"Sodder"? What "sodder"?

[t0p]

Okay, so why do Americans pronounce the word solder as "sodder"? Is this a silent L that the rest of the English-speaking world haven't been told about? Or are you all, as I suspect, plain wrong?

"Sodder"? I mean... what the heck???

:confused:

[lisati]

Okay, so why do Americans pronounce the word solder as "sodder"? Is this a silent L that the rest of the English-speaking world haven't been told about? Or are you all, as I suspect, plain wrong?

"Sodder"? I mean... what the heck???

:confused:

I hadn't noticed this examples in the TV shows I watch, but the pronunciation puts me in mind of something totally unrelated. I think I better get my mind out of the gutter.....

Dropping the "H" in "herbs" bugs me a little, it sounds to my ears like an affectation.

You might be interested in the following threads:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1050685
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1032113
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1126777

There are a few other similar discussions

[mkendall]

I pronounce the 'l'.

[skymera]

I've always wondered this along with why they say

"aluminum" for Aluminium

They forget the extra "i" just like the "l" in Solder.

The letters must be too thin and insignificant to say.

[mister_pink]

The aluminium/aluminum one is slightly different, as they actually spell it differently. And as much as I hate to admit it, I think the american english version isn't actually that wrong in this case - its one of the first names it was given, not a recent adaptation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium#Nomenclature_history

[LuigiAntoniol]

The aluminium/aluminum one is slightly different, as they actually spell it differently. And as much as I hate to admit it, I think the american english version isn't actually that wrong in this case - its one of the first names it was given, not a recent adaptation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium#Nomenclature_history

Good, informative article on Wikipedia.

As for the spelling difference in words between the USA and the rest of the english speaking world, a friend of mine had this to say:
"The brits may have invented english, but the Americans made it user friendly."

colour - color
humour - humor
catalogue - catalog

Just so long as we don't start a war over the language, we're ok.:)

[Paqman]

"The brits may have invented english, but the Americans made it user friendly."

colour - color
humour - humor
catalogue - catalog

Just so long as we don't start a war over the language, we're ok.:)

Oh yeah, how do you spell trough? And thorough? Not trof and thurro like they should be, i'll bet.

Never quite understood why somebody in America decided at some point to take a tiny subset of the massive number of bizarrely-spelled words in English and change them. Did they envisage it as the start of an ongoing process?

[pwnst*r]

Okay, so why do Americans pronounce the word solder as "sodder"? Is this a silent L that the rest of the English-speaking world haven't been told about? Or are you all, as I suspect, plain wrong?

"Sodder"? I mean... what the heck???

:confused:

i'm glad it bothers you.

http://media.digikey.com/photos/Kester%20Photos/KESTER%20SOLDER-%2024-7068-1401.jpg

[CraigPaleo]

It could be because it comes from the Old French word soudure and in Middle English was spelled soudour.

We also pronounce the word fillet as fillay, again sticking closer to its origin in Old French.

Pronouncing Ts as Ds, in the middle of a word, is just an accent similar to how Brits don't pronounce Rs after a vowel yet do pronounce them where there are no R's in a word at all.

[Paqman]

Brits don't pronounce Rs after a vowel yet do pronounce them where there are no R's in a word at all.

As a foreigner living in Britain (and thus something of an observer of their ways) i'm not quite sure what you're meaning here. Examples?

One thing they definitely do is drop h's from words totally, except when referring to the letter h, when they go the other way and overpronounce it as "haitch". Mad.

There's about a million different accents in Britain though, so what goes for one area doesn't necessarily hold for another.

[CraigPaleo]

Never quite understood why somebody in America decided at some point to take a tiny subset of the massive number of bizarrely-spelled words in English and change them. Did they envisage it as the start of an ongoing process?

It was Noah Webster (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Webster). I guess no one picked up his work after he died.

[pwnst*r]

As a foreigner living in Britain (and thus something of an observer of their ways) i'm not quite sure what you're meaning here. Examples?

One thing they definitely do is drop h's from words totally, except when referring to the letter h, when they go the other way and overpronounce it as "haitch". Mad.

There's about a million different accents in Britain though, so what goes for one area doesn't necessarily hold for another.

example? Honda becomes Honder.

[mxboy15u]

Why is Z "zed"?

[CraigPaleo]

As a foreigner living in Britain (and thus something of an observer of their ways) i'm not quite sure what you're meaning here. Examples?

One thing they definitely do is drop h's from words totally, except when referring to the letter h, when they go the other way and overpronounce it as "haitch". Mad.

There's about a million different accents in Britain though, so what goes for one area doesn't necessarily hold for another.

When I say Brits, I'm talking about RP, which is the most commonly heard British accent over here. Here are some examples (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linking_and_intrusive_R#Examples_of_intrusive_R).
Like Pwnst*r said about Honda, I also hear names like Tina and Monica pronounced with an R at the end.

[CraigPaleo]

Why is Z "zed"?
To make singing the alphabet more difficult. :)

[Paqman]

When I say Brits, I'm talking about RP, which is the most commonly heard British accent over here. Here are some examples (http://en.wikipedia.org
/wiki/Linking_and_intrusive_R#Examples_of_intrusive_R).


Hmm, i'm not sure The Streets is Received Pronunciation! A lot of those examples are Americans, too. So i'd say more of trait of English in general than just Brits. Certainly not one i've noticed living 'ere.

Also bear in mind that nobody actually speaks RP except posh actors and some of the old guard of newsreaders.



Like Pwnst*r said about Honda, I also hear names like Tina and Monica pronounced with an R at the end.

That's kind of a defining feature of the "estuarine" accent that you get in the East End of London and Essex. Look up "Wayne & Waynetta Slob" for a fine example of the dialect.

[MikeTheC]

See, here's the thing though...

English wasn't formally taught before the 1800s, IIRC. Up until then, it was considered the "common" tongue. You "taught" French, or Spanish, or Latin, or German, or what-have-you. English you learned at home. Because of the rapid expansion of English and it's eventual adoption by so many different groups of people around the world (who probably got taught it by different people who didn't necessarily have concurrent agreement with each other to begin with) we have quite a mess.

Therefore, I really can't say I consider "British" English authoritative. I am not saying this to start an argument, but merely to point out the fact that there is no official reference standard for English, so consequentially how can anyone claim their particular iteration to be either authoritative or definitive? Don't get me wrong, it'd be great to be able to point to something and be able to say "This is 'official' English," but we can't.

And if you guys are going to take shots at American vs. British English, you've forgotten the whole "is vs. are" usage.

[SomeGuyDude]

I dunno.

Why don't we say the 'g' in "phlegm"?

What's up with people putting a 'p' in "hamster"?

Why does "knight" have three letters no one says?

What the heck is going on with "colonel"?

Why do the Brits pronounce "lieutenant" as "leftenant"?

How exactly does the posi-trac rear end on a Plymouth work?

[MikeTheC]

Does your chewing gum lose it's flavor on the bed post overnight? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXp0i7Y1eVo&feature=related)

[Paqman]

Therefore, I really can't say I consider "British" English authoritative. I am not saying this to start an argument, but merely to point out the fact that there is no official reference standard for English

True. As a native English-speaking non-Brit i'd agree that the various countries have a right to speak English however they like. But when it comes to spelling the Americans are the odd ones out. Everyone else is in fact standardised.

That doesn't mean meaning is the same. For example: thong and pants are spelled the same everywhere, but have different meanings.

[Paqman]

What the heck is going on with "colonel"?

Why do the Brits pronounce "lieutenant" as "leftenant"?


Like a lot of military ranks and terminology these actually come from French.

[mxboy15u]

Funny...related to this post when I first switched to Ubuntu it was driving me crazy because the firefox dictionary was stuck on en_GB and every word was coming back misspelled...I was second guessing myself all the time until I was able to change it to the way it SHOULD be :)

[CraigPaleo]

Hmm, i'm not sure The Streets is Received Pronunciation! A lot of those examples are Americans, too. So i'd say more of trait of English in general than just Brits. Certainly not one i've noticed living 'ere.

The Americans in those examples are actors. It's definitely not a trait of English in general. If anything, it's a trait of most non-rhotic accents (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents).

Some areas of the US do have non-rhotic accents but most do not use the intrusive or linking R, per my experience anyway.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1e/Non_rhotic-whites-usa.png/180px-Non_rhotic-whites-usa.png


Also bear in mind that nobody actually speaks RP except posh actors and some of the old guard of newsreaders.
That's mostly to what we're exposed - those and upper class tourists.


That's kind of a defining feature of the "estuarine" accent that you get in the East End of London and Essex. Look up "Wayne & Waynetta Slob" for a fine example of the dialect.

I will check that out. I've found this site with audio examples of just about every accent imaginable throughout the world - several examples from each region. Quite intriguing.

The International Dialects of English Archive (http://web.ku.edu/~idea/)

[billgoldberg]

What the heck is going on with "colonel"?



As a stargate sg1 fan, I heard that alot and thought I was wrong by spelling the word "colonel".

They clearly say "kernel".

WTF?

As if English isn't hard enough to write, now they are starting this.

Aaahh.

[CraigPaleo]

That doesn't mean meaning is the same. For example: thong and pants are spelled the same everywhere, but have different meanings.

I laid some sod today. Completely different meaning in the US and UK.

Laying some sod in the US:

http://tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ykZPm8oALtVgCM:http://www.bilmartomaturf.com/images/sod_install.jpg

Laying some sod in the UK:

http://tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:BOfuyH8xR03TUM:http://marketingblog.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/xrated.jpg

[lisati]

Why is Z "zed"?
Why should it be "Zee"?

Funny...related to this post when I first switched to Ubuntu it was driving me crazy because the firefox dictionary was stuck on en_GB and every word was coming back misspelled...I was second guessing myself all the time until I was able to change it to the way it SHOULD be :)
On Firefox on my system I had a similar problem because it was stuck on en_US until I got around to changing it to what it SHOULD be. It still complains when I type in "realise"

[hobo14]

As a stargate sg1 fan, I heard that alot and thought I was wrong by spelling the word "colonel".

They clearly say "kernel".

WTF?

As if English isn't hard enough to write, now they are starting this.

Aaahh.

How do you spell "colonel" in Americanese?

