CapturedWings.org Forums
Misc => Archives => Anything goes... => Topic started by: Becster on February 25 2006, 04:32 am
-
...I've noticed (obviously) that despite the fact North Americans and British speak English (...well...save for all the Welsh and other languages mixed about) we speak quite different languages...
I mean, just the differences in words, like:
Candy and Sweets
Trunk and Boot
Pants and Trousers
Panties and Underwear
Potato Chips and Crisps
Fries and Chips
...See what I mean? I wonder how these came about...o_O
(I think Candy sounds better than Sweets though.)
-
Ah, linguistics. I'm a linguistics major, therefore things like this fascinate me. Languages evolve almost exactly like species of animals develop, from my understanding.
One of my favorite British English things is using 'row' and pronouncing it 'rau.' That is how you pronounce it, right?
-
Huh, how do you pronounce it then? As in rohw?
...I use 'rohw' for 'rowing a boat' and 'rau' for 'a domestic row' or something...o_O
-
Huh, how do you pronounce it then? As in rohw?
...I use 'rohw' for 'rowing a boat' and 'rau' for 'a domestic row' or something...o_O
We use 'rohw' for 'rowing a boat' as well. But we don't use 'row' for a fight. That's strictly a British thing.
-
Oh, I see.
It's a bit like something I read in a book once (one of those funny Georgia Nicholson books...'Knocked out by my Nunga-Nungas' and such...) is that 'fag' is a word only used to (...cruelly, in my opinion. >_< Let people love who they want!) describe a gay person...whereas in Britain it's also used as a word for 'cigarette'.
...I still wonder about Roundabouts and...is it rotaries? Hmmm.
-
Linguistics are fun! Back when I learned English in school, British English was what was taught (appearantly that isn't as strict any longer, and more and more American English is beginning to sneak into the text books), but because of the influence of all American music, movies, books etc I guess I speak a horrible (:wink:) mix of British and American English.
Anyway, I was wondering... is pronouncing 'neither' like [needer] instead of [nyder] considered American, or vice versa? Or is it connected to certain dialects regardless of which one of these countries you live in?
-
Actually, I don't prounounce neither "needer" or "nyder" ...I prounounce it "nee-ther"
...I think people pronounce things differently in different parts of the UK as well...like scone...'scon' or 'scown'.
...And Bath. 'Bath' or 'Barth'.
-
Languages are truly facinating. That's partly how I got so obsessed with anime. Thing is in America, where I live, we also have changes in how we say words. For instance, I was born and raised in Ohio along with the rest of my family, but my father was born in Pennsylvania which is right next door to Ohio, and he pronounces things differently than me.
He has what I like to call a "Pennsylvanian accect" and let's say I'm talking to somebody else and I'll say the word "yours". Daddy instead will say yins. And I'll say "washing machine," he'll say "warshing machine."
Also, I've traveled down to the southern part of the country and they have words differently than ours. I'll say "Are you going to get that," while a person from the south will say "Are ya'll fixin' to buy that?"
Languages truly are amazing. You can speak the same language, but that doesn't mean you say the same words.
-
Exactly! It's like that in England too.
For example, when I go to America, I can't tell all the different American accents apart, but I can tell apart all the different accents in the UK - such as the Welsh accent, the Irish accent (even though Ireland is mainly its own country now), the Scottish accent...and then in the towns within England, I can tell a Liverpudlian (Liverpool) accent, and a general northern accent.
...Ask me to tell a New York accent from a Pennsylvanian accent and I wouldn't have a clue! (...Hmm. Or maybe I'd vaguely be able to tell the difference, but not as easily as I would if it were an Irish accent.)
Speaking of which...when I hear American dubbed anime, I don't think it sounds any different to how we usually sound...and then I hear a British accent on an anime and I realise we do sound different. It'd be nice for Britain to do a dub one time, so the Americans can hear how they sound to us in comparison...
(Do they actually get real British actors to do the voice acting for a British character, or do they get an American to put on the accent, because sometimes it sounds ridiculously overdone...)
-
Accents just dont make sense to me...o_O I dont understand how people can speak the same language in a different way...theres probably a very good reason for why it has happened...I dont get it though
I know what you mean about it being overdone...I mean when Thingy did Bridget Jones' diary, her accent just sounded way too english. But I suppose if I tried to do what I thought was say an Australian accent, then Australian people would think I sounded too formal or whatever...
