All The Silly Old Arguments, Brit/american English

[mauiguy90]

Gin fizz? Bluddy riff raff.

It's Pimm's No.1 or you're on latrine duty again.

Pimm's No.1? There are only 2 types of people drink Pimm's No.1. The Queen Mother and bladdy pooftahs. Now seeing as the dear old Queen Mum is pushing up daisies that must make you a bladdy shirt lifting tail gunner with no more right to live on God's green earth than a cockroach. Bladdy hel_l! Now where'd I put my Purdey's? Time to give this unmitigated bounder both barrels!

Good God Watson! Some cad has made away with the entire stock of gin and bounder has left but a bottle of Pimm's No. 1!

Crime of the Century Sherlock!!!

... Luckily the daft fool has left behind a stick that shows evidence of heavy wear...which in most Englishmen creates the affect of a heavy speech disorder, making his speech unintelligible Watson. He shouldn't be hard to find...

Edited December 3, 2009 by mauiguy90

[chriswatson]

To add insult to injury, British Indian food is dreck! You would think that chicken tikka masala and onion "barges" are the be all end all of Indian food. You want great Indian food? Go to California.

Hmmm.

"Indian" food from your typical "Indian" restaurant or takeaway in the UK is almost certainly going to be "Bengali" - part of the Indian subcontinent but independent of the sovereign state of India - and would therefore be better described as "British Bangladeshi food".

Chicken Tikka Masala is a variation of a Bangladeshi dish, which evolved in the UK, and is arguably Britain's most popular ready-cooked meal. Because of this there are claims it is now our "national dish".

Not sure if you can find it in Bangladesh, let alone California.

That is all.

Edited December 8, 2009 by chriswatson

[Jingthing]

Yeah but to the typical Brit, their freakish version of "Indian" food IS Indian food. They seem to be chauvinistic about it like they OWN Indian food, and it is bloody ridiculous. Probably a pathetic remnant of the colonial era, eh?

Edited December 8, 2009 by Jingthing

[chriswatson]

Yeah but to the typical Brit, their freakish version of "Indian" food IS Indian food. They seem to be chauvinistic about it like they OWN Indian food, and it is bloody ridiculous. Probably a pathetic remnant of the colonial era, eh?

What an odd statement you have made.

It is contradictory to suggest there is something "freakish" about evolution, be it culinary or biological. You may not like Chicken Tikka Masala, in the same way as you may not like the duck-billed platapus, but whatever your personal opinion, both exist and are results of evolution.

What is a "typical Brit"? Why use such a sweeping statement if not to flame? This typical Brit is actually correcting you by stating you should be referring to "Bangladeshi" food and not "Indian" food when it comes to the UK, but you continue regardless. Does this make you a "typical Yank"?.

And who is saying we own "Indian" (sic) food? We don't own "Indian" food any more than American's own the English language. But, like the American version of English, Chicken Tikka Masala would not exist without the British. If you're assumption is that curries in the UK are "freakish" because they have in some way been grotesquely experimented upon once exported, then you are effectively calling the version of English (American) you use "freakish" as well, are you not? If so, you are of course more than entitled to your opinion and I would fight to defend your right to make it.

That our forefathers did own half the world and it now speaks English is simply a fact. In doing so, we as a nation, were exposed to culinary delights such as curry, to such an extent some of us now consider a version of it to be our national dish. The sales figures back this up.

Fortunately our British sense of fair play and tolerance extends to not only immigration but to food as well. I would not label this a "pathetic remnant of the colonial era", quite the reverse, particularly as I'm not aware (other than a "feakish" version of roast turkey) of any Native American dishes being popular in the US.

Is the fact "typical Amercians" believe they "own" their traditional Thanksgiving Feast not in itself a "pathetic remnant" of your nation's dismal subjection of an aboriginal culture?

Edited December 8, 2009 by chriswatson

[PeaceBlondie]

Not an argument, but more of a question. I was kindly invited to the home of a Brit who teaches English teachers. The written directions said to pass a very visible sign, proceed 7/8 km further, and turn right. I went 7/8 of a km, and got lost. Do Brits write numbers like that? Not that I'd ever read in all my decades of literacy. It meant 7 to 8 km before turning, not 0.875 km. I never made it. Is this an example of a Brit ASSuming all native speakers of English know every idiotic idiosyncrasy and ambiguity of garbled Great British?

[chriswatson]

Not an argument, but more of a question. I was kindly invited to the home of a Brit who teaches English teachers. The written directions said to pass a very visible sign, proceed 7/8 km further, and turn right. I went 7/8 of a km, and got lost. Do Brits write numbers like that? Not that I'd ever read in all my decades of literacy. It meant 7 to 8 km before turning, not 0.875 km. I never made it. Is this an example of a Brit ASSuming all native speakers of English know every idiotic idiosyncrasy and ambiguity of garbled Great British?

Have you seen the film "Spinal Tap" (admittedly written by Americans)? If so, you will no doubt remember the infamous mistake made by one band member of the aforementioned fictional English rock band in drawing the design for a Stonehenge stage prop, where he inadvertently indicated the dimensions using the " (inches) symbol instead of the ' (feet) symbol.

What they ended up with was a Stonehenge "in danger of being trodden on by a dwarf".

Now this may be an astute observation by a comic genius that Brits ASSume others are as smart as we are and would notice obvious mistakes we from time-to-time make, or it may have been a reflection on how stupid rock stars become when they enter the US.

Only the scriptwriters would know for sure, as would your kindly English teacher friend, and unless we ask we will never know. But it would appear obvious to me, as a Brit, that 7/8 km would mean 7 to 8 km, yes.

I mean, only some Yank would think it was a mathematical calculation they were being tested on having been invited to a social gathering by a Brit. This is probably a result of Yanks having an in-built inferiority complex towards us Brits being so clever.

Or it may be because of the inherited guilt certain US citizens rightfully possess because their country did not enter WWII in Europe until Germany was forced to declare war on them as a result of the US declaring war on another Axis power following the bombing of Pearl Harbo(u)r

Edited December 8, 2009 by chriswatson

[chriswatson]

By a coincidence, a reference to 7/8 from a fellow Brit came up today.

His company's holding a Christmas party tonight with some live music and I texted him to ask "what time is the first band playing?".

"7/8" was his SMS reply. This I took to mean the first band were scheduled to go on stage between 7 and 8 pm.

In the light of Peace Blondie's question though, it did cross my mind though to double-check my friend was not referring to the time signature the music would be playing in so that I could dress accordingly

Edited December 10, 2009 by chriswatson

[Jingthing]

we as a nation, were exposed to culinary delights such as curry, to such an extent some of us now consider a version of it to be our national dish.

Understood. We Americans also have our national dish gained at the price of glorious international conquests.

Edited December 11, 2009 by Jingthing

[PeaceBlondie]

By a coincidence, a reference to 7/8 from a fellow Brit came up today.

His company's holding a Christmas party tonight with some live music and I texted him to ask "what time is the first band playing?".

"7/8" was his SMS reply. This I took to mean the first band were scheduled to go on stage between 7 and 8 pm.

In the light of Peace Blondie's question though, it did cross my mind though to double-check my friend was not referring to the time signature the music would be playing in so that I could dress accordingly

This quaint style of obtuse, abstruse ambiguity may be unique to our British cousins. The inviter found me several days later and was surprised that a fellow teacher of English thought that 7/8 km was 7/8ths km. I told the CELTA instructor I had twice taught classes of future teachers of standard international English, how to give clear instructions. I suspect that many teachers of Shitish are incapable of teaching standard English, and remain unaware of their mis-educated ignorance.