Hell, English is different around Great Britain itself for example, in Australia a thong is a form of footwear but in England and I believe America it is a form of underwear,
No, a thong can be either in American English. The word simply means a strip of leather or something similar, so it can be used by synecdoche to refer to a garment including a thong, whether a sandal held on the foot by thongs or a bikini bottom held on the body by thongs or strings.
But what Americans call a garter belt, the British call suspenders; what Americans call suspenders, the British call braces; and what Americans call braces, the British call a mouth-brace. Meanwhile, what the British call trousers, Americans call pants, and what the British call pants, Americans call panties. So if an American man walks into a British clothing store and asks to buy pants and suspenders, people will look at him funny.
Thanks for sorting that Christopher, I wasn't entirely sure if in America a thong actually meant what I thought it did and it's always nice to learn something new.
One of the reasons I love Firefly is the combination of both Manderine (?) and English in the 'Verse because as the world gets smaller, I wouldn't be surprised if the major languages merge into one creating a basic human language.
Except Firefly/Serenity was very unrealistic about that. It wouldn't be modern English interspersed with modern Chinese. It would be a single language that was a creole of both. Of course, that wouldn't have been comprehensible to most modern-day viewers
Yes it would, I was actually meaning (and should have said) was that in Out of Gas the emergency announcement was in both English and Manderine which even though happens on signs and the like, I rather liked.
A few years ago I wrote an essay on the concept of the global village and as the internet and other forms of communication becomes more intertwined a merging of the languages would begin, with so many recognised languages spoken in the EU, when it becomes the USE I wouldn't be surprised if they merge into one.
I just had a quick look on wikipedia and on this page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_by_speakers English (in its varied forms) is the third most spoken language in the world and not as some assume the most spoken.
As a native language, yes. But according to another column on the chart, if you include people who speak it as a second or other language, it's in the #2 slot, probably first if you include people with a partial knowledge.[/quote]
Possibly, but I'm not sure, English is used around the world and in certain sectors it is a form of basic language, but it being the most widely spoken if not the most dominant language in the world is a bit hard to swallow.
What exactly prompted your outrage,
Dimesdan?
I didn't mean to come across as outraged, miffed possibly, but not outraged.
In any multinational organisation you need a common language which everyone can speak and understand. Starfleet crews often find themselves in critical situations where it could prove fatal if crew members aren't understood correctly or give information in a language not everyone understands. Now, the few words Graylock uses when speaking to Hernandez might be easily comprehensible to native speakers of English. It's mostly ja and nein, but what if Graylock was Hungarian? Then Hernandez wouldn't be able to figure out whether he meant to say yes and no and in a critical situation a few seconds of confusion can make all the difference between life and death. When on duty, crew members should speak the same language, in this case it would be Starfleet English. That's what I meant by "proper English". Off duty, crew members can talk in any language or mix of languages they want to, of course.
I whole heartedly agree, but I'm sure as Captain Hernandez was the captain of a Multi national crew, she would be aware of certain words from each language, but yes, a basic Earth/Starfleet/Federation language would be less problomatic.
By the way, it's funny you should accuse
Bärbel and me, who aren't native English speakers, of some sort of jingoism concerning English.
I'm glad I brought a smile to your face then.
Fine, I'm convinced. I will never again have a character in one of my stories use any non-English word or phrase, unless it's in an alien language. Because, as this thread proves, it's just not worth the effort.
Why not throw in as many as possible and have a little glossary of terms at the back like in the Terok Nor novels?
