Things that pee you off...

[DavidA 153]

The liberal establishment and their cronies hate Britain and the native British. Unfortunately we have no leaders able to speak for us. If someone ever arise, then the liberal establishment will tremble.

[plantfit 7,598]

43 minutes ago, DavidA said:

the native British.

I'm afraid the "Native Britain" is in the minority these days David

 

Rog

[catfan 14,793]

Meet the Sudanese immigrant who allegedly went on the rampage in London last week.

Is that the thanks we get ?

Looks like he's had a Botox job on his lips.

[DavidA 153]

The real enemy is not the individual immigrant, it is those Britons who allow and encourage the disastrous situation we're getting our nation into. I suppose I'd better stop now before I get a telling off...

[catfan 14,793]

You mean the Snowflakes Dave ?

[woody 552]

See a traffic warden saw fit to give a marked police car a parking ticket in Beeston. The council have graciously cancelled the ticket, would they do us all a favour and cancel the employment of the cretin who issued it please.

[plantfit 7,598]

On 12/1/2015 at 10:41 AM, catfan said:

Leave the kids outside, tethered to a wall !

 

Would this be any good in Wetherspoons Bulwell Mick?

 

 

Rog

[catfan 14,793]

Should be at every pub or easier still. NO KIDS IN THE PUB.

 .

[jonab 1,644]

Children in France seem to be a completely different species to those in England. Having said that, I notice that there is an increasing tendency for bad behaviour amongst them when out socialising. I blame this on the increasing MacDonaldism which is taking over the world - by this I mean the malign influence of American culture and values.

 

When I first moved to France, children knew their place - and that was as subordinates to their parents and elders when being taken out to a bar or restaurant. They behaved impeccably and their reward was that of sharing in the meal and, perhaps if they were very good, a few sips of wine.

 

Now, although not a bad as it seems to be in England - and which I saw demonstrated when I was over last Christmas - there is an increasing arrogance amongst the young which makes them extremely unpleasant. This is more so in the towns and cities here - the kids in my local village are still polite and respectful to us adults and use the correct form of address e.g the formal "comment allez vous" and not the colloquial "comment ça va" or even just "ça va" but then, my wheelchair may have something to do with that.

 

As an addition, in England last year my use of the wheelchair did invoke some ridicule and I was catcalled as being a cripple  - and that was in the South, not Nottingham!!!

[MargieH 7,600]

The French lessons taught here in primary and secondary schools only seem to teach, "ca va" as a greeting.  When I was at school it was the more formal "comment allez vous".  

[philmayfield 6,140]

I think the teaching of French in our schooldays was far too formal with a lot of emphasis on grammar,  much after the teaching of Latin which had hard and fast formal rules. A language is best taught generally in  a conversational manner. A friend of mine is going to Paris for a long weekend today and we’ve had much amusement in the pub in trying to revive our conversational French.

[jonab 1,644]

Margie, it shouldn't be like that. The French are much more formal in their speech and greeting with ça va equates nearly but not quite to eyup, mate. Imagine meeting Emmanuel Macron or Theresa May with such a greeting. Comment allez vous is absolutely essential in such circumstances (or it's off to the guillotine).

[Brew 5,420]

Quite agree that teaching a langue should emphasis on conversation first. Whether you know a pluperfect tense from a hole in the ground does not really help.

It was always said at school that foreign English speakers spoke it better than native speakers because they were taught only 'correct' English and not the vernacular.

At work we had some German apprentices who spoke some English but were a long way from fluent. After nine months they were all virtually perfect, including swearing, but had no idea of the difference between a noun and a verb and it mattered not one jot.

 

Edit:

Pity I didn't read this before I posted in a topic about language, you'll have to excuse the errors

[MargieH 7,600]

I suppose the children having French lessons here are just being taught - as Phil said - conversational French with their peers, so  ca va" Is appropriate in that circumstance.  I'm sure if the children continue learning French as an exam subject, the more formal stuff will be taught.

[jonab 1,644]

Phil, your friend doesn't need to revive his/her conversational French. Just about anywhere you go in Paris (or any large(ish) French city) there will be an English speaker - and quite likely an English person quite close by always ready to help.

Your statement "A language is best taught generally in a conversational manner" is so true. I found that my "O" level French to be just about useless when I moved here. To be trying to have a conversation whilst conjugating verbs in your mind (as is or was the way that French was taught) does absolutely nothing towards learning a language. The only way to learn is to do it in the same way the native speakers learned - by listening and imitating and then, only then, attempting to write what you hear. You do have an advantage with the Romance languages such as French in that you already know how to write.

[plantfit 7,598]

Why does most people who are being interviewed on the TV start their answer with the word SO, bloody annoying, and why don't a lot of young people pronounce the letter T in most of their words, ie,twen-y or nine-y  instead of twenty and ninety, bloody annoying again, innit

 

Rog (without the letter T)

[philmayfield 6,140]

The same friend found, on a previous occasion in Paris, that not one of a group of policeman could speak English when his wife’s purse was stolen! I think that was just the general animosity to the English and the rudeness that you experience in Paris.

[philmayfield 6,140]

2 minutes ago, plantfit said:

Why does most people who are being interviewed on the TV start their answer with the word SO, bloody annoying, and why don't a lot of young people pronounce the letter T in most of their words, ie,twen-y or nine-y  instead of twenty and ninety, bloody annoying again, innit

 

Rog (without the letter T)

Trog ?

[plantfit 7,598]

Exac-ly

 

Rog

[jonab 1,644]

I'm surprised at that, Phil. I can't help thinking that there was something about your friend's attitude that he met with that. Even more surprised that there was no English speaker in the area (maybe for the reason I suggested?)

[philmayfield 6,140]

He's the nicest guy you could ever wish to meet. If it was me you could understand it! 

[plantfit 7,598]

They've never forgiven us for Agincourt

 

Rog

[Jill Sparrow 10,307]

1 hour ago, philmayfield said:

 much after the teaching of Latin which had hard and fast formal rules. 

Oh, I don't know. Ovid's poetry was interesting to 16 year old girls! 

[jonab 1,644]

1 hour ago, plantfit said:

Why does most people who are being interviewed on the TV start their answer with the word SO, bloody annoying, and why don't a lot of young people pronounce the letter T in most of their words, ie,twen-y or nine-y  instead of twenty and ninety, bloody annoying again, innit

 

Rog (without the letter T)

I don't watch much TV but I have noticed when channel hopping on satellite that there is a tendency on those very poorly run English shopping channels, as well as the "so" and "t" affliction, the increasing mispronunciation of "thing" either on its own or in combination as in everything,  something etc. So the resulting hybrid is think thus everythink, somethink. To make things (thinks) worse, this is frequently compounded by an apparent lack of the ability to pronounce "th" which is uttered as "f" as in fink, everyfink, somefink and so on.

[philmayfield 6,140]

1 hour ago, Jill Sparrow said:

Oh, I don't know. Ovid's poetry was interesting to 16 year old girls! 

We weren’t given the dirty books. Just Civis Romanus and the Shorter Latin Primer were all we had. I dropped Latin in year 3. I think, back in the day, O level Latin was a requirement for entry into some medical schools such as Oxbridge. I still find it useful for reading tombstones and crossword puzzles so it wasn’t wasted on me!