[benj1]

Funny...related to this post when I first switched to Ubuntu it was driving me crazy because the firefox dictionary was stuck on en_GB and every word was coming back misspelled...I was second guessing myself all the time until I was able to change it to the way it SHOULD be :)

strange mine was stuck on en_US , a bug in ubuntu??? (brit by the way)

[CraigPaleo]

How do you spell "colonel" in Americanese?

The same. That's one word where we pronounce the L as an R making it homophone of "kernel."

This reminds me. I've heard Brits use the word "willn't" instead of "won't," which actually does make more sense since it's a contraction of "will not." How did we get "won't" out of it?

[RD1]

This should solve the problem ... at least in Europe! :lolflag:



Five year phase-in plan for "EuroEnglish"


The European Commission have just announced an agreement whereby
English will be the official language of the EU, rather than German, which
was the other possibility. As part of the negotiations, Her Majesty's
government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and
has accepted a five year phase in plan that would be known as "EuroEnglish".

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will
make the sivil servants jump for joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour
of the "k". This should klear up konfusion and keyboards kan have 1 less
letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year, when the
troublesome "ph" will be replaced with the "f". This will make words like
"fotograf" 20% shorter.

In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be
expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.
Governments will enkorage the removal of double letters, which have always
ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of
the silent "e"s in the language is disgraseful, and they should go away.

By the 4th year, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th"
with "z" and "w" with "v".

During ze fifz year, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords
kontaining "ou" and similar changes vud of kors be aplid to ozer
kombinations of leters. After zis fifz year, ve vil hav a realy sensibl
riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubls or difikultis and evrivun vil find it
ezi to understand each ozer

ZE DREAM VIL FINALI KUM TRU!

[benj1]

The same. That's one word where we pronounce the L as an R making it homophone of "kernel."

This reminds me. I've heard Brits use the word "willn't" instead of "won't," which actually does make more sense since it's a contraction of "will not." How did we get "won't" out of it?

would not

[lisati]

strange mine was stuck on en_US , a bug in ubuntu??? (brit by the way)

I was taught the "British" spelling for many words, & sometimes wonder if it's cheeky to call the language spoken in America "English".......

I just remembered something. One thing I find a bit baffling is that back in 1971, the text books my maths class (that's maths with an "s", not the Americanese "math") defined one billion as a million million, while the copy the teacher had (a teachers' edition) defined it as a thousand million. Odd.....

[Paqman]

The Americans in those examples are actors. It's definitely not a trait of English in general. If anything, it's a trait of most non-rhotic accents (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents).


That's not a term i've heard before, but according to The Hub of All Knowledge:


Non-rhotic accents include Received Pronunciation, New Zealand, Australian, South African and Estuary English.


So I guess that would be me. And the aforementioned estuarine accent.



That's mostly to what we're exposed - those and upper class tourists.


Fair enough. The actual reality on the street is a different story though.

Accent is tightly tied into class, which is a big deal here. Speaking RP would mark you as a member of the upper middle class. In reality these people account for a pretty small part of the population (rough guess: 5%). The actual upper class is small as to be not really worth considering.

[benj1]

I was taught the "British" spelling for many words, & sometimes wonder if it's cheeky to call the language spoken in America "English".......

I just remembered something. One thing I find a bit baffling is that back in 1971, the text books my maths class (that's maths with an "s", not the Americanese "math") defined one billion as a million million, while the copy the teacher had (a teachers' edition) defined it as a thousand million. Odd.....

this confused me also, i always thought it was a european metric thing but theres an explanation here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billion_(word))

[LowSky]

Why is this such a debate? Both countries have their own cultures that developed using the same language. Basically American and British English are forks of a language from over 350 years ago.

Language changes all the time, for example look at the epic Beowulf, it's written in English albeit a 1000 years ago. Just try to read it
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Beowulf.firstpage.jpeg

Now if you want to talk about confusing, get a Brit and a Yankee in the same room and say the word football...
http://tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:sr_t9qGco5hcTM:http://www.apl-park.k12.ia.us/APHS/Graphics/soccerBall.jpg

http://tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:TgavV-whG3QXBM:http://www.homestead.com/~media/elements/Clipart/sports/football.jpg

[benj1]

re football

why is it that most of the world seem to play british invented games apart from the americans that play their own games, that no one else plays??
even though baseball is apparently an english invention

[Icehuck]

re football

why is it that most of the world seem to play british invented games apart from the americans that play their own games, that no one else plays??
even though baseball is apparently an english invention

No one else in the world plays Basketball?

[MaxIBoy]

I've always wondered this along with why they say

"aluminum" for Aluminium

They forget the extra "i" just like the "l" in Solder.

The letters must be too thin and insignificant to say.It's faster to say this way. Americans tend to prune words down as much as possible, until there's a possibility of confusion with another word, at which point we either stop or coin a slang term for it.

This way, we talk faster.


If someone were to transcribe American English, they'd say we use one set of words formally and for emphasis, and another set of words which are similar but have a lot of the sounds replaced with "uh" or dropped altogether. From a linguistics point of view, the two sets of words are entirely different, and carry different connotations.

[Paqman]

It's faster to say this way. Americans tend to prune words down as much as possible, until there's a possibility of confusion with another word, at which point we either stop or coin a slang term for it.


I don't think that just Americans. A strong Australian accent will shorten their nationality all the way down to "Stroyn" and in some parts of northern England they shorten "the" down to just "t'". As in: t'internet, a word which bizarrely seems to get used even down in the south.

[CraigPaleo]

Why is this such a debate? Both countries have their own cultures that developed using the same language. Basically American and British English are forks of a language from over 350 years ago.

I don't see it as a debate really. I just find it makes for interesting discussion. American English has actually retained some of the traits that British English has all but lost such as the subjunctive, e.g. present subjunctive: "I suggested she take an umbrella." Brits would say "I suggested she took an umbrella." Past subjunctive: "I wish I were a penguin" and words such as "gotten." "I've got" and "I've gotten" have different meanings in AE.

The reverse is also true with British English retaining the use of "shall" and using only the present perfect with non-specific time markers such as "just" and "recently." In AE, "I just had lunch" is just as possible as "I've just had lunch." In BE, only the latter is possible. They've also retained irregular verb forms such as burnt, learnt, and, drempt.

I'm not sure if the American "dove" for "dived" or "snuck" for "sneaked" are relics of times past or relatively new additions to the language.

The dialects are now remerging since the advent of the Internet and easy access to mass media.

How can anyone not find it interesting?

[LowSky]

re football

why is it that most of the world seem to play British invented games apart from the Americans that play their own games, that no one else plays??
even though baseball is apparently an English invention

American Football is based on Rugby. History says that colleges like Harvard and Yale didn't have big enough fields to play rugby so they converted the rules to fit what they had. once the forward pass was invented the sport became what it is today.

Baseball is a American sport, and is a world sport at least in the Americas and Asia. Baseball is closely related to Cricket.

Basketball is played everywhere and is an American invented sports sport, originally created to be a sport for women to play.

[CraigPaleo]

re football

why is it that most of the world seem to play british invented games apart from the americans that play their own games, that no one else plays??
even though baseball is apparently an english invention

Because you colonized most of the world who gained their independence by peaceful means. We fought back. :)

We do play Golf. Scottish invention, yes?

[Paqman]

We do play Golf. Scottish invention, yes?

And soccer.

Playing home-grown games isn't just an American thing. You won't find a lot of people outside Malaysia playing Sepak Takraw, or many folks outside the Indian subcontinent playing that game where you have to hold your breath (name escapes me).

[CraigPaleo]

So I guess that would be me. And the aforementioned estuarine accent.

Would this be your accent? East Sussex Accent (http://web.ku.edu/~idea/europe/england/england69.mp3) I really had to listen closely in some places to understand her. She uses a lot of glottal stops and leaves out Hs as you said.

[itendo]

+1 filthy american sod

[benj1]

American Football is based on Rugby. History says that colleges like Harvard and Yale didn't have big enough fields to play rugby so they converted the rules to fit what they had. once the forward pass was invented the sport became what it is today.

Baseball is a American sport, and is a world sport at least in the Americas and Asia. Baseball is closely related to Cricket.

Basketball is played everywhere and is an American invented sports sport, originally created to be a sport for women to play.

baseball is a british invention see here (http://www.qi.com/news/item.php?id=214)

i agree america invented basketball, although i didn't realise american football is based on rugby.

[swoll1980]

Why do Brits, and Aussies pronounce words that end in an "a" with the "r" sound? For example Paula = Pauler

[MikeTheC]

True. As a native English-speaking non-Brit i'd agree that the various countries have a right to speak English however they like. But when it comes to spelling the Americans are the odd ones out. Everyone else is in fact standardised.

That doesn't mean meaning is the same. For example: thong and pants are spelled the same everywhere, but have different meanings.

Oh, absolutely. It's funny, too, because I've seen people (here occasionally, but mostly elsewhere) comment about someone's choice of words or a phrase, simply because to them it means something rude and to the poster, it doesn't have that meaning at all.

Bloody, as a for instance, carries only the medical meaning here in the U.S. When someone uses that word to mean "very or extremely" or whatever, we understand that particular meaning, but it simply carries no derogatory meaning here whatsoever.

"Rooting" in the U.S. only means to cheer or give support to. Other countries have a different meaning associated with it, but again, that meaning simply doesn't exist here.

"Fortnight" means nothing to us. It fell out of use here probably during the late 1800s or so.

There's also a lot of more "organic" or "quaint" terms used in England that really don't mean anything here, like "Sunday Dinner", or "Tea", etc. For us, "Sunday Dinner" really only refers to a dinner you had on Sunday, and would mean nothing more than a "Monday dinner" or a "Tuesday dinner", etc...

Now, conversely, "banging" here means what "rooting" means in England or Australia, apart from the literal meaning of, say, banging on something with a mallet. So, when someone says they're "banging on" we would or could interpret that to mean they're having a lot of, um, "fun"...

I used to work for Sony, and occasionally someone from Canada would call in for tech support and tell me they bought something or had something done "on Boxing Day". Well, that evidently is a holiday in Canada, but it means nothing here.

Also, in England, your teams have "tests". Well, in the U.S., if you said a team had a test, we would assume they were being drug-tested for doping or some such. Equivalent terminology for each sport's final games of the season/year/whatever vary from sport to sport.