-
Yeah, I hate it when Americans try and fake an English accent. I thought Renee didn't do a too bad job with it, but it was a little overdone.
I think, if you wanna have a British accent in an anime, or a film...use a British actor, m'kay?
-
I have a friend who lives just on the outskirts of London and she is has the most Upper Case english Accent I've evere heard. She says she is near the Essex part of the UK and they have a very low-level dialect (they are not very good at speaking properly, like they have no idea what T's are). I also have a kid in my class who has a very Bristolian accent (Bristol being the town where I'm from) It's thick and is very unpleasent to listen to, It's such a bad vocabulary I really can't stand listening to it.
I only see these as being different really.
Trunk and Boot
Potato Chips and Crisps
Oh, I see.
It's a bit like something I read in a book once (one of those funny Georgia Nicholson books...'Knocked out by my Nunga-Nungas' and such...) is that 'fag' is a word only used to (...cruelly, in my opinion. >_< Let people love who they want!) describe a gay person...whereas in Britain it's also used as a word for 'cigarette'.
...I still wonder about Roundabouts and...is it rotaries? Hmmm.
We still use Fag in england to describe gay people.
Never heard anybody call a Roundabout a Rotary.
Actually, I don't prounounce neither "needer" or "nyder" ...I prounounce it "nee-ther"
...I think people pronounce things differently in different parts of the UK as well...like scone...'scon' or 'scown'.
...And Bath. 'Bath' or 'Barth'.
We use both Scon and Scown, Just depending on the situation it's in.
and we call the town Bath 'Barth' and the actuall washing bath just 'Bath'
Also, I've traveled down to the southern part of the country and they have words differently than ours. I'll say "Are you going to get that," while a person from the south will say "Are ya'll fixin' to buy that?"
The southern accent is my fav accent in the entire World, For me it is anyway.
I love talking to a girl I know who lives in Alabama on the phone, she has a really good accent.
Yeah, I hate it when Americans try and fake an English accent. I thought Renee didn't do a too bad job with it, but it was a little overdone.
I really Liked how she pulled it off, simply because I've heard people more british than that so it didn't sound wierd at all to me, So I think your just exaggerating that...
-
Mmm, mm. Actually, some of my friends say Bath, whilst I say Barth. (I'm English myself.) And I can never remember what the other word for roundabout is...but rotary just leapt to mind. Haha.
...I hate using the word fag. I don't think it's bad for describing a cigarette, but I personally think cigarettes are disgusting, so maybe it's a subscious link in that I find the word 'fag' when used to describe someone who's gay disgusting.
Let them love who they want to love.
I say 'scown' ...and then all my friends call me posh. Okay, my accent is a little more upper class sounding than their's...but still.
I forget, is it Southerners like myself who are supposed to have slightly less upper class accents? I live in the south, but my parents were born in Manchester and Liverpool...so...
-
Well, I live in England and yeah I'm British and I have got relatives living in America.
There are more differences in the lanuage, such as Sneakers and Trainers
Also the british always spell things with a "u", such as neighbour, colour, flavour, favour where as Americans don't use the "u" in those words.
Another interesting fact is that the word "snogging" is a british word, also "pear-shaped" and "bangers & mash" and I guess "eggit" is kinda british too lol
-
Maybe it's just my particular brand of American upbringing, but I see words like "row" and "sweets" and think "I say that all the time."
But then, my friends often quirk their heads at my words choice, and I do tend to spell things with a "u"
...I've only ever heard the word "scone" pronounced with a hard "o"...I wasn't aware there were other ways to say it...o.0...I'm learning all sorts of things here.
I can tell some of the different UK accents apart...but not all of them. And whever I try to do Scottish, it always turns more Irish, and still doesn't sound good. ^_^;;
-
*grins* I LOVE pear-shaped. One of the best British phrases ever...
Aha, I forgot about Sneakers and Trainers...
...And American's spell it aluminum. ...Aluminium...they like leaving out vowels, don't they? XD
I personally pronounce scone with the hard 'o' too, and I think putting emphasis on the 'sc' bit (sck-on) sounds 'posher'...
