Friday, July 28, 2006

"Overtired" or "Oh... they're tired"?

The biggest debate in Britain these days isn't about whether Tony Blair is a poodle (he is), but this. Watch it and tell me what you guys think those three kids said because we have been debating (ever since the ad debuted many months ago), both with my mate's in London and Jenni's mates in Brighton, on whether it is "oh... they're tired", or "overtired". I forgot about this until last week (Vauxhall seems to be pushing the ad more and more this past couple of weeks, so the debate seems to have restarted) when I pointed it out to Jenni who wondered what the hell those kids said. Then Jenni's mates started wondering about it too.



At first I thought it was "oh... they're tired", although most of my southern friends can't seem to settle (those who talk in cockney seems to think it's "overtired". A quick search on the ad (any combination of Vauxhall, Zafira, Overtired, New Neighbours) reveals that this debate has really gone nationwide. Vauxhall themselves seems to have settled on "overtired". Even the monkeys at Autotrader went ahead and got a confirmation from Vauxhall (it's "overtired"). From what I can tell judging by debates I read, northerners seems to think it's "oh... they're tired" while southeners are mainly going for "overtired".

I don't know about you but I have never ever heard anyone said "overtired" in real life, except when describing an "overtired" kids. However because the ad is about the role reversal that the kids are talking like adults, maybe it is true that they (the kids in their adult roles) are simply describing the Asian kid's parents (in their roles as kids) as "overtired" (apparently it is a northern thing). So now I think it's "overtired" but that's purely due to the role reversal situation. I like it when I thought it was "oh... they're tired" since that made more sense.

Oh well, anyone want to chip in their opinion (and sorry for wasting your time)?

Technorati tags:

4 comments:

RichardAM said...

Well that's my thinking for Saturday sorted then!

I always thought it was "oh they're tired"? It's the line i've been using anyway...

Jon Choo said...

I still can get that damn ad out of my head!

Anonymous said...

We have been having this argument in our classroom all this week. I think it is 'Oh they're tired', because 'Overtired' by itself isn't a proper sentence surely? However, I can see why people may think this. I am still sticking to my guns and saying 'Oh they're tired', as confirmed by our very own Yorkshire teacher too!

Jon Choo said...

Well I read somewhere that the kid actors confirmed that it is "overtired" and if you leave the subtitles turned on (digital telly), it actually reads "overtired".