You think you're speaking English but you're actually speaking American!

[Goldbear]

1 minute ago, jenny2017 said:

But the Americans have god on their side, regarding to George W. Bush.

 

And there are many variations of American English, too. I am from California. If I go to the South or to the East Coast it's quite different. 

[Thian]

2 minutes ago, jenny2017 said:

But the Americans have god on their side, regarding to George W. Bush.

Yup and they had "weapons of mass destruction" pointed against them, according to the same idiot.

Now Europe has huge issues because of him.

[Baerboxer]

2 minutes ago, jenny2017 said:

But the Americans have god on their side, regarding to George W. Bush.

 

Hello Jen! I'm sure George W. speaks with him regularly too! 

[Baerboxer]

2 minutes ago, Goldbear said:

 

And there are many variations of American English, too. I am from California. If I go to the South or to the East Coast it's quite different. 

 

I watch many Youtube videos on a hobby subject produced by American enthusiast. Amazing the difference in spoken American English - regional accents are quite different. What's interesting is even in a much smaller size country, the UK, there are the same regional differences to be heard.

[Dustdevil]

On 9/9/2017 at 7:23 AM, oldhippy said:

There is no such thing as British English.

There is loso and hiso English in the uk, plus many languages in between, plus many dialects.

 

The neutral English is Kiwi English.

And no, I am not a Kiwi.

But I love them.

 

 

 

Kiwi English is the least "neutral." "Do you have a peen?" They mean "pen." Etc. I taught in the Middle East, Malaysia and Japan for 29 years; most university and company students said the American accent was the easiest for them to understand. They're no doubt referring to Broadcast Standard. The deep southern drawl is somewhat rare among EFL instructors anyway.

Edited September 15, 2017 by Dustdevil

[iReason]

On September 10, 2017 at 1:27 PM, thaibeachlovers said:

I went to have a coffee with a friend, and not knowing any of the choices published I asked for an espresso because I thought it was an expresso, which I believed was more like a proper cup of coffee.

I didn't even know that espresso is a stupid tiny waste of money drink.

 

Expresso is a common mispronunciation of espresso.

[VocalNeal]

13 minutes ago, oldhippy said:

I will add another one to hiso / loso English.

Middle class Thatcher style English.

I believe the expression everyone is looking for is  "Received Pronunciation" 

 

But it is not taught in Bolton. Tha knows...

[Dustdevil]

Just now, VocalNeal said:

I believe the expression everyone is looking for is  "Received Pronunciation" 

 

But it is not taught in Bolton. Tha knows...

Correct. The standard educated British English is referred to in linguistics communities as RP or Received Pronunciation, while the standard educated American dialect is Broadcast Standard.

[oldhippy]

9 minutes ago, jenny2017 said:

But the Americans have god on their side, regarding to George W. Bush.

The Dutch have god on the side of their 2 euro coins.

hehehe'

 

[Dustdevil]

2 minutes ago, iReason said:

 

Expresso is a common mispronunciation of espresso.

Of course. Espresso is what you order at stand-up bars in Italy.

[hansnl]

On 9/10/2017 at 1:37 AM, Jingthing said:

The topic really isn't specifically about coffee orders. 

You seem to miss the point.

[ResandePohm]

2 hours ago, Boon Mee said:

Basically, a w*nker of low social standing.

Why do you spoil the fun by explaining British slang. I just love watching the Americans trying work out what you mean. ie "I took my knackered mare to the knackers yard and got paid a pony". or "after a shag flew passed me I took my bint for a shag before smoking a shag"

[Dustdevil]

5 minutes ago, Baerboxer said:

 

I watch many Youtube videos on a hobby subject produced by American enthusiast. Amazing the difference in spoken American English - regional accents are quite different. What's interesting is even in a much smaller size country, the UK, there are the same regional differences to be heard.

The accents in the UK are far more different from each other than the American ones are, with the exception of the hillbilly southern one (and most despised one, suggesting a lack of education and redneck intolerance). Discounting  the deep south  there's not much difference between accents throughout the West Coast, the Pacific Northwest, the Midwest and the rest of the country, despite a few famous peculiarities of Boston and upper New England.

