»What sounds better? American English or British English?«
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I live in North Florida where we have lots of typically southern speakers mixed in with transplanted northern speakers. In South Florida, there are very few southern speakers because of the tremendous influx of northerners. So at least in my state, you can tell pretty easily where someone's family is from by listening to the way they speak. I really like modern British English and Scots. The "Queen's English" of the upperclass sounds short and clipped, and sort of staccato like Japanese. I have heard that in reality the only place you can hear the original sound of the English language as it was spoken in Shakespeare's time is in the American South. I heard this on a documentary (British-made). This is because all dialects change over time, but the most rural and conservative regions tend to change the least. In Shakespeare's time, scholars think the sounds of English were much broader and more heavily pronounced, like the dialect in our "redneck" southern states. However, my best friend is an Englishman from London, and he gets much more attention from girls at bars here due to his accent, even though I think we are similar in our physical attributes and intelligence, haha. posted by holy_of_holies |
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| in-my-opinion.orgTechnology, Computers, Science, InternetLanguage, Math and NamesWhat sounds better? American English or British English? |
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 holy_of_holies: I have heard that in reality the only place you can hear the original sound of the English language as it was spoken in Shakespeare's time is in the American South. I think that is probably too much "Gone with the Wind" 
If you're looking for "old" english try Yorkshire (a huge county right in the middle of England), particularly South Yorkshire, where "Thee", "Thy" and "Thou" are still used in everyday speach. To go back further, you have to start looking towards Germany, it is no coincidence that many german and english words are so similar as English is principally an extrapolation of Germanic with some influences from the rest of Europe. Whereas France has traditionally rejected outside influences on its language (the only country that creates new words to cover technology from other countries, rather than adopting the word everyone else understands), England has historically soaked up and absorbed parts of other languages creating a hibrid tongue. English as a language has been constantly changing as it absorbed more and more languages, it still is, as we now re-absorb changes to language made by our colonies since they became nations on their own. English now contains parts of American English, Parts of Australian English and Parts of Canadian English to name just the big three. The reason American English is called American English is that is has evolved from the original mother tongue to make it different. The reason it is NOT simply called English is because not all of those differences yet exist in the native country. We speak English, Americans Speak American English, Australians Speak Australian English. Maybe one day we will all speak English again, at a time when the colonial tongues have fully reintegrated, until then the distinction must remain to avoid confusions over Sellotape and Fannies
posted by Marl64 |
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Some American English words are more English than some of their English counterparts 
English (taking a lead from Germanic) has traditionally constructed words from other words in a way that describes the meaning. For example "Footpath" is made up of "Foot" and "Path" and it describes a route intended to be used by people walking. Path of the Foot and all that. The U.S. Term "Sidewalk" follows the same pattern in that it is made up of two words in a way that describes the thing. Ask an Englishman what the raised strip by the side of the road is called and while some will say "Footpath", the majority will say "Pavement", which describes a paved area which can also be used to describe some roads. Roads can be paved too. Oh and before we can accept "Jaywalking", you have to tell us who Jay is and why he spent so much time in the middle of the road
posted by Marl64 |
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Do you have to pay tolls to use any of the Freeways?
