Dear Americans: A lesson in proper English.

Originally posted by gimme_some_truth
[...] You know what? Some people even speak languages other than English! GET THEM!!!!

Ha! Made me LOL!

American spelling convolutes our ability to interpret the etymology of a word. Etymologically speaking, it represents a superflous layer for no particular reason other than what can be perceived as overt liberalism and perhaps laziness in maintaining the integrity of a language. Then again, the same could be said of all subsequent dialects of a given root language. After all, American English is a group of dialects in itself.

I'm all for the evolution of a language but redundant spelling augmentations hardly qualify as progression.

Originally posted by nixie_nox
The British don't have any ties to classic or old English then Americans do. In fact the American accent would be considered closer. They have both have changed equally.

Behave yourself.

The inhabitants of Britain have far more historical ties to older England than someone from an artificial nation like the US ever will.

Remember, the USA was largely formed upon poorly educated, ''bargain basement'' British, who just couldn't cut it in British society.

The ''American accent'' is a mixture of West Country and Irish accents. Hardly ''proper English''.

The USA is built on the rejects of the world who ''emigrated'' to that land-mass. If I came from there, I'd be more ashamed than proud.

Haha, excellent. It rings vague bells at the back of my mind, I think I've seen it before.

"I hate when we use American words in place of words that we've already got for they words, just because it's cool."

Fries. Pharmacy. Chips. Indeed.

The irony is that chips ARE fries in the UK, except we make ours big and chunky rather than skinny wee things you get from McDonalds.

Hugo Weaving, american or british born ?

I'm flattered that this man cares so much about how I speak. I assume he does or he wouldn't have wasted his time making this oh so adorable little video.

I just wish everyone would pronounce NUCLEAR correctly!!! What the heck is up with everyone saying NOO CYUH LER??? Just because George Bush did so does not not make it correct. Look at how it is spelled for crying out loud!! PLEASE!! Is it spelled NUCULER?? NO!! Ok. Sorry. Just had to get that one off my chest....say...where did the fort go.....?

Dear British.....Sorry but if you all want to be understood speak English please.....I couldn't get past that vid without giggling at the dudes high pitched squeaky voice...And just so you all know British accent is not cute or sophisticated but it is funny...funny sounding that is.

Also nottingham sounds like something you would order at a vegetarian restaurant. Who in there right mind would name a city after ham. The only thing funnier would be if there actually was a city or town named after livers or even corn.

You know what that vid in the op was missing? The theme song to the benny hill show. If that was playing in the background then maybe I could take that french dude serious. Because obviously he is unintelligible otherwise. If he is a comedian how come he is not funny? Or is his whole act merely the way he sounds?

You all need to get with the program and know that English was invented in America, and all the world knows that english is american. And what everybody across the pond in that little island speaks is some sort of dialect of french, and gibberish, mixed with a few English words here and there.

And by the way I could care less and I will care less. What is so hard to understand about that phrase. What do you all need pictorials and graphs to understand that simple fact? Does somebody really need to draw you all a picture.

No please go drink some tea and calm down and think on what exactly is this fascination you all have with the USA, there seems to be some sort of factitious obsession you lot got going on there. I would say, maybe could it be? even a little bit of jealousy going on.

I know I know your jealous of our freedom and the fact that there is a fast food joint in every street corner, hey here is a thought maybe we can help you all be as free as we are...Maybe Britain needs to be liberated, I mean sure why not, we did it last time before zee germans got there in WW2 after all.

in terms of americans pronouncing aluminum as 'aluminium' , they do actually spell it with the extra 'i'

i was born in england and lived in america for years, as my dad is american. i'm back in el UK now.

also, language evolves, otherwise many people would still be speaking ye olde englishe. i've often wondered if people back then used to gripe about the way language changes as much as we all do these days.

my brother and i point out things to our mother all the time and argue that it's fine that we speak the way we do as a younger generation. however, she points out the fact that we sound uneducated and this can hold you back in the world. of course, 'they' want us to be uneducated so their plan seems to be working amicably


oh, yeah..... i also wanted to add: a friend of mine says boloGnese... you know, with a hard G? i always assumed he just said that because he watched too much Futurama. "a fine old glass of Sham-pag-né, please!!"

then i found out that that was actually how he pronounced it, regardless. for a while it got on my nerve. it's exactly what my mother was talking about. in fact, it still gets on my nerve. in fact.... i don't really talk to the guy anymore!!! however, that is nothing to do with why



don't wanna sound up my own ass, but i'm going now, i have to pack for my trip to Paree!!! ....

reply to post by rexusdiablos


At this point I'll take my leave. But not before I compliment the OP for a very fun thread. SnF my good man and
if we should ever meet in a pub somewhere ? I got the first round, after we slaughter each other of course.

Originally posted by galadofwarthethird
Dear British.....Sorry but if you all want to be understood speak English please.

....I couldn't get past that vid without giggling at the dudes high pitched squeaky voice...And just so you all know British accent is not cute or sophisticated but it is funny...funny sounding that is.

And by the way I could care less and I will care less. What is so hard to understand about that phrase. What do you all need pictorials and graphs to understand that simple fact? Does somebody really need to draw you all a picture.

No please go drink some tea and calm down and think on what exactly is this fascination you all have with the USA, there seems to be some sort of factitious obsession you lot got going on there. I would say, maybe could it be? even a little bit of jealousy going on.

