04-30-2005, 04:11 AM
|
|
Developer & Designer, News Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 12,959
|
|
English Is Just Plain Ol' Weird!
It's the weekend - time for some off-topic confusion about the English language! The readers (and staff) of Pocket PC Thoughts are quite diverse. There are people in the US, Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia, and the list goes on and on. Yet for the majority of us, there's one common point - we all speak English. Funnily enough, as common as that point is, there's an ironic uncommonness to it. Subdivide our English language into different parts and you'll have some of us speaking American English, some of us speaking British English, some of us speaking Australian English, some of us speaking L337 3N9L15H and the insanity continues.
The other day, I had one of the readers get a little irked over the fact that I used a plural verb after what American English would see as a singular noun. "Handango have a trial version available..." as opposed to "Handango has a trial version available...". Despite getting blasted for being grammatically incompetent, I couldn't help but laugh that this was around the fifteenth time in as many months that the same thing had been pointed out to me. Yet in British/Australian English, treating business names as group nouns is almost second nature, hence the copious use of subsequent plural verbs. So no, I'm not grammatically incompetent (or at least I hope not), but all this uproar has been generated because there just isn't any uniformity in our modern-day English language.
But the differences don't stop there. Just yesterday, one of the Pocket PC Thoughts readers jokingly exclaimed how annoying it was for us Commonwealth chums to be spelling "colour" with a "u". Thankfully, he/she had not spoken about our use of "s" instead of "z" in words like "customise", "realise", etc. But I raised that point anyway! :mrgreen:
Then I had an interesting conversation with Dave (a.k.a. Paragon) the other day. He knew Australian slang! And there's no denying that slang helps make every English language unique. I've lost count the number of times I've confused the other editors on IM with my Australian slang (which at the time, I forgot was slang altogether). Earlier in the week, I was convinced that Ed and I spoke two different languages. Ed, with his thick Southern American accent, and me, with my "true-blue" Aussie tongue, didn't seem to integrate nicely. But that's another story... Let's just say our conversation was filled with "huh?" more than anything else.
So what's the point of this thread? Let's use it to highlight differences in our English language. Got something in American English that British English doesn't have? Vice versa? What about a bit of slang to wind down the day? Heck, if you want to talk about the annoyance of the lack of uniformity in our metric and imperial systems as well, you're more than welcome to. Hopefully, with enough people providing input, we can finally work out just how weird the English language is, and the next time I (apparently) do something grammatically incorrect in my front page posts, well, you'll know it's not that grammatically incorrect after all. "Bonzer! Get crackin' on them posts!" ;-)
|
| |
|
|
|
04-30-2005, 04:55 AM
|
|
Intellectual
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 200
|
|
Canadian English is an interesting hybrid of US and British English, with a tendency to lean toward British English, though we generally do spell stuff with a 'z' (ie realize) and car stuff the American way (ie curb, tire) but financial and other stuff is generally British (ie colour, cheque, grey, centre).
That said, I can spell words in either Canadian, US, or British English, and know my way around British slang (and a little bit of Aussie slang).
The thing about companies irks me as well - I would use "has" and not "have" as well.
|
| |
|
|
|
04-30-2005, 05:17 AM
|
|
Mystic
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,725
|
|
Re: English Is Just Plain Ol' Weird!
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Darius Wey
The other day, I had one of the readers get a little irked over the fact that I used a plural verb after what American English would see as a singular noun. "Handango have a trial version available..." as opposed to "Handango has a trial version available...". Despite getting blasted for being grammatically incompetent, I couldn't help but laugh that this was around the fifteenth time in as many months that the same thing had been pointed out to me. Yet in British/Australian English, treating business names as group nouns is almost second nature, hence the copious use of subsequent plural verbs. So no, I'm not grammatically incompetent (or at least I hope not), but all this uproar has been generated because there just isn't any uniformity in our modern-day English language. <!>
|
Wow, never knew that's why people used the plural "have" after company names. I always assumed it was a mistake. Here in the states, businesses are entities - so a business does something. I guess it's like the words staff and faculty - they consist of many people, but in US English they are singular.
|
| |
|
|
|
04-30-2005, 05:55 AM
|
|
Magi
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 2,341
|
|
Just for the record, Ed DOES speak a different language.
