Was the Liverpudlian dialect the source of some confusion?

[Venturi Swirl]

A couple would suggest a man and woman.

how heteronormative of you!

[Snowgirl]

I'm from Liverpool. If Kate has blurted out 'they've taken her' in a scouse accent, using base parlance, it would sound like 'theeve taken err', or even 'deeve taken err'.
Even with the veneer of middle class respectability, most scousers original accent will come to the fore when in a stressful situation. Probably be high pitched too, just to slip the self-deprecation in before one of you t***s have me off.
Edit: It would almost certainly be plural, as opposed to 'someone's' or 'he's / she's.

I’ve mixed for years  on a daily basis with those who originate from Liverpool and can honestly say never heard any  one of them use the word. “someone “  it’s  always “they “

[John]

This is a new thread.

[Robittybob1]

Hearsay for a start.  Secondly, Who did she report this to?  In what language was her statement taken?  Where is the original transcript?  Let’s look at it in depth as this point is obviously key to cracking the case wide open.

Either a lady in purple or a couple are there other suggestions?

VS - cracking not craking or is that Liverpudlian?

[Alice Purjorick]

What do you think a 'couple' might mean if not two people ?

Oh dear I do wish you hadn't asked that..................so will the rest of the forum in a moment [that is being droll in the light of what follows] 

"In mechanics, a couple refers to two parallel forces that are equal in magnitude, opposite in sense and do not share a line of action. A better term is force couple or pure moment. Its effect is to create rotation without translation, or more generally without any acceleration of the centre of mass".

[Robittybob1]

Oh dear I do wish you hadn't asked that..................so will the rest of the forum in a moment [that is being droll in the light of what follows] 

"In mechanics, a couple refers to two parallel forces that are equal in magnitude, opposite in sense and do not share a line of action. A better term is force couple or pure moment. Its effect is to create rotation without translation, or more generally without any acceleration of the centre of mass".

Could that "couple" ever take a child?

[Alice Purjorick]

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1008855/he-she-they-students-gender-badges
STUDENTS are being encouraged to wear “gender pronoun” badges to indicate whether they would like to be referred to as he, she or they. The badges will be handed out to freshers at Edinburgh University during welcome week next month to help transgender people.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/singular-nonbinary-they
"Much has been written on they, and we aren’t going to attempt to cover it here. We will note that they has been in consistent use as a singular pronoun since the late 1300s"; [/b]

Yet another example of how quickly this case latches on. Only 700 years this time ....


      
   
      
   
      
   
      
   
      
   
      
   

 

[faithlilly]

Why?

How do you understand the word couple ?

[Carana]

How do you understand the word couple ?

http://miscarriageofjustice.co/index.php?topic=10379.msg500797#msg500797

[faithlilly]

http://miscarriageofjustice.co/index.php?topic=10379.msg500797#msg500797

So when YM said Mrs McCann said couple do you think she meant two men ?

[Venturi Swirl]

So when YM said Mrs McCann said couple do you think she meant two men ?

Kindly supply the direct passage in her statement to this effect, in the original Portuguese please.

[jassi]

So when YM said Mrs McCann said couple do you think she meant two men ?

Well these days, and even back in 2007, you never know.

In fact that could be the solution - a gay couple wanted a child of their own so took Madeleine rather than go through a lengthy adoption procedure

[Venturi Swirl]

Well these days, and even back in 2007, you never know.

In fact that could be the solution - a gay couple wanted a child of their own so took Madeleine rather than go through a lengthy adoption procedure

Good point.  I believe even way back in 2007, gay couples were a thing.

[Carana]

So when YM said Mrs McCann said couple do you think she meant two men ?

No idea, I wasn't party to the conversation. 

The PJ transcript  states that she wondered why Kate had said that she'd been taken by a couple, and Yvonne therefore tried to talk to Kate on her own - presumably because she thought there might have been another party claiming the child was theirs (was Gerry the biological dad, etc).
(lines 48 onward)

http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/P13/13_VOLUME_XIIIa_Page_3427.jpg

However, that's what the police officer taking her statement noted, via an interpreter. It's still not clear to me whether Kate actually mentioned a "couple" or whether she'd said a generic "they" and Yvonne made an assumption that there was another couple, or whether the interpreter misunderstood, or whether the police officer got muddled. There's no way of knowing.

[G-Unit]

No idea, I wasn't party to the conversation. 

The PJ transcript  states that she wondered why Kate had said that she'd been taken by a couple, and Yvonne therefore tried to talk to Kate on her own - presumably because she thought there might have been another party claiming the child was theirs (was Gerry the biological dad, etc).
(lines 48 onward)

http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/P13/13_VOLUME_XIIIa_Page_3427.jpg

However, that's what the police officer taking her statement noted, via an interpreter. It's still not clear to me whether Kate actually mentioned a "couple" or whether she'd said a generic "they" and Yvonne made an assumption that there was another couple, or whether the interpreter misunderstood, or whether the police officer got muddled. There's no way of knowing.

Mrs Martin made two statements; one in June and the other in November, Two different interpreters were used and in both statements she says the same;

the mother told her that she did not understand why a couple had abducted her daughter.

the mother, Kate, questioned what she was doing asking these questions which should be asked by the police, who were already on the scene in large numbers searching for her daughter, who had been taken by a couple.
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/YVONNE-WARREN-MARTIN.htm