Exactly...my American friends were confused because they thought I was telling their children to walk on the paved surface of the road that's infested with cars, i.e. the carriageway.
And, as I mentioned, "footpath" is neutral and won't cause any confusion at all.
Finally, has anyone ever heard "zebra crossing" or "pelican crossing" in the US?
We have plenty of "deer crossing" here.
<<Julian...You are incredible! >>
Why, thank you, garans. I can definitely hear "sold my soul", "less" and "ideals" in that song, but can barely make out "tunnel". I only hear "ton" and then his voice trails off.
<<tunnel - rather rare word and I have never heard it in a combination with time.>>
Surely you've heard of "time tunnel" before, right?
<<Finally, has anyone ever heard "zebra crossing" or "pelican crossing" in the US? >>
The only times I've ever heard the term "zebra crossing" used was when I was in England and Australia. Other than that, I've never heard of it in the US. I just call it a "crosswalk", regardless whether it's striped or not. "Pelican crossing" is a new one to me.
Julian
I never heard "time tunnel" and we dont have such an image in Russian.
Time is everywhere.
I don't hear subtle differences in English, especially in accents. I hear that there is something but can not tell what is it.
By "tunnel of time" the performer means the period of time that changed his way of thinking (consequently his ideals). I barely made out "sold" either. It sounded like "soul" but that's also because of the poor quality of the recording and music often distorts lyrics.
re: Australia: that's right Julian. Leading from a home: driveway, footpath, a grass strip, curb and street.
The only difference I can tell between sold and soul, is that in the latter the vowel is rounded. But I would also mention that the ´o´ in sold comes a bit alveolar.
Is there a good site that explains these terms that keep coming up? "alveolar", "uvular", etc
I'm from Macedonia (small country in Europe, north of Greece) and i started studying English when I was 5, which was ten years ago. I write in American English, and my teacher always gets pissed off by that. My accent is kinda American too, and, no offence British people, but I can't stop laughing when I hear someone talking with a typical British snobbish accent. I just can't!
Your last comment is one I really understand as I expect you are referring to certain ENGLISH accents.....the over affected, Southern English public school, extremely "posh variety which is getting rarer and rarer ......so please don't call it typical!
It makes me laugh, too, believe me on that one. It is far from typical as you would pretty soon discover if you ever came to the UK. For example, a person with a Liverpool accent would practically die laughing if he was told he had a snobbish accent and that goes for about 90% (if not more) of the overall ENGLISH population.
Whenever I see some of those old stiff upper lip type British films I laugh at the way they spoke. Even the Queen has had elocution lessons to "popularise" her accent...that is a fact. In time she will make her annual Christmas address in pure Estuary...it's only a matter of time.
For the Scots, Welsh and Irish snobbishness never has been an issue and never will be. They are British too, remember...well, the Northern Irish are, as you probably know.
Your English is really great. I saw you reply to my posting in another thread and when I am able, I will respond and thank you.
Regards
Goran:
So sorry! I put your name in the box instead of mine. Forgive me.
It's forgiven! I had a feeling that the snobbish accent is getting rarer and rarer in England/Britain, I guess because there are many foreigners now, and they don't have that accent. My brother lives in London, and he says that there is really a huge number of people from foreign countries living there. I will be coming to the UK, I guess I'll be moving there in four years, when I finish high school. Let's hope that the snobbish accent disappears by them, because I'll die laughing.
Damian, It seems like a lot of times you make the mistake of putting the name of the person your replying to's name in the box instead of yours. Why does that always happen a lot? And do not answer this question in my name.
Smith:
I have a chronic identity crisis...I am forced to look in the mirror every so often for reassurance. However, my doctor tells me that the condition is not incurable. Either that, or I am so anxious to respond to the person who has addressed me that in my excitement I type out his/her name just a wee bit prematurely.
If you let me know how many times I have committed this "crime" I will send you a surprise package for each occasion ;-)
PS Would you like me to rearrange your post grammatically?