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Post by Aldebaran on Sept 18, 2008 2:09:02 GMT
Now Aldy, play nice. First time I heard a Brit talk about 'shagging' I thought they were going to go carpet shopping. ... ... ;D ROFLMAO. Excellent. Magnusgreel, no damage intended. I technically live IN a rock, so I'm not one to flap my gob.
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Post by Aldebaran on Sept 18, 2008 2:16:20 GMT
I knew a Brit who said "dude" all the time. (Had the rest of us in stitches. ) Similarly, I'll use "bloody" and "rubbish" in daily conversation. I think slang terms cross overseas more than most people realize. Though... when you see a group of Americans calling each other "stupid yanks", you start to think the world's gone a bit mad.
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Post by Abbyromana on Sept 18, 2008 3:33:51 GMT
Now that I agree with you on. I also still can't get over American's using the slang term "States" to refer to the US. It just sounds way too British to me. Though... when you see a group of Americans calling each other "stupid yanks", you start to think the world's gone a bit mad.
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Post by Kit on Sept 18, 2008 4:13:53 GMT
Oh, that's me! =D
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Post by jjpor on Sept 18, 2008 19:43:06 GMT
Though... when you see a group of Americans calling each other "stupid yanks", you start to think the world's gone a bit mad. Haha - it is indeed a mad, mad, mad, mad world. Reading the above has unaccountably cheered me up for some reason. ;D
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Post by magnusgreel on Sept 19, 2008 11:38:01 GMT
Aldebaran... thanks. I thought you were probably just kidding, but it seemed appropriate to respond as I did, considering my medical circumstances. It's not fashionable, but I get serious sometimes.
I'd like to apologize to all of Britain for all the American slang we're inundating you with.
I've watched UK shows so much throughout my life that I'll want to use a UK expression first sometimes, then use an American one instead, because I don't want to sound like an annoying American anglophile who drops Britishisms (I make up words, sorry) into conversation because they think it will impress people.
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Post by Aldebaran on Sept 19, 2008 13:19:51 GMT
Aldebaran... thanks. I thought you were probably just kidding, but it seemed appropriate to respond as I did, considering my medical circumstances. It's not fashionable, but I get serious sometimes. Hey, I'm sorry I came across to you that way. I thought the winking smiley would cushion some of it but... yeah. Sorry. I say stupid things sometimes. You're in a very large group. I totally get it. Sometimes I'll be reluctant to use British slang or words around actual Brits, but I use them all the time around my friends. (Usually... I don't know. I have this paranoia that I'm "saying it wrong" even when I KNOW that I'm not.) As for Brits using American slang, I was having a conversation with my friend Ben once about traveling after high-school. Because him and I are the only people in this entire hick town that I live in that use good grammar and speak fluent English, we decided that we wanted to travel to the most intelligent country we could fathom. We gave it some thought and, as I'm sure you guessed, we both came up with England. Our afterward dialog went something like this: Ben: What would be nice about England is that we could get away from all the assholes here. Me: You know, it doesn't really matter WHERE we go. There's assholes all around the globe. Ben: Yes, but in England, it's a higher caliber of assholes.
