Question for UK members: tipping?

[Nerys Ghemor]

You know, I always wondered how the various British accents turned into the American accents. With Australians and New Zealanders, you can still hear their British origin, but not really with Americans (and Canadians). Odd.

I wouldn't say that's necessarily true. I mean in different areas of the US you can pick out dialects from Britain. Plus a lot are mixtures of various accents. Besides the fact there's a lot of other settlers from other nations to throw in to the mix, as well as the natural drift of British accents. There was a study that said a lot of southern American accents are actually close to 17th century British accents than most British accents today are. But who knows how accurate that is.

Well, I DO know I've seen some stuff in Shakespeare that just about cracked me up because it could've been said by my great-grandmother from Alabama.

I think it said somewhere (as one example): "I like to have died!" in one play. Which does not mean you WANTED to die, but that you feel like you almost did. I just about blew up laughing when I saw that!!!

Another...you still hear "down yonder" a lot, especially from other people.

Also, doesn't "mad" not mean "angry" in modern-day Britain, whereas it did in Shakespeare--and in America--and other similar examples?

One funny saying I heard about English: "English is a language that lurks in dark alleys, beats up other languages and rifles through their pockets for spare vocabulary"

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Slightly related: thanks to the continual exposure to American pronounciation of "route" on Star Trek- "reroute the blah blah to the blah blah", I'm now equally comfortable with "rowt" or "root", whereas before it was always "root".

And 'Lootenant' instead of 'Leftenant'. Although I'll be damned if I know why we say it that way.

Yeah, what the hell? You can't even use the excuse of that archaic way "S" was written (that looked like an "f"). That's just WEIRD.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I've encountered much more interesting variations on English language from *within* the US (such as Boston and Philly accents)...

 

[Bob The Skutter]

You know, I always wondered how the various British accents turned into the American accents. With Australians and New Zealanders, you can still hear their British origin, but not really with Americans (and Canadians). Odd.

I wouldn't say that's necessarily true. I mean in different areas of the US you can pick out dialects from Britain. Plus a lot are mixtures of various accents. Besides the fact there's a lot of other settlers from other nations to throw in to the mix, as well as the natural drift of British accents. There was a study that said a lot of southern American accents are actually close to 17th century British accents than most British accents today are. But who knows how accurate that is.

Well, I DO know I've seen some stuff in Shakespeare that just about cracked me up because it could've been said by my great-grandmother from Alabama.

I think it said somewhere (as one example): "I like to have died!" in one play. Which does not mean you WANTED to die, but that you feel like you almost did. I just about blew up laughing when I saw that!!!

Another...you still hear "down yonder" a lot, especially from other people.

Also, doesn't "mad" not mean "angry" in modern-day Britain, whereas it did in Shakespeare--and in America--and other similar examples?

One funny saying I heard about English: "English is a language that lurks in dark alleys, beats up other languages and rifles through their pockets for spare vocabulary"

Yeah, I've heard that saying too.
People still say mad for angry, but it's also used for crazy/insane too.
People still say down yonder too, depending on the area you're in it could be just someone trying to be humourously archaic or someone being serious.

Mr. Laser Beam, No doubt there's some weird regional dialects in the US. But it seems what is considered weird there is some how part of the lancuasge here. I've heard people taking the mickey out of people for saying "I reckon" or "I'm fixing for" and things like that, reckon is an every day word here, while fixing for isn't but I'm sure most people know what it means if someone said it.
But there are some very odd words in British dialects which make sense in the local context, but you would need them explaining to you to understand them. I remember my grandma telling "put wood in'tole" for shut the door, or people in general saying they're mafting on a hot summers day. There's plenty more but these are just the ones that are coming to mind at 6 in the morning when I haven't slept well cos I'm running a fever.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

"I reckon" and "I'm fixing for" sound southern to me (slightly hickish, but that's a northern bias, probably).

 

[Bob The Skutter]

"I reckon" and "I'm fixing for" sound southern to me (slightly hickish, but that's a northern bias, probably).

I've been told I sound like a Southern hick saying I reckon when talking/messaging with American friends, so that fits

 

[Deckerd]

As for gotten, it may just be the pronunciation, or as you say, the context it is being used in.

We still use forgotten (except Burns), so it doesn't really make any sense to lose the irregular pp in get.

There are older words like beget, begot begotten which are rarely used but still understood.

 

[JustKate]

"I reckon" and "I'm fixing for" sound southern to me (slightly hickish, but that's a northern bias, probably).

