changes in the English Language

[chiuchimu]

Originally Posted by noodle

I can't remember who said it, but someone once said that a never changing language is a dying language. I really like how English varies from generation to generation, from location to location, and social status to social status.

In my group of friends;

Welsh tends to say; That is lush
Young South Londoner says; That is Gangsta
Better educated folk might say; That is marvellous

...and so on!

Personally, I tend to struggle with certain dialects or how certain groups of people speak. English isn't my first language and I didn't learn it as an infant, so basically the English I learnt is what you get in books! I remember in high school, a lot of people thought I was posh for not talking a certain way. It took me years to get comfortable with saying things like "innit". Now I love speaking a certain way with certain people! For me, it adds to the richness of the English language.

Amazing. Some of the slang is clearly U.S. influenced, but the other parts are very localized.

If I was to say "That was Gangsta" or "That was brill" in the states, people would give me blank stares. Very interesting topic.

[dogsbody70]

IN EDINBURGH people have a habit of saying AHA__ instead of saying YES. That also drives me bonkers!!!

I agree that Language is always living of course-- but its the influences that make more difference I feel.

Before the days of TV or maybe ten minute news broadcast-- We were not really exposed to accents outside of our area-- And of course the BBC used high class speakers-- those who we say "Speak with a plum in their mouth's". Now we hear a variety of accents which is good. I love the various dialects. No doubt Japan also has regional accents or dialects. or its own slang. When I was learning sign language-- I soon realised that also develops its own version and short cuts apart from BSL. In America it is mostly one handed signing-- but BSL has its PROPER use-- but it is different in various towns etc.



Often vowels are spoken differently around the country.

[TalnSG]

Originally Posted by dogsbody70

There are some habits we have here in parts of UK such as Putting the word _LIKE- in-between many sentences-- I personally find it most irritating-- Also many people-- possibly even myself will also keep adding "YOU KNOW what I mean-- Over and over again-- it drives me mad.

Its all too easy to develop these bad habits isn't it.

Oooh dogsbody, that is like .... well....a pet peeve of mine, ya know!

Actually that was a phrasing that flourish in "the Valley" (Los Angeles suburb) in the late 70s-80s. Extremely irritating!

And that "you know what I mean" is even older. I am always temptes to respond with ---- Why, do you have to keep asking? Is it because you already realize how stupid you sound?

[Swordmaster]

What a terrible first post...

in any case, excuse the half-wit comment, but I absolutely had to post this...


As many people may know, we Canadians say "eh". We've been doing it for over a hundred years, and it won't stop for another century or so.

Aside from that, "eh" has a ton of meanings depending on the context, among other things.

"Eh?" can be used as a substitute for the word/phrase/expression "What?".

"Eh..." can also be used as a substitute for a phrase of equivalence to being generally unamused.

There are many more instances; sometimes, it can be used in sentences like "-desu". Completely nonsensical, but absolutely needed/compulsory.


I shall end my little tangent at that.




"Eh" may have had different meanings in the past (or none at all). Essentially, I'm trying to justify my little tangent... again, please excuse it.

[MuRaSaKiiNkI]

Originally Posted by CoolNard

*laughs* this is great, I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds it irritating. That "like" habit was influenced from the Americans, wasn't it? My Canadian friend uses it a lot, so that could be it. Every youngster in my country, like, uses it, he he. ....

Now, there's also the internet lingo that's used very often, even outside of the P.C.

Yeah, Americans say that, like, a lot, ya know? We also use Internet lingo (text speak) like "btw" and "lol" in conversations, and "wtf?" "OMG!" and "brb." It's interesting, but sad because it shows how internet chatting and texting has become so engrained into our society.

We also have Ebonics, which is, basically, ghetto language. "Wazzup home dog?" or "Dat ain't right, bro" are sample phrases. Some of my friends talk like this, which is annoying sometimes, but I've learned to live with it.

