The longer I am a blogger with US blog mates, the more I learn but what I never expected was such difference in our common language of English. I knew the basics like tyre/tire, bonnet/hood, boot/trunk. Why are these so car focused? I can't remember the US equivalent of glove box.
From blogging, I learnt mould/mold and various other different spellings. I even learnt about Sterno stoves yesterday, and what Sterno actually is. Most interesting and I don't know why we never had the ultra safe Sterno here.
However, our grammar almost always matches, yet I've been jarred by one difference. Take a bow Steve.
I am a poor old age pensioner, so the government gives me $450 a week to support myself. This is not enough. I need to inform our Prime Minister that this is not enough. I need to write the Prime Minister, and I will have wrote the Prime Minister. Do I have that right for how it would be written in the US?
No matter, whatever is written like that just smacks me in the head like no spelling difference ever has. I will write to the Prime Minister, I will have written to the Prime Minister and I wrote to the Prime Minister.
Given how US, UK and Oceanic English grammar matches, this is one mighty big difference. Steve is an American and was a professional writer, so I am quite sure he uses correct grammar for his US readers, but isn't it remarkable that this is the only grammar difference I've noticed. Aside from my own grammatical errors. Maybe you know more?
I think the New Jersey Boud is UK or Irish born? I hope I am correct about that. But she has difficulty understanding the speech in Downton Abbey. Their accents aren't mine, but I can understand them perfectly well. The world is a strange place in so far as the English language goes.
Last night I took Phyllis and Kosov out for dinner. They shared a pizza and ate some of my chips, and souvlaki bread. The bulk of the bill was my two glasses of wine and an affogato with Scotch whisky. If you don't know, affogato is strong Australian style coffee poured over ice cream and with whisky poured over the top of that.
Kosov's English is quite good, but you may remember me mentioning the way he pronounced margarine, as marg, as in Margaret, arine. Given he has to drop his résumé into to many places to find work, I insisted on him learning how to pronounce resume. This night I've learnt the difference between resume and a CV, Australia, US and Canada are in agreement. But is does strike me as odd that we have a choice between French and Latin for a job application, and not English.
My hearing aid batteries will be changed today, as I do every Sunday, but this Saturday night, one is already warning me, baddery and not battery.
I'm not done yet. With one day of 40/104 degrees, media warned us of a heat wave. One day of extreme heat is not a heat wave. Media shot itself in the foot, as what superlative can it come up with for a real heat wave, such as today, tomorrow and the next day, 38/100, 39/102 and 36/97?
English, the universal language of misunderstanding. The expression I really don't understand is, 'I could care less.' I know what is meant, but it's wrong. It implies that I could actually care less about something if I tried, but really, I couldn't care less. Yes, clear as mud!
ReplyDeleteThat's a curious one JB, and one I probably wouldn't use, but I would certainly say, 'I couldn't care less'.
DeleteLinguistics are my favorite studies. "I could care less" drives me nuts. lol
DeleteIt's great fun to me! I've been reading British novels since I was a child so I am familiar with most differences in language. I'm getting pretty good with Australian accents because I watch shows made there. It's good to learn something every day, even a new word or phrase.
ReplyDeleteI agree Deb. The differences fascinate me, and I really like to know about them.
DeleteI had to relearn English when I emigrated to Canada and then when I moved to Newfoundland it was a completely different Hiberno-English experience. There's some Cornwall/Devon/Brittany influences into the Newfoundland English but it utterly charms me when I hear the Irish language itself incorporated into certain phrases. But Americanese creeps in everywhere. I love some of the unusual Oz words I hear and read.
ReplyDeleteXO
WWW
Very interesting and of course there is some Irish influence where you live. We can't do much about Americanese beyond not accepting it ourselves, as those younger around us pick it up.
DeleteMy comment about Downton Abbey was a joke! If course I can understand them, but this North Yorkshire lady can't resist the chance to tease my southern UK friends about the strange way they talk!
ReplyDeleteBoud, I don't know why I took that seriously. I do get the tease to those Home Counties and London folk.
DeleteI have also noticed so many differences in grammar between all our English speaking cousins since I started blogging. As a Grammar Schoolgirl some of them jar with me, as "proper grammar" was drummed into me from the age of 11. No matter. We all understand each other ..even if it takes a couple of re-reads...
ReplyDeleteJayCee, drummed into me too, although perhaps not as successfully.
DeleteI am learning to read and improve English writing skill now among the wonderful blog community
ReplyDeleteRoentare, while I admire you efforts, I quite liked your quirky more normal writing.
DeleteI was sat seems to be an English idiom, would they also say I was satting
ReplyDeleteIs clink universal slang for jail or gaol
As an English teacher in my past life , I find I was sat odd but then perhaps it isn’t.
I hate abbreviated words in writing, particularly formal essays .
Language is exciting and there is always something to learn
That is one I won't wear. I was seated... Of course in formal writing abbreviations shouldn't be used, although I can wear if the full phrase is written and subsequently abbreviated.
