Folinskyinla

Hi:

I have read that book -- excellent. Also, in the late 80's there was a PBS series called "The Story of English" which was hosted by Robert MacNiel. The accompanying coffee-table book is out of print, but is available used on Amazon.com.

Ridski

Well, give it time. The invasion and immigration I was referring to was much more regional in nature and happened about 1200+ years ago.

The Saxons, Angles and Danes who ruled that there fair isle came from completely separate stock, and spoke completely different languages, which is why there are so many regional variations on language, as well as accent. Bear in mind, also, that there wasn't much social movement until the industrial revolution. People generally stayed put. So it's only in more rural areas of the US, such as say, Minnesota and the South, and places with a historic city-based population, like New York or Boston, that really strong regional accents occur. People have to stay put for a long period of time for that to happen, and the US is a much younger and more socially fluid nation.

Take Pennsylvania, for example. It's a very old state, and there are definite differences between Philly and Pittsburgh accents, but none of them are as strong as the Amish accent found in Dutch County, because their culture is less fluid and less prone to outside influences.

All IMO, though, for the benefit of Optimus Prime. YMMV, and all that.

Rete

The American way of writing your sentence would be:

"Which came first. Just kidding. Kind of.

Today on the beach, while minding my own business (impossible), an acquaintance of a friend starts kidding me about my accent. She is female, so I try to be gentle. After 5 minutes I suggest we take a swim into the deeper ocean, beyond the buoys. Lots of people understood the joke and laughed."

I don't get the joke. Unless you're telling her you would like to get her out in the ocean so you could drown her.




While the English language might have evolved in the British Isles, it has been added to by the various foreign cultures that have settled in both our countries as well as the colonies that the British Empire governed over the centuries.

So FMVP the core of the two languages are the same but the pronounciations and usage varies greatly.

ugacrew

You don't think those accents stayed just on that side of the Atlantic do you? It's not like one section of England stayed back. It's all pretty much geography when you think about it. We have the same influences present here. You seem to forget we share the same history and things didn't start fresh here.

Roland Hulme

Didn't Webster, just after the Revolutionary War, put down the first and most broadly researched document on the English language?

From that point on, British English and USA English have grown in two different directions, but I don't really think you can claim one or the other is the 'right' way to speak it.

The Quebec French and the French French have much the same debate.

Quebec French and American English is actually purer to the style of English spoken back then.

I get paid to write in American English, although I use British English when I write personal stuff.

Folinskyinla

Hi:

LOL. There are many different accents in the US -- just drive I-95 from Maine down to Florida -- it will vary state to state. Due to its later settlement, the midwest and the west coast developed differently. I like reading Louis L'mour novels on flights -- he transliterates the spoken language of the "Old West" [Texas, New Mexico & Arizona it seems] and it has a lot of imports from Spanish.

The Boston accent is often hard to fathom. And also there are regional dialects. What the British call a queue -- I say one stands "in" line. My wife from New Jersey says stand "on" line.

How many syllables does the spoke work coffee have? Jersey speak adds a dipthong in there making it three syllables. I drink "kaw-fee" in the morning, my wife drinks "ko-off-fee".

I think that many people find it a little disconcerting that Barak Obama speaks a "white" English but has a dark skin. [Colin Powell who has Jamaican roots is the same]. My friend Howard Hom speaks what one might call LA Chinatown ABC while J Fong [Yale educated] speaks a San Francisco Chinatown ABC. [We've spoken about this]. However, we have had Chinese clients raised in London who speak perfect RP.

ugacrew

Also Webster made a deliberate statement in changing the spelling of words. Dropping 'extra' letters such as the 'u' in colour or the 'me' in program. There was also the reversal in the 're' ending in words like 'centre', 'calibre', and so forth. It was done to separate us from British English and helped establish our own style of written language. I'm not sure it had much effect on accents but it was a visible means of thumbing the nose up at the motherland. So it's not like we're uneducated in proper spelling of English words. It's more a remnant of a protest that no longer exists and tradition that reflects the deliberate choices of yesteryear.

Roland can you tell I love the study of linguistics?

Tarkak9

For the next time, come back with "...perhaps your right; but atleast we have the tendency to perfect it."
OR politely correct him "(ahem) its "did not invent nor started the language"

basementwaj

fracking webster cnut nazis

ugacrew

Nope. Just think, every time you see me write 'color' it's just a little bit of American Independence in that word. Makes you wonder if you took out the 'extra' letters in an English novel, how much slimmer would it make that volume on the book shelf. Could it be that the American spelling makes for a greener publication? Just a thought.

basementwaj

i will remember how great and streamlined everything is in america when i am next at the gas pumps, wondering how many euros i can buy for $1.60 before my next trip back (if i ever make it off the ground cos of the delayed flights) and i have to hear the woman in the gas station tell me my accent is funny and that "you aint from round ere"

ugacrew

Now now, the topic was English. The introduction of another topic into the argument means your original has now weakened. Stick to the point or acquiesce respectfully.

basementwaj

respectfully my arse (spelled ARSE!)

Tarkak9

Huh, Isn't that what Cliff Notes are for?
How would it affect political correctness publications?!?!
overall, no difference in this digital age...

isn't it 'greener' to have the background of computer screens black or white because supposedly it uses less energy to produce such COLOUR? maybe its just me but I seem to remember reading that somewhere.

basementwaj

you may have to ask her again replacing COLOUR with COLOR or she wont know what you are on about