Talk Story

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 3 of 14

GROUNDED

Thursday, May 13, 2004 9:49 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by rklenseth:
but one of the English people looked it up in their Oxford dictionary and it was spelt tomatos.

Well I just checked my Oxford dictionary and the plural is -oes

CALHOUN

Thursday, May 13, 2004 12:52 PM

I'm an Australian and can speak many languages.. Australian, American, English, Canadian and New Zealand..

Heres another word = Colour, Color

CHANNAIN

Thursday, May 13, 2004 1:02 PM

However, I was told by a native Swedish speaker that the reason why my Norwegian grandfather and Danish grandmother could speak their separate native languages and still understand each other was because the dialects were similar. He even said that he could understand Norwegian, but then again he lived in Sweden for the better part of his childhood. He also had the finest New Yawk accent I'd heard in some time.

We have art so as not to die of truth ~ Neitzsche
http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=7922

CAPNRAHN

Thursday, May 13, 2004 1:40 PM

Here is another 'linguistic' difference ...

When in England don't call the bit on the faucet that turns on the water "A Knob" ... trust me! Faucet 'knobs' are called 'handwheels'. A knob is the end bit of anatomy particular to males!

I know this intimately because I manufacture movie prop replicas and was working on finding the component parts of the 1977 "Star Wars - A new Hope" Obi Wan Kenobi lightsabre {lol, yet another one! sabre vs saber}back in '98. I found them {and intro'ed them to SW fandom } in England.

The bit on the bottom of the light sabre is a British 'handwheel' from a plumbing company called -- get this - Armitage Shanks. Shanks referring to plumbing pipes and such. Wehn I called - I made the mistake of calling it a 'knob' ... the receptionist {with a high pitched girly voice, LOL!} giggled until no-end. However, she was nice enough to tell me the differance.

I have learned much about Britishisms from Red Dwarf {mostly slang, ya smegheads!} and my many years of friendship with several of my British suppliers. Fun stuff learning other countries lingo.

Oh, and when in England or talking to a Brit, don't ask anybody if "they're on the job" ...

"Remember, there is only ONE absolute - There ARE NO absolutes!!!"

RKLENSETH

Thursday, May 13, 2004 1:48 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Channain:
However, I was told by a native Swedish speaker that the reason why my Norwegian grandfather and Danish grandmother could speak their separate native languages and still understand each other was because the dialects were similar. He even said that he could understand Norwegian, but then again he lived in Sweden for the better part of his childhood. He also had the finest New Yawk accent I'd heard in some time.

We have art so as not to die of truth ~ Neitzsche
http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=7922]

That would be Brooklynese not all people from New York speak that and usually only Brooklyn people speak that way.

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

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RELFEXIVE

Thursday, May 13, 2004 1:55 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by CapnRahn:
I know this intimately because I do props and was working on finding the component parts of the 1977 "Star Wars - A new Hope" Obi Wan Kenobi lightsabre {lol, yet another one! sabre vs saber}back in '98. I found them {and intro'ed them to SW fandom } in England.

Ah, now this is odd. In Star Wars they are called lightsabres... in England the actual sword (a light to heavy fencing weapon, typically, though a 'heavy cavalry sabre' is more like a curved broadsword) is called a sabre... but the same sword in the US is a saber.

Strange, neh?

Mal: "We're not gonna die. We can't die, Bendis. You know why? Because we are so... very... pretty. We are just too pretty for God to let us die."

CHANNAIN

Thursday, May 13, 2004 1:57 PM

It also tends to be the favorite chosen "American" accent adapted by European actors. Ever notice that?

Hardly anybody picks up the MinneSOHta accent. That seem strange to you?

ya, sure, youbetcha!

right - don't let the avatar fool ya, boys.

We have art so as not to die of truth ~ Neitzsche
http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=7922

CHRONICTHEHEDGEHOG

Thursday, May 13, 2004 5:02 PM

Actually it could be said that the American's have more of a right to say they speak English than we English do. The American way of speaking English derives from English before standarization was introduced over here to make everyone spell things the same way. As such, the American spellings reflect the original English language, and not the more recent standardised one now used.

Also, one of the big differences (in my opinion) is the American "pants" vs the English "trousers". This too, was originally English which was changed when we wanted to distance ourselves from the French and invented the word trousers instead of pantaloons.

check out my WIP firefly roleplay system at www.estador.co.uk/firefly

GUNHAND

Thursday, May 13, 2004 5:21 PM

Woah, an English person saying we did something right when it comes to the language. This is a good day.

Just teasin', you guys have always been great to me, even when trying to make me confused in bars.

Now for my daily dose of usless yet semi-related trivia: The United States of America does not have an official language. Yep you read that right. English just happens to be the language of common use. But there is no Federal law saying that English is the official language of the country. And I'm pretty sure we're the only country without one, but I may be wrong.

The reason for this is rather strange, and is in fact a backhanded way of letting English survive in the US. The founding fathers did have a vote to try to get English as the official language but many of the delegates to the convention were still rather miffy at the Brits because of the whole Revolutionary War thing.

So these delegates went a little bit overboard and backed a PA representative's notion that German should be the official language. German fell short but there was no clear, ratifiable result. So when everyone saw that everyone else was being kooky they decided to call it a day and not risk all having to learn German.

Thus no official language and why in some states you can take your driver's test in, I kid you not, over 40 different languages. Other states have state laws making English the official language of the state, but no Federal law exists.

This is what happens when people get miffy after Revolutions.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
"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

SAMURAIX47

Thursday, May 13, 2004 6:18 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Channain:
Hardly anybody picks up the MinneSOHta accent. That seem strange to you?

hey i could pick out a MinneSOHta accent in 2 or 3 words... My father grew up in St. Cloud... and one of my cousins there is actually going to college for Linguistics. I read one of his papers and it seems there are even differences within the state.

Jaymes