I know I know your jealous of our freedom and the fact that there is a fast food joint in every street corner, hey here is a thought maybe we can help you all be as free as we are...Maybe Britain needs to be liberated, I mean sure why not, we did it last time before zee germans got there in WW2 after all.

George Noory likes British callers and guests because of their colourful accents.

People from the Southern united states have colourful accents.Talking about Jack the Ripper or Ghosts in London and scottish yards, in a southern accent like from Alabama works.

World War II Britain they probably had a chance, like other sophisticated nations to have a revolt but it didn't happen. George Orwell was able to write some books, so that is close as they got. I drink tea, going to have some tea now or English Black. Pretend like the tea bag is the British Isles going down dissolving into the abyss of funny accents.

Originally posted by galadofwarthethird

And by the way I could care less and I will care less. What is so hard to understand about that phrase. What do you all need pictorials and graphs to understand that simple fact? Does somebody really need to draw you all a picture.

Bwahahahahahahahaha ROFL!

He still doesn't get it. Are you kidding me? Lol! Don't worry America. I'll not judge you all by this guy's post and replete demonstrative illiteracy. It is fairly funny though that he missed the whole point of the video and repeated the same mistake. It's not a spelling or grammatical error. It's a matter of erroneous logic for crying out loud.

It's just occurred to me that your post might be in jest or you might be trolling. Never mind then.

reply to post by randyvs

......after we slaughter each other of course.

Well...."slaughter" is just a bit of slurred....laughter, once you drop the 's'!

(And, allow for the odd peculiarities of English spelling and pronunciation......)

Sounds like the perfect setting for in the Pub.

i'm going to count how many posts aren't insulting to anyone now......
everyone grow up.
ps. if you dont find british humour funny, its because you don't get it and i brush my teeth every day.
and i know many english people who also cant speak proper english, i call these people chavs.

Originally posted by steveknows
Oh goody a troll. But not just any troll. This is one who is jealous because his ancesters didn't leave england and now he's stuck with low living standards and bad teeth.

I think you're taking him to seriously. If you've seen Sherlock post before, then you'd know that a lot of what he says takes it to an ironic extreme, take it all with a pinch of salt, he's having a laugh not being serious.

Following on from that, do we really need to trot out the old bad teeth remarks and the "low living standards" thing is such a low blow, considering we don't have low living standards that your taking an ironic, tongue in cheek bit of banter and replying with something that is actually quite offensive.

Can't we just maintain the friendly banter without making it personal?

reply to post by Sherlock Holmes


What a stupid thing to get bent out of shape over. Talk about nitpicking

Originally posted by kellerphoenix
reply to post by eightfold

 

I could care less what the Queen or any of the English think, so hold down the fort until I return.

edit on 25-11-2011 by kellerphoenix because: (no reason given)

I guess you mean you couldn't, or could not care less. As an American I hate double negatives! By anyone, any dialect... Anyway, there are more pressing issues to go co-co over...

reply to post by eightfold



You and you video is hilarious. I could do a video of me being Shakespeare and educate you on proper English Mr. English. But that would be a cultural insult.

Originally posted by galadofwarthethird
Dear British.....Sorry but if you all want to be understood speak English please.

....I couldn't get past that vid without giggling at the dudes high pitched squeaky voice...And just so you all know British accent is not cute or sophisticated but it is funny...funny sounding that is.

FYI, there is no such thing as a "British" accent, in so far as there is no such thing as an "American" accent. Even in regions or towns only a few miles apart, very different accents are prevalent.

Originally posted by galadofwarthethird
Also nottingham sounds like something you would order at a vegetarian restaurant. Who in there right mind would name a city after ham. The only thing funnier would be if there actually was a city or town named after livers or even corn.

You'll love the real reason even more... To put into context, the suffix -ingham means "place of" in Anglo Saxon. Orignally, the first Anglo Saxon Chieftain of the area was called Snot, hence Snotingham and it has morphed into Nottingham...

Originally posted by galadofwarthethird
And by the way I could care less and I will care less. What is so hard to understand about that phrase. What do you all need pictorials and graphs to understand that simple fact? Does somebody really need to draw you all a picture.

Not sure if your being ironic or don't get it, but if you don't like something but then say "I could care less", surely that then means you do care about the very thing your trying to say you don't care about. It's a logical fallacy.

reply to post by eightfold


America just HAS to do everything differently then the rest of the world! my computer is forever trying to correct my spelling 'mistakes' when i don't use the American spelling.

Why post a date Month/Day/Year? it doesn't make any sense. big/small/huge

Originally posted by 74Templar

Originally posted by davespanners

Originally posted by tvtexan
reply to post by Sherlock Holmes

 

US English: I had a couple beers.
Correct English: I had a couple of beers.

NO, NO, NO, NO!!!!

US English: I had a couple beers.
British English: I had a couple of beers.
Texas English: Yeehaw!!! I'm the President!

Still wrong

US English: I grabbed a few beers at the bar
English English: I got absolutely slaughtered down the boozer
Scots English: I got pished oot ma heid doon the bus station

I cant do Irish or Australian

Australian "English": Got sh!tfaced at the pub last night with me mates

Just for the record I wouldn't worry too much about the differences in English. You think the Yanks have butchered your language, come to Australia for a real English gorefest

You talkin' 'bout Strine china ? Meet ya at the rubbedy for a coupla, your wal.

( keep it on the QT ... dont tell the cheese'n'kisses and don't bring the tin lids )

Stone the crows, we can piss in each others pockets and blue over footy.

Avagooweekend.