DeleteAffogato is Italian born and bred, the alcohol can be anything you choose
ReplyDeleteYes, I've had it with Galliano and Drambuie.
DeleteI am used to American grammar being different, including the omission of the word to after wrote. But like anon above UK grammar often surprises me, particularly use of sat instead of sitting.
ReplyDeleteThat sat for sitting and stood for standing are new. We would have been ridiculed by teachers in the fifties UK for saying that. I really don't like it, sounds illiterate.
DeleteJ, yes, I have sat somewhere but I've never been satting. Spell checker does not like the word.
DeleteThat's interesting to learn Boud. It is a new form of expression.
DeleteWe speak english here, but trying to explain things to my grandson makes me realize how weird english as a language is.
ReplyDeletePixie, don't even try. It is just how it is. Interesting that you spell realise with a zed, or should that be a zee.
DeleteA glove box in the USA is called a glove compartment, according the my granddaughter. She prefers American tv programmes over any other nations'.
ReplyDeleteI thought that may be the case, Hels.
DeleteTo answer your question, I will have wrote the prime minister is grammatically incorrect. Correct is I will have written. MS Nell
ReplyDeleteBut what about, 'I wrote the Prime Minister'?
Delete"I wrote the Prime Minister a letter", but just "I wrote the Prime Minister" isn't right. It would have to be "I wrote TO the Prime Minister."
DeleteI should have added in the US to comment above. MS Nell
ReplyDeleteI think part of the problem is saying that Australians, Canadians and Americans speak English. They don't any more. Aussies speak Australian which is a language derived from, and very close to, English as could be said for the other nationalities. In the same way Africaans is derived from Dutch and some Creole from French.
ReplyDeleteMerlot, you are right. We have all mangled English in some way wherever we live, and there is nothing wrong with that. We have the basic and change it as we wont.
DeleteWe have heatwave warnings too, for the next four days so any fires including barbecues are totally banned for the duration.
ReplyDeleteAmerican grammar? Here's one: "needs done" needs, indicating current or future tense and done, which is definitely past tense. Yet something which needs doing or needs to be done, is written as needs done. With me shaking my fists and saying aaarrgh! every time I read it. While I don't say "baddery" I also don't say "battery", instead I say "battry", lazy speech, but that's what I learned and trying to change is more awkward than I thought it would be. So now I think as long as I type correctly, the lazy speech probably doesn't matter so much.
What on earth do you mean $450 a week isn't enough? Do you eat in fancy restaurants too often with expensive wines? I have the same age pension plus a miniscule extra from my super and I always have money left over for saving towards something I might want or need, such as my recent surgery.
River, 'Needs done' is very strange. Is that the same as 'Needs doing'? I do say battery, but I often hear just ' It needs a new battry'.
DeleteAs for money, it extraordinary how much the government pays me with the old age pension. I'm sure you know I don't live the high life, and as I've said in the past, I don't really know how to spend money, but I am thinking about it. I think it is wrong that I receive such largess from the government and I am not the only one. All I really need is the concessions. I expect I pay about the same in Owners' Corporation fees as you pay in rent.
My partner and I receive both the pension and jobseeker, but we only get some of it depending on how much work my partner can get . She only needs to work two days a week but cannot refuse a third day because then gets cut off the work list. At the moment no work available for 2 months. It’s the discount on utilities that is the real bonus.
Delete"Needs doing" would be correct I think, though I would say "needs to be done"
DeleteI am sure it isn't a fortune but enough to get by. Yes, the utilities and medical concessions make quite a difference.
DeleteWe who supposedly speak English can understand other supposedly English speaking people.
ReplyDeleteI find it's amazing if listening to English from people who are from other countries I can tell if they were taught English by a UK person or an American, it's so noticeable. I'm sure you can too, Andrew.
The word water gets me, Americans leave out the 't'.
Margaret, yes, Indonesians and Filipinos learn American English, Hong Kong and Singaporean learn English, English.
DeleteYes, warda.
Whether you wrote the Prime Minister or wrote to the Prime Minister (as an American, I've heard and read it both ways), I hope he answers your concerns.
ReplyDeleteIt is a an interesting difference Kirk, and that you accept both.
Delete"Will have written to" wtf, doesn't sound proper in any manner. I could say "By Wednesday, I will have written to..." The glove compartment of a car---who uses that space for gloves anymore? I think for a heat wave you'd need at least five days that were at least 10 degrees F above average for that time of year. That's just opinion. Like here, in August for instance, five days 95 F plus.
ReplyDeleteStrayer, the second sounds correct to me. I had forgotten you say glove compartment. No, three days of above 100F is a heat wave for us.
DeleteI don't know what you learned about Sterno but I love my sterno stove, that pops up fast. I take it on any long drive in case I want to make coffee. And I take it camping. You can burn it an enclosed space without much fear. Sure it burns some O2 but won't gas you with Carbon Monoxide.
DeleteI learnt that it is blue and gel like, so less risk of spillage and an accidental fire. Also that there are two types, one you can burn inside safely, and it seems a bit hard to come by now.
