|
|
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 8,297
Member
|
Member
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 8,297 |
Oh shoot, we're back to the indifference thing.
Yes, I understand about the were/was thing.
The couldn't care less thing is a genuine cultural difference. I'd never heard "I could care less" until I came to MB.
Sometimes the language barrier has caused real problems for me on MB. Seriously. I translate so often into American English and have been misunderstood many times for my usage of Kiwi/English English. Our American lecturer told me that "I reckon" is never used in America. It means "this is my opinion" not "I have added this up."
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 8,297
Member
|
|
Member
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 8,297 |
Er, why did you take freshman (also not used in English English - it's "first year" or "Stage I" here and in England) English four times. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 6,128
Member
|
|
OP
Member
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 6,128 |
well IRREGARDLESS of whether it is could or couldn't. The only real confusion I have is when you "table" a discussion. I lived in the UK a while and this one definitely has the opposite meaning in the two countries.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 6,128
Member
|
|
OP
Member
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 6,128 |
I don't know why they made me take freshman English four times. I think they wanted me to learn it really well so I could come back and teach it. That's my theory anyway. My professor was quite insistent on not passing me.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 8,297
Member
|
|
Member
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 8,297 |
Tabling a discussion here means a proposal is put forward for discussion with hard copy back up. (I think)
What the heck does it mean to you?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 6,128
Member
|
|
OP
Member
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 6,128 |
When Americans table a discussion, they set it off to the side to be considered later. But we don't talk about it.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 2,431
Member
|
|
Member
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 2,431 |
American lecturer is wrong.
"I reckon" ia a popular phrase here in the American South.
I usually preface it with "shoot" as in "shoot, I reckon".
I could care less is facetious or at least sarcastic.
Irregardless... don't get me started.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 8,297
Member
|
|
Member
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 8,297 |
Wow, used in the American South. I've noticed I "understand" a lot of American Southern English.
Hmmmmm, what is the connection. An interesting linguistic side line.
Thank you for "I could care less", yes it does sound sarcastic. Yet, our "I couldn't care less" is equally sarcastic really.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 6,128
Member
|
|
OP
Member
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 6,128 |
I was fixin' to post that.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 2,431
Member
|
|
Member
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 2,431 |
Now don't laugh, but a Southern accent (properly called a drawl) is the closet the US has to be British accent. Very true.
We apeak different languages inside the US.
Have you ever spoken with a person from Brooklyn?
Or Boston?
Or Dothan, Alabama?
Hey, here is a neat little thing to say in Bostonese:
P S D S
Say those letters out loud and run them together.
Can you guess what you are saying?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 8,297
Member
|
|
Member
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 8,297 |
LOL, Pio.
Irregardless is a cool word.
Anyway, I have to go. DS is away for the weekend and we can run around naked if we really want to. Which, considering it's about 3degrees celcius here right now, I don't think we want to.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 6,128
Member
|
|
OP
Member
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 6,128 |
Most men won't run around naked when it is 3C. We have enough insecurity as it is.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 8,297
Member
|
|
Member
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 8,297 |
Todd, Bill Bryson's "Mother Tongue" covers all that.
I'll look it out tomorrow because he says you can tell where you're from in the US by the way you say definite words and the words you use to describe everyday objects. It's a very cool book. He was born in Des Moines, Iowa (he says someone had to be) and lived in England for about 20 years before moving back to the States with his English wife and English kids.
Even talking with all of you I've noticed the differences. My friend LINY from Long Island New York speaks quite differently from my friend Faithful Follower from California.
I find all this very, very interesting. Obviously LOL.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 6,128
Member
|
|
OP
Member
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 6,128 |
Correct usage:
"even talking with all yall..."
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 8,297
Member
|
|
Member
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 8,297 |
OMG, another one who says y'all.
I've heard on good authority that the plural of y'all is y'all y'all.
I talk to NCW from North Carolina. He says he can make Lafayetteville into one syllable.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 6,128
Member
|
|
OP
Member
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 6,128 |
He HAS to. Otherwise it is too hard for them to spell.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 8,297
Member
|
|
Member
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 8,297 |
LOL. NO insecurities where my H is concerned.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 2,431
Member
|
|
Member
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 2,431 |
Actually it is y'all and y'all is being widely accepted and utilized around the world. The reason is because it fulfills a need. In English, there is no third person plural for you. Enter y'all. Gots to love the practical inventiveness of Southerners.
Recently I read posts from folks in the UK and Belguim who used y'all. Makes me proud.
Here in Coca Cola land, everything is a Coke. You order a Coke and then the server asks: what kind: and you say Coke, or Sprite, or what have you.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 8,297
Member
|
|
Member
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 8,297 |
Here a Coke is Coca Cola and nothing else. If you want a Sprite you ask for a Sprite.
Todd you really are a Southerner.
I REALLY have to go now. And if I used y'all down here people would think I was nuts.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 8,297
Member
|
|
Member
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 8,297 |
And "youse" is used here by people who don't know any better as a plural for y'all.
Ick.
|
|
|
Moderated by Ariel, BerlinMB, Denali, Fordude, IrishGreen, MBeliever, MBSync, McLovin, Mizar, PhoenixMB, Toujours
|
0 members (),
446
guests, and
63
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
