal of Higher Education from May, 1938, pp. 235-242. On p. 236 we get this illooominating anecdote:

"Some years ago the late Will Rogers visited our campus, and I was introduced to him as the alumni secretary, 'The aloomni, eh?' he said, a characteristic twinkle in his eye. 'Well, I always thought mebbe the colleges would git along better if they took most of the aloomni out the day after Commencement and drowned 'em, like a batch of kittens.'"

Um. Right.

[hyemew]

Drowned em like a batch of kittens, eh? Wow, he sounds about as charming as Bree's mom in a classroom setting.
Was it because those kittens were prevent Will Rogers from thinking freely or something?

[buckwheat]

BTW, Gemma has gotten over 2000 YT subscribers ....someone likes her...

[hyemew]

buckwheat said:

BTW, Gemma has gotten over 2000 YT subscribers ....someone likes her...

Anyone who's a direct spin-off mentioned by lonelygirl, seeing as her videos get hundreds of thousands of hits within hours of being put up, is naturally going to get a bunch of subscribers whether they're good or not. "Gemma" could be a jar of mayonaise sitting on screen for a full 10 minutes, but if Bree directly incorporates her into the plot then she's still going to get a lot of subscribers. That's just the way things go, has no bearing on people actually liking her (which I'll concede of course some people do.)