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Article
"is in his owne conceit
Aug 7, 2014 08:13
9 yrs ago
English term

He's kind of a Kay

Non-PRO English Art/Literary Cinema, Film, TV, Drama
Hello everyone,

A woman is talking about her cat.

Oh, he's like a fourth child. He's a family member we take him on every vacation. He is a great addition to the, a compliment. He's kind of a Kay***, he's one of us.

Thank you.
Responses
1 +2 "Kay" is the family name (?)
3 +4 he's kind of OK
3 lovely
3 He is very important
References
Video revisited
Change log

Aug 8, 2014 05:27: Václav Pinkava changed "Level" from "PRO" to "Non-PRO"

Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

Non-PRO (3): Tony M, B D Finch, Václav Pinkava

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Discussion

Rachel Fell Aug 9, 2014:
The idea of "Kay" being the family name doesn't seem viable to me and wouldn't make sense.
Björn Vrooman Aug 8, 2014:
@Rachel Fell To me, it sounded like kind of a K=king at first. You know, thinking of Garfield and all :)
Rachel Fell Aug 8, 2014:
Sounds a bit like "...he's kind of a case,..."
Björn Vrooman Aug 7, 2014:
@Tony M Just replayed the video. In between, it looked like an edit, even though it was only the video player lagging on my side. When I replayed the video, I focused on the background and the same car was still driving there (or no longer driving). I guess one word could be done. However, considering that the other people interviewed did not have anything cut off their time, as it looks to me, I don't think we've been missing out on much.
Tony M Aug 7, 2014:
Video edits? There's certainly a very obvious edit just before 'complement', and I half suspect that there's another, more subtle edit between the 'a' and the 'Kay' — if so, that could explain the rather odd sound of the words at that point; it definitely does sound to me like a weak, indeterminate vowel, the kind of 'a' that almost errs towards 'uh'; but then it sounds almost like a glottal stop (for which there would be no phonetic justification at this point), which is what makes me wonder if there isn't maybe another hamfisted edit here too?
Nathaniel2 Aug 7, 2014:
perhaps purgatory school?? Where I went, anyway :)
JaneD Aug 7, 2014:
Purrparatory school.... Oh dear!
B D Finch Aug 7, 2014:
Puss As this animal is " like a fourth child" and "a family member", presumably he takes part in family discussions, takes his turn to do the washing up and they have carefully planned his education at a suitable purrparatory school.
writeaway Aug 7, 2014:
My knowledge of US English pronunciation isn't based on extensive travel.
Tony M Aug 7, 2014:
@ Writeaway I didn't say it turned into a distinct 'a' sound, but that it becomes weak and indeterminate, rather in the same way that the indefinite article 'a' often does.

Although I don't have your extensive experience of travel throughout all the US regions, I have had enough exposure to US films to know that 'OK' gets pronounced all sorts of ways — to the extent that nowadays there is even a trend to make it just 'K, where the vowel has become SO weak as to be almost completely absent.
Björn Vrooman Aug 7, 2014:
The other definition Did you see the M-W entry: "a boastful overbearing knight of the Round Table who is foster brother and seneschal of King Arthur"

Ha, maybe it's a knight's cat :)
Alison MacG Aug 7, 2014:
@ klp re: pause You have told us that the woman pauses after "He's kind of". So perhaps the "a Kay" or OK goes with "he's one of us" rather than with "He's kind of". As this is an off-the-cuff interview, she will be thinking on her feet, trying to find the right words to express what she means. So she may have started by saying, "He's kind of ...", then struggling to find exactly the right word, gives up and says "OK, he's one of us", as in, for example:
"He's kind of ... oh, all right then, he's one of us" or
"He's kind of ... oh, I don't know, he's [just] one of us".
Compare earlier on when she presumably missed out the word "family" [He is a great addition to the, a compliment.]

Another possibility - could she be repeating her first comment "Oh, he's like a fourth child" by saying "He's kind of our kid?
writeaway Aug 7, 2014:
US pronunciation O will be very round or less round but don't know of any US region were the O in Okay turns to an 'a' sound. However the Kay part can be diphthongized beyond recognition in certain regional accents.
As for Jack's Philly coffee, if the 'o' was too short, them Philly ears might have missed it. Of course maybe the people serving weren't from the area or even the US. Yanks tend to say coooooooffe -elongating the o sound. The 'ah' sound in car-free would get closer to the US mark......
JaneD Aug 7, 2014:
@Renata I *think* that the entry in the Urban dictionary that you refer to is someone's attempt to flatter their girlfriend! - What do other people feel?
Renata Mlikovska Aug 7, 2014:
So you don't assume that the possibility "He's lovely, he's our darling..." is possible? (see my link)
Jack Doughty Aug 7, 2014:
Still inclined to think its "OK". Even if it's written as "a Kay", I think it must be an error in the script, it doesn't make sense in that form.
Talking of accents, when I was in Philadelphia a few years ago, I found that if I asked for a coffee they would always query it, but if I asked for a "car-fee" there was no problem.
Tony M Aug 7, 2014:
Pronunciation Those are careful pronunciations of 'OK' — but if this is off-the-cuff speech, then certainly in some US regional accents will lead to a pronunciation that is not 'OH-kay' but rather 'a-KAY' — where the emphasis is slightly more on the second syllable 'kay' and the 'o' becomes a weak, almost swallowed, indeterminate vowel.
writeaway Aug 7, 2014:
I agree: kind of okay doesn't fit with the rest of the context: Oh, he's like a fourth child. He's a family member we take him on every vacation. He is a great addition to the, a compliment.
I don't see the cat can be reduced to "kind of okay". Imo that doesn't make sense.
Mikhail Korolev (asker) Aug 7, 2014:
Jack, I have a video and a script - what I've written in the question is written in the script