BTW.....Darius, should I throw a chillie bin in the boot of my UT to put the tinnies in?
Do they still sell "stubbies" at the Bottle Shops downunder? My favorite part of Australia was drivethru Bottle Shops.  We tried them here in Canada, but nobody figured out what they were for. I think it was because they didn't sell donuts. 
Dave
|
| |
|
|
|
04-30-2005, 06:08 AM
|
|
Developer & Designer, News Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 12,959
|
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Paragon
BTW.....Darius, should I throw a chillie bin in the boot of my UT to put the tinnies in?
|
Oh yes. The bigger the better. More slabs for storage. 
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Paragon
Do they still sell "stubbies" at the Bottle Shops downunder? My favorite part of Australia was drivethru Bottle Shops. We tried them here in Canada, but nobody figured out what they were for. I think it was because they didn't sell donuts. |
Most definitely. There are a truckload of drive-thru's here, each and every one of them stocked up with stubbies.
|
| |
|
|
|
04-30-2005, 07:46 AM
|
|
Pontificator
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 1,108
|
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Darius Wey
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Paragon
BTW.....Darius, should I throw a chillie bin in the boot of my UT to put the tinnies in?
|
Oh yes. The bigger the better. More slabs for storage.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Paragon
Do they still sell "stubbies" at the Bottle Shops downunder? My favorite part of Australia was drivethru Bottle Shops. We tried them here in Canada, but nobody figured out what they were for. I think it was because they didn't sell donuts. |
Most definitely. There are a truckload of drive-thru's here, each and every one of them stocked up with stubbies. |
I think I followed most of that. For the hopelessly lost, a "chillie bin" would be a portable insulated box for keeping food or drinks cold: American is "cooler". A 'boot' is the storage area of an automobile: American is "trunk". "Tinnies" would be aluminum cans of beer: American is "beer". (Or "tinnies" could mean a small boat, but I don't think that will fit in the boot.) A "bottle shop" would be an establishment for selling liquor and spirits: American is "Liquor shop". I'm guessing that a drive-through "bottle shop" is exactly what it sounds like: American is "felony DUI".
|
| |
|
|
|
04-30-2005, 07:51 AM
|
|
Neophyte
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 1
|
|
Check out this website
http://www.spellingsociety.org/
for example the following all make the same sound when spoken
Sh: Sounds
Shop
Sure
Special
Pension
Mention
Machine
Crescendo
Mission
Luxury
Anxious
Moustache
English IS Mental
:confused totally: Pete
|
| |
|
|
|
04-30-2005, 08:15 AM
|
|
Thinker
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 318
|
|
The best solution to all of this is quite obvious!
Why not turn the clock back and all fall back into line and speak the queens english? :lol:
|
| |
|
|
|
04-30-2005, 10:50 AM
|
|
Sage
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 734
|
|
Yes, english does tend to have some lovely... nuances and little eccentricities. I talk with people from all over the world, from the UK to the US to people in Bangkok or whatnot - we communicate just fine, but ever so often you run into one of these strange grammatical anomalies. For example, if I talk about something grey, I use 'grey' (as you can see) but some of my friends in the US use gray. I have no clue why or how this happened, but it's certainly fun to find these linguistic easter eggs
|
| |
|
|
|
04-30-2005, 10:51 AM
|
|
Ponderer
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 108
|
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by ADBrown
I think I followed most of that. For the hopelessly lost, a "chillie bin" would be a portable insulated box for keeping food or drinks cold: American is "cooler".
|
Well done!
Except, I have never, ever (until today) known an Aussie to refer to a cooler as a "chillie bin". This is a term I have only ever heard New Zealanders use (and they pronounce it 'chully bun' with the usual transposition of vowel sounds characteristic of the Kiwi accent).
More frequently (almost ubiquitously, I'd have said), the term used Downunder is "esky", after the original device brand-named Esky. (note: the web site in the link to the original Esky calls them coolers!)
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Linear Mode