I've been told I sound like a Southern hick saying I reckon when talking/messaging with American friends, so that fits

I probably hear reckon three days out of the week - it's really common here in the Midwest. I don't generally use it, just because I didn't grow up saying it (I'm not from the Midwest, I've just lived here a long time), but it sounds perfectly familiar and comfortable to me. As for fixin', what I hear, and even use sometimes, is not fixin' for but fixin' to.

And I had almost exactly the same reaction that you did, Nerys, to "I like to have died!"

 

[Bob The Skutter]

"I reckon" and "I'm fixing for" sound southern to me (slightly hickish, but that's a northern bias, probably).

I've been told I sound like a Southern hick saying I reckon when talking/messaging with American friends, so that fits

I probably hear reckon three days out of the week - it's really common here in the Midwest. I don't generally use it, just because I didn't grow up saying it (I'm not from the Midwest, I've just lived here a long time), but it sounds perfectly familiar and comfortable to me. As for fixin', what I hear, and even use sometimes, is not fixin' for but fixin' to.

And I had almost exactly the same reaction that you did, Nerys, to "I like to have died!"

I may have had that wrong, but I'm sure it was "Fixin' for" something or "fixin' to" do something, both seem to be understandable expressions to me, but an American friend was telling me about her cousin saying it as if it was totally incomprehensible, which surprised me.

 

[JustKate]

I've been told I sound like a Southern hick saying I reckon when talking/messaging with American friends, so that fits

I probably hear reckon three days out of the week - it's really common here in the Midwest. I don't generally use it, just because I didn't grow up saying it (I'm not from the Midwest, I've just lived here a long time), but it sounds perfectly familiar and comfortable to me. As for fixin', what I hear, and even use sometimes, is not fixin' for but fixin' to.

And I had almost exactly the same reaction that you did, Nerys, to "I like to have died!"

I may have had that wrong, but I'm sure it was "Fixin' for" something or "fixin' to" do something, both seem to be understandable expressions to me, but an American friend was telling me about her cousin saying it as if it was totally incomprehensible, which surprised me.

Well, it surprises me, too, if that's any comfort to you. Even if the cousin hasn't heard it in real life, jeez, hasn't she ever seen a Western? Talked to anybody who grew up west of Pennsylvania or south of the Mason-Dixon line? Read a book by somebody who grew up west of Pennsylvania or south of the Mason-Dixon line?

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I probably hear reckon three days out of the week - it's really common here in the Midwest. I don't generally use it, just because I didn't grow up saying it (I'm not from the Midwest, I've just lived here a long time), but it sounds perfectly familiar and comfortable to me. As for fixin', what I hear, and even use sometimes, is not fixin' for but fixin' to.

And I had almost exactly the same reaction that you did, Nerys, to "I like to have died!"

I may have had that wrong, but I'm sure it was "Fixin' for" something or "fixin' to" do something, both seem to be understandable expressions to me, but an American friend was telling me about her cousin saying it as if it was totally incomprehensible, which surprised me.

Well, it surprises me, too, if that's any comfort to you. Even if the cousin hasn't heard it in real life, jeez, hasn't she ever seen a Western? Talked to anybody who grew up west of Pennsylvania or south of the Mason-Dixon line? Read a book by somebody who grew up west of Pennsylvania or south of the Mason-Dixon line?

Guess not. This is the same person who told me that Americans are the only people understood worldwide because they have no accent, could just be delusional?

 

[JustKate]

^ "No accent"? That's hilarious, although it would be even funnier if it was meant to be hilarious.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

^ "No accent"? That's hilarious, although it would be even funnier if it was meant to be hilarious.

I told her to compare New York to Louisiana, or Boston to New Orleans... she said "The south doesn't count, most of America doesn't have any accent."

 

[JustKate]

Hell, I live in Indiana, which isn't even a very big state, and there are at least three distinct accents right here! There's a modified Upper Midwest accent in northern Indiana, what I think of as a general Midwestern accent in central Indiana, and a modified Kentucky-Southern accent in southern Indiana. And those are all within five hours' drive of each other.

They have ears but cannot hear...

 

[Sisko_is_my_captain]

I may have had that wrong, but I'm sure it was "Fixin' for" something or "fixin' to" do something, both seem to be understandable expressions to me, but an American friend was telling me about her cousin saying it as if it was totally incomprehensible, which surprised me.

Well, for example...

Right now, I think it's fixin' to rain. I can tell, 'cause it's lookin' cloudy down yonder. Course, I reckon I've got a little time before it starts.