#601448 - 02/08/05 12:01 PM
Two nations seperated by a common language
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Dreamer
Registered: 15/03/02
Loc: York, England
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Well, I'm still recuperating a bit from my trip, but it was loads of fun! But this isn't really about that, so much as my amusement at occasional inabilities of americans and brits to communicate.
Hardest word for me to change back now that I'm here: Trainers
Hardest word for me to change to when i was there: Trousers
Most fun word: Fancy
Hardest word for me to understand in conversation: Bins
Hardest phrase: Have a go
And no, I don't know why i tripped over have a(nother) go so often. I realize it makes perfect logical sense.
So what do people like better/worse about british/american english?
And does anyone have any good communication stories?
I think my favourite was when i asked drew "Can all pants be called trousers?"
-Kbug
PS I promise to be a lot less shy next time!
_________________________
Keep your dream alive
Dreamin is still how the strong survive
Shalom VeAhavah
New Hampshire has a point....
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#601450 - 02/08/05 03:13 PM
Re: Two nations seperated by a common language
[Re: Seye]
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HOP Mad Doctor
Registered: 28/05/01
Loc: San Francisco, CA, USA
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I like the way Brits use the language...usually. It's rather artful sometimes.
Other times, though...
"Bin" is probably the toughest word out there. It sounds like "Bean" or "been."
I like the use of the word "mind," rather than "watch." "Mind the doors" or "Mind the car!"
I don't call them trainers, they're sneakers.
In general, I use a lot of Britishisms...but there are a few Americanisms that are just indespensible.
_________________________
-Mike )'(
Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella
"A buckuht 'n a hooze!" -Valura
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#601452 - 02/08/05 04:23 PM
Re: Two nations seperated by a common language
[Re: newgabe]
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HOP Mad Doctor
Registered: 28/05/01
Loc: San Francisco, CA, USA
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It's a nickname for "Randall!"
_________________________
-Mike )'(
Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella
"A buckuht 'n a hooze!" -Valura
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#601453 - 02/08/05 06:41 PM
Re: Two nations seperated by a common language
[Re: Doc Lightning]
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comfortably numb
Registered: 08/07/04
Loc: The countryside
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Haha. I had similar arguments with two new zealand boys about the words
Sex, six, sixty, sexy.
They say sex like sux and then they made fun of us because we sound like we're saying six when we're saying sex or something to that affect....and so that argument went on for a while but we all just gave up.
Carry on...
_________________________
.All things are beautiful if we take the time to look.
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#601455 - 02/08/05 08:30 PM
Re: Two nations seperated by a common language
[Re: newgabe]
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Carpal \'Tunnel
Registered: 31/03/03
Loc: Perth
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Random reminds me of London
"Thats pants" as in thats crap makes me laugh too
Bless is another one that says UK to me.
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#601457 - 02/08/05 11:50 PM
Re: Two nations seperated by a common language
[Re: Seye]
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Stalking amidst the desert, carrying an oversized scalpel...
Registered: 01/08/05
Loc: Huddersfield + Hull Uni... UK.
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The word that infuriates me the most is "Aluminum". It's Alumin i um. There's an extra i! I also hate the fact everything that IUPAC had to change Sulphur to Sulfur for the yanks. Why not change Phosphorus too?  Written by: Seye
a man that had been bitten on the fanny by a shark.
0_o
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#601458 - 03/08/05 09:42 AM
Re: Two nations seperated by a common language
[Re: Lemonkey]
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veteran
Registered: 27/06/05
Loc: My House
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aaah the joy of americanisms, when a fannypack isnt a female contraceptive (;)) and you wear your pants over your underwear (no wonder superman got confused!), where you say color, i say it correctly  (coloUr), and the innernet is available to all (internet). where chips come as salt and vinegar, cheese and onion or salted, and biscuits are what you have with a roast, where a 5 minute walk, becomes a 2 minute car ride, and everyone sues each other when one of them drops a pencil! aah the land of freedom, gotta love it lol Do americans use the word Fart??
_________________________
Proudly Owned By The BMVC
Are You Sniffing My Mitten?
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#601459 - 03/08/05 09:50 AM
Re: Two nations seperated by a common language
[Re: VampyricAcid]
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what goes around comes around. unless you're into stalls.
Registered: 03/03/05
Loc: Bali
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Now now, that's enough Yankeebashing! (Too easy a target  ) though yes, a fanny pack.. hmmmm This is surely two way in terms of the sillies... As in UK, where a fine day means it anything that isn't actually pissing down (could be overcast windly and freezing...), tea means a solid meal, and a public school is one where the 'right sort' pay a fortune to get away from the public! But possibly my favourite Brittism was British Rails laconic motto, the very opposite of gung ho self promotion... "we're getting there"...
