do you speak english?

I was only kidding, i bet they think the same way about their languages.

 

probably more. And the rest were invented by shakespeare.

English is the product of a mix of all sorts of languages, Germanic and Romance mainly, but a fair few strange ones as well, the only words that you're going to hear didn't come from other languages are ones that weren't there at the beginning and probably were created by successful authors.

List some words you think are original English and I'll see if I can tell you from whence they came.

 

Ahhh, but when we get their languages wrong and we're told we've got it wrong, we just accept it. We don't start digging out silly american dictionaries to try and justify our mistakes.

French is spoken all over the world, but the only thing that's different is the accent. The rest of the language is pretty much uniform. I don't know much about Spanish but even if it is a bit more diverse it's not going to be on the same scale as English.

Portuguese in Brazil has taken a fair few liberties or so I've heard, but again, not to the same extreme.

 

Thats hard.. if i think about it i can spot if it is not 'english' but like you say are language is diverse mix of many diffrent influences germanic/celtic/latin etc

Ok do you know if the welsh speak 'proper' english did they hold onto the 'English' language as we got 'invaded' over the centuries from foreighners. Somebody told me that the Welsh have the original 'english' dialect (he is welsh, and they do think they are 'special'. )

I highlighted a few words , thats the best i can do on a Sunday afternoon

 

I think all the words you highlighted except for afternoon come from latin.

Influence definitely does, in = in, fluence = flowing.

Language comes from lingua = tongue.

Original is also latin. Not sure if origin has a different meaning in Latin but it's definitely a latin word.

special is another latin influenced word. spectare = look, but there's probably another latin word that gives us species and special etc. The big giveaway is that there's an equivalent word for special in all the romance languages.

No idea about afternoon. After and Noon could come from Norse, Gallic or god knows what. Have to defer that one I'm afraid.

Well I'll tell you something about the Welsh. Their word for England translates as "the lost land", the land that was taken from them by the Saxons, as if they hope to get it back some day. They don't really hold any copyright on English though. They certainly had a big hand in its creation but English as it is today has come from influences that turned up long after the Sheepshaggers were forced back into their poxy little province.

 

Could it be you know far to much about the English language and you are a bit over sensitive ? (not being critical, just a observation)... I wonder if 'sheepshaggers' is english ?.

 

could well be. Sheep could come from gaelic perhaps, no idea. Wonder where shag came from.

 

from Austin powers 'yeah baby yeah' (sorry :& ).

http://www.worldwidewords.org/topicalwords/tw-sha2.htm

well i learn something new every day.

 

Also arse was a tudor polite term for backside.

Ass means donkey. Get it right, Joe Yank!

 

I think you have a few 'issues' and maybe you need a shrink to find some closure.

 

Sax Machine, you're a purist, and that's admirable. But eventually evolution takes over. Languages are constantly and eternally in a state of flux, like Microsoft Windows. Even though Win95 was the most stable, it's ridiculous to hang on to it forever. So, yeah, I'm personally against the Americanization (spelled with a "z") of the Queen's English, but I'll adapt to whatever communication is most prevalent.

Just as a side note to the Yanks: In European schools, they offer "American English" as an alternative to "British English". Most of the Spanish people I met actually prefer the sound of an American accent. Of course, this was years ago, before everyone started hating America.

 

Ok, first of all, Windows 95 was bollocks. 98 was worse. XP is an improvement on both.

Secondly the English Language is evolving all the time everywhere it is spoken. It's certainly evolving here. Americans can't seem to keep up with it however. That's why they spell and pronounce words as they think they should without realising that they're wrong. We've moved on from the days of spelling disc with a k or useing gotten as a perfect participle of get. Keep up.

 

You sorta lost me there, big guy. Your original argument was that we should stick to traditional Queen's English "the way it's set in London". Now you're saying evolution is ok... but Americans aren't allowed to contribute? Please restate your thesis.

Eclectic dialects are da bomb! I love hearing mixed phrases, like when a yankee says "y'all", or conversely, when a cracker says "youse". Hehe, I spent last year in Canada where I did my best to contaminate their speech. I taught them that Mardi Gras is held in "Nawlins". They, in turn, taught me that the island is called "NewFOUNDland". Yalearn somethin new every day...

 

Language is a beautiful thing isn't it?

I come from an area where, believe it or not, Shakespearean is still used!!! Holy cow. Can you believe it. It's called, Appalachia.