[Dustdevil]

Just now, ResandePohm said:

Why do you spoil the fun by explaining British slang. I just love watching the Americans trying work out what you mean. ie "I took my knackered mare to the knackers yard and got paid a pony". or "after a shag flew passed me I took my bint for a shag before smoking a shag"

Oh, behave! Shagadelic, baby!

[Baerboxer]

Just now, Dustdevil said:

The accents in the UK are far more different from each other than the American ones are, with the exception of the hillbilly southern one (and most despised one, suggesting a lack of education and redneck intolerance). Discounting  the deep south  there's not much difference between accents throughout the West Coast, the Pacific Northwest, the Midwest and the rest of the country, despite a few famous peculiarities of Boston and upper New England.

 

Maybe to you. But to a non American, some sound markedly different. Sentence construction, as well as pronouncing.

[Dustdevil]

16 minutes ago, Thian said:

Yup and they had "weapons of mass destruction" pointed against them, according to the same idiot.

Now Europe has huge issues because of him.

I think Russia is responsible for its own transgressions, including military exercises right next to you, and digital interference with all of our elections, including fake Facebook accounts inciting hatred of immigrants or whoever. But Europeans never blame Russia for anything, because a third of Russia including Moscow is part of Europe, and the United States, of course, consists of primitive cowboys.

[samjaidee]

On 09/09/2017 at 8:23 PM, oldhippy said:

There is no such thing as British English.

There is loso and hiso English in the uk, plus many languages in between, plus many dialects.

 

The neutral English is Kiwi English.

And no, I am not a Kiwi.

But I love them.

 

 

 

The fruit or the bird?

[Tchooptip]

On 09/09/2017 at 8:37 PM, Jingthing said:

I do but I'm easily amused but that's totally irrelevant to the topic.

 " but I'm easily amused" 

If there is a serum of youth it is this one ?

 

...when on TV it is rather : I'm easily irritated 

[oldhippy]

5 minutes ago, samjaidee said:

The fruit or the bird?

The rest of the world uses the word "Kiwi" for all 3 meanings.

But in Godzone they differentiate between Kiwi (people), Kiwi fruit and Kiwi birds.

Don't ever tell them you have eaten a Kiwi....

(unless you are Maori).

 

[Dustdevil]

5 minutes ago, Baerboxer said:

 

Maybe to you. But to a non American, some sound markedly different. Sentence construction, as well as pronouncing.

As an American linguist who has also spent 15 years in Europe and another 25 years in the Middle East, East Asia and West Africa, I'm pretty good with accents.  I'm well aware of Chicago and northern midwest variations, and so on. I think non-Americans who are not fluent in English can usually only tell the difference between the southerners and the rest of the country.  Europeans love to caricature the hillbilly accent as applying to all of us. Anyway, yes there is a difference in sentence construction. The grammar remains the same as RP, but even educated Americans are getting sloppy with the past unreal conditional (Incorrect: "If you would have waved to me, I would have seen you." Correct: "If you had waved to me, I would have seen you."). They are also getting lazy with the present perfect: "I ate already" instead of the obviously correct "I've already eaten." as well as the past perfect: "She already parked her car before the police ticketed her" instead of the correct "She had already parked her car before the police ticketed her."

[oldhippy]

Funny story:

Many years ago I stayed at a youth hostel in NZ.

We were all sitting together, and somebody said "I can tell by the accent where people are from". He then proceeded to guess all our nationalities.

The guy who sat beside me was correctly guessed to be English.

I will never forget his reaction: "did you hear that, we English have an accent?"

[smotherb]

On 9/10/2017 at 1:37 AM, Jingthing said:

The topic really isn't specifically about coffee orders. 