DeleteLanguage is fascinating, there is no use getting cross about it either. I do when my American sidekick on my computer tells me to forget the 'u' or use 'z' instead of 's'. Then I realise that the 'z' used to appear so often in the olden days in Cornwall's language - it has been transported ;)
ReplyDeleteAs I have moved up to the North in England, placenames reflect the language of conquest, so it is Scandinavian often, or 'old English'. Down South you will come across a lot of French and Anglo-Saxon names. Language changes both in the written word and spoken.
Thelma, is it understood that some of the American differences have their roots in older English, English?
DeleteMy late partner's Geordie great nephews were interesting to listen to. They spoke in an understandable accent to me, but to each other, I could not understand them at all. It was so abbreviated by what sounded like grunts.
I think the answer is yes, Cornish speech has a similarity to American speech for instance. As most people who emigrated to America did not write, spoken language was the key to their accents.
DeleteSteve is a great blogger and a great fellow too. I like to read his blog. However, it irritates me when he uses the term "sidewalk". Do you use that term on your little island? Perhaps the British terms "pavement" and "footpath" have stuck with you instead. By the way, recently, on an Australian TV show, I heard one of the characters use this term: "bludger". Please tell me what this means and whether or not you are a "bludger" yourself.
ReplyDeleteI walk on a footpath, YP. Steve identifies as American, and that is how he writes. While I may feel like I am bludger on society with my old age pension, I am not and I am entitled to my pension. In modern speak, a bludger knows how to work society for his or her benefit, without ever contributing.
DeleteOMG, YP, why are you so obsessed with my use of the word "sidewalk"?! I'm going to put it in every post just to spite you. LOL
DeleteWait, what grammatical usage is being attributed to me? I don't think I ever said "will have wrote." Because that's wrong. You're correct that the usage is: "I will write to the Prime Minister, I will have written to the Prime Minister [as in, by some future date] and I wrote to the Prime Minister." Or you could simply say "I have written the Prime Minister."
ReplyDeleteI'm very curious what set this off! Did I make a typo somewhere?! LOL!
I forget exactly Steve, but it was 'I wrote the Prime Minister', omitting the 'to' after the wrote, which could have been a typo except I've noticed that is how you write it. If I was getting paid per comment, this one has been a cracker.
DeleteOh, I see -- so it's the "to" that's the issue. I would indeed say "I wrote the Prime Minister" or "I will write the Prime Minister," especially in an informal context. I think the "to" is often optional. :)
DeleteThere was an intellectual movement post American revolution to differentiate American English with changes in spelling, grammar and word usage, to help set the United States apart from England. In essence to be seen as something other than a former colony. In American English pavement is a hard surface finish like what is used to improve roadways, parking lots, or sidewalks.
ReplyDeleteTP, you would not argue that an older form of English coming from first settlers was the cause? Pavement is like asphalt?
DeleteI would never have said, I 'will have wrote'. That's jarring to my ears and my tender sensibilities. I have written (past) or I will write (future). The phrase cannot be tied together in my humble American mind.
ReplyDeleteDebby, even 'I have written' is close, both past tense, to 'I wrote to', but used in different contexts.
DeleteWill have wrote would have been a big no- no with the nuns at my school.
ReplyDeleteI do walk on a sidewalk though, Andrew.
Indeed the nuns would be unhappy Pat. It is interesting to learn whether you use an English English word or and American word. You seem to blow both ways.
DeleteGlove compartment. Always interesting to read you. Andrew. And thank you for your visit!
ReplyDeleteCloudia, that is quite formal to me, and longer.
DeleteGlove box footpath
ReplyDeleteAs an Australian?
DeleteYou forgot "gotten" - though it's creeping in and has possibly always been there with attitudes to it caught up in the classroom stigmatization of "got."
ReplyDeleteGuilty. I sometimes say "I have gotten used to living in a block of flats" instead of "I have become used to etc"
DeleteOh yes MC, always avoid got in a sentence. We would be physically punished for a lesser offence. Gotten would have caused a teacher to become apoplectic.
DeleteRiver, I'll have to monitor myself, but I don't think I use gotten. You would probably in speech also use I've rather than I have. Using gotten sounds slightly better that way.
DeleteIn my post recapping our drive south this year I mentioned an odd phrase I had noticed on a highway billboard.
ReplyDeleteIt's giving" potty time made no sense to me. So I found this explanation on Reddit.
Redneck Peter here from Lee County, Alabama. So Buc-ee’s is a gas station chain primarily located in the South East US that has quite a reputation. Every location of theirs is MASSIVE with up to hundreds of gas pumps, a cafe, gift shop, convenience store, etc. Part of their branding is using modern slang, in this instance using the phrase “it’s giving ____,” which is used as a way to describe something. For instance, while eating a bucket of movie theater popcorn, you could say “it’s giving butter” or “it’s giving salty.”
Thanks Jackie. I understand now. I expect hundreds of gas pumps is an exaggeration, but I'm sure massive isn't wrong.
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