[benj1]

Would this be your accent? East Sussex Accent (http://web.ku.edu/~idea/europe/england/england69.mp3) I really had to listen closely in some places to understand her. She uses a lot of glottal stops and leaves out Hs as you said.

could you really not under stand that?

not taking the **** or anything, to my ear thats a fairly standard southern accent, i suppose its what you get used to you should hear some of the older worcester accents (evesham area) or even yorkshire accents, im from yorkshire and sometimes i can't understand what some peole are saying

[Paqman]

Would this be your accent?

Nope, i'm a Kiwi. Far more vowel-mangling needed to sound like me ;)

EDIT: I probably sound a bit like this (http://www.ku.edu/~idea/australiaoceania/newzealand/newzealand1.mp3).

[benj1]

Why do Brits, and Aussies pronounce words that end in an "a" with the "r" sound? For example Paula = Pauler

that would be our stiff upper lips:)

note an australian would pronounce it "pauler?"

[p_quarles]

Never quite understood why somebody in America decided at some point to take a tiny subset of the massive number of bizarrely-spelled words in English and change them. Did they envisage it as the start of an ongoing process?

It's actually kind of the other way around. Prior to the 18th century, English orthography was completely non-standardized (just look at facsimiles of Shakespeare's original printings if you don't believe me; or Spenser, or whoever). It was around the time of Webster and Dr. Johnson that the idea of large-scale orthographical standardization became popular and feasible. So, contrary to the belief of many British people, American English is no less authentic or correctly spelled than British English. It was merely standardized by a different group of people, and consequently looks different on paper.

[CraigPaleo]

could you really not under stand that?

not taking the **** or anything, to my ear thats a fairly standard southern accent, i suppose its what you get used to you should hear some of the older worcester accents (evesham area) or even yorkshire accents, im from yorkshire and sometimes i can't understand what some peole are saying

I could but I had to listen very closely. So far, I can understand London and I'm working my way around now. This one from Norfolk (http://www.ku.edu/~idea/europe/england/england11.mp3) - I cannot understand MOST of what she's saying at all.

I don't have any trouble understanding New Zealanders, Australians, or South Africans. Their accents don't vary too much within their respective countries. For such a small country though, the U.K. has such very different regional accents. I'm not used to hearing some of them.

[benj1]

@ p_quarles
i seem to remember reading a book/article somewhere and to start with america saw them selves as a defender of the language, trying to stop in developing, then later they started to standardize (sic) it with the plan of making it completely consistent, then that movement petered out, and thats what accounts for many of the spelling differences today.

[Paqman]

(just look at facsimiles of Shakespeare's original printings if you don't believe me; or Spenser, or whoever)

Trusay. IIRC Shakey even used to vary the spelling of his own name.

[Paqman]

For such a small country though, the U.K. has such very different regional accents. I'm not used to hearing some of them.

Try Newcastle or Glasgow, i'd put money on you being stumped by both :)

[SuperSonic4]

I was taught the "British" spelling for many words, & sometimes wonder if it's cheeky to call the language spoken in America "English".......

I just remembered something. One thing I find a bit baffling is that back in 1971, the text books my maths class (that's maths with an "s", not the Americanese "math") defined one billion as a million million, while the copy the teacher had (a teachers' edition) defined it as a thousand million. Odd.....

Which is why I always use the powers of 10: either 10^9 or 10^12 ;)

[CraigPaleo]

Try Newcastle or Glasgow, i'd put money on you being stumped by both :)

If those accents are thicker than the Norfolk one, you'll probably make some money. I'll check them out.

Now I'm addicted to listening to accents. I'm going to be doing this all day!

[SuperSonic4]

If those accents are thicker than the Norfolk one, you'll probably make some money. I'll check them out.

Now I'm addicted to listening to accents. I'm going to be doing this all day!

Let me know if you can tell the difference between a Birmingham accent and a Dudley accent XD

[CraigPaleo]

that would be our stiff upper lips:)

note an australian would pronounce it "pauler?"

In all seriousness, I've noticed that you don't move your mouths as much when you talk.

@Swoll, we've been through this already. Read the posts about rhotic vs non-rhotic accents and the linking and intrusive R.

[MikeTheC]

And let us not forget it was them right-cheeky limey British who stuck us with this 'ere measurement system where one unit of measure cannot possibly be derived from another. No, 'course not, you 'ave to arbitrarily memorize every unit!

1 foot = 12 inches
1 yard = 3 feet
1 mile = 5,280 feet

WTF?!? (Of course, I'm laughing as I write this because it is my native measurement system, and so I understand it, but just... wow.)

[benj1]

For such a small country though, the U.K. has such very different regional accents. I'm not used to hearing some of them.

well i think for one, accents have had alot more time to develop in britain, it only really started to standardise with developments like radio and railways, also as i said in my previous post america for along time america tried to keep its language static so i suppose speach started to converge, before they gave up and it started to diverge again.
i suppose another factor is culture, not only class, but identifying with where you come from, eg manchester and liverpool are half an hour away from each other but their accents are completely different, wigan is in the middle of them and has a different accent again. and then theres rivalry, i don't know if theres the same kind of rivalry in other countries but theres rivalry between yorkshire and lancashire, (god knows why, war of the roses?) as counties and i suppose you see it in football too.

[MikeTheC]

and then theres rivalry, i don't know if theres the same kind of rivalry in other countries but theres rivalry between yorkshire and lancashire, (god knows why, war of the roses?) as counties and i suppose you see it in soccer too.
Fixed that for you.

[benj1]

In all seriousness, I've noticed that you don't move your mouths as much when you talk.


listen to a proper manchester accent, they literally don't

@ mikethec
im guessing with the limey your american but you can't complain, at least inchs,feet,yards are standard your quarts are different,cups??? and you don't serve beer in pints (whats that all about????), although australians use schooners i think, which isn't standard imperial.

[benj1]

Fixed that for you.

hey this is a mature conversation, take a respectful look at other peoples way of speaking, anyway we had the name first and under US copyright law doesn't that count as prior art?

[SuperSonic4]

And let us not forget it was them right-cheeky limey British who stuck us with this 'ere measurement system where one unit of measure cannot possibly be derived from another. No, 'course not, you 'ave to arbitrarily memorize every unit!

1 foot = 12 inches
1 yard = 3 feet
1 mile = 5,280 feet

WTF?!? (Of course, I'm laughing as I write this because it is my native measurement system, and so I understand it, but just... wow.)

I hate the Imperial measurement system, unfortunately many others don't (google "metric martyrs" for examples from a largely Europhobic media). Don't forget that 1US gallon is not the same as 1 Imperial gallon XD. In metric there is no issues.

One thing I find confusing is the American use of gas for petrol. Surely it cannot have escaped your notice that petrol is in fact a liquid not a gas. At least we use gas in it's proper sense (for gas cookers which use natural gas)

[MikeTheC]

and you don't serve beer in pints (whats that all about????)
Sadly true. However, there are some restaurants (along with any decent British pub) here which do serve pints. I always enjoy going to one of them. A little ways from where I live, down in the Bonita Springs area, there is a really good (at least I think so) place called the "British Open Pub" and they serve standard British fare as well as actual, honest-to-goodness pints of beer.

Yay beer!

(Where'd that come from?) Anyhow, I agree that, on the whole, we definitely do things differently. The U.S. is more clinical or technical or "precise", and England is more "naturalistic" or "organic". Those may not be the right terms to use, but they're the closest I can come to.

[tjwoosta]

im american

i pronounce solder like solder, but if you say solder enough it starts to sound like sodder

[MikeTheC]

hey this is a mature conversation, take a respectful look at other peoples way of speaking, anyway we had the name first and under US copyright law doesn't that count as prior art?
Really? I didn't know that. But then again, I'm not as up on my world history as I know I ought to be. (I'm also not into sports, so...)

[MikeTheC]

One thing I find confusing is the American use of gas for petrol. Surely it cannot have escaped your notice that petrol is in fact a liquid not a gas. At least we use gas in it's proper sense (for gas cookers which use natural gas)

This brings up a good point, and one I would like to talk about.

In the U.S., we have gasoline (gas), diesel, kerosene (in a refined form it's used as jet fuel), and also two different forms of gas (in the "vapor" sense), which are "natural gas" and "propane". What are your terms for each of these things in England? Do they really differ all that much?

[CraigPaleo]

Try Newcastle or Glasgow, i'd put money on you being stumped by both :)

I should have taken you up on that bet! I can understand Newcastle and Glasgow perfectly well.

@ SuperSonic4 No problem understanding Birmingham either but I can't find Dudley for comparison. Give me a link to something close to Dudley and I'll let you know if I can tell a difference. http://web.ku.edu/~idea/europe/scotland/scotland.htm

[CraigPaleo]

standardize (sic)
:lolflag: HAHA!

[tjwoosta]

One thing I find confusing is the American use of gas for petrol. Surely it cannot have escaped your notice that petrol is in fact a liquid not a gas. At least we use gas in it's proper sense (for gas cookers which use natural gas)

This brings up a good point, and one I would like to talk about.

In the U.S., we have gasoline (gas), diesel, kerosene (in a refined form it's used as jet fuel), and also two different forms of gas (in the "vapor" sense), which are "natural gas" and "propane". What are your terms for each of these things in England? Do they really differ all that much?

to expand on this thought a bit more

petrol i assume is just a shorter way of saying petrolium

gasoline is not the only form of petrolium

therefore when we talk about gasoline we use gas for short not petrol

[benj1]

Sadly true. However, there are some restaurants (along with any decent British pub) here which do serve pints. I always enjoy going to one of them. A little ways from where I live, down in the Bonita Springs area, there is a really good (at least I think so) place called the "British Open Pub" and they serve standard British fare as well as actual, honest-to-goodness pints of beer.

It sounds like something off the costa del sol, although you would probably think the same about frankie and benny's or hard rock cafe.
do they actually serve proper beer (bitter)?, can't imagine it travelling that well, and can you get pork scratching, scampi and steak and kidney pie?


Anyhow, I agree that, on the whole, we definitely do things differently. The U.S. is more clinical or technical or "precise", and England is more "naturalistic" or "organic". Those may not be the right terms to use, but they're the closest I can come to.
i would have said the opposite, especially younger generations (i sound so old, im only 25) americans seem to munge any old words together, ya know, like.

[SuperSonic4]

And let us not forget it was them right-cheeky limey British who stuck us with this 'ere measurement system where one unit of measure cannot possibly be derived from another. No, 'course not, you 'ave to arbitrarily memorize every unit!

