fuchikoma Posted October 8, 2011 Report Share Posted October 8, 2011 See I'd have thought it'd have had more of an impact if you guys were to boycott the language or measuring systems. Or the accent since... The language would be impossible to boycott. Besides, would they speak the language of their English forefathers, Spanish enemies(?), or make up a new one? Everyone would just speak what they know. I do find it ironic that they stand virtually alone now in using the "imperial" measurement system though! Still, the issue itself was with the taxation of tea, so they turned against tea because they weren't going to pay it. Actually I'm gonna ask on this one: In the past few months I've had to put to me (maybe not always directly) that the "American accent" is actually what the welsh/British accent sounded like 300 years. Is that just people trolling or is it something that Americans truly believe. Cos I find it pretty fucking absurd that people would:1) Think there is any such thing as an "American accent" (or even a "British Accent") 2) That for some inexplicable reason the "British Accent" evolved and changed over the centuries, yet the "American accent" stayed the same. I should point out that when an American says "British accent" they certainly mean "English" and use it interchangeably. Good luck explaining that Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland are British. As for generalizing accents, in North America, many of us aren't very attuned to regional variations and dialects, but they can be classified by nation for broad comparisons. (For instance, most would probably tell you rhotic accents sound American, while non-rhotic accents sound British, generally.) Personally, I could probably only discern around three major English British accents, and would admittedly probably lump whole families of accents together under one heading. I hesitate to even try naming them for all the mistakes I'd make, but even a fool can tell you Cockney is different from received pronunciation, even in North America - whether or not it occurs to them that there are multiple accents in use. I natively speak West-Central Canadian English, and while I study languages for fun, apart from idioms, I can't really hear a difference between it and North Central American English, though some can. In fact, I may be confusing NCAE with General American too. While there are many regional variations, I'm mostly just aware of English as it's spoken in most of Canada and the USA, the , which apparently may vary from a Maritimes accent, the "Southern American" accent, and generally some . Boston definitely has a , though without hearing "r", I don't have enough of a shibboleth to really notice it. (I am bad at this... I'd probably screw up and guess New York instead of New England.) Supposedly California has a regional accent. I've never noticed it, even when looking for it. tl;dr, in North America, many of us aren't very aware of regional accents unless they're very pronounced, so we don't think of them so much as regional, but national - where Great Britain has a lot more distinct accents in a small geographical area so of course it'd be obvious. As for some kind of modern American accent sounding more like a common British or English accent at the time of America's founding... I could believe it, but I really can't find much on it now. I'm guessing maybe it's more like a New England accent, since they've been more conservative with language, distinct from other parts of the country, and had more contact with England? I vaguely recall reading that it was actually more elements of English and Scottish that came to North America... but I have no links to good studies so I'll just shut up about it before I dig myself into a hole here. This should be of general interest to this thread - Hugh Laurie and Ellen Degeneres discuss American and English slang: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted October 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2011 Fuch I was kinda kidding on the "drop the language" bit. Also Britain is still very stuck in it's ways of keeping our imperial measurements. As for the accents stuff I was more getting at the "Americans sound like what British used to sound like 300 years ago" I'm aware that there's regional variations, just as we have cockney, scouse n geordie. And regarding the hugh laurie video...check the front page Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuchikoma Posted October 8, 2011 Report Share Posted October 8, 2011 oops... It was so far back, I totally forgot! I think I just had too much time there and got locked into serious discussion mode from hanging out in the piracy thread, hehe... Still, even if it was boring, I had fun because I'm fascinated by this stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted October 12, 2011 Report Share Posted October 12, 2011 Got some funny looks when I described an EA offer as "niggardly" today. Must remember not to use that one in front of Americans again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yantelope Posted October 12, 2011 Report Share Posted October 12, 2011 (edited) Maybe this got covered a while ago but it's been so long. America: Pissed = angry. Usage: I'm so pissed at you right now. UK: Pissed = drunk. Usage: You're pissed aren't you. Also, America: piss = urinate. Usage: I've gotta go take a piss. I keep finding things like this when I'm watching the IT Crowd with friends and they get confused about things like this. Fanny was the other one that came up watchin the IT Crowd that confused some of my friends. Dean had already explained that though so I was able to pass on that nugget of wisdom. Also, there's this Edited October 12, 2011 by Yantelope Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted October 12, 2011 Report Share Posted October 12, 2011 Pissed does indeed = Drunk. Pissed off = Angry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted October 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2011 UK usage of pissed: Person one: "I was pissed last night so I pissed all over your carpet." Person two: "I am pissed that you pissed on my carpet." As mentioned way early on in this thread pretty much anything in UK can be used to mean drunk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yantelope Posted October 12, 2011 Report Share Posted October 12, 2011 Interesting. You'll never hear pissed used in relation to drinking in America AFAIK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFlyingGerbil Posted October 12, 2011 Report Share Posted October 12, 2011 pissed as a fart is another pissed phrase for drunk, and slightly funnier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted October 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2011 So to go along with the whole "don't have kettles" things. Turns out these are pretty rare too. Two nations separated by a common language my arse, it's white goods where the split is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faiblesse Des Sens Posted October 13, 2011 Report Share Posted October 13, 2011 What am I looking at? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted October 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2011 What am I looking at? Not sure if playing along or if it's even worse than I've been led to believe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yantelope Posted October 13, 2011 Report Share Posted October 13, 2011 Speaking as an electrical engineer, as I recall the reason why we use 120v power in america is for safety. The reason the UK uses 220V or whatever it is is because they're too cheap to use the extra copper for 120v. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted October 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2011 You mean Americans are too cheap to put BS 1363 on the end of their wires? Also I'm pretty sure ours is meant to be one of the safest with the gates n grounding n all that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yantelope Posted October 13, 2011 Report Share Posted October 13, 2011 Well, with 120v you have fewer devices on each circuit so that means more circuits, more home runs, more breakers and more of everything in general. It's more expensive but if you happen to shock yourself on accident you're not gonna feel it quite so bad. The reason you need those ugly fat BS 1363s is because 220V is so much more potential. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted October 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2011 I don't think you could ever call something that helps you make cups of tea ugly and fat. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chronixal Posted October 13, 2011 Report Share Posted October 13, 2011 I don't know if it's already been said (more than likely) but I find it amusing that the word 'cunt' in certain circles in the UK is all but used as an informal greeting at times, eg. "Alright, ya cunt?" whereas from what I hear it's a HUGE no-no in the States. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFlyingGerbil Posted October 13, 2011 Report Share Posted October 13, 2011 I've never heard of cunt being used lightly in the UK. I'd consider it the swear word most likely to cause offence. Maybe there are certain circles where it is an informal greeting but then there are groups were anything goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuchikoma Posted October 13, 2011 Report Share Posted October 13, 2011 So to go along with the whole "don't have kettles" things. Turns out these are pretty rare too. Two nations separated by a common language my arse, it's white goods where the split is. You don't have clothes dryers in England? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chronixal Posted October 13, 2011 Report Share Posted October 13, 2011 So to go along with the whole "don't have kettles" things. Turns out these are pretty rare too. Two nations separated by a common language my arse, it's white goods where the split is. You don't have clothes dryers in England? Yeah but we call them tumble dryers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted October 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2011 So to go along with the whole "don't have kettles" things. Turns out these are pretty rare too. Two nations separated by a common language my arse, it's white goods where the split is. You don't have clothes dryers in England? That's a washing machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuchikoma Posted October 14, 2011 Report Share Posted October 14, 2011 Ok, haha... a round front window and a bunch of settings on top - I didn't recognize the particular model, but my washer and dryer both look about like that. In Canada, I don't think I've ever seen a home without a washer and dryer - apartments tend to have them in a common room unless it's a large place (for a while I had a penthouse with them in-suite) but even the poor have them up north here since anything on the line would just freeze solid in November through April. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted October 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2011 Well it's not so much that particular model (it's a fairly standard design, door in front, dials on top, tray to the side) but the particular design. That type is prevalent to the point I have to get much more specific with my google image search to get these as a result: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuchikoma Posted October 14, 2011 Report Share Posted October 14, 2011 Well it's not so much that particular model (it's a fairly standard design, door in front, dials on top, tray to the side) but the particular design. That type is prevalent to the point I have to get much more specific with my google image search to get these as a result: Ok, so you're not saying washers and dryers are rare in North America, but that front loaders are rare? I have seen a lot more top-loading washers... though I think there are more high efficiency front loaders these days. Sorry, I'm not seeing the split, unless machines like that are really rare over there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted October 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2011 top loading washing machines in the UK? Unless you go in a laundrette (which are rare as it is) you'll probably never see one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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