English, the Language.

[Goliath]

Re: American English v. British English - AE wins by 250 million votes

You just have them lying around all over the place. In all seriousness, it seems natural that the 'colonists,' would want to simplify / amend the language as another way to distance themselves from the crown.

Don't you mean: in all seriosness?

 

[Avon]

Re: American English v. British English - AE wins by 250 million votes

i've never heard of 'knocked up' not meaning pregnant in britain.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Re: American English v. British English - AE wins by 250 million votes

I don't think we need two simultaneous topics about people in different regions speaking English differently, so they're getting merged. Plus, the latter half of the title of this one doesn't even make sense. Although, "English, the Language" is not exactly a flash of brilliance either.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Re: American English v. British English - AE wins by 250 million votes

I was talking with an American friend about our two different versions of English and I noticed quite a few words where you cut out the letter U...its like you have a grudge against it.

Noah Webster did, iirc. You have to keep in mind that he was part of a long line of people who standardized and reformed the spelling of English. He just happens to have done it after settlers had crossed the Atlantic, so he wasn't influential on the British side.

 

[Canadave]

Re: American English v. British English - AE wins by 250 million votes

I don't think we need two simultaneous topics about people in different regions speaking English differently, so they're getting merged. Plus, the latter half of the title of this one doesn't even make sense. Although, "English, the Language" is not exactly a flash of brilliance either.

I must admit, I keep wanting to start a thread with the topic "English, the muffin" but I can't think of a way that wouldn't be spam.

 

[ITL]

Re: American English v. British English - AE wins by 250 million votes

i've never heard of 'knocked up' not meaning pregnant in britain.

It can also mean a deliberate attempt to wake someone and/or get them to leave the house by knocking on the door. It even used to be a job.

 

[iguana_tonante]

Re: American English v. British English - AE wins by 250 million votes

Although, "English, the Language" is not exactly a flash of brilliance either.

I must admit, I keep wanting to start a thread with the topic "English, the muffin" but I can't think of a way that wouldn't be spam.

I vote for English II: The Revenge.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Re: American English v. British English - AE wins by 250 million votes

I don't think we need two simultaneous topics about people in different regions speaking English differently, so they're getting merged. Plus, the latter half of the title of this one doesn't even make sense. Although, "English, the Language" is not exactly a flash of brilliance either.

I must admit, I keep wanting to start a thread with the topic "English, the muffin" but I can't think of a way that wouldn't be spam.

 

[DarthTom]

Re: American English v. British English - AE wins by 250 million votes

I vote for English II: The Revenge.

At one point in time you Italians and your ancient language of Latin ruled virtually the entire world. It's some else's turn.

 

[iguana_tonante]

We still do. All the important stuff is still in Latin, you know.

 

[Skywalker]

We still do. All the important stuff is still in Latin, you know.

Pfft. You lot would have never left your little peninsula if it hadn't been for the Greeks.

 

[iguana_tonante]

Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit et artes intulit agresti Latio.

 

[Count Zero]

Also, as a scientist, it's nice for me to discriminate between metre (unit of measurement) and meter (instrument of measurement). But again, it's obviously personal feeling.

Haha, I thought about that one when I typed my post. That's the only time it really makes sense.

I can't say the word Loch.

Loch sounds like Lock when I say it.
I've tried loke, lox, loax... Nothing, she said it wasn't how you say the word Loch.
“You can't really say it, you're not Scottish.”
Those were her words and for all I know, she may have a point (This was over the internet.)

I always assumed the Scottish pronunciation of “loch” was with a non-diphthongal or “stopped” O, and the “ch” more or less like in German. Or is it trickier than that?

Yep, it's basically a German 'ch'. Kind of funny because Loch means hole in German so the words are even somewhat related in meaning. However, Brits (among others) often struggle with the ch in German, so I'm not surprised they'd struggle with the Scottish ch as well.

 

[scotpens]

-wards (backwards, inwards, upwards)
AE omits the -s, though many writers of AE retain it (often inconsistently from one word to another).

I've always understood there to be a difference in meaning between backwards (going in a reverse direction) and backward (primitive, unsophisticated).

I only found out the other day 'on this forum' that pour is spelt differently in AE.

No, pour is spelled the same way in British and American English. Spelled is spelt differently.

 

[Trilliam]

Hey I live somewhere that has place names like Goonoo Goonoo (pronouced Gunny ga Nu), Goondiwindi (Gundawindy), Doonoo Doonoo, Wagga Wagga, Gularegambone, Coolangatta, Kalgoorlie, Kogarah......

 

[Trilliam]

Re: American English v. British English - AE wins by 250 million votes

Let's not forget Indian English. A hundred million people in India speak English as a second or third language.

Desis: spicing up English since 1757.

This is why I love the TrekBBS sometimes, you learn something new everyday. I did not know that Indian's spoke their own distinct form of English, albiet primarily as a second language.

Damn Indians, they've combined both American and British English to come up with their own.

Poor Shakespeare, he's rolling in his grave with regard to the lot of us.

• Unlike British, but like American English, some Indian speakers don't pronounce the rounded /ɒ/ or /ɔː/, and substitute /a/ instead. This makes <not> sound as [nat]. The phoneme /ɔː/, if used, is only semi-rounded at the lips.[citation needed]. similarly in North India "coffee" will be kaafi, "Copy" will be kaapi etc.
• Words such as <class>, <staff> and <last> would be pronounced with a back <a> as in British English but unlike American English, i.e., [klɑːs], [stɑːf] and [lɑːst] rather than American [klæːs], [stæːf] and [læːst] and in South of India "Parent" is pɑːrent.

There is also Singlish which is spoken in Singapore with its own spellings and pronunciations.

 

[MacLeod]

Well pour can be spelt poor, but of course that changes it's meaning.

 

[Trilliam]

Personally I don't really care about most differences either way, although being an Australian, our language is all taken from British English rather than American.
But there are certain spellings where I prefer the American English, and some I prefer from British English. For example, I always end words with "ize" even though it's "ise" here. But seeing "judgment" just bugs me furiously, and the single "l" on words like "traveling" always looks off to me, although I occasionally write it that way

You obviously did NOT have our High School English master.

 

[Trilliam]

Well pour can be spelt poor, but of course that changes it's meaning.

Also pore, which has yet another meaning.

 

[cultcross]

I was trying to explain the use of 'gotten' to someone the other day. I never understood why it's a hard concept as British English uses the pairing forgot/forgotten without any trouble at all. It's also us that's dropped it, not you that have gained it. But it is to many Brits the quintessential Americanism.

My language and spelling is generally British because I was taught that and generally write for an exclusively British audience. But I refuse to be the idiot who once told me off for saying 'Hi' to him because the English is 'hello'. Both forms of English (as well as, no doubt, all the other myriad of forms I get less exposure to) have their pros and cons, there is nothing wrong in my eyes with evolving English by borrowing from 'itself' just as we've spent centuries borrowing from others.

On a different matter, I was pleased to note in some videos in TNZ that I'm also not the only Brit here who reads/says 'Tee Enn Zee' even though in every other context I think of 'Z' as 'Zed'.