Differences between American & British English

Jeff   Wednesday, June 23, 2004, 05:33 GMT
I Gotta question for Xatufan and Eugenia (excuse the ignorance folks):

I know just sayin' "American" should not only apply to people from the U.S., but to pretty much all those on the west side of the Atlantic, but I dunno, it really offends some people? Don't you guys consider yourselves, for example, Argentinians first, and Americans maybe second? Or South Americans? I just ask, because of the very few people I've met from Canada, Brazil, or Mexico, they never considered themselves as "American"; never really came up, but I can't say I pressed the issue, either.

Damian: An int'l get-together sounds awesome. I suggest somewhere closer to you, though. Your beer would def. be better. And, I noticed when I was in Edinburgh, you guys have a lot of, above ALL ELSE, Budweiser in bars. What the crap is up with THAT?! I can think of 15 better American beer import alternatives off the top of my head.
jose   Wednesday, June 23, 2004, 06:07 GMT
i think that we , latin american, don't consider our selves as american, but i do think that we consider America as a whole continent , not as a country,

US.So, someone from mexico wouldn't say " I live in Mexico, so i'm american" but he would say " i live in mexico so i live in America".

If you said to me " I hate America" i'd understand that you're saying you hate the whole continent: south , central and north, .... now if you told me "i hate Americans" i'd think you hate people only from US.
Sara   Wednesday, June 23, 2004, 07:31 GMT
Hello Forum! How are things? I've been busy the last few weeks so I thought I'd write and see how everyone was doing, and catch up on the posts that I've missed. I can testify there is a lot of truth to the posts about American slang being effected by hip/hop culture. Has anyone noticed a hip/hop influence in Europe? I was just wondering. As for the fast food thing- it is a little embarrassing, just because America is kind of portrayed as an instant gratification/one click/classless culture. Not to dog on my own country or anything,(there goes my ghetto slang, sorry) but there is a little bit of truth to that stereotype as well (unfortunately). As for Colin Farell, I don't know if he's a jerk or not, never met the guy, but he's beautiful, I want him : ) To Damian- I love the party idea, it's too bad that we're all in different places because it would be very fun to have one. I am glad that you are having a great day and I wish I could see sunny England right now. Lately it's been pretty stormy here, but thats ok I love the rain : ) Anyway I must go to sleep, work tomorrow. Take care everyone. G'night : )
Poppy   Wednesday, June 23, 2004, 07:50 GMT
I'd like to point out that both countries laugh at eachother's accents. I'd also like to point out as an American I see only one British accent- but most British people see only one American accent. However, there are many different American accents. One obvious difference is someone from the East coast and someone from the West coast. It seems you have to live somewhere and hear all the accents to really understand it.

Although I'd like to point out America is shown more often via media in England than England in America. Most British people know more about America because America is dominating their movie theaters, televisions, and the like.

Back to the main reason for this board (Differences between American & British Engish), you really need to find a slang dictionary for both types and compare them. It's rather interesting.
me   Wednesday, June 23, 2004, 08:01 GMT
I think most non-american english speakers probably recognise that the southern US accent is quite different to the north.
Damian   Wednesday, June 23, 2004, 08:18 GMT
There are dictionaries of both American and British slang terms in existence. There is a fantastic bookshop in Oxford (Blackwells) where you can literally lose yourself and time means nothing. Oh wow...does that sound like a plug? Not intended as such.
Damian   Wednesday, June 23, 2004, 08:26 GMT
Sara: Welcome back...nice to see you. Do come to England....I'd love to take you to tea and we can have scones with cream and strawberry jam and if you come to Scotland we'll have oatcakes as well. Sunny England? If you like rain as you say, you would love it today...it's completely different....dull and it's pouring with rain and fereezing cold. June? Ha! LOL So...when you come bring an umbrella. That's why the countryside is so green which most Americans notice immediately when they come here.
Saoirse   Wednesday, June 23, 2004, 08:37 GMT
Jeff Monday, June 21, 2004, 20:38 GMT
Oh I know he is, but since we're talking about accents and the like, people are all about his badass-sounding (fake-sounding, if you ask me; he tries too hard at it) irish accent. Ugh. The irish accent is fine, but THAT guy is right the hell out in my book.

I think your problem here Jeff is that you are hearing a real Irish accent for the first time - movies etc normally only have stage Irish accents that do not resemble the way Irish people really talk.
Damian   Wednesday, June 23, 2004, 09:32 GMT
Sara: going out for tea and scones etc would be a new experience for me to tell the truth! LOL Just thought it seemed an "English" thing to do. It would be up to you, but I would be more likely to take you to the pub. They all do really good nosh (sorry....food!) There is a pub round the corner from here called the Dog and Duck and it's great, something on every night with different theme nights, including American nights sometimes when you're supposed to dress American style. Hey, this sounds like I'm dating you already! LOL Yeah, a party with all of us in here really would be cool.

