The word "Kid".

[jgrabham]

I seem to keep hearing this word this week.

I can't be the only one who thinks that a prerequisite of being a "kid" is that ones parents are goats. :confused:

Now, I expect it on American TV programs etc, but it's still odd to hear it from well-spoken British people. :confused:

[LaRoza]

Americanisms are very common.

I recall reading about a British person protesting such things in an essay and it turns out that the essay is loaded with American influence even though the writer was protesting it.

[Fedz]

I'm nearly 40 and I've used the word since I was a kid ;-)

I doubt the American influence was prevalent back in my days :-)

[sailor2001]

I remember the movie "the champ" with jackie cooper..........1936 "the Kid"

[klange]

You can't escape the US.
Think of all the good stuff we did give the world!
Then remember all the great examples of things to *not* do!

[Ioky]

I use it all the time, and I am Chinese, and pretty good at Chinese. Maybe that is also the reason why too because 99% chinese character only have one sound.

[4leite]

Don't have a problem with 'kid' myself, but I have vivid memories of my Grandad being quite upset about it... along with 'chick' and a few others.

[LaRoza]

Don't have a problem with 'kid' myself, but I have vivid memories of my Grandad being quite upset about it... along with 'chick' and a few others.

I hear "Bluff" gets on some British nerves as well. Although that may be outdated.

[Ozor Mox]

along with 'chick' and a few others.

Speaking of which, I think 'bird' is almost exclusive to England and one that some take offence to!

I use 'kid' a lot, it's hard to imagine using the word 'children' all the time. Then, it is also used to mean joking...

[LaRoza]

Speaking of which, I think 'bird' is almost exclusive to England and one that some take offence to!


Yeah, I learned that one from Red Dwarf (Episode "Timeslides").

[amingv]

I particularly like the word (both for children and grown-ups [to which I have confidence to treat in an informal way]), doubly so after I saw Casablanca ;).

Then again, I like to learn such words and use them in ambiguous situations (which wins me some nasty stares sometimes).

[jgrabham]

I'm nearly 40 and I've used the word since I was a kid ;-)

I doubt the American influence was prevalent back in my days :-)


Location - Huddersfield

I didn't know Yorkshiremen were in any position to comment on dialect. :)

[Luke has no name]

"Kid" isn't used often in England?

I use it to address any child. "How's your kid?" "Hey kid, no running by the pool" etc.

I call women "chicks" less often, but regularly.

[gloscherrybomb]

Mancs and the Irish have been using the word for ages, which is no doubt why it is so prevalent in America.

[Fedz]

Dictionary.com (http://Dictionary.com) Has the definitive answer ;-)


[Origin: 1150–1200; ME kide < ON kith]
ME = Middle English
Source (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/kid)

Americans can't claim rights to this one ;-)

[DoctorMO]

hehe, scouse phrase from red dwarf? "Yeh, she's me bird"

[LaRoza]

hehe, scouse phrase from red dwarf? "Yeh, she's me bird"

That is the line. Great show.

[mkendall]

I seem to keep hearing this word this week.

I can't be the only one who thinks that a prerequisite of being a "kid" is that ones parents are goats. :confused:

Now, I expect it on American TV programs etc, but it's still odd to hear it from well-spoken British people. :confused:

You kidding me?

[jgrabham]

Dictionary.com (http://Dictionary.com) Has the definitive answer ;-)


Source (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/kid)

Americans can't claim rights to this one ;-)

I'm not debating the origin of the word, it's the meaning - a kid is a young goat.

[LaRoza]

I'm not debating the origin of the word, it's the meaning - a kid is a young goat.

C'mon kids, play nice.

[paul101]

C'mon kids, play nice.

i'm the only kid here!! (afaik)




(i'm 16 :P ) :lolflag: (or am i an "adult"??) :guitar:

[DrMega]

"Kid" isn't used often in England?

"Kid" is used all the time in England.


I call women "chicks" less often, but regularly.

We used to call women "chicks" in the late 80's and early 90's, but I think we've moved on now.

[LaRoza]

We used to call women "chicks" in the late 80's and early 90's, but I think we've moved on now.

"Blokes" hasn't caught on in the USA at all.

[DrMega]

"Blokes" hasn't caught on in the USA at all.

I've noticed that. In the UK we use it all the time, but I've noticed a few times when I've dropped it in here out of habit, sometimes people think it is some kind of insult, but it isn't. It isn't even on the same level as "chicks", it simply means "man" or "fellow" with no other connotations at all.

[DrMega]

<snip>

Care to elaborate?

[LaRoza]

Care to elaborate?

Look at users other posts.

This won't last long...

[Onyros]

Heeey! I have a seven month old kid.

I am teh goat.

[DrMega]

Look at users other posts.

This won't last long...

Yes, I see what you mean. That didn't take long at all. Never mind though, because all this is irrelevant, boring, and utter crap:)

[Sef]

"Blokes" hasn't caught on in the USA at all.

