american or british

youness   Sun May 21, 2006 9:51 pm GMT
ok
guest   Wed May 31, 2006 5:35 pm GMT
I'm American. I'm just gonna comment on everything you guys are talking about. First off, I wish I had been born in England, "cuz" then I wouldn't have had to spend three years in elementary school with this totally evil speech teacher working on my speech impediment (I couldn't pronounce r's) (Just kidding, I know you do pronounce r's just not all of them like we do)

As to the whole American Revolution vs. war for Independence thing, most of us really couldn't care less what it is called.

I don't really like tea but I drink a ton of it raw (meaning no milk or sugar or anything) just because it has no calories. Some tea definitely is better than other kinds; my preference is black but not too bitter. Yeah, starbucks and subway have serious issues with asking too many questions, its like, "Dude, just give me some food already." You could starve to death or die of thirst just standing there answering questions.

I think it was Adam that said that Americans don't understand subtle word choices and our manner of expressing ourselves is crude. Well, our subtleties are carried through in intonations, not word choice. People call our accents flat because we don't use many intonations and that's because any slight raise of the voice or lowering or changing inflection or intonation can give a sentence a new meaning and most non-americans aren't aware of it so they think we're just bored or something I guess which isn't their fault cuz I'm sure to you we all sound like we're about to drop dead, like the teacher in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. That's why we're always so brutal joking about other accents(Irish, Scotish, Posh, Estuary, Geordie, Australian, etc.) and all of the "peaks and valleys in their sentences. I'm sure you've heard the jokes. Anyways, that's all I have to say.
Ed   Thu Jun 01, 2006 1:12 am GMT
> What exactly constitutes a "proper" cup of tea, anyway? How hard is it to set a bag of leaves in hot water and NOT get the same results everywhere? Or are we back to the milk thing?

The results can be very different. I'm not sure whether they use a different sort of tea overseas or if they just don't let it brew long enough. I suspect it is both, because it is not only weaker but has a strange taste to it.

Much of South Africa's tea is grown domestically, whereas Britain's mainly comes from Kenya, India and Sri Lanka but the two taste very similar. It is probably in the way it is prepared.
geust k   Wed Aug 02, 2006 4:56 pm GMT
I have a question that is a little off subject but i, been trying to answer it all morning going from one infomation site to another. I am trying to write a british accent with only the knowledge of how it sounds. the problem is when I put it to paper I just seems wrong. do you think you can help me or should I look some place else?
geust k   Wed Aug 02, 2006 4:58 pm GMT
Please forgive my spelling.
me   Wed Aug 23, 2006 8:32 am GMT
The British equivalent of this American word:
highway

= main road
Guest   Wed Aug 23, 2006 8:39 am GMT
What about all the highways in England traveled by Dick Turpin?
Iguana   Wed Aug 23, 2006 8:40 am GMT
American accent is better. If you're a non-native english speaker then i'd recommend you to learn to speak like americans. I wouldn't want to be speaking like a stuck-up Brit.
cousin   Wed Aug 23, 2006 3:00 pm GMT
<<American accent is better. If you're a non-native english speaker then i'd recommend you to learn to speak like americans>>

Countries outside the American borders teach British English and it works fine. Hell, we even manage to learn the language without sounding like "stuck - up British".

<<I wouldn't want to be speaking like a stuck-up Brit.>>

I would not want to sound like an "inbreed" Yankee either, though I do not personally believe that the accent determents "inbreed" or "stuck - up". You are of course entitled to your personal believes.

Take care now ;)
Sami-ul-Haq   Tue Sep 19, 2006 4:52 pm GMT
I am from Pakistan. Our Pakistani and Asian prefer American English than British. Let me tell you that now British abd BBC are using many of American. Therefore, We like American English.
Kaleem-ul-Haq   Tue Sep 19, 2006 4:58 pm GMT
I Mr.Kaleem-ul-Haq brother of Mr.Sami-ul-Haq son of Head Master Miraj-ul-Haq resident of Sikandari Koroona Mardan 23200 N.W.F.P Pakistan. I ensure you that if you want to improve your English so, I advise you that only American English make you understand that you can do any thing in English. Therefore, I like American English and don't like British English.

If you have any problem in American English you may contact me on +92 301 8332403 or +92 937 561686.

Sincerly yours
Kaleem-ul-Haq
Noor-ul-Haq   Tue Sep 19, 2006 5:04 pm GMT
I am Noor-ul-Haq I would like to tell you that only American English would be used after 5 years and now British are using American English. American English is suitable than Britian.
Calliope   Wed Sep 20, 2006 3:51 am GMT
Sure, if the entire X-ul-Haq family says so... now if you excuse me, I have some phonecalls to make to Pakistan - I need some help with my American English...
Kerry   Sun Oct 01, 2006 1:35 am GMT
In terms of pronunciation, I always wonder which accent came into being first, British or American? As far as I understand, the American pronunciation is closer to the old English in that it have the 'r' pronounced. British accent, on the other hand, omit the 'r' in certain places in a word, as a result of pronunciation evolution.

It's just my understanding of it. I haven't read any articles on the evolution of English pronunciation. I can't find one! If any of you is kindly enough to recommend one, I'd much appreciate it.
Q   Sun Oct 01, 2006 1:48 am GMT
>> In terms of pronunciation, I always wonder which accent came into being first, British or American? As far as I understand, the American pronunciation is closer to the old English in that it have the 'r' pronounced. British accent, on the other hand, omit the 'r' in certain places in a word, as a result of pronunciation evolution. <<

There about equally far apart to Elizabethan English: Most dialects in England lost their r's, and many Americans merge more vowels: eg. (Bother, father spilled hot coffee in the car park). Bother, father, hot, and coffee have identical vowels in General American, and there is the cot-caught-bother-father merger in the Far West, and other areas (all of the vowels in those words are pronounced identically)