That in itself is not unusual. Several "Scots" words are, in fact, survivors rather than dialectal differences. Likewise one finds a similar scenario in Australian and South African English. For ease of reference it is more convenient to label these as, for example, Americanisms or Scots or whatever.
English Usage US vs. UK
- Thread starter Walter Ego
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- bollocks english usage
You can't even make such a distinction since there are variations within Scottish dialects and an incredible variation within English (region) dialects (and of course Welsh and so on).
What is most often claimed to be "proper" English i.e. "Standard English" is in fact only a dialect and one that is spoken by no more that 15% of the UK population and of those half will speak it with a "regional" accent. At best you can make a claim about general English usage in the UK by referring to "mainstream dialect English" which is the non-standard English most people in the country use day-to-day which will be a mixture of regional dialect words and constructions that have gained widespread acceptance.
(It's why the "grammar people" don't have leg to stand on as there really is nothing that is officially correct in English.)
What is most often claimed to be "proper" English i.e. "Standard English" is in fact only a dialect and one that is spoken by no more that 15% of the UK population and of those half will speak it with a "regional" accent. At best you can make a claim about general English usage in the UK by referring to "mainstream dialect English" which is the non-standard English most people in the country use day-to-day which will be a mixture of regional dialect words and constructions that have gained widespread acceptance.
(It's why the "grammar people" don't have leg to stand on as there really is nothing that is officially correct in English.)
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Well yes and no. TV has tended to flatten dialectal differences quite significantly, likewise centralised education curricula/curriculums, however there are quite clearly still some major regional/national differences within the UK. One might suggest a north-south spectrum, rather than a distinct cut-off point, however there are quite clearly language constructs that are considered the norm in Scotland at national level and are largely isolated there, supported by the education and media. This in turn is represented in legislation and supporting documents - the Scottish Building Regulations, for example, support a range of largely non-technical terms which would be a mystery to anyone south of about Carlisle, possibly Lancaster. Likewise farmers everywhere tend to enjoy a very specific vocabularly, and so on.
Of course people do their PhD on this kind of thing and here we are breenging in......we must be doited or something.
Of course people do their PhD on this kind of thing and here we are breenging in......we must be doited or something.
My mother was a kiwi, and I spent the first few years of my life in the West Riding of Yorkshire.
My speech was a mixture of Yorkshire grammar, with (ETA: Obsolescent) Kiwi vocab:
"Hast thou eaten ma tucker?"
My speech was a mixture of Yorkshire grammar, with (ETA: Obsolescent) Kiwi vocab:
"Hast thou eaten ma tucker?"
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Damien Evans
Up The Irons
Glasgow is some considerable distance north of the border. "No-one south of Carlisle" would be the more accurate rendering.
Anyway, we remember the Paul Hogan show. Don't get started on difficult accents!
Yeah, but not many people actually speak like that. I can, but it's not my normal accent.
Damien Evans
Up The Irons
nah mate, but i'll fix you up some more grub in a jiffy.
Don At Work
Scholar
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So, is Guy Ritchie pulling our legs in "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels"?
Scene: Nudie bar. Barry has just hired two burglars to grab some shotguns for him. They insult each other behind their backs on the way out.
Barrry the baptist: "Northern monkeys"
Kenny the burglar: "Southern Fairies"
with "appropriate" accents.
Scene: Nudie bar. Barry has just hired two burglars to grab some shotguns for him. They insult each other behind their backs on the way out.
Barrry the baptist: "Northern monkeys"
Kenny the burglar: "Southern Fairies"
with "appropriate" accents.
So, is Guy Ritchie pulling our legs in "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels"?
Scene: Nudie bar. Barry has just hired two burglars to grab some shotguns for him. They insult each other behind their backs on the way out.
Barrry the baptist: "Northern monkeys"
Kenny the burglar: "Southern Fairies"
with "appropriate" accents.
They sound frightfullywell spoken burglars dont'cherknow...
Not like the usual riffraff.