1 foot = 12 inches
1 yard = 3 feet
1 mile = 5,280 feet

WTF?!? (Of course, I'm laughing as I write this because it is my native measurement system, and so I understand it, but just... wow.)


This brings up a good point, and one I would like to talk about.

In the U.S., we have gasoline (gas), diesel, kerosene (in a refined form it's used as jet fuel), and also two different forms of gas (in the "vapor" sense), which are "natural gas" and "propane". What are your terms for each of these things in England? Do they really differ all that much?

1. gasoline --> Petrol (from petroleum)
2. diesel ----> diesel (goes into cars)
3. kerosene --> Jet Fuel or kerosene
4. natural gas-> Gas or natural gas
5. propane ---> Camping gas or propane (Along with butane it's one of the LPGs - Liquid Petroleum Gas)

[CraigPaleo]

One thing I find confusing is the American use of gas for petrol. Surely it cannot have escaped your notice that petrol is in fact a liquid not a gas. At least we use gas in it's proper sense (for gas cookers which use natural gas)

Gas is short for gasoline, which is specific. Petrol is short for petroleum, which would include everything from tar to diesel to jelly. As for the fuel for gas grills, again we use the more specific term propane. Natural gas and propane aren't exactly the same.

Edit: Never mind. I'm getting behind listening to all these accents.

[benj1]

This brings up a good point, and one I would like to talk about.

In the U.S., we have gasoline (gas), diesel, kerosene (in a refined form it's used as jet fuel), and also two different forms of gas (in the "vapor" sense), which are "natural gas" and "propane". What are your terms for each of these things in England? Do they really differ all that much?

gasoline = petrol
diesel. same whats used in diesel engines invented by mr diesel.
natural gas and propane. we have propane which is generally bottled we also have calorgas which is the other bottled form, could that be your bottled natural gas.
kerosene according to google paraffin, although we would never use that to describe aviation fuel.

edit: calorgas is a brand name for butane

want british tv do you get in the US? i thought the bbc broadcast there.
can you get eastenders there?

[estamand]

baseball is a british invention see here (http://www.qi.com/news/item.php?id=214)

i agree america invented basketball, although i didn't realise american football is based on rugby.

Actually a canadian invented basketball

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basketball

[CraigPaleo]

want british tv do you get in the US? i thought the bbc broadcast there.
can you get eastenders there?

We get BBC America (http://www.bbcamerica.com/).
We get old British shows on PBS (http://www.pbs.org/)

I don't think we get Eastenders here.

[benj1]

Actually a canadian invented basketball

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basketball

we aren't doing a great deal for american national pride here. did they invent any sport?

[aysiu]

One thing I find confusing is the American use of gas for petrol. Surely it cannot have escaped your notice that petrol is in fact a liquid not a gas. At least we use gas in it's proper sense (for gas cookers which use natural gas) The gas for petrol is actually short for gasoline, which is a liquid, and different from the full word gas.

Gasoline:
a volatile, flammable liquid mixture of hydrocarbons, obtained from petroleum, and used as fuel for internal-combustion engines, as a solvent, etc.

Gas:
Physics. a substance possessing perfect molecular mobility and the property of indefinite expansion, as opposed to a solid or liquid.

Automotive.
a. gasoline.
b. Also called gas pedal. the foot-operated accelerator of an automotive vehicle: Take your foot off the gas.

[MikeTheC]

It sounds like something off the costa del sol, although you would probably think the same about frankie and benny's or hard rock cafe.
Never heard of Frankie and Benny's, but I've been to a couple Hard Rock Cafés before.


do they actually serve proper beer (bitter)?, can't imagine it travelling that well, and can you get pork scratching, scampi and steak and kidney pie?
Not sure if they serve bitter, but I'll check into it the next time I go there. I don't recollect seeing pork scratching on the menu, not sure about the scampi and steak, but they do have (IIRC) kidney pie.


i would have said the opposite, especially younger generations (i sound so old, im only 25) americans seem to munge any old words together, ya know, like.
I'm referring to general American culture, not slang terms from any particular generation. We tend to be more clinical and precise, kind of in keeping with how English has generally morphed over the years. For example, double and triple negatives once were used in English, but we've all (England, U.S., Australia, etc.) so far as I know dropped them and now look at double or triple negatives from a more "math-like" perspective. You can not not go to the store, and so forth.

Let me give you two examples by way of going back to a prior example I used before. In England, if someone says "What's for tea?" they are actually referring to a meal, not the beverage. If someone used that here in the U.S., the response would then probably be something like "Well, I have Darjeeling, Earl Grey, Orange Pekoe..."

Second example. England has a "Sunday dinner" or a "Sunday roast," etc. If you ask someone what they're having for dinner in England and they said "Sunday dinner" you'd know (if you're British) exactly what they're talking about. If someone said that here, we'd assume they were referring to left-overs from whatever they had on Sunday, and then inquire further about what it was on Sunday that they made for dinner.

Third (what?!?) example: In England you have a roadway thing called a "fly-over/nip-under" It's more a description of the activity drivers engage in. We have "overpasses".

Forth (oh dear Lord!) example: Terminology for when an phone line is being used. I believe in England, and I think in Australia, when you try to call someone and get a signal that the line's in use, the term for it is "engaged". This can be quite, um, interesting when someone tries to explain to someone else the reason they can't reach the other party is "they're engaged." Oh, really? Well, congratulations for them! Who's the lucky (girl/guy)? Here, the line is "busy".

Fifth (and I promise this is the last and final of the two examples) example: Collective singular vs. collective plural. In England, when referring to an organization, or a business, or an agency, etc., it's referred to as a collective plural. For example, "The BBC are going to broadcast the next Dr. Who special on..." Effectively, you are saying that "All of the people and departments which comprise the BBC are..." Here in the U.S., we use the collective singular. We would say "The BBC is going to..."

[dragos240]

Well true, most of 'us' meaning americans, do indeed pronouce solder sodder, it's simply easier for us, it's what has been tought, for example:

I was tought to pronounce schedule as "skedule", and there are many other words like it.

[CraigPaleo]

we aren't doing a great deal for american national pride here. did they invent any sport?

Volleyball (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volleyball)! :guitar:

[benj1]

We get BBC America (http://www.bbcamerica.com/).
We get old British shows on PBS (http://www.pbs.org/)

I don't think we get Eastenders here.

i like that you get antiques road show, and gladiators??? (not very representative of british tv).

can you understand sir alan (the apprentice) tho, he has quite a strong accent.

youve just reminded me of something. when jamie oliver had a series in america, is it true you had to have subtitles, i remember a news item on it a few years ago.

[SuperSonic4]

i like that you get antiques road show, and gladiators??? (not very representative of british tv).

can you understand sir alan (the apprentice) tho, he has quite a strong accent.

youve just reminded me of something. when jamie oliver had a series in america, is it true you had to have subtitles, i remember a news item on it a few years ago.

I wonder if the Top Gear American specials were ever aired in the US XD

[MikeTheC]

Volleyball (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volleyball)! :guitar:

Wikipedia: American Sports (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_sports)

[LowSky]

we dont call kerosene jet fuel, it never happens.

American Natural Gas refers to Methane the whole natural term comes from the fact it naturally is found in the Earth.

As for BBC, we have BBC news and BBC-America, both of which are exclusive cable channels that air nothing worth watching for the most part (the news can be ok). Heck I have no idea what channel they are on in my hometown...
ok I just went on BBCAmerica.com and found this awesome American/English dictionary, it really fun

http://www.bbcamerica.com/content/141/dictionary.jsp
accourding to this
"Keep your pecker up!" means "try to remain cheerful"
that means something entirely different in the States
"in the club" means pregnant?
The 50Cent song must not translate well...lol
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:In_Da_Club.ogg

[SuperSonic4]

we dont call kerosene jet fuel, it never happens.

American Natural Gas refers to Methane the whole natural term comes from the fact it naturally is found in the Earth.

As for BBC, we have BBC news and BBC-America, both of which are exclusive cable channels that air nothing worth watching for the most part (the news can be ok). Heck I have no idea what channel they are on in my hometown...
ok I just went on BBCAmerica.com and found this awesome American/English dictionary, it really fun

http://www.bbcamerica.com/content/141/dictionary.jsp
accourding to this
"Keep your pecker up!" means "try to remain cheerful"
that means something entirely different in the States
"in the club" means pregnant?
The 50Cent song must not translate well...lol
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:In_Da_Club.ogg

50 cent doesn't translate well even without lyrics ;)

having a bun in the oven is also pregnancy

[MikeTheC]

Cockney Rhyming Slang is the worst. I mean, as BBCAmerica forthrightly says, if you're not "in the know" then none of it means anything at all. I can't even imagine being in England and being attempted to be robbed by someone who uses CRS. I think I'd be like "Look, here's the da*n wallet. Now would please threaten me in English?"

[tjwoosta]

As for BBC, we have BBC news and BBC-America, both of which are exclusive cable channels that air nothing worth watching for the most part (the news can be ok). Heck I have no idea what channel they are on in my hometown...
ok I just went on BBCAmerica.com and found this awesome American/English dictionary, it really fun

i live in america and i prefer bbc over any american news stations any day


american news is usally very one-sided and centered around political and/or coorporate agendas

sad part is that very few americans ever watch anything else

[SuperSonic4]

Cockney Rhyming Slang is the worst. I mean, as BBCAmerica forthrightly says, if you're not "in the know" then none of it means anything at all. I can't even imagine being in England and being attempted to be robbed by someone who uses CRS. I think I'd be like "Look, here's the da*n wallet. Now would please threaten me in English?"

Cockney Rhyming Slang is virtually localised to (east) London, it's usage is rare elsewhere :P

[CraigPaleo]

i like that you get antiques road show, and gladiators??? (not very representative of british tv).

can you understand sir alan (the apprentice) tho, he has quite a strong accent.

youve just reminded me of something. when jamie oliver had a series in america, is it true you had to have subtitles, i remember a news item on it a few years ago.

I can understand both of them. I had to find Sir Alan on Youtube.

Jamie Oliver is The Naked Chef and no, subtitles weren't needed. LOL!

