What language is Jeff speaking in episode 5 of Coupling?
July 11, 2006 2:15 AM Subscribe
Episode 5 The girl with two breasts from the TV series Coupling features a sequence where Jeff is speaking in a foreign language. What language is it?
I thought it was Italian, but when I showed the episode to some Italians, they laughed at me.
I thought it was Italian, but when I showed the episode to some Italians, they laughed at me.
Best answer: According to imdb's trivia page for "Coupling," it's gibberish.
posted by rob511 at 2:28 AM on July 11, 2006
posted by rob511 at 2:28 AM on July 11, 2006
Response by poster: It's definitely not Welsh (or Hebrew). If it is gibberish he made up on the spot then he's very good at coming up with language-like noises!
posted by handee at 2:30 AM on July 11, 2006
posted by handee at 2:30 AM on July 11, 2006
haha! I always thought it was gibberish!
Such a hilarious episode. I'm laughing just thinking about it :)
posted by snarkle at 2:35 AM on July 11, 2006
Such a hilarious episode. I'm laughing just thinking about it :)
posted by snarkle at 2:35 AM on July 11, 2006
The clip is on YouTube. I'd say that it's very cleverly made-up Russian-ish language too.
posted by ceri richard at 2:55 AM on July 11, 2006
posted by ceri richard at 2:55 AM on July 11, 2006
The actor and the character he plays are Welsh, could it be that?
pedanticfilter: The actor Richard Coyle is not actually welsh. But he looks likes a welshman and does an dead-on accent, so I'll bet that you're not the first one to think it.
posted by Mayor Curley at 4:35 AM on July 11, 2006
pedanticfilter: The actor Richard Coyle is not actually welsh. But he looks likes a welshman and does an dead-on accent, so I'll bet that you're not the first one to think it.
posted by Mayor Curley at 4:35 AM on July 11, 2006
As you might gather from my username, I'm a big fan of this particular episode.
posted by EarBucket at 4:38 AM on July 11, 2006
posted by EarBucket at 4:38 AM on July 11, 2006
Basically gibberish, with bits of Romanian and perhaps Italian mixed in. (Romanian, though a Romance language, has a lot of Slavic loanwords, which is why it sounds "Russian-ish.")
posted by languagehat at 7:19 AM on July 11, 2006
posted by languagehat at 7:19 AM on July 11, 2006
Babu is an Indian name -- formal and for affection. It probably was a mix of a lot of stuff.
posted by skepticallypleased at 7:49 AM on July 11, 2006
posted by skepticallypleased at 7:49 AM on July 11, 2006
I always thought it was Hebrew, but as I don't speak it I can't back up my claim.
posted by ob at 9:02 AM on July 11, 2006
posted by ob at 9:02 AM on July 11, 2006
Response by poster: The woman is definitely speaking Hebrew, but Jeff clearly isn't.
posted by handee at 9:06 AM on July 11, 2006
posted by handee at 9:06 AM on July 11, 2006
FWIW, when I was living in Sweden they had a guy on TV who could imitate languages. By that I mean he had the rythms, patterns, sounds and accents dead-on, plus a few minor words, but he never actually said anything (although a friend claimed to understand him perfectly). He would switch between English, Italian, German, French, etc. and it was very funny. Would love to see him perform again.
posted by trinity8-director at 1:09 PM on July 11, 2006
posted by trinity8-director at 1:09 PM on July 11, 2006
I caught bits of french in there. Mais, non, il y a, l'espace, etc., so I think the idea that he mixed a few languages together is sound.
posted by sixacross at 1:47 PM on July 11, 2006
posted by sixacross at 1:47 PM on July 11, 2006
Agreed with the not Hebrew.
posted by Astro Zombie at 4:35 PM on July 11, 2006
posted by Astro Zombie at 4:35 PM on July 11, 2006
Cool, I never thought about it long enough to work out that it was gibberish. Now it's up there with Papa Lazarou's gibberish...
posted by robcorr at 5:39 AM on July 12, 2006
posted by robcorr at 5:39 AM on July 12, 2006
Gussets!
posted by onlyconnect at 12:25 PM on July 13, 2006
posted by onlyconnect at 12:25 PM on July 13, 2006
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posted by biffa at 2:26 AM on July 11, 2006