Keeping It Short 6

[Dimandja]

One thing that struck me about (at least) American english, is the propensity to shorten everything.

September 11 is known as nine eleven.

There many other and better examples out there.

 

[AnotherHiggins]

ESQUARED,
Heh, "The War On Terror." That's one of my pet peeves, too. How can a nation declare war on an idea? It's reminds me of the "War on Drugs." We declared that war about 20 years ago, and you can see how well that has gone!

Katy44,
That reminds me of a Steven Write joke that goes something like this:

I went down the street to the 24-hour grocery.
When I got there, the guy was locking the front door.
I said, "Hey, the sign says you're open 24 hours."
He said, "Yes, but not in a row."

 

[SF0751]

As has the term "twenny four seven" to imply continual service.

Actually, that should be "twenty-four seven"; or "24/7" - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I've also heard "24/7/365" used as an expression for continual service (24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year), which always makes me wonder what happens during a Leap Year!



Susan
[green]Gramen artificiosum odi. [/green]

 

[Katy44]

I realise that, but even in the UK it is always said in an American drawl!

 

[CajunCenturion]

I've always been troubled by the phrase "24/7/365." 24 hours/day, 7 days/week, 365 days/year. Why two consecutive ratios based on days?

You simply need 24/365 - 24 hours/day, 365 days/year. Or if you really want weeks, it should be 24/7/52.

Good Luck
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[Katy44]

Even just the word "constant" would do.

 

[Zathras]

The sign on our local Denny's restaurant simply states "We Never Close"

 

[Katy44]

They should have a sign on the door to flip over - one side saying 'Open' the other saying 'Still Open'

 

[ESquared]

What is an American drawl?

-------------------------------------
A sacrifice is harder when no one knows you've made it.

 

[Dimandja]

Apparently americans speak with "lengthened or drawn-out vowels", I guess as opposed to the brits who speak with clipped and halting cadence.

 

[SQLSister]

Dimandja, not all Americans speak that way, only Southerners.

Questions about posting. See faq183-874

 

[Dimandja]

I am sure you're right SQLSister, it's just that in the UK all americans are drawling - just watch their parodies of americans.

According to

http://www.bartleby.com/61/5d.html,

[Going south], where grits replace hash browns on the breakfast menu, and where the words nice, white, and rice are all pronounced with a vowel Northerners confuse with the vowel common to cat, hat, and sat. With this feature comes the first suggestion of the drawl.

 

[CasperTFG]

If american's have a Drawl! What do Canadians have?


Casper

There is room for all of gods creatures, "Right Beside the Mashed Potatoes".

 

[Dimandja]

No, CasperTFG,

All americans don't drawl[/b]. It's the way the British like to make fun of americans.

I was watching an interview with Stanley Clarke. He sounds almost american - or maybe he was humoring the american interviewer?

Anyway, language accents and intonations will always vary from region to region. Case in point: most people in the UK claim to actually speak english - we in the US are very skeptical about this.

 

[sleipnir214]

CasperTFG:
The accents of Canadians wander as much as the accents of Americans. Outside of First Nations accents, the here a very specific pronunciation of long-o (where the vowel sound does not appear at the end of a word) in many Canadian accents.

It's hard to describe, but once you've trained your ear to it, it's distinctive. Even Canada-native Peter Jennings [note for those outside North America: Peter Jennings is a network news anchorman for the US's ABC network], whose accent is basically "U. S. Broadcast-Standard Midwest", has that distinctive long-o.



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[Katy44]

Just to make it clear, I meant no offence! UK English (wot I speeeek) must be the only language that is spoken more correctly by foreigners than most natives!

 

[xaqster]

Just a short, almost off topic post.

The Mondeo I just scrapped had the registartion number L911WTC.... Hmmm, 9/11 World Trade Centre ?

---

"I'm just here to regulate funkyness"

http://www.kerbside.net

 

[GummowN]

Can someone explain why Aluminium is Aluminum in the US?

And also why my beloved Sulpher has now been chopped to Sulfer - ph. It should phorever be used. iph you need it or not. It is phantastic!!!

Sorry I just need to answer the telefone!!

Grrrrr

Read Eats, Shoots and Leaves

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[sleipnir214]

GummowN:
I don't see why aluminum versus aluminium should cause anyone any consternation -- aluminum's discoverer, the English chemist Sir Humphry Davy, took a while to decide on a spelling and name for the element. See

http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/aluminium.htm

But there is no question of sulpher versus sulfer. The question is sulphur versus sulfur. For that, see

http://www.worldwidewords.org/topicalwords/tw-sul1.htm

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[strongm]

Ah - as ever it is the evil Noah Webster who is predominantly to blame

 

[GummowN]

I dont mean to be rude to our cousins across the pond, but:

Why the hell do Americans love to play about with the English language?

I understand the concept of progress, but how is color better then colour etc

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