[benj1]

not sure about the scampi and steak, but they do have (IIRC) kidney pie.
its steak & kidney pie. obviously not:)



I'm referring to general American culture, not slang terms from any particular generation. We tend to be more clinical and precise, kind of in keeping with how English has generally morphed over the years. For example, double and triple negatives once were used in English, but we've all (England, U.S., Australia, etc.) so far as I know dropped them and now look at double or triple negatives from a more "math-like" perspective. You can not not go to the store, and so forth.

ok i see what youre saying, we are less creative with a more creative vocabulary ?!?
i suppose using the same terms i was saying that americans are more creative with a less creative vocabulary.



Third (what?!?) example: In England you have a roadway thing called a "fly-over/nip-under" It's more a description of the activity drivers engage in. We have "overpasses".
we don't say nip under but both US/UK versions are fairly descriptive, yes you could be pedantic and say you dont fly, but by the same token you dont pass, that would be a junction



Forth (oh dear Lord!) example: Terminology for when an phone line is being used. I believe in England, and I think in Australia, when you try to call someone and get a signal that the line's in use, the term for it is "engaged". This can be quite, um, interesting when someone tries to explain to someone else the reason they can't reach the other party is "they're engaged." Oh, really? Well, congratulations for them! Who's the lucky (girl/guy)? Here, the line is "busy".
prior engagement?
check out the dictionary definition for busy, to engage or keep engaged



Fifth (and I promise this is the last and final of the two examples) example: Collective singular vs. collective plural. In England, when referring to an organization, or a business, or an agency, etc., it's referred to as a collective plural. For example, "The BBC are going to broadcast the next Dr. Who special on..." Effectively, you are saying that "All of the people and departments which comprise the BBC are..." Here in the U.S., we use the collective singular. We would say "The BBC is going to..."
i think to an extent they are interchangeable but it reflects the fact an organisation is made up of more than one person, the band are going to play... v the band is going to play.... a band is made up of more than one person.

[benj1]

i live in america and i prefer bbc over any american news stations any day


american news is usally very one-sided and centered around political and/or coorporate agendas

sad part is that very few americans ever watch anything else

i have to say we are pretty lucky to have bbc news in this country, most of the other channels news has got a bit rubbish recently.

@ mikethec
american sports, nearly all of those sports, we have already found aren't american

i can't imagine any thief using cockney rhyming slang.
a pearly king saying "bianca yer elastics up and give us yerr black pearl"

[LowSky]

we aren't doing a great deal for american national pride here. did they invent any sport?

NASCAR is truely American

Lacrosse (Old Native American Sport)

Video Games

Forget sports think of all the other stuff we invented.

Manned Flight
The Nuclear Weapon
Television
The Computer
the internet (lol...Al Gore what a guy...lol)
the cotton gin
Red Bull
Pepsi
Coca-Cola (with and without cocain)
The Asembly Line
Photographic Film
The word "Dude"
Potato Chips
UNIX
Bi-focals

Things America didn't invent but improved
The hamburger
French fries (chips to the Brits)
The hot dog (its an beef sausage on a bun, if you dont know)
Apple Pie
Imperialism (we call it Capitalism ... wink wink)
Supiority Complex

[SuperSonic4]

How could you forget Jack Daniel's?! :p

The internet was better combined with the world wide web which was invented by a Briton

[LowSky]

having a bun in the oven is also pregnancy

We use that term too..

[MikeTheC]

How could you forget Jack Daniel's?! :p

The internet was better combined with the world wide web which was invented by a Briton

+1 for Jack Daniels.

Not sure about any British people being involved with the invention of the Web (not saying there weren't any, just not aware of any) but I know that packet switching was co-conceived by a British and an American pair of computer science guys back around, oh geez, I think it was the very early 1960s. There's actually a very interesting book I read in my Comp I class called Inventing the Internet (http://www.amazon.com/Inventing-Internet-Inside-Technology-Abbate/dp/0262511150/ref=sr_11_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1241116740&sr=11-1) by Janet Abbate. It does an excellent job of covering the development of packet switching, TCP, origins of wireless network links, ARPA's involvement with the process, the formative processes in England and the U.S. of the 1950s (each wanted tech development and to enhance industry, but for different reasons), and so on.

[benj1]

NASCAR is truely American

Lacrosse (Old Native American Sport)

Video Games

Forget sports think of all the other stuff we invented.

Manned Flight --- confirmed powered flight you can have
The Nuclear Weapon --- not realy something to be proud of
Television --- john logie baird (scotland)
The Computer --- first electronic binary was colossus (uk) but see also charle babbage (uk) difference engine
the internet --- tim berners lee (uk)
the cotton gin -- see spinning jenny 30 years earlier
Red Bull --- taken from a thai drink by an austrian (see wikipedia)
Pepsi --- you can have that one
Coca-Cola (with and without cocain) --- this one as well
The Asembly Line --- actually no we did, the royal navy for pulley blocks
Photographic Film --- photography was french i thought not sure about film, not exactly the major discovery tho
The word "Dude" --- you can have that one and keep it :)
Potato Chips --- crisps
UNIX
Bi-focals

Things America didn't invent but improved
The hamburger --- how did you improve it
French fries (chips to the Brits) --- french???
The hot dog (its an beef sausage on a bun, if you dont know)german sausage in a sandwich (british invention)
Apple Pie --- you didn't improve it
Imperialism (we call it Capitalism ... wink wink) --- we got bored of ruling the world, its so passe
Supiority Complex

edit: jack daniels is a whiskey, invented where?

[dragos240]

100th post :)

EDIT: Too late >.<

[benj1]

100th post :)

EDIT: Too late >.<

i get the 100th post, i get the 100th post :)

[MaxIBoy]

we aren't doing a great deal for american national pride here. did they invent any sport?Nah, we didn't. We have less-pathetic things to invent, such as the Internet.


Wait a minute...

[dragos240]

Lol

[t0p]

As a native English-speaking non-Brit i'd agree that the various countries have a right to speak English however they like.

As an Englishman, I would suggest that Americans call their language American. Aussies can speak Oz. Kiwis can speak Ki. Etc.

I'm an Englishman, so the language I speak is English, and the way I speak it is the correct way. The only correct way. So there.

Oh, and the Welsh and the Scots can shut up as well.

:p

[SuperSonic4]

NASCAR is truely American

Lacrosse (Old Native American Sport)

Video Games

Forget sports think of all the other stuff we invented.

Manned Flight --- confirmed powered flight you can have
The Nuclear Weapon --- not realy something to be proud of
Television --- john logie baird (scotland)
The Computer --- first electronic binary was colossus (uk) but see also charle babbage (uk) difference engine
the internet --- tim berners lee (uk)
the cotton gin -- see spinning jenny 30 years earlier
Red Bull --- taken from a thai drink by an austrian (see wikipedia)
Pepsi --- you can have that one
Coca-Cola (with and without cocain) --- this one as well
The Asembly Line --- actually no we did, the royal navy for pulley blocks
Photographic Film --- photography was french i thought not sure about film, not exactly the major discovery tho
The word "Dude" --- you can have that one and keep it :)
Potato Chips --- crisps
UNIX
Bi-focals

Things America didn't invent but improved
The hamburger --- how did you improve it
French fries (chips to the Brits) --- french???
The hot dog (its an beef sausage on a bun, if you dont know)german sausage in a sandwich (british invention)
Apple Pie --- you didn't improve it
Imperialism (we call it Capitalism ... wink wink) --- we got bored of ruling the world, its so passe
Supiority Complex

edit: jack daniels is a whiskey, invented where?

Jack Daniel's Tennessee whiskey :p

[lykwydchykyn]

the internet --- tim berners lee (uk)


Technically, TBL did not invent the "internet". He could be given credit for inventing the world wide web (http + html). The "internet" (i.e., the TCP/IP stack) came from DARPA.

Not to minimize TBL's contribution; without him we'd all be surfing gopherspace courtesy of the university of Minnesota.

[lykwydchykyn]

Jack Daniel's Tennessee whiskey :p

I think we get iced tea (done proper, with an obscene amount of sugar) and baking-powder buttermilk biscuits too.

And no doubt cow-tipping is a purely American sport, though I can't confirm that.

[dragos240]

As an Englishman, I would suggest that Americans call their language American. Aussies can speak Oz. Kiwis can speak Ki. Etc.

I'm an Englishman, so the language I speak is English, and the way I speak it is the correct way. The only correct way. So there.

Oh, and the Welsh and the Scots can shut up as well.

:p

I have to disagree with you. This is really a single sided point a view, where are the "facts" to your claim. There are so many variations to "English', just because you live in Britain doesn't mean you know everything about your language. I would encourage you to lengthen your claim.

[MaxIBoy]

In at least one American town, it is illegal to speak English because American is the official language.

I think that American English is a dialect of English, and not its own language. Not yet, anyway.

[t0p]

Forget sports think of all the other stuff we invented.

[...]

the cotton gin

Maybe... but you didn't invent proper gin. As in Dry London gin! (hic)



Potato Chips


Crisps!!



Things America didn't invent but improved
The hamburger


Made of beef not ham...



French fries (chips to the Brits)


Yeah right, Americans invented them and called them French...



The hot dog (its an beef sausage on a bun, if you dont know)


Surely it's a dog sausage...



Imperialism (we call it Capitalism ... wink wink)
Supiority Complex

Must make you proud...

[benj1]

Technically, TBL did not invent the "internet". He could be given credit for inventing the world wide web (http + html). The "internet" (i.e., the TCP/IP stack) came from DARPA.

Not to minimize TBL's contribution; without him we'd all be surfing gopherspace courtesy of the university of Minnesota.

very true.
i think some early tcp/ip stuff, certainly the theory was by a brit.

america does kind of dominate computing firsts, especially after the 50's, more money i suppose.

apparently franklin invented the flexible urinary catheter, theres something to be proud of :)

[t0p]

I have to disagree with you. This is really a single sided point a view, where are the "facts" to your claim. There are so many variations to "English', just because you live in Britain doesn't mean you know everything about your language. I would encourage you to lengthen your claim.

I would encourage you to improve your reading comprehension. I didn't say English is my language because I live in Britain. I said English is my language because I am English.

Note I said English, not British. Didn't you notice I told the Welsh and Scots to shut up? They're Brits, but they're not English.

[benj1]

In at least one American town, it is illegal to speak English because American is the official language.

