British versus American English spelling (Warning Rant)

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#2229385 2-May-2019 13:13

Apparently there are over 108 ways to pronounce al-Qaeda

The three I always hear are: al-key ee da and al-ky ee da and al-kay a da

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

eracode

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#2229449 2-May-2019 13:39

FineWine:

"Now I realise that the English language is a polyglot of a multitude of languages and because of the poly-ethnic movements of population......"

Have I just written a "double entendre" ??

A double entendre is a word or phrase open to two interpretations, one of which is often risqué or indecent. Yours doesn’t seem to meet that criterion, so it’s not a double entendre.

Yours is an example of ‘redundancy’ - polyglot means “a multitude of languages”, so you don’t need both expressions - use one or the other.

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Rikkitic

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#2229465 2-May-2019 13:57

Pedant: One who indulges in excessive unnecessary explication.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

eracode

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#2229466 2-May-2019 13:59

Rikkitic:

Pedant: One who indulges in excessive unnecessary explication.

Not really correct in this case. A true pedant will give unsolicited advice - but here he asked a question and I gave him the answer. The answer was neither unnecessary nor excessive.

But yes, I am a pedant.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

TwoSeven

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#2229490 2-May-2019 14:35

Being english, I always find it interesting when people tell me they are speaking english when they were never born there.

not long after first arriving in many decades ago New Zealand being told off by someone for not being able to speak english properly.

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...they/their/them...

FineWine

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#2229529 2-May-2019 15:53

TwoSeven: Being english, I always find it interesting when people tell me they are speaking english when they were never born there.

not long after first arriving in many decades ago New Zealand being told off by someone for not being able to speak english properly.

You mean you are English (capital letter) from England which is one of the countries of the island of Great Britain.

Do not complain too (corrected thanks to @Rikkitic) much. What about Brazilian Portuguese or Argentinian Spanish. I am sure the people from Spain are not too thrilled with the Spanish language in Mexico.

As I mentioned earlier, the English language is a polyglot of languages (note to @eracode I corrected my ‘redundancy’) and is mainly derived from Germanic, Latin & French languages.

This language was then spread out and around the world via; possession, military, conquest, trade and religionist influences, later being called the British Empire (this also included the majority of the North American continent) which at its height was the largest empire in world history and the English language became the most widely spoken language at that height.

At the end of WW2 and then the Korean & Vietnam War, Great Britain was no longer the premier English speaking country due to the rise of American influence worldwide. It was this American influence that created Americanisms not only throughout the former British Empire but also through; American trade, America’s military influences and most certainly its media in all its forms, aviation and, now, finally via IT and the World Wide Web.

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

Rikkitic

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#2229536 2-May-2019 16:22

FineWine:

Do not complain to much.

to, two, too!

(pedant 101)

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

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TwoSeven

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#2229635 2-May-2019 18:11

As I mentioned earlier, the English language is a polyglot of languages (note to @eracode I corrected my ‘redundancy’) and is mainly derived from Germanic, Latin & French languages.

I think one may have forgotten ones english history. England (the kingdom of - also called engalonde rice) began in 927 and ended in 1707 when it became the kingdom of britain. The language was english.

Before 927, people would have spoken Mercian, Kentish, Northumbrian, Old Norse etc.

People confuse english with english lingua franca.

I would suggest that England is now a place, not a country - it does not have a parliament, sovereignty or a national anthem.

...they/their/them...

rhy7s

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#2229773 2-May-2019 21:41

Saying that any one dialect or accent at this point is the prescriptive reference denies the evolutionary branching a language undertakes. Here's another podcast on The Future of English.

evilengineer

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#2229942 3-May-2019 09:10

TwoSeven:

I would suggest that England is now a place, not a country - it does not have a parliament, sovereignty or a national anthem.

That's a whole kettle of fish, right there! 😀

What does that make Wales, which has never had a parliament (Regional Assemblies don't count. 😉), never had any sovereignty (at least since the days of Edward I when he took the title "Prince of Wales" for the first born son of the English monarch) but does have a National Anthem?

Or Scotland? Parliament-Check. Sovereignty-Nope. National Anthem-Check.

Perhaps the definition of nationhood is having your own football team recognized in the FIFA rankings.

Behodar

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#2229947 3-May-2019 09:18

evilengineer: Perhaps the definition of nationhood is having your own football team recognized in the FIFA rankings.

I'm not a sports person, but isn't FIFA all about soccer?

*ducks*

eracode

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#2229961 3-May-2019 09:43

rhy7s:

Saying that any one dialect or accent at this point is the prescriptive reference denies the evolutionary branching a language undertakes. Here's another podcast on The Future of English.

Years ago we were overseas on holiday (not in the US) and I was chatting to a quite arrogant American guy from the deep South. The subject of accents came up and in a friendly way I referred to his, to my ears, pretty-strong accent. He totally rejected the idea that he had any sort of accent - all he would concede was that he might have a 'linguistic style'. He regarded everyone else as having an accent - but not himself. I saw this as a sort of aural racism on his part. Idiot.

Obviously an accent is in the ear of the behearer.

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evilengineer

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#2230043 3-May-2019 11:23

Behodar:

evilengineer: Perhaps the definition of nationhood is having your own football team recognized in the FIFA rankings.

I'm not a sports person, but isn't FIFA all about soccer?

*ducks*

Oh dear!

I'll just point out the logical inconstancy of calling any game "football" where you are allowed to use your hands and pick it up!

And if the sport was called "Soccer" wouldn't the governing body be called FISA??

My daughter calls it "Soccer" and I cry inside every time she says it.

FineWine

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#2230069 3-May-2019 11:55

evilengineer:Oh dear!

I'll just point out the logical inconstancy of calling any game "football" where you are allowed to use your hands and pick it up!

And if the sport was called "Soccer" wouldn't the governing body be called FISA??

My daughter calls it "Soccer" and I cry inside every time she says it.

LOL - I went to Hadlow Prep & Rathkeale College in the Wairarapa in the late 60's and early 70's. These two schools, at the time, were English public school based but we still always called it soccer ⚽ & rugby 🏉 or 1st eleven & 1st fifteen, never football. 'Come on schooool' 🎓.

Interesting though if you search emoji's for 'football' you get: ⚽🏈🏉 but you can still get them individually if you search for soccer and rugby but to get the American Football you just have to enter football.

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

DarthKermit

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#2230070 3-May-2019 11:59

evilengineer:

My daughter calls it "Soccer" and I cry inside every time she says it.

I hope you don't sock her for saying 'soccer'. :P

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