Its time to claim back the true spelling in English

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by Simon Fay

About the British accent thing, most of us in America directly associate Britain with England/Great Britain rather than with the British Isles - I would wager it's as close to 100% as you can possibly get. I imagine the etymology is just a shortening of Great Britain to Britain.

Likewise, the Brits are English, the Scots are Scottish, and the people down at the pub are Irish.

You see a similar thing with America referring to the United States of America. Very rarely is America associated with any other country than the US or an American accent confused with an Argentinian accent. Geographically, an American accent could be USA, Mexican, etc ..

So British accent might not be a geographically accurate usage of the word, but my pedantic self would also argue that doesn't make it incorrect from a linguistic standpoint

The above is all in good fun - we can disagree and it's all good.

Good try Simon, but allow me to clarify a little. it is very easy/common for Americans, and others to confuse the geographic, the political and the "tribal" (for want of a better term) divisions.

Geographic:

Britain : a collection of islands.
Great Britain: the "greater island"
Ireland (or Éire): the second biggest island.
There are many more smaller islands including Wight, Anglesea, Alderney, Sark, Jersey and Guernsey (the Channel islands) and of course the Scottish Hebrides.
NOTE: The Isle of Man (between England and Ireland is not a part of the UK but a Crown Dependency with its own language (Manx, its own breed of tail-less cats -also called Manx) and the oldest government in the world -well since 979.

Political:

England, Scotland (Alba) and Wales (Cymru) are the three nations on Great Britain.
Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are both on Ireland (Éire - the island)

Tribal:

Technically all who live on all the islands called the British isles (and have citizenship) are, by definition "British" but call a Scot or and Irish person British and the they will probably deny the title - this is just about history, and a matter of some sensitivity in Northern Ireland.

The Welsh are rightfully proud to be Welsh and of their own language, they are just less likely to argue with the British term (I'll defer that to Silurian on that!)

----

In the US people are often defined by ethnic origins - African-American, Irish-American, Italian American, etc. (although I can't remember anyone telling me that they are "English-American" as I'm sure many could claim.

We don't do that in the UK (or ROI)

To call someone "Nigerian-English, "Indian-British" or "Chinese-Scottish" etc., would generally be regarded as rather offensive, however Aussie, Kiwi, etc., are not.
Whilst we have ethnic tensions, we are far more sensitive to classifying people by ethnicity, than in the USA.

Of course, as the British Isles are -part of the continent of Europe and have been a part of the various incarnations of the European Union, we are about to separate which is a political "hot-potato", and not to be pursued here - but it has become far more sensitive than ethnicity.

The many and various accents of the British Isles whilst largely historic are also very much influenced by those of former Empire origins, not least the Indian subcontinent and the West Indies.

Language? Well there is the Queen's English, and there is Welsh, Scots, Scots Gaelic, Irish, Ulster Gaelic, Welsh, Cornish (?) Manx, (and I'm probably in trouble for missing out some others.

See? It's all very simple and straight forward! ... I'll be asking questions later!

[rokdog49]

Originally Posted by Jim Owen

The true number of rs in the universe is constant. Any time a Bostonian pawks his car, a North Carolinian warshes his

I believe the correct pronunciation is “pock the cahh”.
... and one says fishin’ and the other says feeshun’
Both drop the “g”.

[paulp1960]

Originally Posted by Brucebubs

Reminds me that Brits use 'Hoover' to describe vacuum cleaning.
They Hoover the carpet and we vacuum it.

Unsure where but I've seen Xerox also used to describe photo copying.
They Xerox the document and we copy it.

You're right about the Hoover thing. At one time most people owned vacuum cleaners made by Hoover and it just became a verb.

No we don't Xerox documents here in the UK, never heard that one.

We do call a cell phone a mobile.

[Jim Owen]

“I’ll come by and knock you up in the morning” means something else stateside.

[Simon Fay]

Helpful post, Silly -- thanks for the clarification !!!

[Photojeep]

Originally Posted by Herb Hunter

Given my given name, I’m grateful that, herb, is not pronounced the same as, Herb.

My first name is Randy.

While visiting London on business about 5 years ago, I introduced myself to a group of local gentlemen at a working dinner, and after a sudden pause in the conversation and with just the slightest of pauses, they smiled politely and introduced themselves all while seeming to share a private joke.

I will say I absolutely loved being in England where I was fascinated by all that was both familiar and slightly unfamiliar-all at the same time. The same words (mostly) were used but arranged ever so slightly differently than I would have done.

One of my favorite books of all time is, "The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got that Way." In it, the author says that very early on, the English language was so splintered and traveling was so limited that if one ventured more than 10 or so miles from their own village, they couldn't understand a word spoken by the residents who lived in that next village.

I'm sure everyone from Great Britain knows this, but one of the most eye-opening parts was a fascinating story about a form of Cockney "slang/code" where people could actually have a conversation in front of others, oftentimes the police, where they but the officers would not know what was being said. It was best exemplified by the phrase, "We're in Barney" meaning "We're in trouble." The word "trouble" rhymes with the missing word "Rubble" from "Barney Rubble" So in order to understand what was being said, both parties needed to know the character "Barney Rubble" in order to know what was meant.

For me personally, the known example of this code talking is the term "Raspberry" which means to stick out one's tongue while gripping it with one's lips and blowing outwards. Apparently it came about because of a popular desert known as a Raspberry Tart ... think about it.

Language is a fascinating thing!

Best,
PJ

[Brucebubs]

Originally Posted by Photojeep

My first name is Randy.

While visiting London on business about 5 years ago, I introduced myself to a group of local gentlemen at a working dinner, and after a sudden pause in the conversation and with just the slightest of pauses, they smiled politely and introduced themselves all while seeming to share a private joke.

Language is a fascinating thing!

Best,
PJ

Yes, 'Hi I'm Randy' can have quite a different meaning here too.

[AmericanEagle]

English certainly is an interesting language.
For example, 3 words spelled differently, different meanings, yet pronounced exactly the same. Two, too, to.

[AmericanEagle]

Originally Posted by Brucebubs

Yes, 'Hi I'm Randy' can have quite a different meaning here too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlIymq7ofE

[Conomor]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

The Welsh are rightfully proud to be Welsh and of their own language, they are just less likely to argue with the British term (I'll defer that to Silurian on that!)

The Welsh are the descendants of the original Britons, but the word 'Wales' itself is believed to be derived from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning "foreigner". So to say that the Welsh are proud of being Welsh is - from an etymological perspective - slightly curious. My dad only seems to remember he's Welsh when the rugby's on

In any case, the identities of the native peoples of the British Isles are wrapped up in a lot of myth-making, historic grievance-mongering and romantic New-Age nonsense. The British are not unique in that regard: a Sri-Lankan friend recently told me that some people in her old country genuinely believe that they are descended from tigers.

[cmac]

Originally Posted by GroovyException

In any case, the identities of the native peoples of the British Isles are wrapped up in a lot of myth-making, historic grievance-mongering and romantic New-Age nonsense.

Do you regard yourself as one of these native peoples?

[Conomor]

Originally Posted by cmac

Do you regard yourself as one of these native peoples?

I would like to, but my own ancestry is too mixed for me to honestly regard myself as a native of any place. I genuinely envy those who can.