Differences between US and UK English (and others....)

[CervineMaritime]

Re: Differences between US and UK English (and others....)

It's weird. I was born and raised in Texas, and yet I've always been raised writing with the British U...? Colour, armour, favour...
It's a pretty subtle difference, I've never been confronted about it or anything. Huh..

And my grandmother always says "bollocks" as sort of curse or to say that something is baloney, and I picked that up from her too. No idea where it came from though... only connection my family has to the British isles is a very muddled Irish heritage. We've never even been there. *shrug*

[Larix]

Re: Differences between US and UK English (and others....)

Cockney rhyming slang is in a class of its own.... I don't pretend to know more than a smidgin. However a great one is a 'Richard.'
He is a right Richard.
I've just trodden in a Richard.

It comes from 'Richard the Third'.... get it?

Got it!

[Dral]

Re: Differences between US and UK English (and others....)

Poke, Siggogling, Jasper, Gaum, Chaw, Backer, Yonder, Plum, Sop. <---- Words that I use daily lol. If anyone can guess what accent group I fall into I'll mail you a cookie

[ChainLightning]

Re: Differences between US and UK English (and others....)

^accent group?? Lost me.


Also, I had to google "flan" so... I'd be googling all but poke, yonder, chaw and sop.

[Dral]

Re: Differences between US and UK English (and others....)

^accent group?? Lost me.


Also, I had to google "flan" so... I'd be googling all but poke, yonder, chaw and sop.

Sorry, my inner Anthropologist came through Regional accents. I be an Appalachian lolol.

[ChainLightning]

Re: Differences between US and UK English (and others....)

Ahh. Us 'South Canadians' (that's 'Minnesotans' to them southern folk, don'tcha know) usually just refer to the vast array of dialects down there as 'Southern' and have done with it. Eh.

LOL

[Dral]

Re: Differences between US and UK English (and others....)

Lmao. Us southerner's generally consider anything north of the Mason-Dixon as Yankee land and be done with it

[Tylluan Penry]

Re: Differences between US and UK English (and others....)

Just out of curiosity... where I live I can tell where someone is from within about 6 miles... can you do that in the US?

[Denarius]

Re: Differences between US and UK English (and others....)



You can tell the cardinal direction they come from pretty easilly, and a few high profile accents (Brooklyn, texas, boston, california, new hampshire. Etc.) but anything more specific than that is tricky unless you are familiar with the regions in particular or are an expert in such things.

[Dral]

Re: Differences between US and UK English (and others....)

Just out of curiosity... where I live I can tell where someone is from within about 6 miles... can you do that in the US?

To be honest I come from an area that's extremely isolated culturally so to me everyone goes into a "One of us, or not one of us" category other than the general Yankee or not Yankee category (Not southern or southern).

[James Donovan]

Re: Differences between US and UK English (and others....)

Text removed by staff. Forgery is not accepted here at PF.

[Tylluan Penry]

Re: Differences between US and UK English (and others....)

Oh I think there are quite a few differences, James. Try saying you're going to eat a couple of faggots in my part of the world and nobody bats an eyelid. I suspect you'd get quite a different reaction in the US! ;-)

(And for US readers here.... don't panic. Faggots are a type of pork and liver meatball seasoned with sage and usually served with mushy peas. Magic!)

[Jembru]

Re: Differences between US and UK English (and others....)

I think he may have meant HE isn't posting about any differences, rather than that there aren't any! I could be wrong, but taking the most obvious meaning of a fragmented sentence, is kinda my skill (Japanese is usually fragmented and I tend to use them in English ALL the time, even though I know it just leads to confusion and should really stop). I don't, however, know the answer to his question, but I'd guess that yes, accents will vary just as widely as they do on these fine Isles. At least, I know that German has varied accents and that in Japan, if you learn to ask for chopsticks in Tokyo, you'll be asking for a bridge in Osaka (hashi has two meanings, seperated by inflection, but which version means which meaning, varies between regions!). So I'll guess this is the case the world over. I believe accents are becoming less varied and more unified due to tv though. I'm a Geordie girl though, so what would I know? ^^

I have a language question for the US citizins actually: I have noticed you use 'have' idiomatically in such expressions as, 'I had the kids wash the car', or 'I had my friend deliver the letter for me'. Although this has definitely filtered into UK English, it still seems more of an American style of speech. My question is, does this always mean, 'I made the person do this thing/requested that they do this thing' or, can it also mean 'I gave permission...'. Could I say, for example, 'I had the kids go trick or treating' with the meaning, 'they wanted to go, so I allowed it'?

I ask because both German and Japanese have verbs that can translate as either 'make' OR 'allow' (DE: lassen, J: saseru), depending on the situation. Uses of lassen and saseru are varied and idiomatic, often mirroring one another. I'm trying to find a correlating verb in English, because it seems that sometimes the same idiomatic expressions pop up in different languages. It makes me wonder if we once could use 'let' like 'lassen' but that use has been lost. I am fascinated by patterns in languages.

[callmeclemens]

Re: Differences between US and UK English (and others....)

I have a language question for the US citizins actually: I have noticed you use 'have' idiomatically in such expressions as, 'I had the kids wash the car', or 'I had my friend deliver the letter for me'. Although this has definitely filtered into UK English, it still seems more of an American style of speech. My question is, does this always mean, 'I made the person do this thing/requested that they do this thing' or, can it also mean 'I gave permission...'. Could I say, for example, 'I had the kids go trick or treating' with the meaning, 'they wanted to go, so I allowed it'?

Ah! I think I have an answer for you, and answer which I think plays into Our Americans feelings of how hard we constantly have to work to get by anymore.

The "they wanted to go so I allowed it" is pretty close to correct. You see us (most) Americans seem to require to receive a portion of any credit for a task performed no matter how small. So it is my understanding here that if A Wife tell's her Husband; "Honey, I had the kids wash the car", what she really means in "Honey I know the car needed to be washed so I organized the Children together, motivated them, and then instructed them to wash the car, thus through my effort the Children accomplished a task." In this sense Had means Something had to get done and it did.

[Tylluan Penry]

Re: Differences between US and UK English (and others....)

Ah... I get that now. Does any part of the US use the word 'picking' like we do in my part of the world? Here it can mean 'starting to' or 'beginning.' So you get, 'It's picking rain,' meaning that it's starting to rain. Just wondered, in view of the fact that so many Welsh emigrated to the US.