Well, the woman says "He's kind of" then she makes a pause and says "a Kay". I'm not a native speaker and might well be wrong, but I don't think she says "OK" -- at least if compared to how "OK" is pronounced at the links below:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ok?s=t
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ok
Mikhail Korolev (asker) Aug 7, 2014:
Context Well, this is a TV show titled What's the alternative.

And at the beginning, i.e. before the presenter begins to talk to her guests, some random people (people from the street, so to speak) give their opinion on having pets at home. The woman in question does not say anything else.
Jack Doughty Aug 7, 2014:
Are you reading this or hearing it? If you're hearing it, I think JaneD's answer is probably right. If you're reading it, yes, i might be the family name.
writeaway Aug 7, 2014:
With Berit It's the first thing that came to mind. Context, please
Berit Kostka, PhD Aug 7, 2014:
Could be the last name maybe? I wonder if Kay is the last name of the family? So, the cat would be "a Kay" as in "he's a Smith" or something? As the lady is saying he is one of "us" and imo "kind of ok" would be a little weak to describe a family member that goes everywhere and is one of the "clan".

Just thinking..

Responses

+2
1 hr
Selected

"Kay" is the family name (?)

That would fit the context of the rest of the sentence, for me.
Peer comment(s):
neutral writeaway : have you read all the comments that have already discussed and/or suggested this?????/just that you don't acknowledge that you are posting an answer that is based on what others have already said and discussed at length in the discussion box.
6 mins
no, does it matter?
agree airmailrpl : That would fit the context of the rest of the sentence
5 hrs
thx
agree Renata Mlikovska
21 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Many thanks to everyone. Thank you, Václav."
+4
5 mins

he's kind of OK

A guess - sounds like this may have been incorrectly transcribed from audio/video?
Peer comment(s):
agree Parvathi Pappu
1 min
Thanks
neutral Tony M : Seems likely, especially as immediately before it we have the error 'compliment' instead of 'complement' / but downgrading to 'neutral', having heard the video
3 mins
Thanks Tony - yes, quite right!
agree Jack Doughty
28 mins
Thanks Jack
agree Catherine Fitzsimons
40 mins
Thanks Catherine
neutral writeaway : if the cat is like a 4th child, a family member, wouldn't it be more than just "kind of okay"? I don't see how this fits the context.
44 mins
Quite right. Then again, presumably if this was a script about a family called the Kays, (which also seems plausible), the OP wouldn't be asking?
agree Nathaniel2 : And, I have no issue with saying "he's okay" with a meaning of much more than he's just okay :)
6 hrs
Thanks Nathaniel
neutral Björn Vrooman : In contrast to Nathaniel, "great addition" and "one of us" do not just sound "kind of okay" to me. "he's OK" as in "he's an OK guy": yes, I could agree to that. But putting "kind of" in front of it makes it seem like "not bad" - nothing more.
1 day 8 hrs
Something went wrong...
14 mins

lovely

Something went wrong...
7 hrs

He is very important

:) As it seems by the context, the real word is "key"
Something went wrong...

Reference comments

15 hrs
Reference:

Video revisited

Hello everyone,

Based on the asker's information - that this is the What's the Alternative TV show - I was able to find the veterinarian who appeared in the relevant episode (called "Holistic Animal Care"): Dr. Sharon R. Doolittle. Her page is http://www.holisticanimalvet.com and you may still find the video of the episode there. The woman the asker is talking about shows up at the beginning.


The script should read:

Ohh, he's like a () fourth child...Uh, he's a family member; we take him on every vacation; he is...he's a great (!) addition to the () - complement...he's kind of () a_K[*]: he's one of us.

The exclamation mark is for added stress on the preceding word. The word in bold face was wrong in the script. Parentheses (AmE) show small pauses, three dots longer pauses, and the asterisk is for the missing part. The K[*] can be anything sounding similar to the letter K.

Now, as indicated, the "a" and the "K" seem closely linked - judging from the emphasis, however, I am not certain that could be interpreted as "okay" - but see for yourself!
Peer comments on this reference comment:
agree Tony M : There is actually an appalling edit in the video just before 'complement', where the word 'family' appears to be missing. I agree that it sounds less like 'OK' and more like they are the Kay family.
4 mins
That was a quick one! Thanks! // Just watched the video again: Yes, one word could be missing. I think more than one would be hard to accomplish considering the background. See discussion post.
Something went wrong...
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