I'm not usually a nit-picker but this is bugging the hell out of me.

POSTED BY: ebonezer
UPDATED: Monday, April 18, 2005 23:22
VIEWED: 36713
PAGE 2 of 14

Quote:

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Originally posted by Fireflythemovie:
Actually, Swedish & Norwegian are 2 different languages--they don't even use the same set of letters. They're not mutually intelligible. And there are hundreds of dialects within the US...

But, yeah, I don't speak English or Spanish. I speak American and Mexican.

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I don't speak either Norwegan or Swedish but got that info on the spoken bit from a Swede, lettering I know was different. Those Swedes, always getting me in trouble, then again he could have been one of those sort that still thinks they're one country, they have a few of them over there I hear. Hehe.

Definately have to agree that Mexican/Spanish is in the same boat as American/English. The Mexicans though at least admit it, while we Americans (especially English teachers) try to hang to the stubborn belief that what we speak is, in fact, English. Which it ain't.


~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
"Oh hey, I got an idea. Instead of us hanging
around playing art critic till I get pinched by
the Man, how's about we move away from this
eerie-ass piece of work and get on with our
increasingly eerie-ass day, how's that?"

My eerie-ass website:
http://gunhandsfirefly.homestead.com/Index.html

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Quote:

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Originally posted by Delia:

Quote:

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Originally posted by Gunhand:
Sure thing.

Hehe, yeah they have even more confusing sayings aside from just the words.

One time in a bar I had a Royal Marine ask me to,"S the salt." Believe me that took me a whole long while to wrap my brain around.

It meant "pass" but it was very odd to me.

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I once knew a guy who, during his time in England, had a girl ask him to "come round in the morning and knock me up." Always good to know about these little cross-cultural things before flying 'cross the pond.

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Not touching that one. Hehehe.

It sorta reminds me of the scene in National Lampoon's European Vacation where Clark is talking with the hotel clerk and trying to use his electronic translator, in England. So funny yet so true.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
"Oh hey, I got an idea. Instead of us hanging
around playing art critic till I get pinched by
the Man, how's about we move away from this
eerie-ass piece of work and get on with our
increasingly eerie-ass day, how's that?"

My eerie-ass website:
http://gunhandsfirefly.homestead.com/Index.html

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For the record I am Canadian and I spent a good chunk of time living in the States. I got back about 3/4 yr ago, so, my knowledge should be quite current.

Here's another word for ya:
honor
honour

Apparently, we in the Commonwealth really like to use that letter 'u'.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Gunhand:
There are some places in the US where people use completely different idioms and whatnot so it isn't all that surprising that having an ocean between us made the language different. A cliched statement is,"America and Britain are two countries seperated by a common language."

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I do think that Americans do not speak english anymore. I agree that they speak American.

When I lived down there I for one had one hell of a culture shock and I actually have a lot of difficulties understanding people. I found it very interesting that there are so very many differences in our two cultures when on the surface they look quite similar.

My wife (who is Germany) can actually tell the difference between Canadians and Americans just by listening to them talk. She is still trying to figure out exactly what the difference is, but, there definitely is one.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Gunhand:
But the brilliant British commedian said it even better,"America and Britain are two countries seperated by a very large ocean."

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So, there's only 1 then.

----
"Canada being mad at you is like Mr. Rogers throwing a brick through your window." -Jon Stewart, The Daily Show

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Definately different cultures between Canada and the US as well. I've been to Canada several times and they had no problem figuring out I wasn't a local just because of the way I spoke. Then they'd start speaking more slowly, I guess to match me, to which I had to say,"Just 'cause I talk slow don't mean I'm stupid."

The funniest thing I ever saw was a Canadian friend of mine at a BBQ that a friend of mine from Alabama was having, I almost felt like I was going to have to repeat everything for the poor Canadian guy.

We got even with him though when we told him on no uncertain terms that you do not put mayo on fries. Everyone knows ya dip them in a chocolate shake.





~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
"Oh hey, I got an idea. Instead of us hanging
around playing art critic till I get pinched by
the Man, how's about we move away from this
eerie-ass piece of work and get on with our
increasingly eerie-ass day, how's that?"

My eerie-ass website:
http://gunhandsfirefly.homestead.com/Index.html

NOTIFY: Y  | REPLY  | REPLY WITH QUOTE  | PERMALINK  | TOP  | HOME

Here is another one that I recently found out on another forum with a bunch of English, Aussies, and Canadians.

It appears they spell the plural of tomato tomatos witout an e while we Americans spell it tomatoes. I even looked it up in my Webster dictionary and it was spelt tomatoes but one of the English people looked it up in their Oxford dictionary and it was spelt tomatos.

Weird.

Another one from Austrailia is a thong to them is what we call flip-flops which are worn on the feet. I thought this was kind of weird as well.

Then you have theater which to the English is theatre. Honor and color which is to them honour and colour.

So I guess we do speak American.

Oh, and play Cantr II at www.cantr.net.

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Quote:

---

Originally posted by Gunhand:
Definately different cultures between Canada and the US as well. I've been to Canada several times and they had no problem figuring out I wasn't a local just because of the way I spoke. Then they'd start speaking more slowly, I guess to match me, to which I had to say,"Just 'cause I talk slow don't mean I'm stupid."

The funniest thing I ever saw was a Canadian friend of mine at a BBQ that a friend of mine from Alabama was having, I almost felt like I was going to have to repeat everything for the poor Canadian guy.

We got even with him though when we told him on no uncertain terms that you do not put mayo on fries. Everyone knows ya dip them in a chocolate shake.





~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
"Oh hey, I got an idea. Instead of us hanging
around playing art critic till I get pinched by
the Man, how's about we move away from this
eerie-ass piece of work and get on with our
increasingly eerie-ass day, how's that?"

My eerie-ass website:
http://gunhandsfirefly.homestead.com/Index.html]


Who puts mayo on fries anyways? That is disgusting. Ketchup only. I remember when I went to a trip to Virginia once (I live in Upstate New York) and ordered a hamburger and they put gorram mayo on it. I mean who puts mayo on a hamburger. Everyone knows that only ketchup and maybe some mustard belongs on a hamburger.

I also noticed pretty quickly how different things are down there. Different stores, different fast food other than McDonalds (But they sell somewhat different food), and no Friehoffers (I think I am spelling that right).

Oh, and play Cantr II at www.cantr.net.

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