I think that American English is a dialect of English, and not its own language. Not yet, anyway.

is it illegal to speak any other languages or just english? what language is the law written in???

on point 2:
+1
modern american english is closer to modern english than english english of a few centuries ago.

[dragos240]

Thank you for your clarification.

[benj1]

I would encourage you to improve your reading comprehension. I didn't say English is my language because I live in Britain. I said English is my language because I am English.

Note I said English, not British. Didn't you notice I told the Welsh and Scots to shut up? They're Brits, but they're not English.

am i allowed to say i speak english or would that be yorkshire english or northern english???

you have a very slight point about countries that have different spellings etc, but i would still say they are dialects, scots and welsh speak english, the spelling is the same.

you would complain if americans said they spoke american because they had nicked our language.

can't you just be thankful that your language is probably the most understood language in the world.

[t0p]

can't you just be thankful that your language is probably the most understood language in the world.

Actually, American English is more like "original" English than the patois I speak. Just like how American Bulldogs are more like original bulldogs than the snuffling, gasping creatures we proudly call British Bulldogs. I'm just up for an argument, I don't actually believe the crap I come out with.

Still don't get the "sodder" thing though. :)

[LowSky]

Still don't get the "sodder" thing though. :)

Americans pronounce solder it like the French do

Their word being soudure, which means, to weld...

[craigeo]

How exactly does the posi-trac rear end on a Plymouth work?


It just does!

[benj1]

It just does!

hmm has somebody just posted this (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_does_posi_trac_work_in_a_plymouth) ???

hmm and this was the answer on the second page (http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?p=15832769)

is this some kind of inside joke

[Namtabmai]

It's a quote from a film, "My cousin Vinnie" I think.

[benj1]

It's a quote from a film, "My cousin Vinnie" I think.

the one with joe pesci as a lawyer??? got ya

[t0p]

Americans pronounce solder it like the French do

Their word being soudure, which means, to weld...

Sorry, but what you say doesn't make any sense. The French word soudure is pronounced sood-yur. The Americans say "sodder", not "soo-der". And soudure doesn't have an "L" in it. The word "solder" does have an "L" in it. There's no comparison between the French and English spelling, nor between the French and the American pronunciation.

Anyone else want to have a go at explaining this "sodder" thing?

[tjwoosta]

Sorry, but what you say doesn't make any sense. The French word soudure is pronounced sood-yur. The Americans say "sodder", not "soo-der". And soudure doesn't have an "L" in it. The word "solder" does have an "L" in it. There's no comparison between the French and English spelling, nor between the French and the American pronunciation.

Anyone else want to have a go at explaining this "sodder" thing?

english speakers pronounce solder with the "l" like sol-der

american speakers pronounce solder with a silent "l" like sod-er

what part dont you understand?

[t0p]

english speakers pronounce solder with the "l" like sol-der

american speakers pronounce solder with a silent "l" like sod-er

what part dont you understand?

I understand that Americans pronounce the word with the "L" silent. I don't understand why. And clearly no American seems to know why either. It's odd, and I'd like a reasonable explanation. But so far I've just been told that it is so because it is so. Surely I can't be the only person who finds that kind of explanation to be a pile of horse doings?

[tjwoosta]

I don't understand why Americans pronounce the word as "sodder". I don't understand why Americans have decided that the "L" in solder is silent. Do you understand me now?

Brits pronounce the word "soldier" like so: sol-jer.

Why don't Americans say soh-jer? Why is the "L" in soldier pronounced but the "L" in solder is silent? What is the reason for the odd pronunciation of the word solder?

we americans pronounce the word soldier like sol-jer and the word solder like sod-er

I think americans are actually supposed to pronounce solder like saul-der except after you say it that way enough it starts to sound like sod-er and that way just sort of caught on

[hardyn]

http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/aluminium.htm




I've always wondered this along with why they say

"aluminum" for Aluminium

They forget the extra "i" just like the "l" in Solder.

The letters must be too thin and insignificant to say.

[hardyn]

maybe we should blame the english for making not making english a pheonetic language :P

[lisati]

Just a thought: it could be one of those things like how some people say "mischievious" for "mischievous", or some people say "erbs" for "herbs" (that second one annoys me).

The New Zealand accent would probably annoy or confuse some people - there's a bit of friendly ribbing from time to time with Australians about "fush and chups" or going to visit "Seedney" (Sydney).

Another pronunciation thing that bugs me is how some people pronounce "saw" as if it was "sore" - "I sore (saw) that film (movie) on TV". There's also the ask/axe thing.

[lisati]

maybe we should blame the english for making not making english a pheonetic language :P

As I understand it, what we call "English" (in all its delightful forms) is really a hodge-podge mixture of other languages.

[hardyn]

Its a tease, but yes i understand that...

but still, we wouldn't have this trouble if just spelled things phonetically

anybody seen that joke, the draft for English 2.0, where it morphs to a german like thing? its pretty funny, i cant find it right now; google isn't helping much.




As I understand it, what we call "English" (in all its delightful forms) is really a hodge-podge mixture of other languages.

[lisati]

but still, we wouldn't have this trouble if just spelled things phonetically

It would: maybe we can take a leaf out of the pages of those who first put pen to paper and tried to write down Polynesian languages. For the most part they wrote down what they heard, and the same letter combination generally has the same (or similar) sound across the board.
There are one or two exceptions to this: trying to explain the pronunciation of the Maori word "whakapai" ("make good" or "clean") to an English speaker is slightly problematical - it almost sounds as if we're about to do something indecent to a pie!

[benj1]

Another pronunciation thing that bugs me is how some people pronounce "saw" as if it was "sore" - "I sore (saw) that film (movie) on TV". There's also the ask/axe thing.

how do you pronounce sore and saw differently?? i can't, i pronounce soar the same aswell

@hardyn the english to german joke is somewhere in this thread < page 5

[benj1]

Its a tease, but yes i understand that...

but still, we wouldn't have this trouble if just spelled things phonetically


we would have other troubles, how would you pronounce enough??

its enoog-he to make you want to get a k-nife and slit your own w-rist.:)

edit: might be a good idea to read what im disagreeing with.
question why isn't phonetically spelt with an f ?

[tjwoosta]

how do you pronounce sore and saw differently?? i can't, i pronounce soar the same aswell

@hardyn the english to german joke is somewhere in this thread < page 5

i have honesty never heard anyone pronounce saw as sore

thats just crazy, what accent do you have?


sore and soar i can understand, but saw?

saw in america is pronounced just like its spelled "saw" or "sau"

[benj1]

im english, yorkshire.

you have me paranoid now, how do you pronounce them?

[hardyn]

Use accents. or add letters.

we can call it newspeak :P



we would have other troubles, how would you pronounce enough??

its enoog-he to make you want to get a k-nife and slit your own w-rist.:)

edit: might be a good idea to read what im disagreeing with.
question why isn't phonetically spelt with an f ?

[lisati]

i have honesty never heard anyone pronounce saw as sore


It's common where I live. Frankly I don't understand it either. Although it grates a bit, some of the people I know say "yous" or "use" for "you lot". I think this is partly because we've largely dropped "thee", "thou" and related word forms from common usage. The only people I normally hear using the older forms of "thee" etc. these days are those who are trying to sound spiritual - they don't always do it very well!

[aysiu]

Sorry, but what you say doesn't make any sense. The French word soudure is pronounced sood-yur. The Americans say "sodder", not "soo-der". And soudure doesn't have an "L" in it. The word "solder" does have an "L" in it. There's no comparison between the French and English spelling, nor between the French and the American pronunciation.

Anyone else want to have a go at explaining this "sodder" thing?
I'm going to defer to the Online Etymology Dictionary (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=solder) on this one:
c.1350, sawd, from O.Fr. soldure, from solder "to join with solder," from L. solidare "to make solid," from solidus "solid" (see solid). Modern form is from c.1420. The -l- is still pronounced in Great Britain. The noun is first attested 1374. By the way, I Googled why is solder pronounced, and I got this discussion on the Bead and Button forum (http://cs.beadandbutton.com/beadingforumarchive/forums/t/25778.aspx?PageIndex=1) that sounds a lot like ours.

[benj1]

i have honesty never heard anyone pronounce saw as sore

thats just crazy, what accent do you have?


sore and soar i can understand, but saw?

saw in america is pronounced just like its spelled "saw" or "sau"

ive just been racking my brain on how americans spell soar and saw, can't think

anyway i say soar,sore,saw the same all rhyming with hoare,bore,door,law

[hardyn]

im canadian, west coast... i am as follows:

soar - s-ohrr, rhymes with door.
sore - <as above>
saw - s-ah

[tjwoosta]

im english, yorkshire.

you have me paranoid now, how do you pronounce them?



ive just been racking my brain on how americans spell soar and saw, can't think

anyway i say soar,sore,saw the same all rhyming with hoare,bore,door,law


ok i understand now

you must not fully pronounce the "r" the same way americans do

[hardyn]

actully is pretty similar... we do pronounce or Rs. canadians harder than the americans.

in my small amount of travelling i found that the english, and aussis tended to reverse the pronunciation of R and A, eg:

Canader (canada)
and fahma (farmer)

[aysiu]

actully is pretty similar... we do pronounce or Rs. canadians harder than the americans.

in my small amount of travelling i found that the english, and aussis tended to reverse the pronunciation of R and A, eg:

Canader (canada)
and fahma (farmer)
Not the Americans from Boston: Fahmah

Pahk the cah in Hahvahd Yahd

[tjwoosta]

Not the Americans from Boston: Fahmah

Pahk the cah in Hahvahd Yahd

i can understand this now

i live in maine

in maine many of us have the mainah accent, where we use A sound instead of R sound, much the same as the boston accent

but most of us actually dont speak that way, its mostly only around the costal areas where you hear it

[hardyn]

yeah, boston is a pretty wild accent.

[lisati]

ive just been racking my brain on how americans spell soar and saw, can't think

anyway i say soar,sore,saw the same all rhyming with hoare,bore,door,law

Sore and soar "should" have an "r" sound at the end, saw "should" have a "w" sound at the end......

[doorknob60]

This should solve the problem ... at least in Europe! :lolflag:

Five year phase-in plan for "EuroEnglish"


The European Commission have just announced an agreement whereby
English will be the official language of the EU, rather than German, which
was the other possibility. As part of the negotiations, Her Majesty's
government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and
has accepted a five year phase in plan that would be known as "EuroEnglish".