We also have Southern drawl...someone help me out on this... I don't know how to speak it, but it has it's own slang.

I'm from the West Coast of America (aka California and Hawaii), and Californians say "like" a lot, and "what's up, dude?" "AWESOME!" and in some parts where there's a lot of surfing, "Dang that was narly, dude."

In Hawaii, they say "Hang loose" as a goodbye. Because they're very laid-back, many Hawaiians slur their words, like "Howzit?" for "How are you doing?" the slur of "How is it?" "stink eye" refers to someone who's giving you a dirty/mean look. And like Canadians, Hawaiians like to add "eh?" at the end of many of their sentences. I think this comes from the Japanese equivalent (since there are a lot of Japanese on Hawaii) where the Japanese say "...ne-?" at the end of their sentences, seeking mutual agreement from their conversation partner.

[steven]

Originally Posted by chiuchimu

Amazing. Some of the slang is clearly U.S. influenced, but the other parts are very localized.

If I was to say "That was Gangsta" or "That was brill" in the states, people would give me blank stares. Very interesting topic.

Just for the record, chiuchimu, "That was gangsta" was a phrase used in the states (at least southern CA) in like 1999. If you said that now, I suspect it would be taken humourously unless you're friends with the types of people who would actually say that.

I haven't heard brill in the states, but i've heard some English friends using it.

I've actually noticed some grammatical differences between the US and the UK but I can't really remember any right now... I've heard people from England say we Americans ruined the language, but man have I heard some butchered sounding English from over there.

I find England to be very similar to Japan in that they are both small island countries and they both have a ton of dialects/accents.

[dogsbody70]

I imagine with all the different States in USA there must be vast differences in the LINGO.


I find that where We Brits might say:" I want to go out-- Americans might say Wanna--- wanna seems to be cropping up everywhere-- children tend to copy their Peers-- and speak totally differently from their parents-- too much swearing for my taste------------------But they can speak in the same style as their parents if necessary.

we all seem able to adapt very quickly to changes.

I can find it hard at times to follow some american speech on films etc.

It is fascinating really isn't it?

[TalnSG]

In college we had diagrams that showed just were some of the American dialects change and I had concrete proof of one of those borders. my mother and two of her sisters lived in different part of the U.S. after they married. Her two sisters were less than 50 miles apart, but they used some words and pronunciations completely differently. One them pronounced "rinse" as "wrench" and "furniture" as "fur-ni-tour".

But for me the English/American variances are special. I lived and started school in England, but came back to the U.S. in 1960. I was in second grade, and my grandmother in TX could not understand me at all. Between different names for everything in the store and asking to "go to the pub for an icelolly", I might as well have been speaking French or German. She understood "pub" though. For her it was only as a place for drinking alcohol which she didn't even allow in her house even for adults, much less a 7 yr old. She really didn't care what an "icelolly" was that afternoon.

[MuRaSaKiiNkI]

Originally Posted by TalnSG

...For her it was only as a place for drinking alcohol which she didn't even allow in her house even for adults, much less a 7 yr old. She really didn't care what an "icelolly" was that afternoon....

lol, nice! Yeah, my boyfriend's aunt lives in England, and sometimes there are just some words I have to tilt my head and stare. Her family didn't know what "fondle" meant (a word I thought they said, but turns out they said a completely different word), the connotation in American culture. It's weird how even though words are the same, they have different meanings.

[GoNative]

In Australia we have some very distictive slang and colloquialisms.
Here's a few

Bonzer - really good
flat out like a lizard drinking - really busy
he's got a roo loose in the top paddock - he's nuts
Strewth! - Really!
Fair dinkum - the truth, genuine
Bloody oath! - that's true!
Bodgy - poor quality
Rooted - very tired
Daks - trousers
Doozey - something good, significant or large
Servo - gas station
She'll be apples - it'll be ok
Bogans - Chavs (UK), similar to trailor trash in the US I think

Plenty more of course. Not sure if many of them would be used anywhere else?