American English vs English English

RSS
Email

0 Kudos

Author	Comment
elainesl	American English vs English English	Lead	[-]
Posts: 12212 (02/11/09 21:21:17) Board Moderator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Tags : None The thread Quick question for Londoners, and afternoon tea vs high tea, reminded me. How did we, as Churchill said, become "two nations divided by a common language"? Examples: We (Americans) talk to someone, but chat with them. I think Brits talk to and chat to someone, which at least is consistent. In America, a store is located on Main Street; in England, a store is located in the High Street, isn't it? Brits say "an hotel" and we say "a hotel." For us,the name Morris is Morris, and Maurice is "Maw-REES" (a la Francais), and Ralph is "Ralf". For Brits, Maurice is pronounced Morris and Ralph is "Rafe." What they do with the names Cholmondeley and Fotheringay defies all logic, orthographically speaking. Got other examples, on both sides of the pond? And then one wonders, how do Canadians say it?
ChiChi Carbonado		#1	[-]
Posts: 6735 (02/11/09 21:31:58) Administrator MC's Alter-Ego Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Staying away from the lift/elevator, boot/trunk, lorry/truck sort of vocabulary differences: Brits ring you up; Americans call you. Brits book a table; Americans make a reservation. Brits catch you up; Americans catch up with you. Brits get it sorted; Americans sort things out. Brits (and Australians!) take piccies, eat biccies, and give prezzies. Americans don't generally do that, although we do say Wanna, gonna, and whaddya.
elainesl		#2	[-]
Posts: 12213 (02/11/09 21:46:53) Board Moderator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	love those last ones, some also say, at least in New York, Fuhgeddaboudit. Do British grown ups, when taking their leave, say "Bye Bye"? In America, men and women from the ages of 3 to 93 may all say "Bye Bye." or, Ba-Bye. The Americanism that is a pet peeve of mine is "No problem" instead of "You're welome."
ChiChi Carbonado		#3	[-]
Posts: 6736 (02/11/09 21:49:39) Administrator MC's Alter-Ego Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	In Australia, the equivalent is "No worries, mate." Or sometimes, "No drama," i.e., no big deal. It doesn't bother me. I just think it's the evolution of the language. I think people mean the same as You're Welcome, so I don't take it too literally.
Gardenridge		#4	[-]
Posts: 2089 (02/11/09 23:47:50) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Canajuns are multilinguists. We say it all, and no one differentiates English, American or Australian. The only rule is that you must be consistent. If you spell with "our" then do it through the whole piece. If you are catching up, or being caught up, or catching yourself up, then don't mix it up unless you're telling a joke and want the subtle differences. One of my pet peeves is being asked if I speak American. Then my spine stiffens and I ask if Canadian is good enough. It's ENGLISH! ALL OF IT! ENGLISH!!! Whew....didn't realize how much latent anger there was there. I'll be all right now. It just got me caught up in the moment.
Sheila Ritchie		#5	[-]
Posts: 1045 (02/12/09 03:02:55) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	You're both oversimplifying and over complicating. There are dozens of dialects in the UK, and whilst TV has smoothed out a lot of differences, there are many examples where usage and language vary hugely on our shores. One example. Yesterday I was in a Board meeting with an Edinburgh company and one of my Aberdeen colleagues said "I couldn't believe it, there were guys working on the roof in blin'drift." Strangely the Edinburgers- from 130 miles away- were baffled. I think Americans say "talk with" which is entirely foreign to me. I would only talk to (and chat to) I MIGHT say "on the High Street", but I'd never say "on High Street" and never, never, never say "on High", dropping the "street" But I say "a Hotel" not "an hotel". Some English people use the latter. Morris and Maurice are pronounced the same, and Rafe is affected. I call people as well as ringing them up, and I make reservations, although more commonly I book. I catch up with you and I sort things out. I definitely do the shortening thing with "ie" at the end, although that's a local variation here anyway. Aberdonians- people from the rural area round about- do it with just about every noun you can think of. I'd say "bye, bye" to a small child, but just "Bye" to an older person. And Beth will tell you that I am stopped in my tracks not so much by "no problem" as by "Uh-huh" instead of "You're welcome". Here, from younger people you're likely to hear "Cheers" for "Thank you" and for "You're welcome". And "You're all right" features a lot, too. I suspect you guys, nowadays, notice it more than us. We're so used to it on telly and in films, we take it for granted. You don't get our way of speaking forced upon you, quite so often.
Nikki in Massachusetts		#6	[-]
Posts: 856 (02/12/09 03:34:37) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Talk about oversimplifying and overcomplicating! In Scotland you say aye and wee and a bunch of stuff I can't even make out. I would call that Scottish English rather than English English. Back to some differences I've picked up just reading message boards. I'd say American English was different "from" English English; but the speakers of English English seem to say American English is different "to" it. Math; maths. Among; amongst. While; whilst. You say tomato, I say tomahto, let's call the whole thing off.
SiobhanP		#7	[-]
