british english | Imamother

zaq

Wed, Dec 10 2008, 9:07 pm

bubby wrote:

I'm British born, US citizen, & an English teacher .... I was wearing my surprize gift, a lovely new jumper .

Re-ally, my deah? and you call yourself a qualified teacher of English in the US? I'm surprised no one informed you that on this side of the pond, there is no "prize" in "surprise". That is not an accepted variant in this country, even among pretentious social climbers who think that invitations requesting the honour of your presence and your cheques at the Jewish Centre are so much more elegant and refined than those requesting the honor of your checks at the Center.

lubaussie

Wed, Dec 10 2008, 9:27 pm

zaq wrote:

bubby wrote:

I'm British born, US citizen, & an English teacher .... I was wearing my surprize gift, a lovely new jumper .

The suffix "-ize" comes from the Greek '-izo': to make, or '-izein': to employ. So any verb whose meaning includes 'to make, to become, to use or to act like', eg legalize - make legal, should be spelt with 'ize'. There are about 20 verbs (suprise, advertise, exercise etc), mostly derived from Latin, which do not have a 'to make' element, so should be spelt 'ise'. But generally, with words that can go either way like realis/ze, emphasis/ze, actualis/ze, it is the British/Australian who spell it with an "S" and Americans use a "Z".

Atali

Wed, Dec 10 2008, 9:37 pm

shabbatiscoming wrote:

bubby wrote:

I'm British born, US citizen, & an English teacher so I appoint myself as the most qualified to pasken. Rolling Eyes

"Got" is definitely slang over here, & rightly so. It's clumsy & (dare I say) low class. Shooting Arrow

"Have" is much more acceptable. I never thought I'd be agreeing with American English!! Wink

As for sofa...we never called it that. However, when my car was in the garage for a damaged wing and the boot was smashed I realized my vest was yucky. Fortunately, you couldn't see it because I was wearing my surprize gift, a lovely new jumper made of angora. How awfully spiffing!!

Yo'ma, just tell said teech there's no tip for her! She'll have to get something out of the cheque you'll write for fees.

Have a nice day, y'all.

bubby, if my husband was not south south african and I now knew half of the words you used, I would have had no idea what you wrote Smile

(cute:>)

After living in Australia for a few years (and having gone to seminary in England), I have learned most of these words.

One of the challenges of living in Australia was having to adjust my spelling when dealing with Australians.

lubaussie

Wed, Dec 10 2008, 10:11 pm

Atali wrote:

One of the challenges of living in Australia was having to adjust my spelling when dealing with Australians.

It's

coloUr
favoUrite
honoUr
analySe
criticiSe
memoriSe
encyclopaedia
centre
metre
cheque
licence
jewellery
pyjamas
aeroplane
doughnut

Very Happy

there's hundreds more!

Atali

Wed, Dec 10 2008, 10:27 pm

How do you spell yogurt again? I know there is a "h" (pronounced "haich" by you guys) in there somewhere.

And of course, the (made-up) phone number 9887-6661 would be pronounced:

nine, double eight, seven, triple six, one.

That used to drive me nuts.

morkush

Thu, Dec 11 2008, 2:33 am

What is the language called??? ENGLISH- for people in ENGLAND! Your Americans go and make up another language alltogether and then steal the name. Why don't you call it AMERICAN for people who live in AMERICA??? And then no one will be so upset when you butcher the language. After all, if it's yours, I don't really care if you kill it Smile

cubbie

Thu, Dec 11 2008, 2:43 am

When you ask the time and someone British tells you that it's half ten, that means half past ten, I've confused so many people with that, without knowing that it's only an acceptable answer to Brits!

shabbatiscoming

Thu, Dec 11 2008, 4:43 am

Tefila wrote:

Well fellow Brits how about this now acepted phrase U.S "that was so fun" AAAAAAAAAAAARG

thats an accepted phrase? I know growing up if we would say that my father would right away correct us, in america:)

bubby

Thu, Dec 11 2008, 8:54 am

zaq

I'm SURPRIZED at you that you didn't REALIZE that I know there is no "zee" ("zed") in the American version. Didn't you REALIZE I threw that in as a little TEASE (not teaze!)?

No need for sarcasm, m'dear, I get enough from my American kids. Rolling Eyes

Last edited by bubby on Thu, Dec 11 2008, 8:56 am; edited 1 time in total

shosh

Thu, Dec 11 2008, 9:03 am

Well, I'm very honoured to speak the Queen's English, and I have not lost my London accent one little bit! I've been in Israel 17 years, and I sound like I just got off the boat. And I taught my children to say "lorry," "nappy," "rubbish," and pronounce "water" as "water" and not "warder." Shall I go on?

Marion

Thu, Dec 11 2008, 1:42 pm

shosh wrote:

Don't forget taking out the bin!

Fox

Thu, Dec 11 2008, 2:00 pm

zaq wrote:

It's colloquial. Fine for casual conversation and humorous local color in writing, but keep it out of school papers and business correspondence.

I agree completely, and I'm from the U.S. Midwest.

morkush wrote:

Why don't you call it AMERICAN for people who live in AMERICA???

Because we don't want to start fights with Canadians, Mexicans, anyone living in Central America, or anyone living in South America. We get into enough fights as it is.

I have some slender but deep roots in the U.S. South (going back to before what is known in those parts as the "Northern War of Aggression"), and everyone from that branch of the family always sat on davenports, and the older people sat on davenports in the parlor.

yo'ma

Thu, Dec 11 2008, 2:35 pm

morkush wrote:

Do Australians speak, Australian?
Okay, the Irish do speak Irish.
Do South Africans speak, South African?
Do Canadians speak, Canadian?
etc...

zaq

Thu, Dec 11 2008, 2:48 pm

yo'ma wrote:

morkush wrote:

Do Australians speak, Australian?
Okay, the Irish do speak Irish.
Do South Africans speak, South African?
Do Canadians speak, Canadian?
etc...

Irish speak Gaelic, as do Scots, but it's not the same Gaelic for both.
South Africans speak Afrikaans.
Canadians from Quebec speak French.
Australians speak Aboriginal.

Raisin

Thu, Dec 11 2008, 2:54 pm

zaq wrote:

yo'ma wrote:

morkush wrote:

Do Australians speak, Australian?
Okay, the Irish do speak Irish.
Do South Africans speak, South African?
Do Canadians speak, Canadian?
etc...

Irish speak Gaelic, as do Scots, but it's not the same Gaelic for both.
South Africans speak Afrikaans.
Canadians from Quebec speak French.
Australians speak Aboriginal.

a tiny percentage of scots and irish speak gaelic. Very very few as a first language. Welsh also. I think in all those countries there is great effort to teach gaelic and all sorts of laws (eg to teach you need to know gaelic) but english is winning the language war. Although once I was in wales and I noticed a group of young parents jabbering away in welsh, they seem to be more successful.

Oh, and there are plenty of native american languages.

Marion

Thu, Dec 11 2008, 3:11 pm

Um, some Canadians in Quebec speak French, not all, and it's not the same French as in Paris (par exemple).

Yes, Canadians speak Canadian. It's the only way to describe a language that uses British spellings with American usages.