The English Language


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I don't understand noonaB," A" this side of the pond as in "cat" as pronounced the same as Brit "cat", some say "ba rth" others say "bath", there are regional differences to speech much the same as in the UK. Most here can pick a Californian accent up, as can a New York accent. Even with 100 mile radius it's possible to note words spoken differently with area accents.

Amerca has many diverse regional accents.

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There have been several topics recently, whereby mention has been made regarding the correct use of the English language, especially punctuation which certainly gets people baffled at times. I mentio

Yes, it's good when people's posts are spelt correctly but if they aren't then I couldn't care less. I'm more interested in what they have to say than if they've missed an apostrophe off or misspelt a

Why is everyone going on about grammar?  I suspect that  it's often predictive text or twitchy fingers that cause any mistakes on here anyway.   As long as the.post  is clear and unambiguous,  does it

there are regional differences to speech much the same as in the UK. Most here can pick a Californian accent up, as can a New York accent. Even with 100 mile radius it's possible to note words spoken differently with area accents. Amerca has many diverse regional accents.

I only discovered a few years ago that there are regional Scottish accents which can be identified by people who know the subject. Apparently someone from Aberdeen sounds very different to someone from Glasgow to someone from Edinburgh.

To me, they are all just Scottish and sound exactly the same.

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Cliff, we had a shift Supervisor at Boulby who was a Scotsman, born and raised in Edinburgh, he went to the highlands one year for a two weeks holiday, fishing and enjoying himself. When he got back, he said "I was a "stranger" in my own country" The locals ignored him and shunned him, his accent was different to theirs.

Glaswegians sound different to those from Edinburgh, those from Edinburgh have a much thicker Scots accent.

There's a study going on over here over regional accents around the US, I read a paper on the subject and what they have discovered so far a few months back.

But even locally, and I'm close to the Arkansas state line, you can pick out a West Plains (city) accent against the rural accents around me, and that's just in a matter of around 40 miles.

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I like to annoy SWMBO & Mother-in-law by saying "mine-strone soup" instead of "minestrone soup," it really winds them up. Of course at a crowded restaurant I said "mine-strone soup" to the very pretty waitress, she looked at me as though I was mad, I just went bright red with embarrassment. SWMBO & MIL said "it serves you right" as they laughed

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I have heard tell that Newcastle [on Tyne] has numerous variations, and at one time an expert could almost tell the street you came from by your accent. I suspect this was overstated, but transferred to Nottingham, it would be the equivalent of distinguishing Beeston from Bulwell, or Carlton from Aspley by the accent.

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Stephen, I suppose that would have applied years back when people weren't so "mobile" as they are these days, especially in the North East where men worked at one pit or one shipyard and drank in just one pub near where they lived.

Although when I was a teen, you didn't have to travel west too far to here a different accent, Ilkeston springs to mind, start heading north from there and it got closer to Yorkshire accent, even in Notts, Hucknall was the starting point for a different accent, then get up to Kirkby and they had a different accent, half Nottingham, half Yorkshire.

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I used to be able to detect different accents within Nottingham,i had several Aunts and Uncles from Sneinton and their accent was decidedly different to my Bulwell relatives,however i think today i would struggle to notice any difference,the local accent has sort have merged into one.,and the youngsters with all their new words have certainly merged it.

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Ayupmiducks. Sorry if it sounded like the americans say "bleck" I know they don't . I wrote in a hurry and didn't explain myself properly. I meant that the italians nearly always pronounce " a"as "e" even though in the italian it is pronounced as "a as in cat"

My argument was that if children are being taught english it should be english not american english. Oh dear it sounds as though i'm against americans i'm not I love to hear americans talk especially those from the south. Talking of dialects there are so many here. Not only do they speak in dialect it is written also in dialect. People from one area maybe can't understand someone from another area. I've just read a book in Piemontese , it took me ages to read it i had to keep going back over again. I say its a shame to lose ones dialect, but slowly they are dying out.

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Re #83 by Ayupmiducks.

I agree, regional and local dialects used to be quite different within just a few miles. I remember a criminal case in the West Midlands in the late sixties being solved by the pronunciation of just a few words which allowed the police to pinpoint the area where the perpetrator lived. They found him by doing house to house enquiries in a very specific area.

It is often said that the north begins at Hucknall as that is where the influence of the northern accent really begins to take effect.

Does anyone have examples of actors doing really bad interpretations of local or regional accents?

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You'd like my wife then nonnaB. She was born and raised in Tennessee but has lived in Georgia for many more years than me. We are both re-married widow/er. Long story. Anyway, when we go back to my home in Canada people ask her to talk, just to hear her accent. Many sayings here in the Southern USA are actually from the UK. My wife's origins are from Norfolk around the 1600s. She also has a bit of Scots and Irish blood. A dangerous combination. kickme

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My auntie moved to America in the 50's. She has, to my ear, quite a strong American accent, but if you want to find her, just go to the street she lived on and ask for the English lady. As far as Americans are concerned she still sounds English.