That was your example; so it is pertinent to this topic. Maybe that is what is wrong with Brit English and why so few people want to learn it; they would rather learn American English because it is the language of business, technology, entertainment, etc. Look at an example in your post. You spelled two words contrary to how they are pronounced in all forms of English--realisation and colonised. Are those words pronounced with an "s" sound or a "z" sound?

[Dustdevil]

I have to relate a boastful incident. No, I'm not the world's most awesome linguist (I imagine Trump is) but one time I was sitting next to (a  very beautiful) young European woman on a flight down to Malabo, Equatorial Guinea (and she was on her way to Kinshasa, I think, for NGO work). After a half hour of chit-chat, I made a guess as to her origin: I said she sounded Swedish. I've never been to Sweden. She was so impressed; she said nobody had ever guessed her nationality from her accent before. I felt pretty pleased with myself. Maybe she thought I was an International Man of Mystery.

Edited September 15, 2017 by Dustdevil

[Dustdevil]

7 minutes ago, smotherb said:

That was your example; so it is pertinent to this topic. Maybe that is what is wrong with Brit English and why so few people want to learn it; they would rather learn American English because it is the language of business, technology, entertainment, etc. Look at an example in your post. You spelled two words contrary to how they are pronounced in all forms of English--realisation and colonised. Are those words pronounced with an "s" sound or a "z" sound?

Well, many non-Americans complain that we have simplified too many words such as "check" instead of "cheque" and all the "our" words like labour/labor, etc., and program vs. programme.

[Thaidream]

As an American living abroad for eons, I normally adhere to the spellings used by the English and also attempt to speak English properly. There is no doubt that the language has been corrupted by slang both by the Americans and the English themselves.  The first time I ever went to England- I had a conversation with an Englishman who had a Cockney accent. I honestly could not understand his accent.  Today, is much different. I can pick up the accents well to include the Scots.  I do have trouble with the Haitians speaking English as their accent in English is French based.

I am certain both England and America will survive the attacks on our common language. The last time I was in America visiting my daughter she asked me why I was speaking with an English accent.  Say what?

[tryasimight]

Jeez what are youse banging on about?

[Cats4ever]

On 9/9/2017 at 11:23 PM, oldhippy said:

There is no such thing as British English.

There is loso and hiso English in the uk, plus many languages in between, plus many dialects.

 

The neutral English is Kiwi English.

And no, I am not a Kiwi.

But I love them.

 

 

 

Enjoy your fush & chups and I hope you are not too old for sux?

[oldhippy]

1 hour ago, Baerboxer said:

 

Yes, Kiwi's are nice. We eat them regularly and the juice is also good.

 

As to your comments on the English Language:

 

"English is a pluricentric language, which means that no one national authority sets the standard for use of the language. But English is not a divided language, despite a long-standing joke originally attributed to George Bernard Shaw that the United Kingdom and the United States are "two countries separated by a common language". Spoken English, for example English used in broadcasting, generally follows national pronunciation standards that are also established by custom rather than by regulation. International broadcasters are usually identifiable as coming from one country rather than another through their accents, but newsreader scripts are also composed largely in international standard written English. The norms of standard written English are maintained purely by the consensus of educated English-speakers around the world, without any oversight by any government or international organisation.

Source: Wiki

 

I can find no reference to you hiso / loso English as classifications. Perhaps you could supply some references for us?

QUOTE: I can find no reference to you hiso / loso English as classifications. Perhaps you could supply some references for us?

 

Dear chap, so you googled "hiso English" and nothing came up?

Maybe because "hiso" is Thai English, "upper class" is British English?

Different words for same same.

 

Here are some references to upper class (hiso) English:

 

Rees Mog - observe the double name - is sooooooooooo hilarious.

Sad to say that other examples are Marianne Faithfull and Richard Dawkins.

 

No different English based on class you said bearboxer?

 

[oldhippy]

23 minutes ago, Cats4ever said:

Enjoy your fush & chups and I hope you are not too old for sux?

I love the sux.

Even though I have to get my wife drunk for it.

 

[Time Traveller]

BBC is wrong. It's the English who started killing the English language. Americans are just continuing the trend