Blokes was used in the States until about the 1930s. Then it fell out of favor.

[jgrabham]

Blokes was used in the States until about the 1930s. Then it fell out of favor.

That's another thing, whatever happened to the letter "u"?

:guitar:


"Kid" is used all the time in England.


In the same way as the word "toilet", not in polite company, and not generally considered "proper". (And not by me :D)

[-grubby]

i'm the only kid here!! (afaik)

(i'm 16 :P ) :lolflag: (or am i an "adult"??) :guitar:


If you think that you are dead wrong. There are many persons under the age of 18 here, including myself

[jgrabham]

If you think that you are dead wrong. There are many persons under the age of 18 here, including myself

And myself, I'll be 16 in 10 days, although this will probably void my argument, since obviously the young aren't permitted to be able to argue on what is or isn't standard English.

[Fenris_rising]

'kid' i hate that word in its reference to children.

standard English.

another bane of my life. when setting up one's new OS and the options include

English (US)
English (UK)
at least Ubuntu has them listed alphabetically unlike M$ who invariably
have English (US) at the top of the list and then goes Alphabetically.

there is only one standard English! and thats the mother tongue (UK).
Before anyone tries to get smart, i know, English has many other language influences within its make up. But we can still spell colour correctly. ;)

[lisati]

You kidding me?

Arrgh: beaten to it!

[lisati]

'
Before anyone tries to get smart, i know, English has many other language influences within its make up. But we can still spell colour correctly. ;)

I'll do my best to honour that.

There are other differences I've noticed too: is it aluminum (US) or aluminium (just about everywhere else)?

[grossaffe]

I'll do my best to honour that.

There are other differences I've noticed too: is it aluminum (US) or aluminium (just about everywhere else)?

just did a little reading on it, and apparently it was originally "alumium", then changed to "aluminum", and then in 1812, it was changed again to "aluminium", but aluminium never made it into the Webster's dictionary. nearly a century later when aluminum became widely used, people (in the US) started referring to the dictionary's version instead of the current version.

[DrMega]

In the same way as the word "toilet", not in polite company, and not generally considered "proper". (And not by me :D)

What-ho old chap, that's a jolly unusual parallel to draw, "children" and "toilet".

I'll just finish this cucumber sandwich and sip off my English tea and then I think I'd better go to the.. erm.. I think I'd better go and take a sit down for a moment or two.

[mkendall]

That's another thing, whatever happened to the letter "u"?

meh. The letter 'u' is all fine and good. For the spelling inefficient.

[mkendall]

Ok. The reason for the lack of 'u' in many American spellings is the same reason why horseraces here go counter-clockwise around the track instead of clockwise: because it's not the way it's done in the UK. Back when the colonists were finding their own identity apart from good King George II (and later George III), Master Webster wrote a dictionary that changed many spellings to the now familiar, non-'u' usages, among other changes.

This changing in spelling did not end there. The reason baseball has the Red Sox and White Sox was because of a movement in the early 1900's to further simplify spelling, sox for socks being one. This particular change didn't stick, however.

[LaRoza]

there is only one standard English! and thats the mother tongue (UK).
Before anyone tries to get smart, i know, English has many other language influences within its make up. But we can still spell colour correctly. ;)

No there isn't one standard English. There is no committee on it, like there is for Spanish and other languages. The UK doesn't even speak "standard English", as it is heavily influenced by foreign words, Americanisms, and its own local variations.

In fact, the UK doesn't have that many English speakers. India and the USA have more. English spread and developed in the general area of the UK, but it isn't tied to it.


There are other differences I've noticed too: is it aluminum (US) or aluminium (just about everywhere else)?

The man who named it (and worked on isolating it) settled on aluminum because it was logical (it came from alumina). It wasn't changed to the other one until some anon. nationalistic Brit decided it would be more "classical" to have it with an "ium" in it. I dearly hope the British don't decide to mangle the names of Platinum and other elements to make it more "classical".

[DrMega]

No there isn't one standard English. There is no committee on it, like there is for Spanish and other languages.

You had me agreeing just for a second, until I saw that you appear to claiming that Spanish is standard. I've been to Spain a number of times, and can tell you that the Spanish they speak in Catalunya is so different to Andalucian that they have their own name for the dialect, Catalan. Andalucia and Galicia have different dialects again. Latin American Spanish is very different, with some words have no resemblance to their Castillian Spanish counterparts, and even with South America, different dialects are in effect.

The same is true of other languages. In France for example the Bretons still use a dialect that contains a lot of Gaelic, and if my school teachings were correct, I'm led to believe that East Germans have a slightly different dialect to West Germans.

It is pretty much impossible to standardise a language of a nation full of people that move about, because all the neughbouring and indiginous languages all merge together, which is pretty much what happened while "English" was/is being developed.

