In this Discussion
- agentnumone July 2007
- auntscale1 July 2007
- banktooth12 July 2007
- beckysioux December 2008
- clamnight2 July 2008
- Courtneytastic July 2007
- DJRose January 2009
- doctor5cap January 2008
- dollarflame6 October 2008
- dust33rain December 2007
- ezorvera December 2007
- firexpert6 July 2007
- jedi_grrlie January 2009
- LolaBert January 2008
- mayonaise December 2007
- monday94ear July 2007
- nerverise9 July 2007
- painwall69 July 2007
- quart87ghost January 2009
- spy9black December 2007
- Surfer Rosa July 2007
- sweetness January 2009
- target35ghost May 2009
- Tempe Arizona May 2009
- The End Has No Jen October 2008
- thephantommilk December 2007
- tune1shade July 2007
- veinleo09 December 2007
- women60banana July 2007
Comments
Andy and I had a discussion about this- thank you soooo much for helping me, Andy! (I really needed help-it was an emergency- and I didn't get to thank you properly)
One thing stuck out for me in our convo. Here, it is a mortal sin to start a sentence with "but" in a formal essay. In England, that's acceptable but what isn't is starting a sentence with "the." So, as Andy said, instead of saying "The blah is blah," you'd have to say "It is widely considered that the blah is blah" or smthg like that.
My prof once said that while we don't have a comma b/f "and" in a list, the Brits do- I found out from Andy that she was wrong.
However, the Brits do say things like "An historical blah" while we say "A historical blah."
Also, you say "boarder" while we say "border"- that was an embarrassing mistake I made with my friend last night.
Do you use "and" after semi-colons? It's incorrect to do so here, but my friend did and I wasn't sure if it was a British thing.
Also, the subjunctive tense is always "were" here, but 99% of ppl incorrectly use "was" for the singular subjunctive, so it's become acceptable in all but the most grammar-minded circles. How is it in Britain?
And lastly, we don't use "13:00." It's always AM or PM as the distinction, unless you're in the military. That's because we're too stupid to subtract (We really are: 30% of us can't even find the US on a map of the world).
* You shouldn't start a sentence with "But", especially not in a formal essay. In literature, it can be used for emphasis, but otherwise it's generally not correct. Although at school I find they're sometimes a little lenient on that one.
* In a list, you never put a comma before the word "and". Again, though, I don't think they care very much at school.
* I HATE it when people say "an historical". Posh, upper class people in Britain say "an hotel", and miss of the 'h' sound at the beginning of hotel, but when people say "an historical" they keep the 'h' sound, so it's hard for me to tell whether the two are related. I just asked my mum, and we're now both totally confused - I honestly don't know which one is right, but I say "a historical". Another thing that makes it confusing is that some lower class people miss off the 'h' sound on most words, so they feel the need to say 'an' instead of 'a' in other cases - for example "a half" would become "an 'alf"
* I'm not sure what you mean about boarder/border... as in the perimeter of something?
* I don't think you're supposed to write 'and' after a semi-colon at all, to be honest. That kind of makes the semi-colon pointless, doesn't it?
* When you're talking about the subjunctive, do you mean something like "If I were to say to you..." etc? I only know the terms for different tenses in french, lol! If that's right, then it's pretty much the same over here - 'were' is correct, but most people say 'was'. Actually, it's WORSE than that in Britain - a lot of people now say things like "You was going shopping, wasn't you?", or even "We was at the cinema" for the perfect tense! Its infuriating.
* We never use "13 hundred hours" or anything like that. Actually, we rarely say "3.30PM", we'd say "3.30 in the afternoon", just to avoid any confusion, lol. Maybe we're even dumber than you guys!
And on a side note - are you serious??? 30% can't pinpoint the US?
Actually, my friend does geography A Level (British qualifications that you need to get into university etc), and when she was given a map of South America she turned it upside down and tried to find London, convinced that it was a map of the UK. She also believed that Lebanon was a made up country, like Narnia, and that Auschwitz was the place where they filmed the game show Crystal Maze. Another girl I know thought that California was a city in the country of Los Angeles (which she didn't realise was the same place as L.A.), and another girl pointed to Greenland when I asked her to show me where Britain was.
Worrying, isn't it?
Actually, my friend does geography A Level (British qualifications that you need to get into university etc), and when she was given a map of South America she turned it upside down and tried to find London, convinced that it was a map of the UK. She also believed that Lebanon was a made up country, like Narnia, and that Auschwitz was the place where they filmed the game show Crystal Maze. Another girl I know thought that California was a city in the country of Los Angeles (which she didn't realise was the same place as L.A.), and another girl pointed to Greenland when I asked her to show me where Britain was.
Worrying, isn't it?
oh lorde! really??? wow... that IS worrying
heres a Canadian/US one. Ive noticed that Canadians say "washroom" and americans say "bathroom", do the brits recognize any of these terms?
* You shouldn't start a sentence with "But", especially not in a formal essay. In literature, it can be used for emphasis, but otherwise it's generally not correct. Although at school I find they're sometimes a little lenient on that one.
