Could this question only have been asked by a moron?

Discussion in 'The Commons' started by Tiffy, Jul 19, 2021.

  1. Tiffy

    Tiffy Well-Known Member

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  2. Carolinian

    Carolinian Active Member Anglican

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    The answer is yes. There are people in the United States who don't know the nation we fought against in the American Revolution, so I wouldn't expect them to know anything at all about anything outside the United States. Funny enough, I heard that American English is closer to how Shakespeare would have spoken than modern "British" English.
     
  3. ZachT

    ZachT Well-Known Member

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    That would be the rich person accent of Virginia/the Carolinas is closer to the Georgian-era fancy pants accent than the British received pronunciation accent you hear on the BBC. Received pronunciation was invented in 1916 and purposefully integrated into public schools (meaning rich kid schools) through diction classes, so it's still pretty modern as far as accents go. The Elizabethan accent of Shakespeare was different again, and I think Shakespeare spoke with a few more art's and thou's, and a few less y'all's.
     
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  4. Othniel

    Othniel Active Member Typist

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  5. Tiffy

    Tiffy Well-Known Member

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    And you call that progress? :) The thing I find fascinating is that some of the answers are even more moronic that the supposed questioner.
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    Last edited: Jul 19, 2021
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  6. Rexlion

    Rexlion Well-Known Member

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    Such false beliefs are more prevalent among the young adults, teens, and children. As a rule, older adults received a better education.
     
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  7. Silvan

    Silvan Active Member

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  8. Othniel

    Othniel Active Member Typist

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    Ah yes, the prestigious, rolling drawl of the Old South
     
  9. Tiffy

    Tiffy Well-Known Member

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    That there may be a connection between the language called English in America and the nation of the English, some of whom went to America a long time ago and taught the Americans how to speak it, but were only partially successful, and then even forgot how to speak it properly themselves. :laugh:
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  10. Rexlion

    Rexlion Well-Known Member

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    Educating our cousins in Great Britain. These are potato chips:
    [​IMG]

    These are french fries:
    [​IMG]

    Now do you see the difference? :laugh:
     
  11. ZachT

    ZachT Well-Known Member

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    Looks like chips and chips to me.

    Chips and hot chips if we want to get real specific.
     
  12. Silvan

    Silvan Active Member

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    I remember:

    When I was in the USA, I was often asked: "Where did you learn your English?"
    My answer then often was: "In England".
    And I got a kind of surprised reaction. :)

    Btw: I also enjoy the way that English is spoken in Scotland and in Wales and in Yorkshire. :)
     
  13. Silvan

    Silvan Active Member

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    Btw:
    Can you say: "It's a braw brecht moonlecht necht te-night!"?

    Or: "If you can say: It's a braw brecht moonlecht necht te-necht, then you are all recht!" :)
     
  14. Silvan

    Silvan Active Member

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    Enjoy! :)
     
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  15. Tiffy

    Tiffy Well-Known Member

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    Oscar Wilde was once told by an American with a southern drawl, in a lift, "Gee I like your English accent". To which Oscar Wilde answered in clipped tones, "Sir. it is YOU who have the accent, not I".

    BTW. Were French Fries and Hamburgers the products of American ingenuity or creations of French and German cuisine? :laugh: And do Americans eat Fish and Chips or have to make do with Fish and French Fries. (Which are much skinnier and crispy than real CHIPS from a real 'Fish and Chip' shop).
    .
     
  16. Silvan

    Silvan Active Member

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    In the case of the Hamburgers it is clearly German cuisine.
    For the Hamburger did not get its name from any ham, but from the "Freie Hansa-Stadt Hamburg". :)
    Or so I am told. :)
     
  17. PDL

    PDL Well-Known Member Anglican

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    The first image is one of crisps. I agree the second is an image of French Fries. They are those disgusting deep fried slivers of potato served by places like McDonald's. They are most definitely not proper chips.
     
  18. PDL

    PDL Well-Known Member Anglican

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    Out of interest what language do you say you speak? I know of a number of Australians who speak English but who claim their language is not English but Australian!:o
     
  19. ZachT

    ZachT Well-Known Member

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    I suppose I technically speak (or more accurately, write) Australian English, but I would never say that. I would just say I speak English. Saying "I speak Australian" just sounds bizarre, like one of those comedy sketches where they find someone dressed in the stars and stripes missing a few teeth yelling at a foreigner to "speak American".
     
  20. neminem

    neminem Active Member

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