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Henners91 wrote:

dsteingass wrote:curious, why do British pronounce the rank of "lieutenant" as "Left-tenant" and not "Lew-tenant" ?

and why do you pronounce "Aluminum" as "alu-min-ee-um"?

I've been watching a lot of Doctor Who and Top Gear on BBC America lately and wondered, thanks

Aluminium has an I in there, the second one, before the U... so the more appropriate question is 'Why do Americans say Alu-min-um and completely ignore the second I?'

ANSWER ME THAT!

On the first page of this thread...

English Assassin wrote:Actually there's a bit more of a story to that one, Humphry Davy, the British scientist who isolated the metal from alum, originally chose 'aluminum'; it was only later revised to 'aluminium' to match the then-current system for naming newly-isolated elements. Strictly-speaking, since its oxide is called 'alumina', not 'aluminia' (as lanthanum's is lanthana and magnesium's magnesia) the American spelling has the better claim to correctness.

Despite this, however, the official spelling, as used by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry is the British one, presumably because chemists are concerned with other properties of things than their etymology.

As far as i remember from being taught history and english. The English americans speak hasn't actually changed for the last 300 years. You speak the way us brits spoke 3000 years ago. Its just the english language in britain evolved thats all.

Heres a question for you all. I know why americans are called yanks and i know why new zealanders are called kiwis but why are brits know as limeys in america and poms in australia?

dsteingass wrote:Sulfur is an incorrect spelling, who uses it that way?

Sulfur and sulphur are both, according to the OED, correct, and, though the 'ph' form is the common British spelling, both have been used in English for centures. Since the word is Latin and not a Greek loanword, the 'ph' is in fact an affectation, acquired some time in mediaeval period. If we British really want our own spelling of sulphur, we can always spell it 'brimstone' - a rather nice Old Norse-derived term.

As to who thinks the 'f' form correct, oh, only the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.

Easy answer, we dont call you limeys. Ive never EVER heard Brits called that. As far as I know, we just call you Brits. Easy chessy, next one please

GentlemanGuy wrote:Heres a question for you all. I know why americans are called yanks and i know why new zealanders are called kiwis but why are brits know as limeys in america and poms in australia?

'Limey' originates, as a semi-derogatory term, from the Royal Navy's tradition of providing vast quantities of lime juice (lime rather than lemon, since the former were more readily available in the empire's Caribbean possessions) to prevent scurvy. