Dr. Snored 'n Airy 's Own Lil' Corner to Throw Stones @ Jade
Sepulchritude Forum: The Absinthe Forum Archive Thru March 2002: Dr. Snored 'n Airy 's Own Lil' Corner to Throw Stones @ Jade
Happy 02/04/02 (or as you would say in American, Happy 04/02/02).
Chevalier, that "i before e except after c" rule trips me up every time. Words like receive, along with it's and its are there to deliberately trap us and teach us not to take written language for granted.
Hobgoblin
I often dream of trains...
I have the celeb magnet hair as well! I have been chased down by both Robyn Hitchcock & Rene Aubergonois ...
did someone say something earlier about name dropping? OOF!
"Hey...what a line-up! But look at me!!!" I love the flying pig! I've seen KITH live twice. I also met Mark McKinney once. He said he liked my hair. Then, again, so did Jeff Buckley. Hmmmmmmm. My hair must be some sort of mysterious celebrity magnet. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
~21st Century Rimbaud
p.s.-"You know what would make a better new Mom? A cow or a dog or a clump of dirt or a piece of train..."
it's a speculum!
and, on the subject of line-ups:
Mark: [lifts up hand in which he's holding some stamps and a mint] Hey! Look. Stamps from Belgium. And a peppermint. Lucky me. [pops mint into mouth]
Bruce: [flying towards the lineup-- skyscrapers are seen in the distance] Oink oink. [stops in the air and waves] Hello everybody! Wheeeeeee!!
Everyone in lineup except Kevin: [smiling and waving] Hello flying pig!
Kevin: [to Dave] Who?!
Dave: The flying pig. He entertains people at bank-machines and other of life's many lineups.
http://www.kithfan.org/work/transcripts/three/pig1.html
mmmmMmMmMmm .... canadians.
Lord H is having fun. As usual, most of the people most of the time are taking most of what is said here too seriously. Carry on in whatever idiom you wish to employ. Translation for Americans (like me): "Whatever. Take it easy. Just talk."
this is silliness.
lordship,
the similarities far outweigh the differences. to refrain from calling it "english" would be utter nonsense.
you seem to have a very naive understanding of what language is and how it works. you might want to study up. i'd recommend wittgenstein's "philosophical investigations". it's the "origin of species" of the philosophy of language.
is it a queue? a line? or (in deference to the canadians) a lineup? the answer is that it's a mmeaningless question. each variant has its own criteria. the overwhelming overlap in usage and rules between these three forms of english clearly justifies grouping them, and naming them, as a single language.
anyway, here's a puzzle for your lordship to contemplate whilst he removes the bug from his ass:
is it a duck? a rabbit?
no cheating! put down that OED!
Anothe typo! EL should read as ESL. Bad karma for needling Hobgoblin.
I like that Mr. Rabid fellow. Good show, old boy!
Sorry, made a typo in my previous post. ESL is English as a second language. EL is taught to non English-speaking people living in a region where English is the dominant language. The correct abbreviation for English as a foreign language is EFL.
Of course! They do everything better.
(anglophile cuz I ain't stoopid)
Hate to say this, but the best teachers (and not just philosophers) of English as a foreign language (ESL) are the British. When it comes to promoting its language and culture worldwide, the British Council has kicked the U.S. Information Agency's (USIA's) derriere since forever. Hell, the USIA doesn't even exist anymore!
Where are nearly all EFL textbooks published? In the U.K., that's where. And that includes textbooks teaching AMERICAN English. American publishers can't even compete.
If we are going to have peeves over improper labeling I have to agree-"american" language would have to be the latin american version of spanish. Anyone from north or south america is technicaly an american. Kallisti is right-United statesian, canadian ro the like is more fitting.
In that case it wouldn't even be American, it would be, um, United Statesian (and how many subsets within *our* borders there would be!). Language is not regional, it's lingual. French Canadians & Cajuns still speak french, tho the french might beg to differ. As do you with Americanisms.
