I kept typing in favorite in the search engine to look for discussions about people's preferences and kept getting nothing. Then it dawned on this silly Yankee...the U! Favourite? Yes, much better results. Having read enough Tolkien, Wells, Lewis, etc...well...shame on me for not realising

 

We don't have that problem north of the border in Canada..... 

Quote from: scottmitchell74 on January 25, 2014, 03:53:17 PM
...shame on me for not realizing sooner.

Realising

Cheers   Jon   

Ahh yes, works much better when you use proper English 

Regards

Neal

Note to authorities..............
We need to restart sending missionaries and language teachers to the US of A again.
( We should never have granted them independence ).

 

You know that we wouldn't be able to leave that alone now don't you.......

My Barbadian wife has been seeing to my reeducation for years now! Getting there...

They have a saying there "More English than England sheself." 

Quote from: scottmitchell74 on January 25, 2014, 04:24:12 PM
My Barbadian wife has been seeing to my reeducation for years now! Getting there...

They have a saying there "More English than England sheself." 

Ahhh....Barbados...now there is somewhere I'd like to be right now..... 

What gets me is how they have the gall to call what they speak over there 'English' and as for their spelling; don't get me started. 

Don't look for 'switches' Scott you wont find what you are looking for 

FWIW:

Based-upon population useage, there are currently EIGHT recognised forms of 'English' on the planet.

Theses are as follows:

'Standard' English (aka 'BBC' or 'Home Counties' English')

'South African' English

'Australian' English

'New Zealand' English

'Canadian' English

'American' English

'Chinese' English (I kid you not) aka 'Chinglish' (that ethnic-grouping's term for their variant BTW)

'Korean' English (Again, I kid you not) aka 'Kringlish' (again, the term used by the Korean-ethnic group to describe there version)

Whether any (or all) of these constitute 'real' English can be the subject of debate.

FWIW:  'American' English is essentially 17th Century English (the Pilgrim Father's and all that) with bits added-on.  When compared to 'Standard 'BBC' English, it is very definitely NOT 'English' English, a detail which many American's seem unable to comprehend. it is rather, a variant, and has been liked to 17th-century English stuck in aspic'.  As such it is somewhat unique.  Linguistically, the Atlantic Ocean was a definitely a barrier...

However, the evolution of both 'Chinglish' and Kringlish' may be of interest. Currently, 'English' (in all its variations) and Mandarin ('Chinese') are equally the world's most widely-used languages. 

English-usage is however increasing, with Chinese and Korean 'English' being the pacesetters. These two 'variants' of 'English' are now evolving by themselves as their speakers in turn teach other speakers from within their ethnicity.  These groups are not, of course 'native' speakers for whom English is their first language. As a result, and with time, it is expected that Chinglish and Kringlish' will develop and evolve into something which may well be another 'variant' of 'English'.  Exactly what will result is not, of course, evident at the moment, lthough the end=result may not be a form which will conform to any known 'variant' of 'English'. Time will tell.

As I said, FWIW.  Hope this has been of interest. .

(BTW, If anyone wonders: I am a TESOL teacher, who finds language 'evolution' a fascinating subject)

  Tell me about it ! My wife is Chinese and she has a language all of her own.

Yeah, the English language in all its versions/dialects is endlessly fascinating to me.

One of my all-time favorite anecdotes that I like to share is the time I had to translate between two people who both speak English as their first and native languages.

I'm from Ohio - The American Midwest.  We speak what is generally thought of as "Standard American English" more or less without a distinguishing (to other Americans) accent. It's the English you'll typically hear spoken by news anchors on major networks.

My wife is, as mentioned, Barbadian. In the classroom and work-place they speak a nice, proper, beautiful Caribbean English. In the home and playground, however, they speak a dialect they call Bajan. It's a mix of English, African, American (especially with the advent of TV in every home) and other words that are unique to them. It's impossible for a non-native to speak, although you can follow after a while. It's fast, very often heavily contracted, lots of slang. It's rough on the beginner. My Mother-In-Law served as my "Rosetta Stone" for understanding Bajan.

We now live in West Texas - Real Cowboy country. When we first moved to Abilene, TX I got hired onto the local Fire Department. I can remember my wife coming to the Station and my Lt. at the time was this true Texan with a very pronounced drawl. My wife was much more recently "off the boat" as she says, so her accent was thicker. When these two were trying to speak to each other, neither could understand the other. So, my Lt. would say something and I'd translate for my lost wife, and when my wife spoke I had to clarify for my Lt. who couldn't quite catch everything she said. I was grinning from ear-to-ear the whole time.

That was quite an unusual experience that I not contemplated until it happened to me.

Quote from: Komata on January 25, 2014, 05:56:22 PM
FWIW:  'American' English is essentially 17th Century English (the Pilgrim Father's and all that) with bits added-on.  When compared to 'Standard 'BBC' English, it is very definitely NOT 'English' English, a detail which many American's seem unable to comprehend. it is rather, a variant, and has been liked to 17th-century English stuck in aspic'.  As such it is somewhat unique.  Linguistically, the Atlantic Ocean was a definitely a barrier...

I heard this on a tour of the Globe Theatre (or should I say theater?) in London, where they sometimes put on Shakespeare's plays performed in an Elizabethan style. Apparently this sounds much closer in tone to today's American accent than to today's English English.

Interesting to learn that Standard English seems to exclude anyone from North of Watford Mind you, I have been in Newcastle or Glasgow and wondered what language the locals were speaking - it certainly didn't sound like English

Scott - was your Lt a 'Leftenant' or a 'Lootenant' though