[LaRoza]

You had me agreeing just for a second, until I saw that you appear to claiming that Spanish is standard. I've been to Spain a number of times, and can tell you that the Spanish they speak in Catalunya is so different to Andalucian that they have their own name for the dialect, Catalan. Andalucia and Galicia have different dialects again. Latin American Spanish is very different, with some words have no resemblance to their Castillian Spanish counterparts, and even with South America, different dialects are in effect.


I know Spanish varies greatly (even greater than English anywhere) because I am slowly learning it (focusing on Mexican Spanish).

However, there is an actual standard Spanish with a committee that create the "official Spanish" language. Other languages have this as well, but there is no such thing as one for English.

[DrMega]

However, there is an actual standard Spanish with a committee that create the "official Spanish" language.

Is that Castillian Spanish or am I thinking of something else (I haven't studied for a while)?

QUOTE=LaRoza;5220905]Other languages have this as well, but there is no such thing as one for English.[/QUOTE]

The commonly accepted English standard is "Oxford English", but none of us really care that much, and take great pride and pleasure in our differences. It allows us to go off on a tangent and suddenly become very difficult for "outsiders" to understand so that we can have an almost private conversation with others from our own area without too much of what we saying being understood by eavesdroppers.

[LaRoza]

Is that Castillian Spanish or am I thinking of something else (I haven't studied for a while)?

The commonly accepted English standard is "Oxford English", but none of us really care that much, and take great pride and pleasure in our differences. It allows us to go off on a tangent and suddenly become very difficult for "outsiders" to understand so that we can have an almost private conversation with others from our own area without too much of what we saying being understood by eavesdroppers.

I don't know. It is not like it matters in practice :-) Although they (the committee) makes words for new things, like "caucus" or whatever the democrats do. So there is an official committee somewhere.

Yeah, like a bloke eating chips, normally called a guy eating french fries. Or standing on a bluff, where a Brit would stand on a small hill.

[DrMega]

I don't know. It is not like it matters in practice :-) Although they (the committee) makes words for new things, like "caucus" or whatever the democrats do. So there is an official committee somewhere.

Yeah, like a bloke eating chips, normally called a guy eating french fries. Or standing on a bluff, where a Brit would stand on a small hill.

You might like to have a go at this:
http://www.geordie.org.uk/translate.htm

Geordies come from the far North East of England. The Geordie lingo is ace. Have a go at the translator. Obviously its just a bit of fun because they can speak proper English as well nowadays:)

[LaRoza]

You might like to have a go at this:
http://www.geordie.org.uk/translate.htm

Geordies come from the far North East of England. The Geordie lingo is ace. Have a go at the translator. Obviously its just a bit of fun because they can speak proper English as well nowadays:)

Aalreet , ya'aalreet?

[moneymoney]

my favourite nicole KID man

[LaRoza]

my favourite nicole KID man

This isn't going to last.

Are you spamming the forum with your sig?

[DrMega]

Aalreet , ya'aalreet?

Wayeye lass am canny like, how ya ga'an?

[ubuntu27]

I know Spanish varies greatly (even greater than English anywhere) because I am slowly learning it (focusing on Mexican Spanish).

However, there is an actual standard Spanish with a committee that create the "official Spanish" language. Other languages have this as well, but there is no such thing as one for English.


That's right. In Spanish, we have an "official" or "Standard" Spanish which is governed by different members across Spanish speaking countries.

The Real Academia Española (RAE) [Royal Spanish Academy] is the organization responsible to elaborate norms of the Spanish Language. These norms are presented in the Diccionario de la Real Academia Española (DRAE) [Dictionary of the Spanish Language of the Royal Spanish Academy] and it also contains grammar and orthography.

The objective of this dictionary is to guarantee a common linguistic norm.

If you use a word that is not included in the dictionary, then it is considered that it is not Spanish at all.


I have the Dictionary of the Spanish Language of the Royal Spanish Academy, and it is huge!


It is recommend that every SERIOUS Spanish student to buy the Dictionary of the Spanish Language of the Royal Spanish Academy (DRAE).

A tip from me and Spanish teachers. If you have Firefox2, you can add the DRAE to the list of search engines. You write a word in there, and voila! It shows you the meaning and origin of the word.

http://www.rae.es/rae.html

[DrMega]

The objective of this dictionary is to guarantee a common linguistic norm.

If you use a word that is not included in the dictionary, then it is considered that it is not Spanish at all.

Someone had a go at this for English a couple of hundred years ago. The English language was actually documented, standardised and attempts were made (through education) to enforce it as the standard, but nobody seemed interested, and everyone took pride in their own local dialect.

It is widely accept that the best English speakers, learnt English as a second language rather than inheriting it as their "mother tongue". This is because when learning a language in a formal manner, through books of grammatical rules, and formal tuition, you are more likely to learn the "standard" version.

Incidentally, as a side note, English teachers are highly sought after, and preferrence always goes to people whose first language is British English.