Go read/watch "The Story of English" ... fascinating stuff. Language is a fluid thing without borders. Johnson's Dictionary did more to change the english language on both sides of the pond than american television ever did.
A solution for all.
The variant of English that is spoken by Americans will henceforth be called one of the following:
-- Amerish
-- Americanish
-- Englishan
-- Englishican
Are you happy to be recEIving this, Lord H? ;-)
Petticoats and hoops were a marvellous and wonderful style of ladies' attire. They epitomise ellegance and taste, how apt to compare them to the English language.
Bravo Rabid.
If you Americans speak 'American English' because you are American then ditch the pretence that your language is English. The dialect you speak is about as English as your nation. Call it American and be done with it. Do you cling to this false sense of Englishness in the vain hope that it will give your language some degree of culture, heritage or respectability.(A bit like your 'French-fries' I suppose).
Hobgoblin
Petticoats and hoops were a marvellous and wonderful style of ladies' attire. They epitomise ellegance and taste, how apt to compare them to the English language.
Bravo Rabid.
If you Americans speak 'American English' beacause you are American then ditch the pretence that your language is English. The dialect you speak is about as English as your nation. Call it American and be done with it. Do you cling to this false sense of Englishness in the vain hope that it will give your language some degree of culture, heritage or respectability.(A bit like your 'French-fries' I suppose).
Hobgoblin
lord hobgoblin,
i cannot understand your fury over such matters. it seems out of keeping with your usual attributes of level-headedness and tolerance. what is it that you want? do you want americans to speak the queen's english? if so, why on earth would you want such a thing? we don't choose our words, we ARE our words, our words choose us. language is not a code, it's our very being. americans speak american english because they are americans. they are born into it--they eat, sleep, drink, and breathe it. it has its own qualities and peculiarities because THEY have their own qualities and peculiarities. any educational attempt to "reform" them on this point requires raising them elsewhere, it requires making them something other than americans. but since when has difference been an error? why reform them of their differences SIMPLY because they are different?
i understand a certain defensiveness on the matter. american cultural imperialism does manifest symptoms on the level of language. americans do have a tendency to mock non-american forms of english, and to treat their own version as standard. they do have a tendency to insert their words into other countries' languages alongside of the insertion of their businesses, interests, and values into other countries' lives. but to turn around and declare that american speech is incorrect english is reactionary. you only repeat their error.
the french and the quebecois, among others, have much greater cause for complaint, even if their attempts to rectify the matter through legal measures are inane. the insertion of english words into their ordinary language is anything but ordinary. there is an evolution in language as in the species. but englishisms in non-english languages aren't an evolution: the new language kicks out the indigenous population when it arrives. they are alienated from their own native language, the language that is their origin, their home, and the core of their being. they have, consequently, good reason to be annoyed. and the americans have good reason to be annoyed when you apply external criteria of proper usage to their own indigenous language. it's their native language, they're native to it--born and raised in its originalities and peculiarities. to say it's incorrect is to say that THEY are. the fantasy of the pure language is the fantasy of the pure race.
Cheque?
Cheque?
Pronounce that for me, muthafucka. But like it's spelled.
Did that make any sense? Now try 'Check.' There you go!
Check.
Ah, but we are arguing about bailing techniques- wait- tekneeks- at the bottom of the ocean. The ship is sunk.
English is one of the most ridiculous and fucked up languages on the planet to begin with. Defending English grammar is like trying to argue the practicality of the petticoat and hoop skirt system.
The teacher in me is typing this.
"It's" = Contraction of "It is"; i.e., "It's so gay."
"Its" = Third person possessive pronoun; i.e., "Its name is Jade."
the queen's bad english!
s'ok ... I cannot tell "its" from "it's" (if'n ya'll hadn't noticed already!). in fact, the only way I can remember is to picture the Monty Python "it's" and work backwards.
I also cannot tell left from right, or right from wrong.
Master Hobgoblin,
Please stand before the blackboard and write a thousand times: "I will not spell 'receive' as 'recieve'."
