General > General Technical Chat
No, you didn’t “reach out”, you CONTACTED them
<< < (20/26) > >>
magic:
That's not even close to the top reasons.

The first thing is that written English is not really phonetic. Same letters, same pairs of letters, even same sub-words are pronounced/written differently depending on context.
Then is the bizarre pronunciation of all 'i's and 'y's in obvious loanwords which sound similar in continental languages.
16 tenses, gotta be kidding me.
Lack of singular pronouns besides "I", apparently :P
tooki:

--- Quote from: eti on September 23, 2021, 12:31:36 am ---Anyone wishing to imply that American "English" is still valid English, might like to consider this for a second: if part of an English family emigrated to America in the 1800s, then years later, their descendants flew back to England, from America, and demanded instant English citizenship, can you see how that would turn out?

"But my great great grandfather was English, so I'm entitled, and technically I'm almost English by ancestry"

Yeah? NO.

--- End quote ---
Ah, the classic rant of an uninformed British snob.

The fact that we can understand each other without difficulty already shows that we are using the same language. We speak different dialects, but the fact that we have mutual intelligibility shows that they’re not different languages.

There once was a language called “English”, which was then carried to multiple faraway lands. In each of those and in the mother country, this English continued to evolve, such that a) the dialects grew farther apart from each other, and b) the dialects, including in the mother country, evolved away from the mutual ancestral form. (And indeed, historical linguists have shown that British English changed more than American English. Both changed, but American English changed less.)

In other words, your British English is at minimum as far removed from the “original” English as my American English is. But the fact we are having this discussion in English means they’re both the same language, and its name is “English”.


What I find curious is how fragile the British psyche must be, given how so many Brits take every opportunity they can to bash on American English (and American things in general).
Monkeh:

--- Quote from: tooki on September 25, 2021, 01:59:31 pm ---What I find curious is how fragile the British psyche must be, given how so many Brits take every opportunity they can to bash on American English (and American things in general).

--- End quote ---

Perhaps Americans just don't understand the concept of a good ribbing.

Not that eti's any less of a ranty snob.
TimFox:
A thought-experiment on the use of "English" as the name of a language:
1.  What language was spoken in Massachusetts in 1765 (shortly before the War of Independence)?
2.  What language was spoken in Massachusetts in 1799 (shortly after the US Constitution)?
3.  What is the difference between these two languages?
tooki:

--- Quote from: Sal Ammoniac on September 24, 2021, 04:22:27 pm ---

--- End quote ---
I’ll see your listicle and raise it a poem. :)
Navigation
Message Index
Next page
Previous page
There was an error while thanking
Thanking...

Go to full version
Powered by SMFPacks Advanced Attachments Uploader Mod