| Author |
Message |
Marc Chevalier (Chevalier)
Absinthe Mafia
Username: Chevalier
Post Number: 1329
Registered: 11-2001
| | Posted on Monday, July 7, 2003 - 7:35 am: |   |
The best way to end this thread is by reading Bill Bryson's fantastic, witty, very well-informed book,
The Mother Tongue: English & How It Got That Way
Bryson, a Yank, lived in Britain for many years, and he plays no favorites.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0380715430/102-0443733-6934505?vi=glance
The trainspotters over at Publisher's Weekly gave it a snubby review. (Not surprisingly, Bryson doesn't like them either.)
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Mssr. Kallisti (Head_prosthesis)
Absinthe Mafia
Username: Head_prosthesis
Post Number: 3633
Registered: 1-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, July 5, 2003 - 5:46 pm: | |
Or tiss-you,
heehee
say shed-you-ell,
AN-TI-Q's
GO LIVE !!! |
Pataphysician (Pataphysician)
Elitist Bastard
Username: Pataphysician
Post Number: 610
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, July 5, 2003 - 3:30 pm: | |
Say "aluminium". I love it when you guys say "aluminium". |
Lordhobgoblin (Lordhobgoblin)
Absinthe Mafia
Username: Lordhobgoblin
Post Number: 812
Registered: 10-2000
| | Posted on Saturday, July 5, 2003 - 2:08 pm: | |
Blackjack,
The Old English word for neighbour/neighbor is neahgebur. The ur ending of this word sounds closer to 'our' than to 'or'. I can't find any other examples of modern English words ending in our/or that have a similar sounding ending in Old English.
I do have an interest in Old English but as for Middle English I know nothing at all about it.
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Lordhobgoblin (Lordhobgoblin)
Absinthe Mafia
Username: Lordhobgoblin
Post Number: 811
Registered: 10-2000
| | Posted on Saturday, July 5, 2003 - 12:50 pm: | |
Chevvy,
Without labouring the point too much, although I do not view myself as the saviour of the English language (which is of course for ever changing), language is not my speciality (and I am always sceptical of those who claim such things), but I felt it would ill behove me to baulk at drawing attention to the shortcomings in the general dialogue of most Americans (analyse the spelling errors for yourself and you will realise this).
I apologise if this post appears a bit woollen (I had hoped to colour it with a touch of humour) but it seems I am running out of words and there is a danger that I will be accused of verbal diarrhoea (which I suppose is better than being accused of verbal gonorrhoea) if I carry on much longer. |
Pastor of Muppets (Emmy)
Absinthe Mafia
Username: Emmy
Post Number: 207
Registered: 9-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, July 5, 2003 - 12:31 pm: | |
my brain hurts  |
Jack Collins (_blackjack_)
Absinthe Mafia
Username: _blackjack_
Post Number: 1090
Registered: 11-2000
| | Posted on Saturday, July 5, 2003 - 12:26 pm: | |
The American spellings are usually the OLDER spellings. The shift from "-or" to "-our" and "-er" to "-re" took place in the past 200 years.
The "grey/gray" thing is complicated by the fact that the word was spelled, in Old and Middle English, with a letter no longer present in the English alphabet. It was originally gee-ar-æsc-yogh. When the vowel "æsc" and fricative "yogh" fell out of use, about half the words started using "-ay" instead and about half "-ey". In Middle English, "key", "clay", "whey" and "gray" all rhymed and ended in the same letters... |
Heady Head Head (Head_prosthesis)
Absinthe Mafia
Username: Head_prosthesis
Post Number: 3632
Registered: 1-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, July 5, 2003 - 11:06 am: | |
See... Hobby has a grande sense of hummer.
GO LIVE !!! |
Pataphysician (Pataphysician)
Elitist Bastard
Username: Pataphysician
Post Number: 609
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, July 5, 2003 - 10:58 am: | |
Instead of Columbus Day, I celebrate February 15th, the day the Indians discovered Europe. |
Marc Chevalier (Chevalier)
Absinthe Mafia
Username: Chevalier
Post Number: 1327
Registered: 11-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, July 5, 2003 - 10:18 am: | |
Hob!!!
You clever git, you. Your paragraph managed to include just about every English word that Americans spell differently. Tell me that you did it on purpose.  |
Heady Head Head (Head_prosthesis)
Absinthe Mafia
Username: Head_prosthesis
Post Number: 3629
Registered: 1-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, July 5, 2003 - 8:27 am: | |
Where's Bob Chong to defend our side
of the academia?
GO LIVE !!! |
Lordhobgoblin (Lordhobgoblin)
Absinthe Mafia
Username: Lordhobgoblin
Post Number: 810
Registered: 10-2000
| | Posted on Saturday, July 5, 2003 - 5:26 am: | |
My comments may not be flavour of the month but before I hear a clamour of noise as you start jumping to the defence of American honour I would like to emphasise that I did not wish to cause any rancour. I realise that skilful spelling is not your forte, I sympathise with you and apologise for any offence caused. While not wanting to sit in judgement over the American, I do feel that correct spelling is not a grey area open to interpretation. I feel that if Americans were to practise correct spelling they could break out of the mould they find themselves in (they could then teach these skills to their neighbours). It would not take a great amount of organisation to arrange to spelling tution (you could enrol for a programme of evening classes) and once you have learnt to spell correctly you will not have to keep up the pretence that your incorrect spelling is acceptable. |
Mrs. Head (Admin)
Madame Guillotine
Username: Admin
Post Number: 1154
Registered: 1-1998
| | Posted on Saturday, July 5, 2003 - 12:54 am: | |
IT'S "GLAMOR" DAMMINT!!!
heheeeee.
“A lady who has a secure seat is never prettier than when in the saddle, and she who cannot make her conquest there, may despair of the power of her charms elsewhere.” - THE MANNERS THAT WIN, 1880
http://www.feeverte.net |
Heady Head Head (Head_prosthesis)
Absinthe Mafia
Username: Head_prosthesis
Post Number: 3622
Registered: 1-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, July 5, 2003 - 12:54 am: | |
We spell bad fer emfasis
GO LIVE !!! |
Lordhobgoblin (Lordhobgoblin)
Absinthe Mafia
Username: Lordhobgoblin
Post Number: 809
Registered: 10-2000
| | Posted on Saturday, July 5, 2003 - 12:51 am: | |
In the pub I usually go to on a Friday night (popular with Americans because there is an American school, therefore an American ex-pat population, near by) there were still a lot of them still over here. I guess you can't blame them.
I've often wondered about the point of that American school. I suppose it's so that the children of American ex-pats can learn to spell as incorrectly as their parents. |
Heady Head Head (Head_prosthesis)
Absinthe Mafia
Username: Head_prosthesis
Post Number: 3620
Registered: 1-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, July 5, 2003 - 12:13 am: | |
Or anyone... I was just wondering
if today, or around this time, are
there any national holidays where
the "exodus of the Yanks from Europe" is
celebrated?
Over sexed, over payed
and over here... NO MORE!
WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!
GO LIVE !!! |
