dan-cat
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- Jun 2, 2002
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Do what the hell you like, just don't use it around me.
Col
LOLZ ure momma is uber failz
Do what the hell you like, just don't use it around me.
Col
Besides, if he were to cease and desist, I would have no one to bait, and I am becoming a master at that activity.It's not his fault. It's the old hypocritical viewpoint where someone generalizes an entire country in the exact same fashion they accuse the people of that country as being.
American English is a lazy and slovenly way of speaking and writing English.
The English language, regardless of the native speaker or writer, is still one of the hardest languages to learn because of all of the differences in sounds produced by the same combination of letters. I would hate to learn English as my second language, be it American or British.
Besides, if he were to cease and desist, I would have no one to bait, and I am becoming a master at that activity.
Ah, the quarry rises yet again. Isn't fishing the most marvelous sport?You're not even off the starting blocks yet sonny.
Come back when you think you might be.
Col
... if you look into the origins of the word aluminium it was original spelt in English as aluminum and pronounced that way. When it made it's way over to the US is became aluminium it then over time became reversed - iirc it was at the time the aluminium trade began. Go figure - language is an odd beast.
Honestly, English as a second language is really not that hard, if you put aside the freaking "th". That thing is unpronounceable.
People over here want to pass laws to protect French language, yet they cannot write it properly!
The "th" comes originally from theta and passed to English from one of its ancestors, Old German. German subsequently supplanted it with "d" so "the" became "de" etc. This change began in High German and took several centuries to reach Low German.
The temptation to substitute is quite clear within English where "de" or "da" is substituted for "the" by some. It is particularly tempting when speaking at speed because "th" requires the tongue to move quite a long from the position used for many other syllables.
The blend of the "th" and "d" is also evident in Spanish where the letter "d" has a much softer pronunciation with a tendency toward the "th" sound. My surname includes "th" and when I was in Peru nobody would even attempt to pronounce it until I changed the spelling, replacing the "th" with "d".
I was helping a Chinese person improve their pronunciation and realised that the "th" was a big problem. Their worry was with the embarrassment of allowing the tongue to come out so far. Once he covered his mouth with his hand he could speak it perfectly.
English is so widespread because it adopted words from so many languages providing multiple words for much the same concept but carrying the subtle differences from their origin. French origin words are used to in English to convey a sense of the exoctic or formality such as in "cuisine" versus "cooking".
"Protecting" languages stagnates them and overlooks the fact that until recently they had always been dynamic.
Also as I like to remind those who criticise US English, the spelling of the word "color" passed to the US before dictionaries were invented when this spelling was still common among the relatively few literates at the time.
Ultimatley British English adoped the French incluenced "colour" (from "coleur")
Exactly, so American English is the only true English. Silly Britts, always thinking that they have a global empire.
No. Both modern US English and modern British English are derived from 16th century English. Both are valid English variants as is Australian English and several others.
The thing that makes Aussie and American English differant from the English version, is the say the tendency to uses words like 'awesome' to describe the most banal things, from a cheese sandwich, a gig , right the way up to where it should be used.
That is a silly generalization.Thus destroying the richness of the language and nuance , and making communication more difficult.?
English doesn't borrow. We take words for keeps.Yes English is a rich language, always changing and borrowing from others.
The strength of superlatives is dynamic. They go through phases where they become common and other superlatives replace them. I supsect that the British usage lags behind other variants in this aspect Pommes are so difficult to impress.
That is a silly generalization.
English doesn't borrow. We take words for keeps.