English grammar is very simple... but pronunciation is all over the map.
I mean, where is the past perfect subjunctive in English? That's right, it doesn't exist, but it can be composed... Is that clear enough?
Dig?
;-)
To be charitable, perhaps some of those new 'words' or abbreviations are just more idioms?
Every language and dialect has them, for example in Oz:
Would make little or no sense to someone trying to learn English as a second language. If you're a Victorian, you can just ask for 'a beer' in a pub, but if you ask that in Sydney, you get a smarmy 'you're from Melbourne, are ya' as you have to specify the size and kind of beer.
In England, depending where you come from, a sandwich can be a butty, a sarnie or a bap. Can be confusing even for an English speaking Australian.
Geoff
Every language and dialect has them, for example in Oz:
- what's the damage? (how much is that)
- value! (an expression of delight)
- snot block (used in Victoria only, vanilla slice)
- bogan (Vic); bevan (Queensland); chigger (Western Australia): the Oz equivalent of the English 'pikey';
- bodgies and widgies (no longer widely used, but similar to English 'rockers'); also sharpies (Mods)
- suffer in your jocks (jockettes being a brand of underpants), putting a curse on someone to have an explosive attack of the runs
Would make little or no sense to someone trying to learn English as a second language. If you're a Victorian, you can just ask for 'a beer' in a pub, but if you ask that in Sydney, you get a smarmy 'you're from Melbourne, are ya' as you have to specify the size and kind of beer.
In England, depending where you come from, a sandwich can be a butty, a sarnie or a bap. Can be confusing even for an English speaking Australian.
Geoff
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ROTFLOL...
Go walk into a bar in the US and ask for a pack of fags.
At best, you'll get a Bud Light... at worse they'll kick your a...
Go walk into a bar in the US and ask for a pack of fags.
At best, you'll get a Bud Light... at worse they'll kick your a...
Not if you're a dinosaur. 😉
21th Century dinosaurs look more like this:
(Picture from https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_World_sparrow )
At university, I wrote an article about an analogue circuit that has an output current proportional to the square root of its input current. The special thing about it was that it used the back gates of MOSFETs biased in weak inversion. After discussions with my mentor and other (Dutch) people, we chose the title "Square-rooting circuit based on a novel, back-gate-using multiplier" and I sent it to the Australian lady who proofread articles, with a note asking if she would send it to my mentor when she was finished.
Some time later my mentor got a phone call from her. There was something about the article, specifically the title, and it was so bad that she did not want to discuss it over the phone. She asked if she could come to his office. Not having the slightest idea what this was about, my mentor agreed.
She came into his office, threw the manuscript on the table, pointed at the title and said: "Is this some kind of sick joke?" It turned out that rooting meant having sexual intercourse in Australian slang. Combined with the back-gate-using multiplier, she was convinced it was about anal sex. We changed the title into "√x-circuit based on a novel, back-gate-using multiplier".
Some time later my mentor got a phone call from her. There was something about the article, specifically the title, and it was so bad that she did not want to discuss it over the phone. She asked if she could come to his office. Not having the slightest idea what this was about, my mentor agreed.
She came into his office, threw the manuscript on the table, pointed at the title and said: "Is this some kind of sick joke?" It turned out that rooting meant having sexual intercourse in Australian slang. Combined with the back-gate-using multiplier, she was convinced it was about anal sex. We changed the title into "√x-circuit based on a novel, back-gate-using multiplier".
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Could care.. VS Couldn't care... (hint; the latter is the correct one.)
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/commonly-confused-words/couldnt-care-less/
Aren't they both correct, but with different meanings? If you could care less, apparently you care to some extent.
They have different meanings and that's the problem. Some people say "could care less" when they really mean "couldn't care less".
I see.
We have a similar issue in Dutch, although more subtle. You even find it printed in newspapers. These are two grammatically correct Dutch sentences, but with slightly different meanings:
Hij is een van de mensen die gewonnen heeft.
Hij is een van de mensen die gewonnen hebben.
The first means: He is one of the people and he won. The second means: He is one of the people who won. Very often, people use the first form when they mean the second.
We have a similar issue in Dutch, although more subtle. You even find it printed in newspapers. These are two grammatically correct Dutch sentences, but with slightly different meanings:
Hij is een van de mensen die gewonnen heeft.
Hij is een van de mensen die gewonnen hebben.
The first means: He is one of the people and he won. The second means: He is one of the people who won. Very often, people use the first form when they mean the second.
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The following four sentences are all grammatically correct:
She spoke to me and my friend.
She spoke to my friend and me.
My friend and I spoke to her.
I and my friend spoke to her.
The fourth sentence, while correct, is a little "clunky" and would not often be used.
The following four sentences are all grammatically incorrect:
She spoke to my friend and I.
She spoke to I and my friend.
Me and my friend spoke to her.
My friend and me spoke to her.
TIP:
If not sure what is right, simply ignore the my friend bit and it becomes obvious.
"She spoke to me" is correct, "she spoke to I" would clearly be wrong.
"I spoke to her" is correct, "me spoke to her" would clearly be wrong.
It is really very simple, but I have even heard the President of the United States use I when it should have been me 🙂
I'm reminded of this video which became representative of "kids thesedays who can't make a cogent statement:"
I have a college friend who is Afro-Carib. She has been in the broadcast news businesss for decades. Takes umbrage at the pronunciation of “ask” as “axe”. She refuses to accept the rationale for the latter as derived from the pronunciations of the northern English of the 17th century who inhabited the Carolinas.
I have difficulty translating “Kerry-speak” when in Ireland
I have difficulty translating “Kerry-speak” when in Ireland
I had a school friend who did that (pronounced 'arcs' in our non-rhotic accent). It was difficult for him and I remember the struggle as the teacher tried to correct it, not related to any tradition and I've heard many random people do the same.
I had another friend who would switch between the two, also had a stutter but I don't know if it was related.
That's been in use for most of my life, but has spread from london
Jock has been used as a euphamism for the male member for nearly 400 years now so has permeated a lot of dialects.
You've missed Barm, cob, roll and a few others I can't recall. It's confusing enough for the English to keep track.
Another great source of argument is which meal is dinner and which one is tea. People from the midlands upwards are adamant dinner is at mid day, otherwise schools would not have dinner ladies and tea is the meal around 6pm.
Personally I love the evolution of the different branches of English even if there is major sources of confusion even within a small country like ours 🙂