The English Language

[Becster]

...I've noticed (obviously) that despite the fact North Americans and British speak English (...well...save for all the Welsh and other languages mixed about) we speak quite different languages...

I mean, just the differences in words, like:

Candy and Sweets

Trunk and Boot

Pants and Trousers

Panties and Underwear

Potato Chips and Crisps

Fries and Chips

...See what I mean? I wonder how these came about...o_O

(I think Candy sounds better than Sweets though.)

[Jeannette]

Ah, linguistics. I'm a linguistics major, therefore things like this fascinate me. Languages evolve almost exactly like species of animals develop, from my understanding.

One of my favorite British English things is using 'row' and pronouncing it 'rau.' That is how you pronounce it, right?

[Becster]

Huh, how do you pronounce it then? As in rohw?

...I use 'rohw' for 'rowing a boat' and 'rau' for 'a domestic row' or something...o_O

[Jeannette]

Huh, how do you pronounce it then? As in rohw?

...I use 'rohw' for 'rowing a boat' and 'rau' for 'a domestic row' or something...o_O

We use 'rohw' for 'rowing a boat' as well. But we don't use 'row' for a fight. That's strictly a British thing.

[Becster]

Oh, I see.

It's a bit like something I read in a book once (one of those funny Georgia Nicholson books...'Knocked out by my Nunga-Nungas' and such...) is that 'fag' is a word only used to (...cruelly, in my opinion. >_< Let people love who they want!) describe a gay person...whereas in Britain it's also used as a word for 'cigarette'.

...I still wonder about Roundabouts and...is it rotaries? Hmmm.

[Ando]

Linguistics are fun! Back when I learned English in school, British English was what was taught (appearantly that isn't as strict any longer, and more and more American English is beginning to sneak into the text books), but because of the influence of all American music, movies, books etc I guess I speak a horrible () mix of British and American English.

Anyway, I was wondering... is pronouncing 'neither' like [needer] instead of [nyder] considered American, or vice versa? Or is it connected to certain dialects regardless of which one of these countries you live in?

[Becster]

Actually, I don't prounounce neither "needer" or "nyder" ...I prounounce it "nee-ther"

...I think people pronounce things differently in different parts of the UK as well...like scone...'scon' or 'scown'.

...And Bath. 'Bath' or 'Barth'.

[moezychan]

Languages are truly facinating. That's partly how I got so obsessed with anime. Thing is in America, where I live, we also have changes in how we say words. For instance, I was born and raised in Ohio along with the rest of my family, but my father was born in Pennsylvania which is right next door to Ohio, and he pronounces things differently than me.

He has what I like to call a "Pennsylvanian accect" and let's say I'm talking to somebody else and I'll say the word "yours". Daddy instead will say yins. And I'll say "washing machine," he'll say "warshing machine."

Also, I've traveled down to the southern part of the country and they have words differently than ours. I'll say "Are you going to get that," while a person from the south will say "Are ya'll fixin' to buy that?"

Languages truly are amazing. You can speak the same language, but that doesn't mean you say the same words.

[Becster]

Exactly! It's like that in England too.

For example, when I go to America, I can't tell all the different American accents apart, but I can tell apart all the different accents in the UK - such as the Welsh accent, the Irish accent (even though Ireland is mainly its own country now), the Scottish accent...and then in the towns within England, I can tell a Liverpudlian (Liverpool) accent, and a general northern accent.

...Ask me to tell a New York accent from a Pennsylvanian accent and I wouldn't have a clue! (...Hmm. Or maybe I'd vaguely be able to tell the difference, but not as easily as I would if it were an Irish accent.)

Speaking of which...when I hear American dubbed anime, I don't think it sounds any different to how we usually sound...and then I hear a British accent on an anime and I realise we do sound different. It'd be nice for Britain to do a dub one time, so the Americans can hear how they sound to us in comparison...

(Do they actually get real British actors to do the voice acting for a British character, or do they get an American to put on the accent, because sometimes it sounds ridiculously overdone...)

[~*~Lunar Eclipse~*~]

Accents just dont make sense to me...o_O I dont understand how people can speak the same language in a different way...theres probably a very good reason for why it has happened...I dont get it though

I know what you mean about it being overdone...I mean when Thingy did Bridget Jones' diary, her accent just sounded way too english. But I suppose if I tried to do what I thought was say an Australian accent, then Australian people would think I sounded too formal or whatever...

[Becster]

Yeah, I hate it when Americans try and fake an English accent. I thought Renee didn't do a too bad job with it, but it was a little overdone.

I think, if you wanna have a British accent in an anime, or a film...use a British actor, m'kay?

[monkey]

I have a friend who lives just on the outskirts of London and she is has the most Upper Case english Accent I've evere heard. She says she is near the Essex part of the UK and they have a very low-level dialect (they are not very good at speaking properly, like they have no idea what T's are). I also have a kid in my class who has a very Bristolian accent (Bristol being the town where I'm from) It's thick and is very unpleasent to listen to, It's such a bad vocabulary I really can't stand listening to it.

I only see these as being different really.

Trunk and Boot

Potato Chips and Crisps

Oh, I see.

It's a bit like something I read in a book once (one of those funny Georgia Nicholson books...'Knocked out by my Nunga-Nungas' and such...) is that 'fag' is a word only used to (...cruelly, in my opinion. >_< Let people love who they want!) describe a gay person...whereas in Britain it's also used as a word for 'cigarette'.