-
Yeah, I commonly use the word "pear-shaped" here, its fun to use
lol, I remember constantly using that word pear-shaped on the phone to my American cousin and she didn't have a clue what I was talking about until I explained clearly the meaning of "pear-shaped"
-
Accents just dont make sense to me...o_O I dont understand how people can speak the same language in a different way...theres probably a very good reason for why it has happened...I dont get it though
It's actually quite simple. Let's say a number of people are living together in a village. They create a language of their own, social rules and laws and yadda yadda... but after awhile, the number of people living in that small place has increased so much that some of them have got to move. So they do, but they don't have to create a whole new language because of that, right? But as you might understand from reading Shakespeare, languages change over time. So the people that moved from their original setting slowly start to do some changes in the language, and more and more changes are added for every generation.
At the same time, the people who stayed in the village are developing the language just as those who moved do, only they go a whole other direction. For example, this language's word for "dog" is uggr. After some generations, the grand-grandchildren of those who moved might spell this as [ugr] whereas those still living in the village spell it [ughr].
To complicate it even more, let's assume that these two groups of people are living in the very north and the very south of a country, respectively. Then those who stayed in the village might be trading and socializing with people who live in another country close to where they are, thus borrowing words from this folk's tongue. The same goes for those who moved to the other side of the country, only they are influenced by a whole other language. In time, these two dialects may even develop into two different languages.
Yeah, something like that. I know that that's to simplify it a bit, but you get the point, right, Lunar Eclipse?
-
...And American's spell it aluminum. ...Aluminium...they like leaving out vowels, don't they? XD
We also pronounce it Al-oom-in-um, and I guess it can also be pronounced Al-oom-in-ee-um. (I didn't learn that until I met a guy from Canada a few years ago who pronounced it like that...I was way confused, thinking he was talking about some mythical element...)
And I lot of people from Europe and Canada seem to pronounce Z "zed"...that's probably the only one that left me the most confused when I first heard it. It sounded like a bad sci-fi movie villain. I was like "What's a Zed???"
lol
-
Yeah, American's say 'Zee' don't they...that makes me think of a happy expression...like 'WHEEEEEEEEE'
...
...
...'ZEEEEEEEEEEEEE!'
Haha.
-
Yeah, American's say 'Zee' don't they...that makes me think of a happy expression...like 'WHEEEEEEEEE'
...
...
...'ZEEEEEEEEEEEEE!'
Haha.
I've honestly never heard that word before.
The southern accent is my fav accent in the entire World, For me it is anyway.
My favorite too. I love all kinds of accents, but it suprises me to no end that a person that lives in the same country as me can speak a completely different way. I love it.
-
Ahhh...zeeee.
It's the American Z.
I said Zed. XD
-
Another interesting fact is that the word "snogging" is a british word, also "pear-shaped" and "bangers & mash" and I guess "eggit" is kinda british too lol
what the hell is Eggit?
Most americans I've talked to don't seem to know what Lush and Posh mean either.
...And American's spell it aluminum. ...Aluminium...they like leaving out vowels, don't they? XD
I personally pronounce scone with the hard 'o' too, and I think putting emphasis on the 'sc' bit (sck-on) sounds 'posher'...
I actually prefer the American way of spelling Aluminum. I just think it sounds better than Aluminium (plus I love the song called Aluminum by BNL, lol!)
uh.. the posh way always tended to be Sc-own around these parts.
We also pronounce it Al-oom-in-um, and I guess it can also be pronounced Al-oom-in-ee-um. (I didn't learn that until I met a guy from Canada a few years ago who pronounced it like that...I was way confused, thinking he was talking about some mythical element...)
And I lot of people from Europe and Canada seem to pronounce Z "zed"...that's probably the only one that left me the most confused when I first heard it. It sounded like a bad sci-fi movie villain. I was like "What's a Zed???"
lol
uhm, I've never heard anybody say Al-oom-in-ee-um. In these parts we say it more like Ally - u - mini - um.
and yeah we say Zed, I kept getting getting confused when people kect saying Zee, I just figured they were retarded.
I've honestly never heard that word before.
My favorite too. I love all kinds of accents, but it suprises me to no end that a person that lives in the same country as me can speak a completely different way. I love it.
They are talking about the Letter "Z"
and it looks like you quoted the wrong person (Time-Machine instead of me)
-
They are talking about the Letter "Z"
and it looks like you quoted the wrong person (Time-Machine instead of me)
I understand. Thank you.
