What's she saying?

December 31, 2008 6:21 AM

Please watch about ten seconds of this youtube video to help me understand what is being said. The video is 'cued up' to the right place, so you needn't watch the whole thing.

It's a scene from the film 'Mrs Miniver', featuring an elderly woman, her granddaughter and the granddaughter's boyfriend. The grandmother is upset because a rose named after the boyfriend's mother has been entered in a local flower-show. She insults the boyfriend by suggesting that his mother is too undistinguished to have a rose named after her, and she gives examples of the sort of names roses 'should' have. The first name is 'Marshal Niel' and the last is 'Duchess of Argyll', but I cannot understand what she says between these two names. I assume it's the name of a famous rose cultivar, but I have listened and listened and it's unintelligible to me. I googled it, but the only result was an error-filled transcript of the film that I don't trust to be accurate. Please listen and tell me what you think. Any wild stab in the dark is welcome!

posted by ShameSpiral to grab bag (6 comments total)

Sounds like: frau koldriski could it be something they made up?
posted by sully75 at 6:28 AM on December 31, 2008 [1 favorite]

I believe she is naming the Frau Karl Druschki--which is a kind of hybrid rose.
posted by subatomiczoo at 6:37 AM on December 31, 2008 [1 favorite]

According to this she's saying,

"The Marshall Neil, the flower called Drushke...the Duchess of Argyle, and now the Mrs. Miniver."
posted by _Mona_ at 6:39 AM on December 31, 2008

Has to be Frau Karl Druschki—that "flower called Drushke" is an obvious attempt to make sense of a name the transcriber didn't understand.
posted by languagehat at 7:40 AM on December 31, 2008 [1 favorite]

Thank you so much! This had been niggling at me for days! Subatomiczoo gave the best answer, but I favorited sully75 because I'm amazed he was able to get the sounds so accurately without having ever heard of the rose in question. And I favorited languagehat because he is languagehat, the final arbiter on all questions of a philological nature. I love you all!
posted by ShameSpiral at 8:59 AM on December 31, 2008

That's funny. Sometimes I do tape transcriptions. Plus I'm a musician and do a lot of music transcriptions. I'm glad my ears are good for something!
posted by sully75 at 2:25 PM on December 31, 2008