Simplifying English

[Uncle Gizmo]

Simplifying English for The Americans | Michael McIntyre​

 

[The_Doc_Man]

He would love George Carlin's comment: We drive on a parkway and park in a driveway.

 

[Uncle Gizmo]

driveway

We also have driveways outside the house which you don't drive in, I never thought of that before!

Maybe it should be called "drive in, drive out way!"

 

[Uncle Gizmo]

"drive in,drive out way!"

BTW . . I never know if the quote mark should go inside or outside of the exclamation mark? Nobody's picked me up on it in the many years of doing it both ways on the forum!

 

[ColinEssex]

The quote mark goes outside. The exclamation is part of the phrase, the phrase ends at the quote mark.
Col

 

[kevlray]

Of course for those who live in rural areas, Your driveway could be fairly long.

 

[NauticalGent]

BTW . . I never know if the quote mark should go inside or outside of the exclamation mark? Nobody's picked me up on it in the many years of doing it both ways on the forum!

I've always went with where the emphasis lays. If the quote itself warrants an exclamation or question then it gets the punctuation. If the emphasis is mine then it goes outside.

Here is the States where "good" English is taught, teachers will accept it either way as long as it is at the end of a sentence.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

The location of the exclamation mark, which ends a sentence, depends on whether you are closing an emphatic sentence and quoting it, or emphatically quoting a closed sentence.

 

[Uncle Gizmo]

Here is the States where "good" English is taught, teachers will accept it either way as long as it is at the end of a sentence.

Thanks for the clarification John.

I used to worry that I couldn't spell, and couldn't do punctuation when I first joined the internet many years ago. People would round on you if you made a mistake! I was of the opinion that Words were sacrosanct and controlled by professors with doctorates and things like that. Then I discovered that no one makes a decision on whether a word should be included in the language or not, the words are naturally added by the people, by the population. I saw the truth in this and realise that it's down to me, not some highfalutin hobnobbing top university professor!

I listened to a BBC Radio 4 programme by Melvyn Bragg, discussing the evolution of printing and the introduction of printing into the United Kingdom by William Caxton. One of the professors Melvyn Bragg was interviewing mentioned that early English printing was done in the Netherlands by people that couldn't speak English! These were peace workers and they got paid per line of text. So when they were setting out the text they were incentivised to increase the number of characters to fill the line. Hence we have words like Balloon with extra unnecessary letters. Words were spelt phonetically, there were no dictionaries and the like, these came later. Many publications had various and different spellings for words, often based on the particular dialect somebody spoke. Someone from the North (UK) would spell a word differently than somebody from the south (UK) all perfectly acceptable and normal. It wasn't until the the compilation of a dictionary that words began to get standardised...

If you're interested in the evolution of the English language you might like this podcast#

"The History of English Podcast"

Google Podcasts is no longer available

podcasts.google.com

I particularly like this bit about a Farting partridge - time index 50:20

Episode 129: Chaucer’s Vulgar Tongue [EXPLICIT LANGUAGE]

 

[NauticalGent]

I particularly like this bit about a Farting partridge - time index 50:20
Episode 129: Chaucer’s Vulgar Tongue [EXPLICIT LANGUAGE]

Going to make some time to listen to this today...

 

[Uncle Gizmo]

Going to make some time to listen to this today...

If you carry on listening from that time index you will be listening to the narrator relating a story from the "Canterbury Tales" by Chaucer, I think the 1400s? Without looking it up!

He's telling the story of a a bookkeeper who took a fancy to The Carpenters wife, and arranged it so that he can have his wicked way with her. It's brilliant story!

 

[NauticalGent]

I remember reading excepts from them in (not so)High School. Porn from the past! Doubt if they could be discussed today...

 

[Uncle Gizmo]

I was watching judge Judy and she said that the guy in front of her was creating a fictitious story about how someone had stolen his number plate and it wasn't him.

She said a word which sounded like this:-

1. Bubbamiyster story
2. Bubbamyster story
3. Baba Meister story

Anyone know what the word was and what it's definition is?

I asked ChatGPT but ChatGPT was stuck on it as well.

 

[AccessBlaster]

I was watching judge Judy and she said that the guy in front of her was creating a fictitious story about how someone had stolen his number plate and it wasn't him.

She said a word which sounded like this:-

1. Bubbamiyster story
2. Bubbamyster story
3. Baba Meister story

Anyone know what the word was and what it's definition is?

I asked ChatGPT but ChatGPT was stuck on it as well.

My guess is that it's a Jewish word for boogie man.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

The only references I could find were for "bubbameister" as a "tall tale" or other type of fictional story, origin: Yiddish.

Urban Dictionary: bubbameister

None

www.urbandictionary.com

 

[Uncle Gizmo]

That's it! Thanks Richard..

 

[Uncle Gizmo]

Finnish people and the pronunciation of "B"

The comedian in this clip is struggling with the pronunciation of B because of the way his mother tongue is constructed.

Quite an amusing clip:-

ISMO | To Be Or Not To Be

I asked this guys is there a B or not? #shorts Visit my website for tour dates!http://ismo.fun/tourFollow me on social media:FACEBOOK: http://ismo.fun/facebo...

youtube.com

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Almost any letter can be silent in some circumstances depending on the language in question. And English, with its multiple linquistic contributors, is among the worst at having silent letters. The only language I know offhand that NEVER has a silent letter is Hawaiian - but they don't have as many consonants as other languages.

 

[ColinEssex]

The only language I know offhand that NEVER has a silent letter is Hawaiian

Spanish is another. Or at least the proper Castillian spoken in Spain you pronounce every letter, not like that strange South American version. Although, some letters are pronounced differently - think letter 'J', José is pronounced 'Hosé' in proper Spanish.
Col

 

[CJ_London]

one that makes me smile - in Spanish 'Jesus' is pronounced 'Hey Zeus' (a greek god, if you didn't know)