-
I actually prefer the American way of spelling Aluminum. I just think it sounds better than Aluminium (plus I love the song called Aluminum by BNL, lol!)
uhm, I've never heard anybody say Al-oom-in-ee-um. In these parts we say it more like Ally - u - mini - um.
Another way to pronounce it...geeze...what is it with Aluminum? Canada vs. US vs. UK XD
Canada's accent always really interested me. The word choice seems to lean more towards the English way of saying things, but the way words are pronounced seems closer to the American way (harder r's and not as round of o's and such...) and then you add in the whole French influence o.0
-
Another way to pronounce it...geeze...what is it with Aluminum? Canada vs. US vs. UK XD
Canada's accent always really interested me. The word choice seems to lean more towards the English way of saying things, but the way words are pronounced seems closer to the American way (harder r's and not as round of o's and such...) and then you add in the whole French influence o.0
well when I was watching a BNL Documentry, The band is from Canada and they were talking about accents too and they said they say it just like the Americans (Aluminum) and not the English (Aluminium). I think there are only two ways.. at least of what I know of XD lol
I kinda wanna see a Japanese person say the british way of Aluminium.. with those "l's" XD lol
-
what the hell is Eggit?
Most americans I've talked to don't seem to know what Lush and Posh mean either.
Eggit means "Idolt", I think it's more Irish then British, though some Brits do use that word. So basically Eggit is the Irish version of Baka.
Lol, I didn't know that Americans didn't know what Lush and Posh are
Anyway another difference is Cell phone and Mobile phone
Also notice the British and Americans prounce Vase and Vitamins differently?
-
Eggit means "Idolt", I think it's more Irish then British, though some Brits do use that word. So basically Eggit is the Irish version of Baka.
Lol, I didn't know that Americans didn't know what Lush and Posh are
Anyway another difference is Cell phone and Mobile phone
Also notice the British and Americans prounce Vase and Vitamins differently?
The cell phone thing confuses me to no end in that Orange advert at the cinema.
Because I was associated with Americans for so long I got used to calling it a Cell phone, But in the Orange Wensdays advert the guy says "But silence doesn't sell phones" and I'm ALWAYS left there thinking... What the hell, You mean Sell Cell Phones or Sell Mobile Phone, or what??" and I still think the guy is an idiot for saying that, lol.
and Eggit... hm interesting.
-
I'm from Canada, and I've never heard anyone say Ah- loo- mi- ni- um instead of aluminum. It's kind of weird.
My teachers always get mad when I spell words the American way like, "color" instead of "colour'. One of my math teachers got really irritated with me because I spelled "meters (US)" instead of "metres(CAN)". I had to squint before I noticed the difference. Oh, the wonders of CANEnglish and USEnglish.
-
wow, I never even knew there was a deifferent between Meters and Metres.. o.O"
-
I'm canadian as well teehee ^^;;
And i say Zed. I dont' know why..=\
I like the French accent, sounds funny ^^;; teehee..
-
Apparently American's don't know what "peckish" means...That amused me. I'm always using that word. XD
-
I use the wrod pekish! A lot of people I know do. But it's not a very usual word. I think that's why we use it so much. No one ever says it, and it sounds funny and cool.
I love that word.
Swear words and what's considered "offensive" is different between cultures, too. Like most people I know say "bloody" all the time. "That's bloody brilliant" or when something irritates us "bloody _whateveritis_!" and it's not considered swearing. It's just words. But I was talking to an English woman in a bookstore, and I guess those are swear words in England (or at least, she considered them swear words). Someone else told me the word "bugger" is a swear too, and that's something I call my little brother all the time. "Little bugger" (in an affectionate way, of course).
-
Apparently American's don't know what "peckish" means...That amused me. I'm always using that word. XD
I know what that word means and I'm American. It means hungry.
-
I use the wrod pekish! A lot of people I know do. But it's not a very usual word. I think that's why we use it so much. No one ever says it, and it sounds funny and cool.
I love that word.
Swear words and what's considered "offensive" is different between cultures, too. Like most people I know say "bloody" all the time. "That's bloody brilliant" or when something irritates us "bloody _whateveritis_!" and it's not considered swearing. It's just words. But I was talking to an English woman in a bookstore, and I guess those are swear words in England (or at least, she considered them swear words). Someone else told me the word "bugger" is a swear too, and that's something I call my little brother all the time. "Little bugger" (in an affectionate way, of course).
over here Bugger is teh equilevent to having your *** cheeks spread and being raped or being done up the ***. It's pretty offensive.