posted by Marl64 |
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I have also heard that "paddy wagons" are called that because of the tendency of the London police to round up Irishmen and put them in jail. This would be like us calling police prisoner transports "N----r wagons," oh man. Can you imagine? "Hooligan" was an actual Irishman's name (Ned Hooligan) who was frequently arrested in London, I think. Another thing that bugs me about "English" is the concept of the Prince of Wales, who is not actually Welsh, nor is he, I imagine, recognized by many Welsh people as their "prince". I took Anglo-Saxon in college; it taught me a lot about English usage. I use it every day in my editing job. I will close with words of wisdom from Mark Twain: "There is no such thing as the Queen's English; the propery has gone into the hands of a joint-stock company, and we hold the bulk of the shares." posted by holy_of_holies |
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 Marl64: Do you have to pay tolls to use any of the Freeways? not here, you only pay tolls on tollways. some people call them tollroads...but the street signs for them (in houston atleast) call them tollways, see: [CLICK HERE TO VIEW THIS PICTURE] posted by allone |
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Marl64: Oh and before we can accept "Jaywalking", you have to tell us who Jay is and why he spent so much time in the middle of the road The word jaywalker traces back to 1917, though it may have been in use as early as 1900. It is generally considered to have originated in the United States, possibly from the city of Boston. It is a portmanteau of the words jay and walk; in this context, jay is used in the obsolete slang sense, referring to a stupid or dull person. At the time, vehicles and traffic signals were a new concept, gaining popularity in the larger cities, so this term would have been most commonly used to describe newcomers who were unfamiliar with these recent developments. posted by allone |
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 hsa anyone heard the rhode island accent?i've heard about it, seems pretty darn unique. posted by sangu |
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 allone: not here, you only pay tolls on tollways. some people call them tollroads...but the street signs for them (in houston atleast) call them tollways in oklahoma they are turnpikes i like aussie english btw, i may practice day and night until it sounds like an authentic one...the ladies love it DAMN YOU HK!
posted by The ONEder Man |
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 The ONEder Man: i like aussie english btw, i may practice day and night until it sounds like an authentic one...the ladies love it DAMN YOU HK!  You got that right, onederman...!
Just kidding...I think Australlian English is really fun to try and imitate, but there's so many different words that people don't use in the U.S. that it gets really confusing after a while. But I do think it's kind of cute.  allone: i also get some ebonics type speakers...i had a 10 minute conversation with a woman just because i was trying to figure out what the hell she was talking about...she told me, "yeeh, *smack* i went and got one-o-dem phone cards and stuck it in my cumperder" i asked her, why the hell would you stick a phone card in your computer? she told me she was asposed to. i had to just tell her that i have no idea what she is talking about...so she stops and laughs at me and says, CARD, PHONE CARD, you know, like the WIRE that runs to the wall..."OH! you mean phone CORD"... Gosh, I hate it when that happens...especially to people who's second language is English. Oh gosh, that REALLY sucks.
IMO → People who have difficulty speaking a 2nd language posted by nocturnal_anonymous |
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nocturnal_anonymous: You got that right, Crossfade...! crossfade? that old tool hardly posts here anymore... 
posted by The ONEder Man |
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The ONEder Man: crossfade? that old tool hardly posts here anymore... OH! I'M SO SORRY ONEDERMAN...I meant you...sorry, I posted that on the day of my bday party, guess I had a little too much vodka... 
I mean...oh, what? No, of course I don't drink... 
posted by nocturnal_anonymous |
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i would vouch, but i wasn't there, so who knoows... posted by sangu |
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 The ONEder Man: i like aussie english btw, i may practice day and night until it sounds like an authentic one...the ladies love it DAMN YOU HK! Over here people fall for the Irish accent. There's so many accents here though, the really strong ones that you stereotype us too aren't very common.nocturnal_anonymous: Just kidding...I think Australlian English is really fun to try and imitate, but there's so many different words that people don't use in the U.S. that it gets really confusing after a while. But I do think it's kind of cute. Hah we actually don't use all those slang words that much. Infact leet speak is probably more broadly used amongst some minorities, like I said before though, there's alot of accents and most accents come with their own slang. The wog slang is like "fully sick" and "sickoray", it's generally seen as the unedecuated slang. Then there's bogan slang, that's probably the stuff you find hard to understand. Bogan slang is similiar to what Steve Irwin speaks, but there's alot more swearing. Other than that, I can't be stuffed going through all the Australian accents. We're probably more close to speaking English then you Americans are though heh, I mean we spell it 'theatre', 'mum', 'centre', so forth.  Kupov: Who boomhower. I hate all the characters on king of the hill except those Laosian characters.
They are stupid stupid rednecks. sangu: i 'ate him. it's SO HARD to decipher what he's saying. ate him ate him. Heh, King of the Hill's great. posted by hungarian kid |
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 hungarian kid: Heh, King of the Hill's great. Meh I hate the characters and I hate the animation ,but i like the show sort of. They speak real texan english though "I'll tell you whhat" (the two h's are there on purpose) posted by Kupov |
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