Quote:Original post by Eelco
America is fairly homogenous,...
What??? Maybe that's so in other parts of the country, but not in California.
Walk Like An American?
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What??? Maybe that's so in other parts of the country, but not in California.
Quote:Original post by CmpDevQuote:Original post by JoeCooperQuote:Original post by CmpDevQuote:Original post by JoeCooper
There's also a lot of borrowings from American English such as 'frytki' ('fries') and chipsy ('chips', as in the thin flat ones).
Hang on a minute when did these become American English words!
Using those terms for those snacks is American. Brits, for contrast, would call them 'chips' and 'crisps', respectively.
How silly of me. Taking a French word with English spelling makes it American.
That word is from Old French, no? And can be traced back to Greek, right?. So from your view any modern language that uses an old word doesn't 'really' own that word. So basically any English word that was taken from the old Germanic languages isn't 'really' an English word. Wait.. what?
Quote:Original post by AndyEsser
American English isn't proper English, whereas pretty much every country in the world where people learn English learn it the proper way. Which would explain why you can understand English (I'm assuming your 2nd/3rd language) being spoken by a German (as you're both speaking proper English, rather than bastardised American 'English')
Whether you're joking or not, your claim is false. Of the countless foreign speakers of English I know, not one of them is familiar with any British slang, all of them are familiar with American slang, and all but one speak with an American accent; the exceptional person has an accent somewhere between the American and British accents.
And if you're not joking, I hope you aren't under the terribly misguided impression that somehow British English has remained static over the past several hundred years while American English changed.
Quote:Original post by CmpDev
How silly of me. Taking a French word with English spelling makes it American.
I can't comment much on British usage of those words, but the ultimate origin of the words is completely irrelevant to the point.
Quote:Original post by CmpDev
How silly of me. Taking a French word with English spelling makes it American.
Your sarcastic way of putting it that makes me want to punch you very hard and all I can think of is this.
Nevertheless, you're right, it is a coincidence. I checked hither and the etymology of 'frytki' is from French 'frites'. I had thought this came from "French Fries", which is American regardless of the etymology of the constituent words, and wrongly assumed that the truncated form 'fries' stemmed from that. It's actually older and only prefixing it with "french" is the neologism.
Side note, chips was imported from English.
Side side note, on the topic of who's changed English more, "crisps" to refer to "chips" in the UK is listed as even newer; 1929. Compared to "[potato] chips", used state-side, which is early 19th century.
[Edited by - JoeCooper on November 7, 2010 4:13:49 PM]
Quote:Original post by LessBreadQuote:Original post by Eelco
America is fairly homogenous,...
What??? Maybe that's so in other parts of the country, but not in California
I know; ive lived in both san diego and san francisco. Its culturally fairly homogenous, although there is a north-south distinction, but I wouldnt yet be able to pick it out without talking to somebody.
For the size it spans, america is very homogenous relative to europe. There is no way youd confuse a greek guy with a norwegian. Ethnic dutch people I can identify with reasonable accuracy by facial features. But telling east coast and west coasters apart for instance (again, no spoken word), is something I cant do with any accuracy. Of course one can recognize the extreme stereotypes, but people rarely act them out.
Oh yeah; a dead giveaway for americans is the style, or lack thereof. Shapeless jeans, baggy shirt, and nikes or some kind of sportshoes, preferably containing white and/or fluorescent details.
Of course, not all americans dress like that, but a disturbing amount of them do.
Of course, not all americans dress like that, but a disturbing amount of them do.
English doesn't have a governing body deciding which words are 'correct' (unlike French) so really it's whatever you want it to be.
The US isn't that homogeneous, there's lots of regional and cultural differences. Hell it's fun within the US to try and guess where someone's from by their accent... Bostonians talk differently from Texans talk differently from Minnesotans.
On the OP's link, I knew a German exchange student who was surprised people held open doors for her, and my Chinese teacher was very surprised strangers walking by would say hello. But I was reading somewhere that Americans just speak loudly in public all the time, and don't realize that it's a lot different in other parts of the world.
The US isn't that homogeneous, there's lots of regional and cultural differences. Hell it's fun within the US to try and guess where someone's from by their accent... Bostonians talk differently from Texans talk differently from Minnesotans.
On the OP's link, I knew a German exchange student who was surprised people held open doors for her, and my Chinese teacher was very surprised strangers walking by would say hello. But I was reading somewhere that Americans just speak loudly in public all the time, and don't realize that it's a lot different in other parts of the world.
Quote:Original post by Prinz EugnI made a joke about that earlier in the thread. Sometimes I want to just walk up to an American on the tram, tap them on the shoulder and say "inside voice"...
But I was reading somewhere that Americans just speak loudly in public all the time, and don't realize that it's a lot different in other parts of the world.
Quote:Original post by JoeCooperLike, totally.
American English is closer to what it was when we split than yours.
My fellow Americans don't even believe I'm from America. Most people don't even guess withing 2000 miles of my home-state when I ask them where they think I'm from.
Posture is nothing, accents are what everyone seems to use first. At least, most people that I've met.
Posture is nothing, accents are what everyone seems to use first. At least, most people that I've met.
Quote:Original post by HodgmanQuote:Original post by Prinz EugnI made a joke about that earlier in the thread. Sometimes I want to just walk up to an American on the tram, tap them on the shoulder and say "inside voice"
But I was reading somewhere that Americans just speak loudly in public all the time, and don't realize that it's a lot different in other parts of the world.
The missus has to do that to me a lot.
Quote:Oh yeah; a dead giveaway for americans is the style, or lack thereof. Shapeless jeans, baggy shirt, and nikes or some kind of sportshoes, preferably containing white and/or fluorescent details.
I've observed that here in Poland; everyone dresses like Oregonians.
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