_________________________
.....Can't juggle balls but I sure as hell can juggle details....
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#601461 - 03/08/05 11:48 AM
Re: Two nations seperated by a common language
[Re: bluecat]
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old hand
Registered: 17/11/04
Loc: San Francisco, California, USA
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and let's not forget "fag."
_________________________
taken out of context i must seem so strange
~ ani di franco
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#601462 - 03/08/05 12:26 PM
Re: Two nations seperated by a common language
[Re: _khan_]
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what goes around comes around. unless you're into stalls.
Registered: 03/03/05
Loc: Bali
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And I always had a sneaking regard for that Little Dutch Boy who saved the day by putting his finger in the dyke....
_________________________
.....Can't juggle balls but I sure as hell can juggle details....
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#601463 - 03/08/05 12:34 PM
Re: Two nations seperated by a common language
[Re: _khan_]
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Geek
Registered: 27/03/05
Loc: Manchester, UK
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Written by: blueboy
and let's not forget "fag."
Yeah actually - for the benefit of all of you in the US a fag is something you smoke, not a description of sexual preference.
And while we're on the subject; any scousers out there - a 'tab' is most definitely NOT something you smoke and, more to the point, is not something you should ask random strangers for in the street. (weirdo's)
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#601464 - 03/08/05 12:55 PM
Re: Two nations seperated by a common language
[Re: Seye]
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what goes around comes around. unless you're into stalls.
Registered: 03/03/05
Loc: Bali
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Written by: Seye
for the benefit of all of you in the US a fag is something you smoke, not a description of sexual preference.
The US version just might have derived from the Brit Public School (ref. to my earlier post on this one!) tradition of younger boys being a sort of all-purpose servant to the older ones... rugger always having been a type of rhyming slang you understand....
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#601465 - 03/08/05 01:12 PM
Re: Two nations seperated by a common language
[Re: newgabe]
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Pooh-Bah
Registered: 16/05/05
Loc: York University
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I get confused by American directions. You "make" the corner, you "make" the square... What??? Southern (north) American accents annoy the hell out of me. Sorry, but they do. About the English though, I'm still confused about "Public" and "Private" schools. Aren't "Private" ones the ones that most people go to? And "Public" ones the ones you pay 10,000 quid a year to attend? Does that make sense? Missile. It's not "Miss-il" It's "Mis eye el" and it's "Eek on oh me" not "Eh con oh me" (economy). Damn all languages, they just confuse people! Newgabe: "rugger always having been a type of rhyming slang you understand.... " Blackadder, anyone? 
_________________________
After much consideration, I find that the view is worth the asphyxiation.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I may disagree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
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#601466 - 03/08/05 02:44 PM
Re: Two nations seperated by a common language
[Re: Sethis]
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HOP Mad Doctor
Registered: 28/05/01
Loc: San Francisco, CA, USA
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Sethis, you're talking about southerners... You don't make a corner. You make a right. Or you take a right. Or you hang a right. You turn a corner. Everyone knows that. It is "Eeconomy," I agree...but it's "mob-il" and "miss-il". You guys keep adding these "aisles" on to the ends of words. And would you guys PLEASE stop calling the TV a "telly?" It sounds like a character on a kids' show or something. And it's acetaminophen, not paracetamol. It's albuterol, not salbutemol. One day someone's going to confuse salbutemol for salmeterol and then that'll mess up a patient real good. Where do you guys get these nutty ideas about medicine names? For that matter, it's "RESP-ir-atory," not "resp-EER-atory". I spent my first week at work in the UK figuring what the hell the doctors were talking about. Between that and their "beetas" (betas) and am-aye-no acids (am-EE-no acids, silly limeys!) I spent the time wondering if they really did speak the same language...
_________________________
-Mike )'(
Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella
"A buckuht 'n a hooze!" -Valura
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#601467 - 03/08/05 02:49 PM
Re: Two nations seperated by a common language
[Re: Doc Lightning]
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old hand
Registered: 29/05/03
Loc: In a test pit, Mackay
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A good loud cry of "B*llocks" apparently confuses the whole world except for the British.
"Knackered" is something else that seems to need explaination.
Tally-ho, keep it up, old bean, and knock 'em for six.
_________________________
There is a slight possibility that I am not actually right all of the time.
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#601468 - 03/08/05 02:50 PM
Re: Two nations seperated by a common language
[Re: Doc Lightning]
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HOP Mad Doctor
Registered: 28/05/01
Loc: San Francisco, CA, USA
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Wait... I'm not done.
You limeys have the craziest notions about spelling.
