Learning to Speak English (Again)

[Kuya John]

Dyslexia and me.

As child in classes of forty plus my own Dyslexia was overlooked and I struggled throughout my schooling.

Leaving school and entering into the Adult world I avoided situations which might embarrass me.

It was only in later life when I was under less pressure that through crossword puzzles etc, that things started to help me come to terms with what I choose to call "Word Blindness," Today's Education system is more aware of this disability and one to one help is at hand.

For my part I am mostly self taught and with the invention of the computer for the masses, I have arrived were I am today mainly due to seeing what I'm writing on screen, the spellcheck facility and a willingness to learn. hence my love of Quotes and Puns.

My confidence has grown to converse and to debate the rights and wrongs of the Society we live in today, and what has been bottled up inside me for many years, has at last had the opportunity to express itself.

Edited June 17, 2019 by Kuya John

[Jack Peterson]

1 hour ago, Kuya John said:

I'm Dis-electric.

 I thought you were quiet of late, Those electric Motors are quiet  As you know a Scouser will say, Dis Electric Motor  

[hk blues]

1 hour ago, GeoffH said:

People used to complain about the aussie accent being hard to understand (less so these days as with international media it's becoming international English that younger Aussies are speaking) but honestly... some of the UK regional accents are impossible for us non-brits to understand at anything close to normal speaking speed. 

A mate of mine is a Geordie (we still get in touch occasionally) he's got a real accent but his older relatives were almost unintelligible even when they were trying to be understood (let along when they went full Geordie).

Is a non-local allowed to say...  "A Geordie is just a Scot with his head kicked in!" 

It mightn't be PC but I still find that hilarious 30 years later 

 

As a Scot, I do not really think the Geordie accent is at all similar to anything I've heard in Scotland - it really is unique.  I'd say the Geordie accent is probably the most difficult regional accent but it's not just the accent, they have a lot of unique words that are impossible to guess.  

[Kuya John]

2 hours ago, Jack Peterson said:

 I thought you were quiet of late, Those electric Motors are quiet  As you know a Scouser will say, Dis Electric Motor  

Sorry Jack, but Scouser prefer Diesel.

Diesel do our Kid....Diesel do me Dad......Diesel do me Ma......

Edited June 17, 2019 by Kuya John

[Mark Berkowitz]

From another topic:

“I think american english is known as such to to distinguish the different spelling. Colour/color, the use of s and z etc. Prehaps we should call is microsoft english.”

“Evolution of American English

Almost from the time that the first Englishman set foot upon American soil, our language began to evolve. A continuous process throughout the centuries, “Americanisms” have been created or changed from other English terms to produce a language that differs from our forefathers, signifying our uniqueness and independence.

By 1790 when the United States took its first census, there were four million Americans, 90% of whom were descendants of English colonists. This, of course, left no question that our official native language would be “English,” but it would not be the same as that spoken in Great Britain.

By 1720, the English colonists began to notice that their language was quite different from that spoken in their Motherland. How did that come to be?

The reasons are numerous, the most obvious being the sheer distance from England. Over the years, many words were borrowed from the Native Americans, as well as other immigrants from France, Germany, Spain, and other countries.

Other words that became obsolete across the pond, continued to be utilized in the colonies. In other cases, words simply had to be created in order to explain the unfamiliar landscape, weather, animals, plants, and living conditions that these early pioneers encountered.

The first “official” reference to the “American dialect” was made in 1756 by Samuel Johnson a year after he published his Dictionary of the English Language. Johnson’s coinage of the term “American dialect” was not meant to simply explain the differences, but rather, was intended as an insult.

Years earlier, however; as early as 1735, the English were calling our language “barbarous,” and referred to our “Americanisms” as barbarisms.

The English sneering at our language continued for more than a century after the Revolutionary War, as they laughed and condemned as unnecessary, hundreds of American terms and phrases.

However, to our newly independent Americans, they were proud of their “new” American language, wearing it, as yet, another badge of independence. In 1789, Noah Webster wrote in his Dissertations on the English Language:

“The reasons for American English being different than English English are simple: As an independent nation, our honor requires us to have a system of our own, in language as well as government.”  Our leaders, including Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Rush, agreed — it was not only good politics, it was sensible.”

https://www.legendsofamerica.com/ah-americanenglish/

Note:  I have to somewhat disagree with the quoted source on the following, since some words (such as reckon) are still in use by the English people that I know and chat with in England.

“Early examples of words that had become obsolete in England that continued to be used in the United States were:

allow, guess, reckon, meaning to think.

bureau, meaning a chest of drawers.

fall, meaning “autumn”

gotten, where “got” was being used as the past participle of “get.”

Wilt”

 

[hk blues]

8 hours ago, Mark Berkowitz said:

Note:  I have to somewhat disagree with the quoted source on the following, since some words (such as reckon) are still in use by the English people that I know and chat with in England.

“Early examples of words that had become obsolete in England that continued to be used in the United States were:

allow, guess, reckon, meaning to think.

bureau, meaning a chest of drawers.

fall, meaning “autumn”

gotten, where “got” was being used as the past participle of “get.”

Wilt”

 

I agree with you Mark.

Reckon is definitely used in the UK - bureau is a piece of furniture and used today - gotten is taught as the past participle of get - wilt is still in use.  However, i agree that Fall is not used and Autumn is.

[JDDavao II]

On 6/17/2019 at 1:29 AM, Rayj said:

Gonna and wanna are used by new speakers of English, they are heard so often.

It’s not the queens English, but it is Donald Trumps, and probably every president in my lifetime. 

Bush The First was famous for, "Not gunna do it."

[Rayj]

Watching “All Creatures Great and Small” put me in touch with how frequent the word “thee” was used (at the time the series was being shown anyway, Yorkshire wasn’t it?)  Also Nay. And then in Germany , I heard Nay being used quite frequently too, in the central rural region. I like to use Brit or Aussie colloquialisms myself. But Nay was not even on my radar, and certainly not thee. But reckon, I picked up recently, an I know what a geezer is.

[Mark Berkowitz]

9 minutes ago, Rayj said:

Aussie colloquialisms

I just had to ask Mr. Google for some examples and I'm surprised that one of them has gone so global: 

Pull the wool over your eyes

Similar to "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse and chase the jockey," this one derives from the bush. A history of "earning a buck" around woolsheds meant people had to give an honest day's work ("eight hours' work, eight hours' play and eight bob a day" chanted the union movement).

 

Australians had to be genuine with each other so they could all get their "fair share" of "spuds" (potatoes). If someone is being a little "sheepy," dishonest, or "spinning a yarn," they are trying to "pull the wool over your eyes."

 

I really had no idea at all until now that I've been speaking Aussie slang (or an idiom).

 

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/australian-slang-phrases/index.html

[Mark Berkowitz]

Is Mr. Google correct?

He just told me that there's slang that I always thought was purely American, but I'm wrong...

or is Mr. Google wrong? 

(from New Zealand):

Good as gold – “Everything is good as gold”.
Means everything is great, sweet, perfect or going great.

(from Canada):

Pop

Refers to soda, the delicious carbonated beverage that mom rarely let you have.

What you sayin’?

Used when asking what someone is doing. Similar to the phrase, “what are you up to?”

True

A term used instead of ‘OK.’ (Note: not used to express that something is valid or true.)