Effing and blindin all over the place
But I guess you
Furi
Felix Sapiens
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ey ey cairm down yous lot,
look I doan go arand kerektin yous septics of usin zeds when yous should be usin esses now does I, or missin out of de yew in colour, or callin budweiser or coors beer, or makin fun of yous aussies cause of their constan interrogativ statements and calling fosters or xxxx beer
nose I doan, an if I once te be usin words like aye and tpub and troad or tstreet then as long as yous doan get arsey wiv my mix of shedloads of axxints then I wonts tek tpiss out of yours, you know whaddimean der like.
now as for de sweaty socks, I carn unnerstan a blind werd most of de time
look I doan go arand kerektin yous septics of usin zeds when yous should be usin esses now does I, or missin out of de yew in colour, or callin budweiser or coors beer, or makin fun of yous aussies cause of their constan interrogativ statements and calling fosters or xxxx beer
nose I doan, an if I once te be usin words like aye and tpub and troad or tstreet then as long as yous doan get arsey wiv my mix of shedloads of axxints then I wonts tek tpiss out of yours, you know whaddimean der like.
now as for de sweaty socks, I carn unnerstan a blind werd most of de time
NoZed Avenger
Penultimate Amazing
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Mods: Is it too late to change this topice to "English Usage US vs. Antique and Incorrect" ?
UnrepentantSinner
A post by Alan Smithee
I had never encountered "Maths" until I started using the Internet and while I have no etymological explanation, Math reads/sounds to me like the study of mathematics, while Maths sounds like the study of multiple math derived subjects like algebra, geometry, analysis, etc.
- also wanted to add
If an American says he's trying to burn a fag with a torch, it doesn't mean he's trying to light a cigarette with a flashlight. It means he's committing a hate crime.
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NoZed Avenger
Penultimate Amazing
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In our defense, that sentence hardly ever comes up.
Once, maybe twice a year. Tops.
Modified
Philosopher
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You can't really blame it on the generalness of Mathematics though, since Differential Equations is fairly specific, but abbreviated Diffy-Q rather than Diffy-Qs.
Professor Yaffle
Butterbeans and Breadcrumbs
Ah divvent knaa what yees lot are gannin on aboot. I cannit understand a word coz y's divvent taak proppa like what us lot dee.
UnrepentantSinner
A post by Alan Smithee
Always the lawyer... sheesh.
A single superfluous "l" would have made this joke an order of magnitude more gay than it would sound to Americans.
but getting back to the point about myself not having any etymological justifications for math v. maths, I did some digging and wondered for a moment if the Latin mathmatica might explain the difference until I remembered the title of Newton's book. --------------------
For any of you who are interested in this subject Robert McNeil did a show for PBS on how the English language has evolved in the U.K., America and (IIRC) Canada. It's not a scholarly study of etymology by any means, but it is a fascinating journalistic investigation.
------------------- part 2.
I was going to post this in another thread but never got around to it and this one seems like an appropriate surrogate. PeterB gave a fantastic presentation at TAM 2 and I happened to be sitting between Patricio and Chaos, both of whom (I suspect) had learned English from American speaking teachers and I found myself "translating" some of his verbiage and intonation into American English which they were more easily able to digest. Both of them will demure, but they have an excellent command of English.
This anecdote is IIRC and I should PM them if they aren't aware of this thread and ask if my memory is faulty or correct.
PenguinWarrior
Scholar
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Wellayemun.
(Wenglish slang)
I'll be there now in a minute!
The missis is baad in bed under the doctor.
(Wenglish phrases)
There's lots more.
Wenglish
Huh, I didn't realise half of that was confined to Wales. Do people really not say "Mind out" or "Out of puff", elsewhere? On the other hand, I was convinced that "Bwci-Bo" was a word my grandmother had just made up (she pronounces it "Boogy-bo"), so that's news, too.
hgc
Penultimate Amazing
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This was not due to language differences. "Philosopher's stone" is a historical term, used in alchemy, which means exactly what Rowling described it to be in the book. It's no less so in American than in British, and no less known to American children than to British children before reading that book (i.e. pretty much not at all). The American publisher, Scholastic, chose to change the name because they were afraid that children would be uninterested in a book with the word "philosopher" in the title. So they changed the title and content to use the meaningless term that replaced the original. Idiots.
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