Posts: 674 (02/12/09 05:04:55) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I remember working as a PA in NY and an older PA in the office kept correct the wording on letters of her new boss as he kept using "whilst" and she felt this was wrong. They used to laugh about it together but it was a nice and funny culture clash between a lady from Little Italy and a nice Boss from Swindon, UK. Can get any farther apart than that! Irish English differs subtly and we were discussing this a while back in my house. I think that some ways of saying things are linked to a translation from Irish even few speak it. i.e. people say "I have a cold on me", you have a cold. My husband felt it was the way it would be said in Irish and just literally translated. there are a few other sayings but cant think of one of them now! I love a N. Ireland Donegal saying "where you for?" i.e. where are you going? Last Edited By: SiobhanP 02/19/09 04:01:10. Edited 1 times.
elainesl		#8	[-]
Posts: 12217 (02/12/09 12:22:45) Board Moderator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Oh there are plenty of American regional language variations, that I won't even get into. Y'all. oh yeah, there's burnt vs burned, too.
Jujuju2		#9	[-]
Posts: 785 (02/12/09 23:40:24) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	There there, Gardenridge. I tend to think Canadians talk just like me. We went a whole four days eating breakfast every day (in McDonalds; we were staying in a very ethnic location, and breakfast was a bit dicey) in Hong Kong with a couple of business men, thinking they were fellow Americans, until one of them slipped and said "aboot" which is always a dead giveaway. Well, it is more a cross between aboot and aboat, whereas Americans say abowt. But otherwise I think the accents are very similar. Well, some of the accents. You and I and ChiChi would all have pretty much the same accent. If you don't tack an eh? on the end, of course. ::races quickly for her life from the thread::
Gardenridge		#10	[-]
Posts: 2092 (02/13/09 01:16:47) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Better "eh" than Quebecois "hein" or American "huh", right you are? LOL.
ChiChi Carbonado		#11	[-]
Posts: 6743 (02/13/09 02:15:05) Administrator MC's Alter-Ego Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Just for the record, I have no accent at all.
Sheila Ritchie		#12	[-]
Posts: 1046 (02/13/09 03:34:01) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I spotted one in my book this morning. Brits say "coffin" and Americans say "casket"
WillTravelThere		#13	[-]
Posts: 421 (02/13/09 05:02:06) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Americans say both of those, and so do Canadians so far as I know, but maybe there is a regional variation that I haven't sussed out. Indian English is also particularly interesting in its own right.
PatrickLondon		#14	[-]
Posts: 129 (02/13/09 08:59:48) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Since no-one else has mentioned it, let me point out there is an extended discussion of the subject on the SlowTravel board at http://slowtalk.com/group...f/6466056284/m/4101007861 and of course there is http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/
Nikki in Massachusetts		#15	[-]
Posts: 858 (02/13/09 11:50:38) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I thought Americans said coffin and Brits said casket. I say coffin anyway. But not too often; this is twice more than I've probably said it in months. Luckily.
ncgrrl		#16	[-]
Posts: 2588 (02/13/09 15:36:52) Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I notice the British don't use 'the' as often as Americans. A Brit might say "I went to University of London," while and American would say "I went to the University of North Carolina."
Sheila Ritchie		#17	[-]
Posts: 1050 (02/14/09 07:41:02) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	No we wouldn't; we'd say exactly what you say:) But you would say "I went to UMiss" and we certainly would not. Which brings me onto another one. Why do Americans abbreviate so much. Is it just the influence of text and internet speak? Or are you just in too much of a hurry to say the whole word?
OleSouthernBelle		#18	[-]
Posts: 2459 (02/14/09 10:53:56) Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	[but the speakers of English English seem to say American English is different "to" it.] ...And thus, the phrase about 'speaking American', GR, it's not meant as a direct insult to Canadians. (Ducking...). I'm not one to say it, but DH does, He's known to be rather blunt - tends to use it as a type of humor that some may miss (or not appreciate) at first, but most people seem to like him. I think I'll be vehry, vehry quiet at the GTG....
Gardenridge		#19	[-]
Posts: 2102 (02/14/09 11:16:10) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	You'd better not be quiet! I had my rant. It's all over now!
PatrickLondon		#20	[-]
Posts: 130 (02/14/09 12:54:14) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	>>I notice the British don't use 'the' as often as Americans. A Brit might say "I went to University of London," while and American would say "I went to the University of North Carolina."<< In a way this might be right, since many people would probably just say "I went to Cambridge/Oxford/London Met" or whatever, leaving it understood that they're talking about a university. Thanks to the popularity of a certain Australian soap opera, a lot of British people under about 25 are also likely to use the Australianism "I went to uni at (or in) London" (especially if they didn't actually go to the University OF London - though if they did, they would normally refer to the institution they studied in, like LSE or UCL or SOAS, but that's a whole other story, just to confuse you).

<< Previous Topic Next Topic >>

Yuku free message boards

American English vs English English

American English vs English English