Re: A language question
 

To those of you in the States, how long did it take til you altered your own pronunciation of 'can't'? I'll ask about the other 'c' word later :lol:

Re: A language question
 

If I would be a rich man... :lol:

Re: A language question
 

It's the weird pronunciation of "roof" that gets me. And "data" seems to vary between people as day-ta, dar-ta and datta (I always use the former, but never with the t=d American way)

Re: A language question
 

or "had of caught the ball" :eek:

Re: A language question
 

‘of’ for ‘have’ drives me spare. Here, at least, it's more common than not to hear things like:
He would of come if he would of been able to. :thumbs_down:

And I still remember Bill Clinton saying:
When Redford was interviewed for Out of Africa, he made a remark about working with Meryl Streep saying:
... and then he actually made it worse —when I didn't think that was possible— by re-iterating it as:
Thus proving he's a natural blond. :lol:

Re: A language question
 

Ok, here we go again - blonde bashing! (And how do you spell 'blonde'?) :eek: :p

Re: A language question
 

Well I've been here 25 years and I'm still saying can't the way I did in UK car-n't saying it as cant is too much like the other c word
But then I'm still known as the Mom with the accent at the local school :sneaky:

Re: A language question
 

Maybe he was thinking of the Rastafarian "I and I".
Blond for men and blonde for women.

Re: A language question
 

Been here 15 and I still speak exactly the way I did when I arrived - cant's and all - not consciously trying to , I just think I sound like a pillock when I pronounce things the American way so try not to.

Re: A language question
 

Me too. I sound fake if I try to do it. :lol:

Re: A language question
 

Yes, exactly, and thank you Sally. I'm blond, (though greying now), and so spell it for myself. Diana Dors was blonde. Egg and Cress it's one of but a few adjectives in English that is gender specific, even the American Webster's Dictionary recognises this convention.

Re: A language question
 

Well, I'll be "durned" - I didn't know that......:D

Re: A language question
 

My wife refuses to let me try anymore - says I sound like a cross between Johnny Cash, John Wayne and a Nascar driver :blink:

Re: A language question
 

One I don't like is 'ekscape', I hear it more on TV than from real people though.

Re: A language question
 

I honestly didn't realize there were gender specifics like this - thought it was only in other languages. I know the Polish language has those gender specifics, as does Spanish, but I didn't know about the American ones. (And I did look it up - but not in Webster's - in the Oxford Modern English Dictionary.) Thanks for the "English" lesson - guess I don't know as much as I thought I did! :D

Please note: I do know how to use apostrophes properly, though. :lol:

Re: A language question
 

It's a borrowed word from French, where adjectives agree. There a nice little Lord Peter Wimsey story where he catches a French person out this way.

Re: A language question
 

Oh, after so long I'd assumed you'd have had to alter pronunciation at times to avoid not being understood or because you were 'linguistically soft'....

Another one - the World Cup (no stress on first word, please) after next will be held in Qatar, do the Americans really pronounce that 'Cutter' ? ('Cudder')

Re: A language question
 

Not this one.

Re: A language question
 

I've heard it said Cutter, I didn't know what they were saying, but I've also heard it rhyme with guitar, How is it said?
I am told at home (UK) I have a bit of an American accent, but after a couple of weeks it disappears, I think it's more of going back to a more sing song Welsh accent at home where here (California) You go up at the end of the sentence, so thats where my accent differs here I think, more so if I'm working. They understand me fine usually, although I have asked for things in Spanish occasionally to be understood :lol:

Re: A language question
 

I just took this from my own OED; quoting from it: ‘blonde and blond correspond to the feminine and masculine’.
You may have an abridged version, because when I was at school the OED was the standard and this convention was the way we all learnt it from the Oxford Dictionary.

With regard to apostrophes, I use them to form the genitive and in contractions, however I still use single quotes aka ‘inverted commas’ to denote material in direct quotations in the original and British way. (Only the opening mark is actually and inverted comma, the closing mark is an angled apostrophe: e.g. He shouted ‘Stop’ as the train pulled away.

Rather than my continuing, why don't you see Wiki in regard to that and other forms of British punctuation, such as the full stop outside of quoted material, unless the punctuation is important to its meaning, for instance as with an interrogation point.

In addition, there is our use of the full stop with abbreviations, which follow the rules of most other European nations, but not America. (Example: Dr stands for Doctor, whereas Dr. stands for Drive, etc.)

Re: A language question
 

You are not talking about the military garrison cap, are you?

Re: A language question
 

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...ey+joke&page=9

See post #123

Re: A language question
 

I hadn't heard it called that, but Yes, I suppose :lol: (I had to look it up)

Re: A language question
 

:lol::lol::lol:

Re: A language question
 

Here's an odd one about British and American pronunciation.
Hover.
Plover.
I've heard Americans say "huvver" for hover. I don't know if that is common or not. Meanwhile British folks say "pluvver" for plover .. ??

Re: A language question
 

Yes to the huvver and I say plover.

We probably say it just to be contrary. :D

Re: A language question
 

... I certainly have a care deficit going on regarding this language topic. :D


I can't seem to put my finger on it but .... why is this thread like -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAgX6qlJEMc

or even

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_RfxxdzJ7g-...BrianLeben.jpg

I wonder if the Romans ever said "Britanni hi non loquor bene".

Re: A language question
 

Yup. I need to come up with strategy to use those two words MUCH more frequently. Two can play at the contrary game. :frown:

Re: A language question
 

I rhyme hover with cover and plover with over....don't really know what pronunciation rule that's supposed to follow or why it was taught that way. . I've never heard it as "pluvver". Why is "through" pronounced "threw" and cough said as "coff" while rough is said as "ruff"? No hard and fast rules which must make it very difficult for foreigners to learn (no, not English foreigners). :D

Re: A language question
 

You forgot about 'bough' ;)

Re: A language question
 

Yep, there's another one and I did forget about it! Thanks!! :D I'm sure there are others than I can't think of right now - just for the heck of it, I'm going to start a list. Not to fill up the thread, just for fun. :)

Oops, that came out on the OH's log-in - but it's really from egg and cress! We were trying something that obviously didn't work!

Re: A language question
 

Wait a minute ... this isn't like Psycho where Norman Bate's mother is actually Norman Bates, is it? :scaredhair: AHHH!

:rofl:

Re: A language question
 

:rofl::rofl: Nah - just a screw up! We were trying to log each of us in separately on the same computer thinking they'd both show up on the task bar. In our less-than-computer-wise plan, we thought he'd be able to switch from my log-in over to his when he wanted to post something - it didn't work! Oh well......

And considering the conversation he and I had this evening, we don't think enough alike to be considered one! Probably more like Jekyll and Hyde, but without the murderous intent. :lol::D

Re: A language question
 

Frank Bough.

Re: A language question
 

Sigh. I know what you mean it is difficult. Just think, if you are living in a ménage à trois keeping the logins sorted out is even more complicated!

Re: A language question
 

A number of Americans say "Calvary" instead of "cavalry". On an archeology programme it sounded like they were digging up Jesus rather than the Battle of the Little Bighorn.