Free *beeep* Speech

[Oliver]

How can we argue about the laws since both the UK and Germany are signed up to the same piece of legislation and both countries have agreed to be bound by?

That article states clearly what right of freedom of expression you have in Germany just as it does for what right of speech I have in the UK.

In the UK people can (and presumably do) use bleeps if they wish to for certain words - that is called freedom of expression and is protected in the UK by the European Convention on Human rights - specifically Article 10.

Well, I didn't know that the UK uses "Bleeps", too. We don't have them or we use them so sparely that I never recognized them.

But the intention to ask you was, that I thought that people in the UK are more politeness in general concerning profanity. But this may be a cliche since I never visited the UK.

 

[Darat]

Well, I didn't know that the UK uses "Bleeps", too. We don't have them or we use them so sparely that I never recognized them.

But the intention to ask you was, that I thought that people in the UK are more politeness in general concerning profanity. But this may be a cliche since I never visited the UK.

I think you have accepted a stereotype of the UK which has never been true.

 

[Oliver]

I think you have accepted a stereotype of the UK which has never been true.

I didn't accept that as an universal fact - but I also have no reference, otherwise I wouldn't have asked you, would I?

Anyway, there must be some truth to it since I love British humor and I never saw any Docu, Movie or Clip that was profane without putting profanity itself into humor or careful criticism to avoid insensitiveness.

 

[Darat]

I didn't accept that as an universal fact - but I also have no reference, otherwise I wouldn't have asked you, would I?

I've merely refuted your claim - really it is up to you to provide the evidence to back up your claim.

Anyway, there must be some truth to it since I love British humor and I never saw any Docu, Movie or Clip that was profane without putting profanity itself into humor or careful criticism to avoid insensitiveness.

 

[Oliver]

I've merely refuted your claim - really it is up to you to provide the evidence to back up your claim.

One example that comes to mind is that people in the UK often use to add "..., should I?", "..., isn't it?" "..., wouldn't it?" to soften the sentence/argument by making a question out of it.

I hear this pretty often in personal speeches from UK-citizens while Americans don't use this kind of politeness very much, even if they also talk english.

Do you know what I mean?

 

[Tailgater]

One example that comes to mind is that people in the UK often use to add "..., should I?", "..., isn't it?" "..., wouldn't it?" to soften the sentence/argument by making a question out of it.

I hear this pretty often in personal speeches from UK-citizens while Americans don't use this kind of politeness very much, even if they also talk english.

Do you know what I mean?

evidence?

 

[Oliver]

evidence?

I don't recognize all the cases in which I heard this difference. But since English isn't my main language, I recognize these differences between American-English and British-English.

 

[Tailgater]

I don't recognize all the cases in which I heard this difference. But since English isn't my main language, I recognize these differences between American-English and British-English.

=I don't know what I'm talking about.

 

[Darat]

One example that comes to mind is that people in the UK often use to add "..., should I?", "..., isn't it?" "..., wouldn't it?" to soften the sentence/argument by making a question out of it.

I hear this pretty often in personal speeches from UK-citizens while Americans don't use this kind of politeness very much, even if they also talk english.

Do you know what I mean?

That's just a style of speech, rather like how USA folk seem (to my ear) to be much more polite when addressing people because they will use "sir" and "m'am" to address others in circumstances which if it happened in the UK would be considered servile.

 

[Oliver]

=I don't know what I'm talking about.

Well, see it this way: You probably are an American Citizen, aren't you?

Now compare "UK-English" to "Australian-English" and you might find some differences, not only in the way how to speak words, but also how they build some sentences.

What I mean is that there is a huge difference between:

"What a rainy day."
and
"It's a pretty rainy day, isn't it?

 

[Tailgater]

Well, see it this way: You probably are an American Citizen, aren't you?

Now compare "UK-English" to "Australian-English" and you might find some differences, not only in the way how to speak words, but also how they build some sentences.

