[Murfy]

Closely followed by the annoying practice of starting every conversation with the conjunction "So…"

This just reminded me (and a comment on another message board) of people who now start written sentences with "Um," I have heard it spoken intentionally, too. I will give a pass with people who I think say it because they have social anxiety and difficulty talking to people. But most of the time it is used now, it's followed by something rude.

"Um, the next thing I am saying is pointing out how wrong you are"

[john.margetts]

Some pages back there is a reference to "Scarbra" for Scarborough. That is absolutely nothing. My mother was born and raised in Brumidge*. Sometimes pronounced Brumijem, but that's really bad. My grandfather emigrated from Wariksher and when he spoke in Wariksher, only my dad could understand him.

*Trivia question: where and what is this village/town/city and which end of same was my mother raised?

Brumidge would be Birmingham.

[RoxnDox]

No, it is that today's youth (again, wait a minute...) can't read/write cursive.

[WPRESTO]

I can read (most people's) and write cursive, but few are those who can read my cursive. I was sent upstairs in grammar school for remedial work in both spelling and penmanship, but I fooled them. Actually, my cursive is reasonable if I write more slowly, but that defeats the purpose of cursive and makes it easier for readers to spot my spelling errors.

[Tonytee]

Hi Guys,
Bit puzzled here
I have noticed lately americans saying 'If I would have...'
Now I hear it all the time
Down here we say 'If I had'...is the word 'had' not used up there at all ?
Past tense of have...

The other one is 'done'...
Is the word 'finished' not in use there also?

It was someone saying 'If I would have gotten done...' the other day that took the cake
Surely 'if I had finished' is more economical and elegant ?

Our youth down here are adopting these words as US TV brings them up.
sort of depressing

Pete

It depends upon the intended use of the words. For example, when I was in school, we were given our homework assignments on Friday to complete them over the week end. So, I could say, if I had finished my homework on Friday night I would have had the weekend to myself. In this context, it implies that I had started to do my homework, but did not complete it. Now, in this context, "If I had done my homework on Friday evening, I would have had the whole weekend to myself, implies that I never even started doing my homework until Monday morning before returning to school. I hope this helps in some way. As I tell people, "The only foreign language I studied in school was English. )
We could even go so far as to say, "Holy Cow, that was some horse race, as number 4 was the first to cross the Finish Line." We would not call it "The Done Line."

Regards
Tony

[WPRESTO]

I always remark that English was my second language. after the far more logical "Da-da," "Ma-ma," and "wheh!" The syntax simple, spelling unnecessary, vocabulary limited, but it got results.

Another pet peeve about American usage: appending the word "super" to almost anything/everything. I think it started with the "super bomb" (for hydrogen bomb), or perhaps supernova, but since has spread like the flu to super bowl, super star, super storm, super tornado, super outbreak, super volcano, super villain, super hero, super earthquake, super adventure, super store, super car, and i cannot think, do not want to think what else.Every time I hear it now, I roll my eyes and exhale lightly in exasperation.

[wombat2go]

Has Spanish kept its beauty and formality while English has been butchered by the colonials?
How would a Kiwi say this:

" no señor.... pero ahora quisiera el honor a conocer la senorita. "

How would Otis say it, down there in Texas?

[Ex Finn.]

Has Spanish kept its beauty and formality while English has been butchered by the colonials?
How would a Kiwi say this:

" no señor.... pero ahora quisiera el honor a conocer la senorita. "

How would Otis say it, down there in Texas?

Here in MD it would be like" Show me your green-card home boy"...

[hks_kansei]

me of my spelling was marked as incorrect because I wrote the letter "r" in a form totally different to that used in Qld.

I wrote as shown on the left of this image whereas in Qld, they wrote it as shown on the right.



I wonder if my daughter can write cursive - she's just qualified as a doctor (she's an RN) and starts working as a Dr. next Monday. I hope she can write in the usual indecipherable doctor script!

Interesting to note the state differences.

I did all of my schooling in Victoria (primary to '99, then high until '05), and was taught to use the one second from the right.

Not that it matters, I always found cursive/running/ to be far slower for me to write (legibly) than simply writing in print.


Not that my print is particularly neat, my handwriting in general is pretty woeful. Numbers are always tidy, but that's likely a virtue of dealing with them daily.

[wombat2go]

Here in MD it would be like

Yeah, I spent a couple of days at Sparrows Point about 20 years ago. Imagine an aussie accent in there!
Nice Crabcakes and beer , as I remember.

[Ex Finn.]

Yeah, I spent a couple of days at Sparrows Point about 20 years ago. Imagine an aussie accent in there!
Nice Crabcakes and beer , as I remember.

Absolutely fantastic grabcakes and beer! And a lot of great people with an Aussie accent.

[Ex Finn.]

We tested an RAAF F111 some years back. Their C-130 made a pit-stop and dropped off a pallet of Victoria Bitters on their way to the embassy in Washington DC.

[wombat2go]

Absolutely fantastic grabcakes and beer! And a lot of great people with an Aussie accent.

I remember more: I went in there scared, there was a problem they had for 2 years. After meeting with all sorts of nice guys,
there were guys in white coats, green coats , orange vests etc, there were diagrams all over the wall about the problem ,
the supplier rep was there in a suit, even a local academic had chimed in, as I recall.
New to USA, I was amazed at the power they threw at the problem.
Anyway at a shift break I got an oscilloscope up there.
After much argument I was allowed to try something and found it.. More by Luck than Skill, it was just a bit of noise in an op-amp.
A few of those beers with the guys that night ( I forgot the beer's name)
The thing ran happily until its demise a few years later, as i recall.

[Ex Finn.]

I remember more: I went in there scared, there was a problem they had for 2 years. After meeting with all sorts of nice guys,
there were guys in white coats, green coats , orange vests etc, there were diagrams all over the wall about the problem ,
the supplier rep was there in a suit, even a local academic had chimed in, as I recall.
New to USA, I was amazed at the power they threw at the problem.
Anyway at a shift break I got an oscilloscope up there.
After much argument I was allowed to try something and found it.. More by Luck than Skill, it was just a bit of noise in an op-amp.
A few of those beers with the guys that night ( I forgot the beer's name)
The thing ran happily until its demise a few years later, as i recall.

Good trouble shooting!

[ronnies]

I've heard someone pronounce Edinborough as Eedinboro...

It's Embra. As in the Queen's husband the Chookie Embra. And the spelling is Edinburgh. :-)

Ronnie.