I never understand what Benecio del Toro is saying.

Have you just been watching him in Usual Suspects? Because that's what he was supposed to do there.

He's often a bit of a mumblemouth, though.

Benicio Del Toro is from, like, Pennsylvania. His mushmouth is pure personality.

I don't actually sit there completely lost as to what's going on, but I mishear words on TV all the time -- a T that might be a D, or G/K, or a couple other consonant switches -- that can change meanings. I get jerked out of the story, when I find myself relying on context to understand meaning rather than relying on hearing the word right the first time. I find most Texas accents mildly mushy, e.g., and the vowel-confusion of anybody from Chicago will usually get me asking, "Wait, what?"

Have you just been watching him in Usual Suspects?

That was the first movie I thought of, but I also had some issues with Sin City.

And Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

That was the first movie I thought of, but I also had some issues with Sin City.

Maybe it was because he was decapitated.

And Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Maybe it was because he was on drugs.

Benicio Del Toro is from, like, Pennsylvania.

I thought he was from Puerto Rico but went to boarding school in PA?

I've taken to watching most things on TV with subtitles on. But I blame not understanding what's being said to my decling ability to hear. darn rock and roll.

BDT is from Puerto Rico. He went to school in Pennsylvania at 13. I have no idea what his "real" accent is like, but I know plenty of people who retained childhood accents through a switch like that.

I'm patently not one of them. But I have extenuating circumstances, I swear.

Nutty, I'm surprised at your comprehension problems. Unless there's a dip in volume or something I hold against the audio quality of the show I'm pretty much good to go. Maybe you need a new TV.

vowel-confusion of anybody from Chicago

I'm finally understanding the "Chicago accent," or at least, how it is different from "standard American." I always thought I spoke "standard," but after hearing myself say things like "Kee-athy" for "Kathy," and "sass-age" for "sauce-age," I'm finally seeing why we sound different. It's all part of that Northern Cities Vowel Shift that I didn't even know about until I saw "Do You Speak American?" on PBS last year.

Like I said, it's not that I can't understand what's being said; it's that it takes me longer to sift through the candidates of what's being said, and that reduces my involvement with the story. I keep noticing the words, and not the content thereof.

There are generally-accepted mushes, that have become seamless through repetition, like omina, as in Omina go to the store. Do we need milk? But other mushes, that aren't instantly familiar, require extra brainpower I could be spending on the story.