Here's the deal folks Not many people speak a standard language. Just about everyone speaks a dialect of a language. There's no need to get in an uproar about it.

See, folks like to think that "hillbilly," or "hick," or "southern," or what ever you want to call the dialect of the Appalachia cultures is ignorant. Here we are told that to make it in the world, we have to lose our accent. That everyone looks down on a hillbilly accent. It's not proper. It shows a lack of intelligence. They teach children now to lose their accent at a young age here. We are made to feel that the language in my area is the lowest form of language there is.

But the truth is that many of the Appalachian folks became isolated and the language didn't change much in those areas. And therefor what is considered to be hillbilly talk is just a language that hasn't progressed as rapidly as other areas that aren't isolated. There is actually a literature movement by some of Kentucky's influential writers to give Kentuckians pride for the language they speak. I'll have to get a copy of some of the articles I've read about trying to keep schools from destroying the dialect.

Dialect represents the culture that it has grown from. And there is nothing to be ashamed about. And, well, when it comes to dialect, I don't think anyone should get in a huffy about it. The way people speak reflects their personalities, the way they were raised, the different places they have been. When I was learning American Sign Language, I was absolutely fascinated by the fact that if I went outside of Kentucky, I would probably have to learn new slang. I found out that teachers of the Deaf have to really keep up with the sign language lingo because students love to create new signs. One of our graduate students was Deaf, and he was studying to be an interpreter for interpreters, learning all the different dialects of ASL. Very cool stuff.

The same goes with spoken language. Language would be so boring if everyone spoke the same way. It's great to know correct syntax and grammar and how to write a language...but what's wrong with speaking in a way that is individual to yourself, or reflects part of your culture? Complaining about what Americans have done to English seems a little crazy to me, because most languages are going to change over time and place. Claiming that standard English is set in England is also unfair, for the language in England has changed DRAMATICALLY over the years, just get some literature out to see it for yourself. I consider standard English in America to be set by OUR dictionary. Standard English in Britain, I would expect, is probably different that standard english in America.

Hmmm, since I've read English literature from Anglo Saxon up to the present, seems to me that the language over on the other side of the ocean has changed dramatically as well. And it will continue to do so. Just as it would be silly to expect Americans to speak just like the English. An ocean seperates us, there are different cultures in the two different countries. I sure don't expect someone in New York or California to speak like me, or to even understand phrases or sayings. Just like I don't always understand phrases in American Indian literature, even if the writer is from my home state.

Lordy, I had some British folks in my hotel a few years ago asking about the bubbler and I had no CLUE what that was!!! Never heard that term in my life. they giggled at me, and then got rude because I didn't know what the lif was and said I didn't know standard english. Seems like since they were HERE, they would have tried to learn 'water fountain' or 'elevator.' As, if I went to another country, I would try to at least learn the slang of the area I was visiting, and I sure wouldn't be offended if someone didn't understand me or that they didn't speak like me.

 

Ah, you've got a bit mixed up there. Yes, stick to the Queen's English. But I didn't mean to suggest that the Queen's English was set in stone. Of course it's constantly evolving. You have to keep up with it as it currently is. That's what English is. Anything else is valid as a language or dialect in its own right, but Standard English is Standard English, and you shouldn't really be allowing yourself to think that American English is the same.

My friend was joking with me once saying "Americans don't know what language they speak. A lot of them think they speak American!"
To which I replied, "Well, yes, they do!"

 

^ Oh, oops. :& Thanks for the clarification (that's what I get for jumping to the last page of a thread).

I can tell you who's to blame. It's the American media: newspapers & especially cable news. I've heard some of the worst abominations coming from their mouths, and suddenly everyone begins imitating it.

And don't get me started on "nucular" vs. "nuclear"...

That sort of corruption in formal speech is not a dialect; it's just stupid. Genuine dialects are, like Viola said, representations of the culture they've grown from, and I think they're interesting (btw Viola, if Kentucky-speak is anything like West Virginia-speak, I think it's hot!).

I think it's a riot when you have two cultures at odds over the same word, like "rubbers" heh. Hehehe. Or that museum in Paris, the "Loo". Hehehehe.

 

the Louvre? Haha.

The loo is something entirely different. It means bog. Waterloo gets its name from the english and french words for Water. Water and L'eau. Which is I suppose how we got the name loo for toilet as well.

 

_Aww, I just hope everyone is not as loving as you.

 

Eh?