American English v. English English

Discussion in 'Miscellaneous' started by daisymay, Mar 28, 2011.

  1. daisymay

    daisymay Police Officer

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    It might fit that thread better, but up to moderators. I'm not constantly searching for 'translations'. It's just that sometimes I'm rolling along, writing, and I suddenly grind to a halt, with a 'no, he's an educated American - he would not say that.' It's no good supposing that all English is the same. Not just words, but what an educated man might say, as opposed to a street kid... My 'knowledge', such as it is, is based almost entirely on TV!
     
  2. Otie

    Otie Hit and Run

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    For spelling I generally use British English, that's what I was taught, and it's fully ingrained in me at this point (to the point where I regularly spell one of my favourite bands names 'wrong' because they spell it the American English way LOL).

    As for sayings, I'm probably not a good example (as I tend to make up my own as I go along) but I mix and match British and American slang... which seems to be par for the course for Canadians.

    As far as beatings go ::laughs:: I guess locally I've heard both (sort of... "beat" instead of "beaten"), but in two different contexts. If talking past tense, you'd say "I got beat up" or "Joey got beat up today", if talking FUTURE tense however, it becomes "beat down"... as in "Joey is going to get a beat down later". Oh, and you've got to add "Eh" to the end of every sentence :guffaw:

    For tired... I've regularly heard "Zonked", but that might just be my weird family. I kind of like the term "Shattered" though... I might have to incorporate that into my vocab from now on ::grins::
     
  3. Jacquie

    Jacquie Ward Girl Moderator

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    Isn't it in our Canadian Citizenship quiz that you have to know to put 'Eh' at the end of every sentence. Like you know what I mean, eh! :guffaw:
     
  4. MacsGirlMel

    MacsGirlMel Mac's Personal Assistant

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    I don't have too much occasion to see British English, unless I'm reading one of the Merlin forums. Then sometimes I have to go Google terms to figure out what the slang is they're using LOL
     

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