Used to work with an American woman. Who insisted we said eraser and not rubber. Much to everyone's amusement.
They do say the Americans and English are divided by a common language...
Another one I find amusing is when people mispronounce words. We’ve fall heard thisvone
‘He a*sed me for a coffee’
Instead of
‘He asked me for a coffee’
Lazy pronunciation.
‘He a*sed me for a coffee’
Instead of
‘He asked me for a coffee’
Lazy pronunciation.
You know... my family always picks on me for that one.
But, when I was a kid, in Spain, it was pronounced, and written, "expresso".
Heck, my previous machine was an "Expobar"... Expobar Office Lever.
It's not a language thing, but the way the many people turn statements into questions is commonplace; they put an inflection on the last word in a sentence, as if expecting a reaction or something. 'I went to the Post Office yesterday?'. Only when speaking English, if they're speaking another language it doesn't seem to happen.
Geoff
Geoff
Same can be said for proper music - at least that's what I've watched someone talk about, not being so interested in modern, current material myself. All in the name of "oh this is our generation's style"... Yeah, no form to it; no bridge, interlude, key change - it's a lovely 3 minute drone ya got there...
"Wearing pants backward is a style that was popularized by the 1990s rap group Kris Kross." It's still wearing them incorrectly. To me, deliberate deviation from well known, accepted form does not constitute "style". An OB speaker perhaps being an exception ;')
"Wearing pants backward is a style that was popularized by the 1990s rap group Kris Kross." It's still wearing them incorrectly. To me, deliberate deviation from well known, accepted form does not constitute "style". An OB speaker perhaps being an exception ;')
"Pedalling bonds"? Would that be on a bicycle? Going back to Australia, I believe that a popular brand of self-adhesive tape over there is Durex. In Blighty it's the brand of condom. Room for plenty of embarrassment.
Much like the meaning of 'rubber' in US English can be somewhat different than the way us Brits use it.
"What is this?"
"it's a pencil, Johnny"
"What is this?"
"It's a pen, Johnny"
"What is this?"
"It's an erasure, Johnny...."
"it's a pencil, Johnny"
"What is this?"
"It's a pen, Johnny"
"What is this?"
"It's an erasure, Johnny...."
Morse:
I think he was murdered, Lewis
Lewis:
Who by, sir?
Morse:
By whom, Lewis, by whom. Didn’t they teach grammar at that comprehensive school of yours?
Why can't everyone speak like Morse?🙂
Don't get me started on anythink!
Then there's nothink!
I think he was murdered, Lewis
Lewis:
Who by, sir?
Morse:
By whom, Lewis, by whom. Didn’t they teach grammar at that comprehensive school of yours?
Why can't everyone speak like Morse?🙂
Don't get me started on anythink!
Then there's nothink!
It is difficult for me as a foreign speaker to see the difference:
He is murdered - this is his current status?
He has been murdered - also it happened in the past, but we see the result now?
He was murdered - I learned that is is associated with a past adverb, so when did it happen?
He is murdered - this is his current status?
He has been murdered - also it happened in the past, but we see the result now?
He was murdered - I learned that is is associated with a past adverb, so when did it happen?
The point of Speedysteve7's post was that Lewis said "Who by, sir?", and then Morse corrected him by saying "By whom, Lewis, by whom."
In other words, Lewis should have used whom instead of who for proper English.
In other words, Lewis should have used whom instead of who for proper English.
Besides the dumbing down of speech/conversation another thing that leaves me feeling awkward is smart phone youth asking you something and when the reply is more than 1 sentence of 10 words they look the other way (or to their screen). Like they don't want to know the answer so then why ask? Meanwhile not looking in the eyes is standard.
If you ask them wat the answer was they can not tell. I tested this a few times. Even stranger is that they carry a computer non stop but don't know to look something up.
If you ask them wat the answer was they can not tell. I tested this a few times. Even stranger is that they carry a computer non stop but don't know to look something up.
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How can if you tell a programmer is an extrovert?
He looks at your shoes when he's talking to you....
But there do seem to be a lot more people avoiding eye contact and behaving like they're the only person on the pavement, road or in the room.
Even when you pass them on a footpath they look somewhere else trying to pretend you're not there. I reserve a particularly effusive good morning or afternoon for them...
It could be they are on the spectrum - one of the behaviours is they avoid eye contact. My wife is a psychologist and after she explained some of this stuff to me about 25 yrs ago, I was able to look around at work and say ‘aha I understand a little of what’s going on here’ and make some allowances. This is of course absolutely nothing to do with getting ‘blanked’ which is just good old fashioned snobbery, for which, like you, I have the utmost disdain.
😊
😊