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Post by clocketpatch on Sept 19, 2008 22:03:26 GMT
I'd like to apologize to all of Britain for all the American slang we're inundating you with. lol, I wouldn't feel too bad about it on this forum. I'm thinking that we've only got two resident Brits at the moment. *Nods towards Jjpor and Lady D.* Anyway, if you want to get all technical, the Doctor's just one big Anglophile as well. though.... I know what you mean. I'll drop Britishisms all over the place while I'm with friends, but add a real Brit into the equation and -ZIP- though... I also use copious Canadianisms. Like EH? And serviette, and chesterfield (which is just such a fun word. Chessssttterrrfield lol)
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Post by jjpor on Sept 19, 2008 22:55:39 GMT
I'd like to apologize to all of Britain for all the American slang we're inundating you with. No apologies necessary - I've always been of the opinion that language is a very mutable and vibrant thing, always changing; if you look at how much things like spellings and grammar have changed for English in just the last couple of hundred years... I think that things that English purists get uptight over are just a natural healthy thing in the greater scheme of things. I mean, look at how many French and German loan-words current English contains. As for England/Britain (Scots and Welsh people would get very, very angry about just calling it England LOL); as a native, I think it's probably a lot less classy than outside observers might think - people are people, right, the world over? In particular, although I write English pretty well (I like to think), my daily speech and particularly my accent are very different indeed from what is usually portrayed in American film and television; in fact the popular image of the "English gentleman" scarcely exists at all these days outside of the rather more expensive private schools (which we, weirdly, call public schools over here). Of course, I'm sure that my view of Americans, and indeed Canadians, is probably somewhat two-dimensional and simplistic as well.
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Post by jjpor on Sept 19, 2008 23:17:37 GMT
though... I also use copious Canadianisms. Like EH? And serviette, and chesterfield (which is just such a fun word. Chessssttterrrfield lol) I am quite proud of being able to tell the difference between a Canadian accent and an American accent, although this comes only from having heard both often when I was at university. Serviette, we use sometimes here in Blighty* - chesterfield, though (assuming it refers to furniture), is the kind of thing my old Gran might have said - is it a commonplace expression over there?? I had developed the impression that the Eh? thing and saying "Oot" instead of "Out" were just something Americans said to make fun of Canadians - evidently not! ;D *WW1-era expression, used semi-ironically from time to time over here, LOL
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Post by clocketpatch on Sept 19, 2008 23:42:49 GMT
Really? That's impressive given that I can't always tell the difference. Usually, almost always yes, but it does depend on region; I swear that West Coast people have no accent.
Not common at all. I just think it's a funny word. It refers to a sofa, couch, or whatever the most-used word in your area happens to be.
Eh, yes, though not as much or as noticably as some people might have you think. I do know people who say it CONSTANTLY. My Mum for example...
The Oot and Aboot thing is just random. I have NO idea where it comes from, but I know that I don't talk like that, and I don't know anyone who does. People from Newfoundland maybe, but they've got an accent that's all their own...
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Post by jjpor on Sept 19, 2008 23:49:29 GMT
Really? That's impressive given that I can't always tell the difference. Usually, almost always yes, but it does depend on region; I swear that West Coast people have no accent. Well, maybe I exaggerate my powers somewhat - the Canadian person I knew, though, did have a particularly distinctive sound to her voice that was obviously non-American - I don't know what particular part of Canada she came from - I assume it differs from region to region? So, are Newfoundlanders the proverbial "strange" group in Canada, something like the Welsh in Britain? (Joking, okay? I say this, because I know that any random Welsh person who reads this will descend upon me like a ton of bricks for saying this!!). You know what I mean
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Post by clocketpatch on Sept 20, 2008 0:14:37 GMT
Well... technically speaking, Newfoundland wasn't part of Canada until 1949 and from what I gather they weren't (and still aren't) very happy with the merger.
I'd say that our main big strange group though are the French Canadians. They speak a different language which I don't completely understand despite my many attempts at learning. I understand that the Welsh also have a language of their own?
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Post by jjpor on Sept 20, 2008 0:26:39 GMT
I understand that the Welsh also have a language of their own? They do indeed - the roadsigns there etc are bilingual (which I understand is also the case over there - or is that just in Quebec?). The funny thing is, that the people in South Wales, which is where Cardiff is, and hence where Torchwood is set, don't really speak Welsh at all, whereas people in North Wales (who sound much less "Welsh" when they are speaking English) tend to use it all the time. It is a commonplace paranoid English thing to assume that they really speak English all the time and only speak Welsh when an English person walks into the room/shop/whatever LOL. To drag this back on-topic...will the Doctor ever be ginger? Well, I seem to remember that in the Target novelisation of Battlefield, by, I think, Marc Platt, the future-Doctor who was Merlin was described as having "unruly red hair". It is a very good novelisation (certainly probably better than the televised story!)- read it if you can find it.