I have the morning off today so I am in my fave forum. I go to work for 3 hours this afternoon. I work on a supermarket checkout and I see all sorts of different people of course. There are loads of European students in the UK for the summer season, mostly students on temporary visas who are here to work on fruit farms, and all sorts of other jobs. Mostly they come from eastern Europe, including Russia and they earn more in a day here than they can in a month at home. I am impressed how well they (mostly) speak English. The ones from Poland are especially good speaking English and they are very polite and friendly. I really like them all. It makes my job very interesting and as I scan the goods I try to converse with them. :-)
Damian   Wednesday, June 23, 2004, 09:48 GMT
I go to Macdonalds, Starbucks KFC and I don't think about it being American...no way. It could be Outer Mongolian for all I care as I just like what's on offer and it's convenient when you are in town and it's late and stuff.

Budweiser......well, we have loads of American visitors to our city so I guess we are just trying to make you feel at home? I can't answer better than that, Jeff. I'm not an expert on beer anyway but we do have some nice tasty home brewed stuff. I thought you Americans always want ice cold beer? I have not had alcohol for over a month AT ALL as I have just been through the finals and I needed to keep a clear head. Hope it pays off! LOL I did let go a wee bit last weekend though. I'm off home to Scotland on Friday...YAAAAYYYYY! My mum and stepdad live in Corstorphine, which is a suburb in the west of the city...close to the zoo! Interesting neighbours we have...some of them can bite.
Eugenia   Wednesday, June 23, 2004, 17:39 GMT
Xatufan: << I'm sorry, but here in Ecuador we don't consider fat girls as beautiful. In fact, we prefer blonde, tall, slim girls (have we heard that before?)>> No, don't be sorry, I'm not fat, and as regards your preferences, the same happens in Argentina, that's way I'm not a brunette anymore :P

Jeff:
<<I know just sayin' "American" should not only apply to people from the U.S., but to pretty much all those on the west side of the Atlantic, but I dunno, it really offends some people? Don't you guys consider yourselves, for example, Argentineans first, and Americans maybe second? Or South Americans? I just ask, because of the very few people I've met from Canada, Brazil, or Mexico, they never considered themselves as "American"; never really came up, but I can't say I pressed the issue, either.>>
No, it's OK, I don't feel offended at all! I consider myself as an Argentinean who belongs to the American Continent (some Argentineans would say that we are like ''the U.K of South America'', but that is just a characteristics of the people in my country, we are all arrogant :P, and because of that nobody will feel identified with the term ''American'' )

Damian:
<<I have not had alcohol for over a month AT ALL as I have just been through the finals and I needed to keep a clear head. Hope it pays off!>>
Lol, the same happens to me :S

Poppy:
<<I'd like to point out that both countries laugh at each other's accents.>>
There is one chapter in Friends were Monica laughs at Ross's girlfriend's accent. That's a clear example!
mike   Wednesday, June 23, 2004, 20:09 GMT
can u tell me some of the daily used slangs for england and wat we use it in canada
Xatufan   Thursday, June 24, 2004, 02:21 GMT
Well, today I met a Chilean woman who used to be my teacher. I almost laughed when I heard her words. :-)

Jose and Eugenia: That's what I wanted to say. You stole my ideas. :-)

Damian and Eugenia: Well, I've never tried alcohol (a drop of beer a year doesn't count, does it?) But I've tried coffee. It keeps me awake. ;-S

And what the hell is LOL?
AV8R   Thursday, June 24, 2004, 03:24 GMT
I have always been interested in the differeneces in spelling and terminology between the british dialects and the american dialect. I don't know if this is my own self centered view (that's centred for the brits), but it seems to me that the Californian Accent (where I am from) is not really an accent at all. I have heard some people complain that Californians speak too fast, but I do not find that to be the case. Does anyone outside my paradigm notice an accent in the Californian dialect?

I do have one pet peeve that I have with peoples sloppy pronunciation:

When some people are trying to say supposedly and the say supposebly. For some reason that drives me nuts. Anyone else ever notice this?
Jeff   Thursday, June 24, 2004, 04:06 GMT
The whole california thing is just stupid ,
do people from california even know what the word accent means?

Accent is the way you sound when you speak,
but why do you sound the way you do?
Three factors:

Pronunciation ( i think i don't have to explain this one), liaison ( the way you connect words together ) and intonation ( speech music),,,