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will
make the sivil servants jump for joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour
of the "k". This should klear up konfusion and keyboards kan have 1 less
letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year, when the
troublesome "ph" will be replaced with the "f". This will make words like
"fotograf" 20% shorter.

In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be
expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.
Governments will enkorage the removal of double letters, which have always
ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of
the silent "e"s in the language is disgraseful, and they should go away.

By the 4th year, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th"
with "z" and "w" with "v".

During ze fifz year, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords
kontaining "ou" and similar changes vud of kors be aplid to ozer
kombinations of leters. After zis fifz year, ve vil hav a realy sensibl
riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubls or difikultis and evrivun vil find it
ezi to understand each ozer

ZE DREAM VIL FINALI KUM TRU!

:lolflag: :-P

[MikeTheC]

Oh, and the Welsh and the Scots can shut up as well.

:p


Customer: Good morning.

Proprietor: Good morning, sir. Can I help you?

Customer: Er, yes. Do you have a copy of "Thirty Days in the Samarkand Desert with the Duchess of Kent" by A. E. J. Elliott, O.B.E.?

Proprietor: Ah, well, I don't know the book, sir...

Customer: Er, never mind, never mind. How about "101 Ways to Start a Fight"?

Proprietor: ...By?

Customer: An Irish gentleman who's name eludes me for the moment.

Proprietor: Ah, no, well... we haven't got it in stock, sir.

[init1]

Okay, so why do Americans pronounce the word solder as "sodder"? Is this a silent L that the rest of the English-speaking world haven't been told about? Or are you all, as I suspect, plain wrong?

"Sodder"? I mean... what the heck???

:confused:
I've always heard it pronounced "sodder". Didn't know it was pronounced any other way.

[lisati]

<aside>A guy goes into a shop and asks the assistant if he has "fork 'andles" and is mildly annoyed to receive four candles</aside>

[forrestcupp]

I think the people who pronounce 'saw' like 'sore' are the same ones who put an 'r' on the end of a word that ends in 'a' (usually British or Commonwealth). They only do it when a word ends in 'a' and the next word begins with a vowel. I guess it's easier to them to add an 'r' than it is to cut off a vowel sound and immediately begin another vowel sound.

One good example is when Simon Cowell calls Paula Abdul 'Pauler Abdul'.

[pwnst*r]

Sorry, but what you say doesn't make any sense. The French word soudure is pronounced sood-yur. The Americans say "sodder", not "soo-der". And soudure doesn't have an "L" in it. The word "solder" does have an "L" in it. There's no comparison between the French and English spelling, nor between the French and the American pronunciation.

Anyone else want to have a go at explaining this "sodder" thing?

Honder.

[MaxIBoy]

maybe we should blame the english for making not making english a pheonetic language :PIt was a phonetic language... back in the 800s. The word "made," for example, used to be pronounced "mah-de."

Back then, it consisted of four major dialects, plus a few minor ones. These dialects were significantly more diverse than the dialects of modern English, with differences in the writing systems. Each of these dialects was pronounced in a strictly phonetic way. Sure, you could spell things multiple ways, but homonyms would have the same meaning.

When England was unified under a single government, the writing system was gradually standardized. However, with the Norman Conquest, the aristocratic versions of spoken English were wiped out, and only vernacular English remained. Written English retained the same standards as vernacular spoken English merged into a more-cohesive language and evolved.




I'm taking a class in linguistics. Fascinating stuff. it's almost all here if you want to read about it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_English_language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_English_language

[Saint Angeles]

I think the people who pronounce 'saw' like 'sore' are the same ones who put an 'r' on the end of a word that ends in 'a' (usually British or Commonwealth). They only do it when a word ends in 'a' and the next word begins with a vowel. I guess it's easier to them to add an 'r' than it is to cut off a vowel sound and immediately begin another vowel sound.

One good example is when Simon Cowell calls Paula Abdul 'Pauler Abdul'.
what about that whole "waRsh-ington" thing? or "i'm going to warsh my clothes"?

isn't that dumb?

[ibuclaw]

English say router (rooter), Americans say rowter ...

That's always bugged me.

And the number of times I loose in a game of Yahoo Graffiti because I spell the word: tyre instead of the American alternative... ;)

[MikeTheC]

I think warshing my clothes is a bunch of felgercarb. Alright, so who's with me?

*spies someone in a high-fashion dinner jacket at the back of the thread*

You... you, right there. Um, MaxIBoy.. you, um, you have a question? Hmm? Yes, that's right. I do intend to frack around a bit in this thread. Hmm? Now, just a micron! I'll have you know that back on the Colonies, there were plenty of people with what you call a "British accent". Oh? Yes, that's right. Tau-, yeah, on Tauron. Pardon? No, they lived mostly on the northern continent of Bel'somme. Why didn't they all make it to the transports after the attacks? I... I don't know why. Maybe it was tea time or something. Well, how can I ask them if they didn't make it?

[garythegoth]

Reading the title I thought you were refering to Soda.....

[shazbut]

Here's a funny and informative article containing 3 of the topics discussed so far: linguistics, measurements, and beer.
http://www.australianbeers.com/pubs/ordering/ordering.htm

[MikeTheC]

Here's a funny and informative article containing 3 of the topics discussed so far: linguistics, measurements, and beer.
http://www.australianbeers.com/pubs/ordering/ordering.htm

*reads linked page on beer in Australia*

*starts tearing hair out*

Oh. My. God. That sounds like some kind of nightmare scenario to me. There's no way I could keep up with (or desire to put up with) any of that. Just gimmie the darn bottle, thank you!

BTW, do they serve Boddington's Ale in Australia? I buy it from my local supermarket from time to time. It's a British import, very light and mild beer, excellent head, and very creamy. I'm a nut for creamy-ish ales and Belgian wheat beers (Blue Moon and -- I think it's U.S. domestic -- Shocktop both come to mind).

Darn it, now you guys got me thinking about beer! :)

EDIT: After reading this article, I don't want to hear one single other negative thing about the U.S. and how we do things. Not one word. I mean, really! You go into a restaurant and order a glass of beer. Doesn't matter what state. Typically most glasses are 12 oz. glasses. If they use or feature larger sizes, they're all quick to brag about it. "Would you like a 16 oz or a 20 oz.?" If you go into an authentic pub, or in some restaurants, they actually serve pints.

Size -- in this sense -- only matters if you're getting a draft. Otherwise, they bring you a bottle and a glass of whatever size, and then you know precisely what you're getting, no guess work involved. And also, apart from those aforementioned pubs that serve pints, we don't call them anything in particular. All of those terms used in Australia simply don't exist here. You go in, order a glass of beer or a bottle of beer, and that's it.

[shazbut]

I reckon you can get it in some bottleshops (liquor stores to USanians, off-licenses to UKers), maybe some themed pubs too.

[amadeus266]

I do a lot of metal soldering where I work. Now I am probably one of the fastest people to attack the English language but it really chaps my hide when I get a work order for a repair asking me to "soldier" a part back together. What am I supposed to do, draft it into the Marines?:lolflag:

[pwnst*r]

English say router (rooter), Americans say rowter ...

That's always bugged me.

And the number of times I loose in a game of Yahoo Graffiti because I spell the word: tyre instead of the American alternative... ;)

"lose".

[jwbrase]

we dont call kerosene jet fuel, it never happens.

Actually, we do. Jet fuel is a specific type of kerosene.

Non-jet-fuel Kerosene is sometimes known as parrafin oil in the UK, according to Wikipedia.

[jwbrase]

The whole solder/sodder thing seems to be the extention of a sound change in English that led to the loss of l in words such as talk, calf, and calm. Apparently the extension took place sometime after the American/British split, or else was reversed on the British side by a spelling pronounciation (The "It's spelled that way, so why don't we say it that way?" effect).

L is often lost before certain types of vowels, such as "o", and it's also fairly typical for languages to reduce clusters of consonants to single consonants, so it's not too surprising to see "solder" pronounced as "sodder".

While we're at it, can I have some de-calfinated veal?

[Saint Angeles]

i was watching some "Father Ted" the other day and i thought it was funny how film was pronounced "Fillim" and idiot was "ijut"

[CraigPaleo]

*reads linked page on beer in Australia*

*starts tearing hair out*

Oh. My. God. That sounds like some kind of nightmare scenario to me. There's no way I could keep up with (or desire to put up with) any of that. Just gimmie the darn bottle, thank you!

BTW, do they serve Boddington's Ale in Australia? I buy it from my local supermarket from time to time. It's a British import, very light and mild beer, excellent head, and very creamy. I'm a nut for creamy-ish ales and Belgian wheat beers (Blue Moon and -- I think it's U.S. domestic -- Shocktop both come to mind).

Darn it, now you guys got me thinking about beer! :)

EDIT: After reading this article, I don't want to hear one single other negative thing about the U.S. and how we do things. Not one word. I mean, really! You go into a restaurant and order a glass of beer. Doesn't matter what state. Typically most glasses are 12 oz. glasses. If they use or feature larger sizes, they're all quick to brag about it. "Would you like a 16 oz or a 20 oz.?" If you go into an authentic pub, or in some restaurants, they actually serve pints.

Size -- in this sense -- only matters if you're getting a draft. Otherwise, they bring you a bottle and a glass of whatever size, and then you know precisely what you're getting, no guess work involved. And also, apart from those aforementioned pubs that serve pints, we don't call them anything in particular. All of those terms used in Australia simply don't exist here. You go in, order a glass of beer or a bottle of beer, and that's it.

Glass of beer? Isn't draft beer is usually served in a mug or a pitcher?

[CraigPaleo]

<aside>A guy goes into a shop and asks the assistant if he has "fork 'andles" and is mildly annoyed to receive four candles</aside>

Hahaha! I don't know what's funnier - the joke or the fact that someone was actually looking for fork 'andles. He was going to solder them on I suppose.

[Paqman]

Cockney Rhyming Slang is the worst. I mean, as BBCAmerica forthrightly says, if you're not "in the know" then none of it means anything at all.

That's the whole point of Rhyming Slang, to exclude outsiders.

I don't think i've ever heard anyone actually use more than the odd word, but there's probably some pubs in the East End where you might hear it.

[t0p]

I'm going to defer to the Online Etymology Dictionary (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=solder) on this one:


t0p@ubunty:~$ whois etymonline.com

[...]