Now, one would imagine that a word pronounced "cent-er" would be spelled that way. It would be silly to spell it "centre" because then it would be "cent-rey," right? Apparently this makes perfect sense to the brits, though. The "r" is pronounced on the end of the word, so it ought to go there. Then again, when did the Brits ever pronounce their final R's?
Furthermore, you guys keep on throwing random vowels into words. Whether it's flavour or honour (do you pronounce the "u"? No? Why's it there, then?) or some REALLY random ones like foetal (foh-tal? I say fetal, like it's spelled) or coeliac (koh-lee-ac?). When two vowels go a-walking, the first one does the talking, folks. What are these o's and a's doing in there? Encylopaedia? What????
_________________________
-Mike )'(
Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella
"A buckuht 'n a hooze!" -Valura
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#601469 - 03/08/05 02:52 PM
Re: Two nations seperated by a common language
[Re: Doc Lightning]
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old hand
Registered: 29/05/03
Loc: In a test pit, Mackay
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Mike, it's simply to confuse outsiders and make it hard for speakers of other languages.
_________________________
There is a slight possibility that I am not actually right all of the time.
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#601471 - 03/08/05 03:52 PM
Re: Two nations seperated by a common language
[Re: Doc Lightning]
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Liquid Cow
Registered: 03/09/01
Loc: High Wycombe, England
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Yep, our spelling's nuts, but that's what you get when you spend ages getting invaded by people and taking their language, then trying to squash it all into one.
Actually, I'm going to correct myself, it's not nuts - it's eccentric
Written by: Doc Lightning
*snip* Furthermore, you guys keep on throwing random vowels into words. Whether it's flavour or honour (do you pronounce the "u"? No? Why's it there, then?) *snip*
I pronounce the the extra u - otherwise I'd be pronouncing honour as 'on-or', the extra u makes it sound somewhere between 'on-er' and 'on-ah'. Hard to describe exactly what I mean just with text though.
The changing of how sulphur is spelled is one that really annoys me... why bother with just that word and not change every instance of a ph sounding like an f?
Also, given that the people who would regularly have to write the word are going to be chemists, people not known for their low IQs and who could certainly remember the spelling, I've never really understood why it needed changing. It's not a hard rule to remember after all.
*shrugs* too late now though I suppose, although since I'm not longer at uni and no-one's marking what I write, I can spell it how I like 
Edited by TheBovrilMonkey (03/08/05 03:53 PM)
_________________________
But there's no sense crying over every mistake. You just keep on trying till you run out of cake.
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#601472 - 04/08/05 12:22 AM
Re: Two nations seperated by a common language
[Re: TheBovrilMonkey]
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addict
Registered: 25/07/05
Loc: Glasgow
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Doc: The word centre comes from the French. The Brits simply took the word and amalgamated it into their language, spelling and all. A lot of scientific terms come from Latin and the Romans were the type of people who put vowels in everywhere.
What about words like "knock" where you have a silent 'k'? In the ancient Anglo-Saxon you actually did pronounce the K so I guess that the shortening of words will continue.
Oh, and I'm Canadian so I get to laugh at you all!!!
_________________________
Have faith in what you can do and respect for what you can't
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#601475 - 04/08/05 12:35 AM
Re: Two nations seperated by a common language
[Re: Sporky]
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The artist formerly known as Phae'xorl.
Registered: 28/06/05
Loc: South-East Ohio (the foothills...
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I love how a Pharmacy/drugstore becomes a "chemist"....sounds waaay cooler.
....among others...
_________________________
"...heaven is ordering a six piece chicken nugget and getting seven...and a switchblade."
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#601476 - 04/08/05 01:13 AM
Re: Two nations seperated by a common language
[Re: DarthMeaux]
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Geek
Registered: 27/03/05
Loc: Manchester, UK
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Written by: Phae'xorl
I love how a Pharmacy/drugstore becomes a "chemist"....sounds waaay cooler.
What do you mean 'becomes'?
Chemist comes from 'alchemist' which is from the middle ages. I have no idea why people in the states adopted the french word 'pharmacy' instead.
I would like to point out that there is no general concensus on how the English language should sound in this country. Newcastle has geordie (pretty much a different language!), Liverpool has scouse (again so many different words), East London (and only a small part of it really) has cockney and there are more. In fact I'd say that English is probably one of the least consistant languages in the world.
As for medical and scientific terms - we use (most of the time) the standard latin words (ok so paraffin should actually be kerosene - i'll let you have that one). When I was studying chemistry every time we came to a term that didnt fit with the standard latin forms we were always told it was because it was discovered by an american lab!
(an element called americium - honestly)
Doc - I thought paracetomol was the generic term for the drug? (goes to find MIMS book...)
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