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Post by Stripes on Sept 20, 2008 0:36:18 GMT
So, are Newfoundlanders the proverbial "strange" group in Canada, something like the Welsh in Britain? (Joking, okay? I say this, because I know that any random Welsh person who reads this will descend upon me like a ton of bricks for saying this!!). You know what I mean My brother in law is Welsh, can I throw a brick at you for him?
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Post by jjpor on Sept 20, 2008 0:40:21 GMT
My brother in law is Welsh, can I throw a brick at you for him? You can indeed - I feel it's the only proper response to my disgusting bigotry - I probably deserve it. ;D
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Post by clocketpatch on Sept 20, 2008 0:48:09 GMT
I understand that the Welsh also have a language of their own? They do indeed - the roadsigns there etc are bilingual (which I understand is also the case over there - or is that just in Quebec?). The funny thing is, that the people in South Wales, which is where Cardiff is, and hence where Torchwood is set, don't really speak Welsh at all, whereas people in North Wales (who sound much less "Welsh" when they are speaking English) tend to use it all the time. It is a commonplace paranoid English thing to assume that they really speak English all the time and only speak Welsh when an English person walks into the room/shop/whatever LOL. My ling Prof last year actually did his thesis on Welsh speaker. According to him, most of them don't even know how to speak Welsh and just kind of pretend to keep up face, and then there are scary people who refuse to speak in anything but Welsh... also, apparently there is a Welsh colony in Argentina of all places. I don't take anything that prof says at face value, because he has a reputationa round the school... I'm also pretty sure he was drunk in class a few times O.o Though... thanks to Torchwood, I was the only person in that class who knew Welsh was a language prior to his lecture on it. Again. O.o and, back to subject. GINGER! GINGER! I do hope so. Actually, I'm thinking of dying my hair ginger over the reading break.
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Post by Kit on Sept 20, 2008 1:15:17 GMT
I would say the same! But then again, I'm from the West Coast so I obviously don't have an accent to myself.
Why would Wales have colonies? And I often joke about the Welsh, mostly due to my Anglophile-ness. So bricks are welcome in my direction as well!
And on topic, the Doctor should totally be ginger some time.
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Post by jjpor on Sept 20, 2008 21:35:28 GMT
Actually, I'm thinking of dying my hair ginger over the reading break. I think the world needs more gingers - I'm not one myself, but pretty much the whole of my dad's side of the family are. I'm sort of reminded of one of my favourite Holmes stories, The Red-Headed League. That thing about Welsh people only pretending to know Welsh amuses me to no end - I like to think it's true, even if the Prof was a drunk As for Welsh colonies in Patagonia, Argentina is an endlessly fascinating place - got nearly as much immigration in the nineteenth century as the US (in terms of diversity, if not numbers); lots of Argentinians with Italian names, lots of Germans (not all of whom showed up straight after WW2 with false passports and lots of gold bullion and paintings they couldn't account for!), and the Welsh... I believe they went there in the 1800s to find work in the mining industry - there are apparently Andean villages were they speak Welsh to this day. And, er, yeah, on-topic; McGann wasn't ginger (I mean, it was a wig anyway!), but he does seem to be a bit reddish in some photos - probably doesn't count, anyway.
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Post by clocketpatch on Sept 20, 2008 21:54:24 GMT
And, er, yeah, on-topic; McGann wasn't ginger (I mean, it was a wig anyway!), but he does seem to be a bit reddish in some photos - probably doesn't count, anyway. It's a wig??? NOOOOOooooooooooooOOOOOOOoooooooo!!! lol. I knew that. But the wig is sorta gingerish. In fact, I once heard McGann described as Not rude and Not quite ginger. And it counts. Definitely. I still do want a flaming red head for the Doctor at some point. for my own hair, I don't really want bright red, more of an auburn... or a dark copper... ?
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