...I still wonder about Roundabouts and...is it rotaries? Hmmm.

We still use Fag in england to describe gay people.
Never heard anybody call a Roundabout a Rotary.

Actually, I don't prounounce neither "needer" or "nyder" ...I prounounce it "nee-ther"

...I think people pronounce things differently in different parts of the UK as well...like scone...'scon' or 'scown'.

...And Bath. 'Bath' or 'Barth'.

We use both Scon and Scown, Just depending on the situation it's in.

and we call the town Bath 'Barth' and the actuall washing bath just 'Bath'

Also, I've traveled down to the southern part of the country and they have words differently than ours. I'll say "Are you going to get that," while a person from the south will say "Are ya'll fixin' to buy that?"

The southern accent is my fav accent in the entire World, For me it is anyway.

I love talking to a girl I know who lives in Alabama on the phone, she has a really good accent.

Yeah, I hate it when Americans try and fake an English accent. I thought Renee didn't do a too bad job with it, but it was a little overdone.

I really Liked how she pulled it off, simply because I've heard people more british than that so it didn't sound wierd at all to me, So I think your just exaggerating that...

[Becster]

Mmm, mm. Actually, some of my friends say Bath, whilst I say Barth. (I'm English myself.) And I can never remember what the other word for roundabout is...but rotary just leapt to mind. Haha.

...I hate using the word fag. I don't think it's bad for describing a cigarette, but I personally think cigarettes are disgusting, so maybe it's a subscious link in that I find the word 'fag' when used to describe someone who's gay disgusting.

Let them love who they want to love.

I say 'scown' ...and then all my friends call me posh. Okay, my accent is a little more upper class sounding than their's...but still.

I forget, is it Southerners like myself who are supposed to have slightly less upper class accents? I live in the south, but my parents were born in Manchester and Liverpool...so...

[Strawberry]

Well, I live in England and yeah I'm British and I have got relatives living in America.

There are more differences in the lanuage, such as Sneakers and Trainers
Also the british always spell things with a "u", such as neighbour, colour, flavour, favour where as Americans don't use the "u" in those words.

Another interesting fact is that the word "snogging" is a british word, also "pear-shaped" and "bangers & mash" and I guess "eggit" is kinda british too lol

[Time-Machine]

Maybe it's just my particular brand of American upbringing, but I see words like "row" and "sweets" and think "I say that all the time."

But then, my friends often quirk their heads at my words choice, and I do tend to spell things with a "u"

...I've only ever heard the word "scone" pronounced with a hard "o"...I wasn't aware there were other ways to say it...o.0...I'm learning all sorts of things here.

I can tell some of the different UK accents apart...but not all of them. And whever I try to do Scottish, it always turns more Irish, and still doesn't sound good. ^_^;;

[Becster]

*grins* I LOVE pear-shaped. One of the best British phrases ever...

Aha, I forgot about Sneakers and Trainers...

...And American's spell it aluminum. ...Aluminium...they like leaving out vowels, don't they? XD

I personally pronounce scone with the hard 'o' too, and I think putting emphasis on the 'sc' bit (sck-on) sounds 'posher'...

[Strawberry]

Yeah, I commonly use the word "pear-shaped"  here, its fun to use

lol, I remember constantly using that word pear-shaped on the phone to my American cousin and she didn't have a clue what I was talking about until I explained clearly the meaning of "pear-shaped"

[Ando]

Accents just dont make sense to me...o_O I dont understand how people can speak the same language in a different way...theres probably a very good reason for why it has happened...I dont get it though

It's actually quite simple. Let's say a number of people are living together in a village. They create a language of their own, social rules and laws and yadda yadda... but after awhile, the number of people living in that small place has increased so much that some of them have got to move. So they do, but they don't have to create a whole new language because of that, right? But as you might understand from reading Shakespeare, languages change over time. So the people that moved from their original setting slowly start to do some changes in the language, and more and more changes are added for every generation.

At the same time, the people who stayed in the village are developing the language just as those who moved do, only they go a whole other direction. For example, this language's word for "dog" is uggr. After some generations, the grand-grandchildren of those who moved might spell this as [ugr] whereas those still living in the village spell it [ughr].

To complicate it even more, let's assume that these two groups of people are living in the very north and the very south of a country, respectively. Then those who stayed in the village might be trading and socializing with people who live in another country close to where they are, thus borrowing words from this folk's tongue. The same goes for those who moved to the other side of the country, only they are influenced by a whole other language. In time, these two dialects may even develop into two different languages.

Yeah, something like that. I know that that's to simplify it a bit, but you get the point, right, Lunar Eclipse?

[Time-Machine]

...And American's spell it aluminum. ...Aluminium...they like leaving out vowels, don't they? XD

We also pronounce it Al-oom-in-um, and I guess it can also be pronounced Al-oom-in-ee-um. (I didn't learn that until I met a guy from Canada a few years ago who pronounced it like that...I was way confused, thinking he was talking about some mythical element...)

And I lot of people from Europe and Canada seem to pronounce Z "zed"...that's probably the only one that left me the most confused when I first heard it. It sounded like a bad sci-fi movie villain. I was like "What's a Zed???"

lol

[Becster]

Yeah, American's say 'Zee' don't they...that makes me think of a happy expression...like 'WHEEEEEEEEE'

...

...

...'ZEEEEEEEEEEEEE!'

Haha.