I'm guessing the majority of americans are mistaking the bugger for someone bugging someone (like an annoyiance)
Bloody is both offensive AND not offensive, It all depends on the context.
(A Bloody Mary is a drink, Bloody Mary is a *****)
-
Well, it not really someone who's annoying, necessarily. It's just kind of a throw-away insult, and not a very powerful one at that. Like booger or dumb-face. Almost a grade-school thing.
Have you ever read Ender's Game? I always wonder what the British would think of that book, considering the aliens are called "buggers" because they look like big insects. I wonder if they changed the word for the UK edition, because it's kind of a children's book.
-
I found the actual definition for Bugger:
Technically means to sodomize, but most people use the word in a variety of situations, often without realizing the true meaning.
-
Yeah. I think in America most people think of bugs, like insects. And that's really the only meaning we put behind it. Sodomy is definitly not part of the way we use it ever. If you tried to use it to reference sodomy peope would just be like "Are you an idiot?"
Kind of like the actual definitions or words like "dork" and "geek." Those were lost to any modern referencing ages ago (in fact, many dictionaries stop bothering printing the original definition of dork...which made me kind sad. It was always fun to look up for a cheap immature laugh). Trying to use them with their actual definition just wouldn't work. No one would know what you were talking about. (well....maybe with geek. I'm not sure, there).
-
What about the term "dude"? I've been told it's fairly common in the western part of the US, where I am, but it's not used much elsewhere.
-
Erg, 'dude' is kind of a strange term. I use it myself fairly often because I like it, but most other people I know don't use it. I live in the southern US, just for reference. It's kinda considered a dated term, and not used often; it was a lot more common five, ten years ago.
-
I know what that word means and I'm American. It means hungry.
Ahhh, I guess I'm just going based on my friends over there...they don't know what it means.
-
What about the term "dude"? I've been told it's fairly common in the western part of the US, where I am, but it's not used much elsewhere.
That's definayly a word that California used waaay too much
-
Oh... another thing about spelling, as I mentioned before Brits use u's in colour, flavour etc..., but theres also a difference when they spell organise and analyse. We British use an "s" whereas Americans use a "z" so that its spelt organize and analyze.
Also Americans say "Math", but Britsih say "Maths"
-
Also Americans say "Math", but Britsih say "Maths"
*twitch* Maths...How I loathe it. I'm doing coursework and I had to get NINE articles, three similiar ones from each of three papers and count ALL. THE. WORDS. In my chosen article.
...Guuuuh.
And, yeah, there's the whole 'organise' 'organize' thing...I think the 'z' looks funny, but American's probably think the 's' looks funny O.O
-
I say "dude"...but thats probably because me and my friends are like, surfer-obsessed :P
-
I say dude, and so does everyone else around here, and none of us surf or anything like that. It's just a fun word. Everyone's a dude. We're all dudes.
-
Hah, I say egit all the time, it's such an old-fashioned insult though.
Americans say 'bangs', British people say 'fringe'.
I love saying 'innit' and 'warrit?' and 'somefink', little imitations of Northern English accents.
Irish people tend to blend verbs, like 'I amn't' and 'I ain't' instead of I'm not'.
I'd consider sck-on to be the posh way of saying it. ^^;
-
Americans say 'bangs', British people say 'fringe'.
Irish people tend to blend verbs, like 'I amn't' and 'I ain't' instead of I'm not'.
I'm british and I've only ever heard people say Bangs. Fringe is really old.. like a decade ago old.
We say I Ain't down here in the south too, not me personally but people I observe do.
-
I'm british and I've only ever heard people say Bangs. Fringe is really old.. like a decade ago old.
We say I Ain't down here in the south too, not me personally but people I observe do.
I say fringe and never use the word bangs
Anyway I'm at university and there are loads of international students here and sometimes its difficult to communicate due to the accents.
-
I have a fringe and I say fringe. I've never heard a British or Irish person say bangs!
Ah, and we nearly always say Taytos instead of Crisps too.
-
yep
and there are differences when the British and Americans say Tomatoes. The British says "Toe-mart-toes" where as Americans say "Toe-mate-toes"