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% See http://registrar.1und1.info for information about 1&1 Internet AG



Yeah right, ask an American site whether Americans speak properly.

[craigeo]

It's a quote from a film, "My cousin Vinnie" I think.

No... it's from the movie "Joe Dirt"
In My Cousin Vinnie they actually explain how Posi-traction works ... In Joe Dirt they answer "It just does"

[MikeTheC]

Glass of beer? Isn't draft beer is usually served in a mug or a pitcher?

Nope.

Now, some restaurants happen to use mugs (typically glass), but what style of glassware that's used is up to the restaurant in question, just like any other item like silverware, dishes, etc.

As far as "beer by the pitcher" is concerned, not all restaurants offer this. Generally sports bars do. Places which do not focus on the "booze" element of sales usually don't serve beer by the pitcher.

[CraigPaleo]

Nope.

Now, some restaurants happen to use mugs (typically glass), but what style of glassware that's used is up to the restaurant in question, just like any other item like silverware, dishes, etc.

As far as "beer by the pitcher" is concerned, not all restaurants offer this. Generally sports bars do. Places which do not focus on the "booze" element of sales usually don't serve beer by the pitcher.
Whence you hail?

[LowSky]

Actually, we do. Jet fuel is a specific type of kerosene.

Non-jet-fuel Kerosene is sometimes known as parrafin oil in the UK, according to Wikipedia.

Not what I meant, let me explain, I don't go up to a fuel station and say give me 5 gallons of kerosene, I say give me 5 gallons of jet fuel.

[CraigPaleo]

Nope, i'm a Kiwi. Far more vowel-mangling needed to sound like me ;)

EDIT: I probably sound a bit like this (http://www.ku.edu/~idea/australiaoceania/newzealand/newzealand1.mp3).

Somehow I missed this, or at least the edit. It's similar to but milder than Australian.

How do you pronounce the word eighteen? We pronounce it with the Ts, almost as two words "eight teen." Australians change the T to a D in that word. I heard Steve Erwin say a crock was about "aydeen" years of age. It sounded more like "eighty" to me.

[benj1]

Nope.

Now, some restaurants happen to use mugs (typically glass), but what style of glassware that's used is up to the restaurant in question, just like any other item like silverware, dishes, etc.

As far as "beer by the pitcher" is concerned, not all restaurants offer this. Generally sports bars do. Places which do not focus on the "booze" element of sales usually don't serve beer by the pitcher.

beer is served by the pint any other way is un-natural :P

[Namtabmai]

Totally. I measure cm/kilometre, weight in grams and kilograms, hell I'd even start spending Euros. But they can pry my pint from my cold dead hands.

[CraigPaleo]

It would: maybe we can take a leaf out of the pages of those who first put pen to paper and tried to write down Polynesian languages. For the most part they wrote down what they heard, and the same letter combination generally has the same (or similar) sound across the board.

All languages are dynamic, but phonetic languages change at a lesser rate than non-phonetic languages - especially regarding pronunciation.

We can all read the words on this forum but what if, as in China, where there are several provinces that can't understand each other verbally, we (speakers of the English language) could only understand the rest of the world in writing? That'd be undesirable.

The problem is that if we reformed spelling to match pronunciation across the board, we'd have umpteen different spellings for the several dialects/accents that already exist. Then, there's the problem of which would be the de facto standard.


There are one or two exceptions to this: trying to explain the pronunciation of the Maori word "whakapai" ("make good" or "clean") to an English speaker is slightly problematical - it almost sounds as if we're about to do something indecent to a pie!

:lolflag::lolflag::lolflag:

It took me forever to get this!!!!!!!!!! I was thinking "whack" as in "kill." "Kill a pie?" Huh?
In the US, I think "whack" would be equivalent to the phrasal verb "whack off."

[Paqman]

It's similar to but milder than Australian.


Sure. We sound a bit like what an Australian would if they had received an education. Not that any of them have, but.



I heard Steve Erwin say a crock was about "aydeen" years of age.

Steve Irwin was a pretty extreme dude. In so many ways :lolflag:

[Paqman]

:lolflag::lolflag::lolflag:

It took me forever to get this!!!!!!!!!! I was thinking "whack" as in "kill." "Kill a pie?" Huh?
In the US, I think "whack" would be equivalent to the phrasal verb "whack off."

Hint: "wh" in Maori is pronounced a bit like "f" ;)

[CraigPaleo]

could you really not under stand that?

not taking the **** or anything, to my ear thats a fairly standard southern accent, i suppose its what you get used to you should hear some of the older worcester accents (evesham area) or even yorkshire accents, im from yorkshire and sometimes i can't understand what some peole are saying

Yorkshire doesn't sound much different from RP to me except for the omission of syllables and Ts in some words e.g. "ve'rinary" for veteranary. In RP, it's "vetnary." "Unsanitary" sounds like "unsanit-tree" in both.

[CraigPaleo]

Sure. We sound a bit like what an Australian would if they had received an education. Not that any of them have, but.



Steve Irwin was a pretty extreme dude. In so many ways :lolflag:

Steve Erwin will forever be remembered!
You still haven't answered my questions.

As for "whakapai", "fack a pie" wouldn't make sense either, unless the Maori "a" is pronounced as a "u" or schwa.

[Paqman]

Yorkshire doesn't sound much different from RP to me

*splutter*

Check out Monty Python's famous "Four Yorkshiremen" skit. There's no way anybody who went to Oxbridge would "lek rord clean wi' toong".

[Paqman]

As for "whakapai", "fack a pie" wouldn't make sense either, unless the Maori "a" is pronounced as a "u" or schwa.

Basically, pronounce it in the most offensive way possible, and you've got pretty close.

As for how I pronounce "eighteen", probably something like "ayteen". Hard to say though, your own accent always sounds neutral to yourself. That's why it's always a bit weird to hear your own voice recorded.

[CraigPaleo]

As for how I pronounce "eighteen", probably something like "ayteen". Hard to say though, your own accent always sounds neutral to yourself. That's why it's always a bit weird to hear your own voice recorded.

True. That's why the exchanges, in this thread, regarding the pronunciation of soar, sore, and saw were amusing to me.

[CraigPaleo]

This is what my accent was when I lived in Illinois (http://web.ku.edu/~idea/northamerica/usa/illinois/illinois5.mp3). I can still hear the nasal twang when I talk to my relatives up there. I live in Florida now and have picked up the accent. This is more how I sound now: Florida (http://web.ku.edu/~idea/northamerica/usa/florida/florida2.mp3)

[doas777]

I hadn't noticed this examples in the TV shows I watch, but the pronunciation puts me in mind of something totally unrelated. I think I better get my mind out of the gutter.....

Dropping the "H" in "herbs" bugs me a little, it sounds to my ears like an affectation.

You might be interested in the following threads:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1050685
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1032113
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1126777

There are a few other similar discussions

the amusing thing is, in the 40's through the 60's Herb was a common nickname for Herbert. the H is distinctly pronounced. I think the american pronunciation is to prevent confusion, but who knows.

[vonti]

Dropping the "h" is like the Cockney dialect
come 'ere mate

[lisati]

Steve Erwin will forever be remembered!
You still haven't answered my questions. [/qipte]
Crikey!

[quote]As for "whakapai", "fack a pie" wouldn't make sense either, unless the Maori "a" is pronounced as a "u" or schwa.

The "a" is a bit like the "a" in "far" or "u" in "up".

I'm not an expert, but I have heard some people pronounce the "wh" in words such as "where" and "when" somewhere in between a "w" and an "f", and suspect that the early missionaries (who were usually well educated) heard something similar and consequently wrote it down as such.

It can vary: I recently met a Maori MP from the W(h)anganui (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanganui) area (there's some debate on what the correct spelling should be) and her pronunciation of "whenua" ("land" - the sort you stand on, possibly related to the Samoan word, "fenua") sounded to my ears more like "wenua" than "fenua".

[Grant A.]

Where I live it's pronounced:

Sold j er (Texas)

[CraigPaleo]

[QUOTE=CraigPaleo;7194847]Steve Erwin will forever be remembered!
You still haven't answered my questions. [/qipte]
Crikey!



The "a" is a bit like the "a" in "far" or "u" in "up".

I'm not an expert, but I have heard some people pronounce the "wh" in words such as "where" and "when" somewhere in between a "w" and an "f", and suspect that the early missionaries (who were usually well educated) heard something similar and consequently wrote it down as such.

It can vary: I recently met a Maori MP from the W(h)anganui (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanganui) area (there's some debate on what the correct spelling should be) and her pronunciation of "whenua" ("land" - the sort you stand on, possibly related to the Samoan word, "fenua") sounded to my ears more like "wenua" than "fenua".

I'm a little confused at the moment. :)

[benj1]

*splutter*

Check out Monty Python's famous "Four Yorkshiremen" skit. There's no way anybody who went to Oxbridge would "lek rord clean wi' toong".

by 'eck :) i don't think my accents that broad but it doesn't sound like RP.

[CraigPaleo]

[QUOTE=CraigPaleo;7194847]Steve Erwin will forever be remembered!
You still haven't answered my questions. [/qipte]
Crikey!



The "a" is a bit like the "a" in "far" or "u" in "up".

I'm not an expert, but I have heard some people pronounce the "wh" in words such as "where" and "when" somewhere in between a "w" and an "f", and suspect that the early missionaries (who were usually well educated) heard something similar and consequently wrote it down as such.

It can vary: I recently met a Maori MP from the W(h)anganui (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanganui) area (there's some debate on what the correct spelling should be) and her pronunciation of "whenua" ("land" - the sort you stand on, possibly related to the Samoan word, "fenua") sounded to my ears more like "wenua" than "fenua".

I get it now! Like in the film American Pie. I've heard the wh sounded as an H but not an F.

[CraigPaleo]

by 'eck :) i don't think my accents that broad but it doesn't sound like RP.

Your accent's not vat fick! Many of them sound the same to me (like RP), except for the ones I can't understand. Does that make any sense?

[calrogman]

You can't have a pie without "cool-hwhip".

[RedMist]

i was watching some "Father Ted" the other day and i thought it was funny how film was pronounced "Fillim" and idiot was "ijut"

That would be "eejit":lolflag:

There's quite a variety in Irish accents as well for such a small country. Hiberno-English (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiberno-English) is a dialect all of it's own.