Hb_Kai Posted January 18, 2009 Report Share Posted January 18, 2009 What's the difference between US English and UK English? Is it only spelling differences like realise/realize, and stuff like that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted January 18, 2009 Report Share Posted January 18, 2009 The big difference is that the Americans think theirs is English, whereas we Know ours actually is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hb_Kai Posted January 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2009 Makes sense. :) But wouldn't that be considered as a racist remark? :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rong Posted January 18, 2009 Report Share Posted January 18, 2009 But wouldn't that be considered as a racist remark? :lol:Only on their side Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted January 18, 2009 Report Share Posted January 18, 2009 I can not understand how anyone can claim a language of another country as their own unless they speak it as the natives of the originating country do.Can you imagine what an uproar there would be if the some of the people of France went into India, and once there invented new words and co-opted local Indian words, and then said they were speaking French, and further more the rest of the world should adopt their version of French? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gandalph Posted January 18, 2009 Report Share Posted January 18, 2009 HB, you can blame Henry Webster for the change in the English language. In 1846, or there about, there were so many different languages being spoken in America that he decided to change some of the English spellings into what is known now in the States as Simplified English so that the foreign speaking settlers could learn it so that everyone spoke a common language. So today you have "Webster's Simplified English Dictionary". That said, some of today's spellings are totally different to those of that dictionary. One example is Tire, that's the round one you put on car's. Webster's dictionary still has it spelled as Tyre, whereas on sign boards you see it as tire. Why I am not quite sure about. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hb_Kai Posted January 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2009 Hmm... I just think it's because they want to be better than us. :)Thanks for the information Gandalph. I'd have never guessed there was an actual reason. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dencandy Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 There's also a few small differences in grammar. Dear WF friends lets remember this is an international forum with members from many different countries. That's one of the reasons it's successful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 Americans not only can't spell, but have corrupted our language. The way that many of our kids speak today is largely down to Americanisms in the language caused by American films etc. The habit of saying the word like in almost every sentence is a deplorable American import. This is just one example. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanHo Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 From what I have seen - what we "old 'uns" call English is fast becoming almost unknown to the masses on both sides of the pond. English grammar and spelling - whether UK or USA - is corrupted and distorted more each day.Innit like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 One of the things that has irked me about the way the Americans treat language, is the way they try to avoid using it when necessary and the way they try to use it when unnecessary.They have in incessant desire to to use numbers instead of words. 9/11 being probably the most universally know. (The fact that everywhere else in the world besides America it would be 11/9 seems to be a bit nit picky).On TV and radio it is common place to hear things such as. " I'm going on a 67 to see Number 2. He's doing a 52 on a 39 after hs finished the 52 on 41." etc. Coupled with thiis is the obsession with the constant outpouring of evermore acronyms, to the point that there are now more than 250 computer based acronyms that are duplicated and can only be understood by the context in which they are used. All this use of numbers and acronyms instead of proper language presumably is viewed as something that "saves time".However the way in which a "bed" can become a "personalised sleeping facility" or a "car" can become "a individualised transportation device" etc. etc. shows that time saving is unnecessary and we are indeed two nations divided by an uncommon language. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gandalph Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 I know what you mean about the Acronyms catgate. I gave up trying to remember them all a year ago. S.I.M.M. Stuff in more memory.I.S.D.N. It still does nothing.U.S.B. Well, never mind this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doug Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 U.S.B. Well, never mind this one. blink.gifU Shouldn't Bother Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gandalph Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 The one I was told was a lot worse than that Doug. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doug Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 I can imagine but Caesar's wife and all that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hb_Kai Posted January 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 Share with us what USB really means.. :PActually, I noticed the other day. The people who wear tracksuits, hats pointing to the sun and their trousers inside their socks like to talk with a bit of an American accent. If you compare their accent to somebody like 50 Pence and 2Poc, you'd notice that they pick up this way of talking via their music.I listen to In Flames alot (A Swedish Metal band who screams), but I don't go round screaming hello, or even talking slightly like a swede. Although, I do love Swedish people. They're well cool... And the girls... ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 The one I was told was a lot worse than that Doug. :lol:The wicker work container? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gandalph Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 The one I was told was a lot worse than that Doug. :lol:The wicker work container? You got it in one catgate. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted January 20, 2009 Report Share Posted January 20, 2009 I saw an item yesterday evening on Teletext about the Sats examinations. A spokesman for the examination board was claiming that the marking of pupils essays was now extremely difficult and stressful because the majority of them had gradually become unintelligible and illiterate, and the examination should be changed to ticking boxes of prepared answers, because it would be easier.It says an awful lot about our modern education system, and the twaddle and drivel constantly being spewed out about how standards are rising.It may also say something about examinations boards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hb_Kai Posted January 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2009 Because we're being educated wrong! That's where they get it from.:lol:I saw a thing on TV once hosted by some fattish guy but I can't remember the name. He was talking about the SATs tests and how people were getting things wrong and shown the viewers an example of this. The example was that some boy had to find the the number of an angle given other angles with one missing. I can't do it so well on here so I'll list the angles given. Not the exact ones as it was so long ago, but more or less what it was.y = 160z = 20x --- And he was told on the paper to find x. So this little boy had the ingenious idea of drawing a arrow complete with a circle around the x where it said "Find X", and at the bottom finishing the arrow with "Here it is :) " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gandalph Posted January 20, 2009 Report Share Posted January 20, 2009 Because we're being educated wrong! That's where they get it from.:lol:I saw a thing on TV once hosted by some fattish guy but I can't remember the name. He was talking about the SATs tests and how people were getting things wrong and shown the viewers an example of this. The example was that some boy had to find the the number of an angle given other angles with one missing. I can't do it so well on here so I'll list the angles given. Not the exact ones as it was so long ago, but more or less what it was.y = 160z = 20x --- And he was told on the paper to find x. So this little boy had the ingenious idea of drawing a arrow complete with a circle around the x where it said "Find X", and at the bottom finishing the arrow with "Here it is :) "I reckon on a straight calculation x = 180 but that would depend on what Y, Z is related to. If it were a parabola it would be 90 deg. Also taking into account Pythagoras Theorem that the side opposite - the side adjacent is equal to the cosign then find the tangent. (Tangential Angle of X) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted January 20, 2009 Report Share Posted January 20, 2009 The sad fact of the matter is that education today is simply a matter of cramming information into brains in a manner that will facilitate the passing of exams. The more pupils that pass, the more successful and re-electable the goverment in power hopes to be seen.The facts themselves are of little use, unless the recipients of those facts know how to use them. Then, and only then, do the facts become knowledge. One of the most important functions of any teacher is not deseminating facts, but teaching the pupil how to learn. Sadly most teachers do not realise this and thus spend their time feeding in facts with no enthusiasm for the subject matter. I was horrified to hear, only this weekend, that some schools do not use text books, and instead expect the pupils to get the information from the internet. If this is as widespread as my informant claimed then things are very serious indeed, and the teaching how to learn becomes paramount.The widespread use of calculators in schools is also a disincentive to learning. What happens when the battery goes flat, or they are outlawed on environmental grounds.? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doug Posted January 20, 2009 Report Share Posted January 20, 2009 In my opinion you only start learning when you stop being taught. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted January 20, 2009 Report Share Posted January 20, 2009 I think you are very near the root of it, doug. That to me is why it is necessary to learn how to learn. Awakening the interest seems to be the crux to me, and the need to know for practical purposes is the spur. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gandalph Posted January 20, 2009 Report Share Posted January 20, 2009 I've always said that school teaches you the basics of your education. When you leave, life teaches you the rest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.