* In a list, you never put a comma before the word "and". Again, though, I don't think they care very much at school.
i wasnt 100% sure you should start a sentence with but or not, i knew starting with 'and' is a big no no
as i did it all the time at col, being dyslexic and not very well schooled in english and all..
yeah i was saying how a comma should never come before and in a list!
so i was right about somthing, go me and my 3am english skills
* You shouldn't start a sentence with "But", especially not in a formal essay. In literature, it can be used for emphasis, but otherwise it's generally not correct. Although at school I find they're sometimes a little lenient on that one.
Really? Eek!!!! What I was doing last night was editing my friend's paper (English is her second language. She speaks 5 languages). She studies in the UK and I wanted to make sure I wasn't imposing American rules while I was editing. She had started a sentence with "But" several times- I guess you guys are like us in that it's unacceptable. What about starting a sentence with "the"? Do you and Andy match up on that one?
I think, from what you're saying, that American and British rules are mostly similar, except for spelling.
oooh, it's a class thing?! It's ironic tho that it's an upper and lower class thing together.
"cross-boarder" is what she wrote, and I thought it was a spelling mistake and put "cross-border." Was very embarrassing. ..But then again, I've never seen you write "colour" or "centre" instead of "color" and "center." Can it go either way?
Thank you! People do it all the time here tho, not knowing or not caring that it's incorrect.
Yeah, that's exactly what I mean. When ppl say, "If I was rich, I'd..." I always want to start slapping whoever said it. Messing up the perfect tense tho- ugh, poor you, Alice. What you have to endure!
hahaha! I like that- saying "afternoon" instead of "PM" sounds more literary somehow, more picturesque.
The geography- yes, it's true, sigh. I'd love to blame the American school system, but something tells me our idiocy is inane. Your experience is scary- especially the Auschwitz example. But hopefully it's just a few ppl and not 30% of the population? If not, how is it possible that we are 2 of the most advanced and powerful countries in the world?
heres a Canadian/US one. Ive noticed that Canadians say "washroom" and americans say "bathroom", do the brits recognize any of these terms?
HA! When I was in England I would ask for the Bathroom all the time and my hosts kept wondering why I needed so many baths! They say "Toilet" and that's because the toilet is actually in a completely different room than the tub and the sink! You can also ask for "The Ladies'", or "The Loo" and that will be understood as well.
toilet, bog, shitter, out house, toilet, gents, ladies and many others are used
Most Brits recognise bathroom and restroom (not washroom so much) as 'the toilet' (and laugh at Americans for using those words lol), but Rachel's right - we call it the toilet. Or the loo. I hate that word.
I think, from what you're saying, that American and British rules are mostly similar, except for spelling.
To be honest, while it's not considered 'correct', no one really seems to care, so I wouldn't worry too much! As for 'the', I've never heard of it being a problem. I think it's fine.
Ahhh... I'd write cross-border too. I don't think you'd ever use boarder in that sense; I'd have said that 'boarder' is 'one who boards', i.e. someone staying at a boarding school or something. As for 'center' and 'color', no one in England writes them that way, it's considered incorrect over here. I just type them the American way on here because I either forget, or because your spellings make more sense, or because I get sick of the little red line telling me I've misspelled them!
THANK YOU! Argh I actually wince when people do that. No one else understands my aversion to bad grammar - today my chemistry teacher used the word 'less' when he should've said 'fewer' 3 TIMES!!! In one lesson. I almost cried...
Haha that's how I pronounce bath 'barrrrth' too. We're so posh
we are so posh it hurts =p
I once got an earful from Barry while he was in the US (and I was back in France) about how we use "restroom" and how it's not a "restroom," it's a toilet, he wasn't going to take a nap in there, etc.
I was like, "what do you want?" It feels rude for me to say, "Where's the toilet?" but that's just the way American culture is.
Though in French, I always say "la toilette," so...whatevs.
I love British accents, EXCEPT when they call migranes "mee-granes." What's the deal with that?
However, I do love the way you Brits say "Bah-stahrd" for "bastard." You guys can make anything sound suave and sophistocated.
What is a custard tart?
There's a show I like and the main guy loves to eat custard tarts.
What is a custard tart?
There's a show I like and the main guy loves to eat custard tarts.
I think they're little pastries filled with custard:
Onesie (sp?) - Babygrow
Diaper - Nappy
Pacifier - Dummy
(on the babies theme)
and Sliver - Splinter
his generalizations are probably way off, but it was still very funny
Or is that inappropriate to discuss?
This brings a whole new hilarious dimension to the Sub-prime Mortgage Crisis coverage - Fannie Mae, anyone?
I really wonder if this situation is getting any news coverage in the UK, and how they're getting away with saying "US Mortgage Financer, Vaggie Mae..."
(hehehe spotted dick)
Certain word the Brits and Americans spell differently
like
The Brits = colour,cheque,modelling,empathise favourite,encyclopaedia,centre....etc
American- color,check,modeling,empathize favorite,encyclopedia,center...etc
its so frustrating when I lose points just because of the spelling even though I tell them that's how I learnt to spell them
I remember one of my friends from London came to visit so me and some of my other friends all decided to go out we where there for a bit until she told them she was going outside "to smoke a fag"...
they were looking at her like she was crazy until I explained that she was just going out to smoke a cigarette .....
I couldnt stop laughing my ass off