Hey - wheres my picture gone? Surely ive not been censored? I had clothes on...
Can't Americans Understand Plain English?
by Englishman 43 Replies latest jw friends
-
-
katiekitten
Hnffggghhhh (Katie looks embarrased)
it HAD gone, honest...
-
greendawn
What Trevor said about Northerns having accents so heavy that they are incomprehensible is partly correct as a part of them are indeed impossible to follow but not all are so.
Likewise there are some Scots Welsh and Irish that mince their words to the point of being unintelligible. -
ballistic
Hey - wheres my picture gone? Surely ive not been censored? I had clothes on...
What picture?
-
Insomniac
I don't have any trouble whatsoever understanding British people in movies or in person. Well, except for those guys in Trainspotting- in a few places, they were utterly incomprehensible, but I'm not sure if that was from being Scottish, or being on heroin.The thing our British brethren should bear in mind, however, is that Americans do not speak English; we speak American. It's similar, but not identical. Just speak slowly, and enunciate for us, and we'll probably get most of what you're saying.
*Oh yeah- The term Yankee is only properly applied to those born (not merely residing) in New England, which is comprised of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Conneticut. All those unfortunates living in those other states are just Americans. If you call them Yankees, it reminds them that they're not, and you'll hurt their feelings.
-
ColdRedRain
If you can somehow get a population greater than 300 million, you can have the language back. Until then, we'll do as we damn well please with the language.
Kind of brings a differentcolor to this Brit-America dichotomy.
-
mtbatoon
As people often forget the English language was invented as a trading language. It meant to develop and does so very well.
I'm a southerner living in the north and I can tell you sometimes I can't understand a word they say up here, but then again I do live in a predominantly West Indian community, after five years I'm up to recognising one out of every three words.
-
Gordy
Well I live on Merseyside, though born and bred on the Wirral across River Mersey from Liverpool. When outsiders hear my voice they always say "Oh a Scouse accent, you from Liverpool?"
Actually real Scousers from Liverpool call us on this side of the river "plastic Scousers"
A friend of mine went to USA for holiday, Oklahoma, if I recall right. While being served in a restuarant the waiter said "You got a funny accent, where you from" My friend says "Liverpool, England" Waiters says, "Really, What part of the States is that in?"
A good book to read on the development of the American and English language is "Mother Tongue" by Bill Bryson.
-
ColdRedRain
LOL, tell me about it. When I make calls back to the old country (Trinidad and Tobago), it's like I need a translator to talk to my relatives.
-
minimus
EMan, I agree with you EXCEPT I believe that just because an "Englishman" speaks "English", It doesn't mean that an accent might not be that easy to understand.