What I mean is that there is a huge difference between:

"What a rainy day."
and
"It's a pretty rainy day, isn't it?

Yes, and we all say "dude" and "awesome", and the Canadians to the north all say "eh", and the Mexicans to the south all sound like speedy gonzalez, and all posters named Oliver are ignorant, and it's all directly related to how polite we are.

 

[Oliver]

That's just a style of speech, rather like how USA folk seem (to my ear) to be much more polite when addressing people because they will use "sir" and "m'am" to address others in circumstances which if it happened in the UK would be considered servile.

That's true and now that you mentioned it, it comes to my mind again from old movies and series like the "Waltons" or "Little House on the Prairie" - but I miss this nowadays. Something may have changed in society.

 

[Darat]

Well, see it this way: You probably are an American Citizen, aren't you?

Now compare "UK-English" to "Australian-English" and you might find some differences, not only in the way how to speak words, but also how they build some sentences.

What I mean is that there is a huge difference between:

"What a rainy day."
and
"It's a pretty rainy day, isn't it?

"What a rainy day" - that would be a construct only used by a very small proportion of the UK (it would be considered an indicator of social class). The second phrase would be much more likely to be used by the majority of people in the UK.

As I said you seem to have fallen for a stereotype of UK folk that has never existed. At best it is a stereotype that had some truth for a small minority of the UK population.

 

[Tailgater]

That's true and now that you mentioned it, it comes to my mind again from old movies and series like the "Waltons" or "Little House on the Prairie" - but I miss this nowadays. Something may have changed in society.

Yes, those were "TV shows". Someone wrote scripts for it to portray good feeling. The rest of us live in reality.

 

[Oliver]

Yes, and we all say "dude" and "awesome", and the Canadians to the north all say "eh", and the Mexicans to the south all sound like speedy gonzalez, and all posters named Oliver are ignorant, and it's all directly related to how polite we are.

Not related to the general ignorance, but to your level of ignorance. You don't even understand what I'm talking about. So why did you ask for "evidence" anyway if you have no Idea what we're talking about?

 

[Tailgater]

Not related to the general ignorance, but to your level of ignorance. You don't even understand what I'm talking about. So why did you ask for "evidence" anyway if you have no Idea what we're talking about?

I know exactly what is being talked about. You seem to learn more from a culture based on the tv shows you like.

 

[Oliver]

"What a rainy day" - that would be a construct only used by a very small proportion of the UK (it would be considered an indicator of social class). The second phrase would be much more likely to be used by the majority of people in the UK.

See? So I wasn't wrong about this impression concerning geographic differences in the English language besides the spelling. That's why I thought it is true that english people are more politely than in the US. And this isn't criticism here, it's what I recognize.

 

[Oliver]

I know exactly what is being talked about. You seem to learn more from a culture based on the tv shows you like.

Never mind, I like you nevertheless - even if you are very fast with your conclusions.

 

[Darat]

See? So I wasn't wrong about this impression concerning geographic differences in the English language besides the spelling. That's why I thought it is true that english people are more politely than in the US. And this isn't criticism here, it's what I recognize.

Oliver this is an example of what I referred to as "grass hopper" before - this does not seem in any way or shape to follow the exchanges we have just had.

You gave two examples of saying the same thing - one that you considered was "UK-English" one was "Australian-English", I made the assertion that in fact the example you provided of so called "Australian-English" would be the construct that the majority of people in the UK would use.

What I just did was claim that your claim was wrong!

 

[Tailgater]

Never mind, I like you nevertheless - even if you are very fast with your conclusions.

Ok, I'll back up. You used the example:

"What a rainy day."-less polite

and

"It's a pretty rainy day, isn't it?-more polite

How do you make a connection between a sentence and the politeness of an entire society that probably uses variations of both? What I feel, is (as in most of the threads I have read now-going on 7 just barely past the first page) that you are again using generalized examples to put your personal tag for what you think.