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Loppylugs, Saying that your wife was from Tennessee brought back memories of working in a town in Tennessee and this was where, on my afternoon walk, I used to see two old timers with flannel shirts and bib and brace overalls sitting on a bench whittling sticks. After a few days seeing them doing this I naively asked "what are you making". The reply was "thangs" so I said "what are thangs" whereupon one of them pointed to the pile of wood chips on the ground and said "them thangs".

Loved the soft slow accent, the countryside thereabouts and the practical approach that the local people had to life.

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I was on Pier 49 (I think it is called) in San Francisco. Needing a rest I sat on a bench seat next to a middle-aged American chap. I struck up a small-talk conversation with him and after a minute he turned to face me, looked askance and said 'You aren't from around here, are you?'

I find Italians comical when they speak English. They speak it well but most just cannot get out of the habit of ending a word with a vowel. The most amusing example of this I heard was the owner of the Charlie Chaplin pub in Sorrento. An English lady was talking to him and said ' Why is it that you never see Italians in the pubs?' His straight-faced reply was 'Italian in restaurant - marvellous. Italian in pub - crapo'. I inwardly laugh every time I remember this, it was so funny how it just came out from him.

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"Them thangs" lovely. I can just imagine them whittling.

Loppylugs , I have a penfriend in Owingsville Kentucky. We've been writing since 1955 and in 1966 we finally met. I spent 3 months with her and her family and by the time I came home I was used to "ya' all" I could listen all day. Her uncle took us on a weeks trip and we passed through Tennessee of course as its the next state.We both had bracelets and bought charms to go on them in every state we went through. When I wear it its a real talking point. Its a bracelet I love and holds very many happy memories.The following year she came to visit me in Nottingham and we did the same thing travelling through Europe.I think she took a little local dialect back with her. She loved Nottingham.

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Chulla thats not true said she defending the Italians. Its true though that some words they just cannot pronounce. My husband and indeed many others cannot pronounce " th" no matter how hard they try it comes out "thff". Try to say "giornalaio" or any word that has a lot of vowels together. Its not easy to get the right emphasis on the right part . Italians don't recognise double vowels like oo and pronounce it as o, which can end up in some really funny versions.my son when he was small told his aunt " mi fa male la colla" insteadshouldhave been " mi fa male il collo" ( my neck hurts ) yes almost every word ends in a vowel but if you get the wrong vowel be careful........

Many years ago and I mean many we were on the ferry going to Sardinia. The toilets were in a terrible state and I said to my sister in law that the toilets were like "a crostata" she burst out laughing and said " you mean era incrostata" I wanted the floor to open Up. I'd said the toilets were like a big tart instead of being all crusted up.

Yes we all laugh at such mistakes, it makes life more interesting. One consolation though even the news readers get it wrong.

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nonnaB, as I understand it, correct me if I am wrong, in general the Italian words end in vowels to assist the flow of speech when there is a consonant beginning the next word. In any case, in the example I quoted, the sentence the man said ended in the English word 'crap', so no real reason for him to add the 'o'.

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I remember years ago having an argument with a teacher. He said he belonged to a group looking to preserve local dialects. When I asked if that included the Nottingham accent, he said no, we were badly spoken. I wonder where the distinction is defined.

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There was a young feller working at Boulby when I started in 75, he worked for the contractors, his English was impeccable, I could tell he wasn't a Brit though, and asked him where he was from, Turkey, he said. I complimented him on his English. Turned out he couldn't speak a word of English when he first came to England.

He lived in London back then and his Sister used to drop by his flat weekly to make sure he was OK, as she lived in a London suburb.

One day she was looking through his kitchen cupboards to make sure he was eating right, and came to him and said "I didn't know you had a dog"

"I don't he said", she produced a can of dog food!!

He said that day he enrolled in an evening class to learn English!!

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Chulla not always. ie. La frutta e' sul tavolo. Or la frutta e'sulla tavola. Both are correct ( the fruit is on the table ) the funny thing is that italians pronounce every letter. So fruit become fru - it. Mr is sicilian and I love the dialect i can just about understand it but when the family get together I'm lost. I can only say a few phrases in siciliano. Wheres the cat and what are we doing. Very useful phrases tO have.. 😐

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Ayupmeducks. Poor chap . My husband when he first worked in Jersey he used to take his laundry to wash. He used to get mixed up with " shirts, sheets and s??? It got him into a lot of trouble. I was in hospital when the dr doing his rounds had the same problem and asked me which word belonged to which. We had quite a laugh about it.

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I used to be able to detect different accents within Nottingham,i had several Aunts and Uncles from Sneinton and their accent was decidedly different to my Bulwell relatives,however i think today i would struggle to notice any difference,the local accent has sort have merged into one.,and the youngsters with all their new words have certainly merged it.

It was the same with me. There was a difference between my Bulwell and Hucknall relatives.

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Re #96 - I remember reading a book about Turkey, in which the author reckoned that the Turks were, on average, as bad at learning foreign languages as the English (I can't remember whether it was supposed to be an insult or a compliment!)

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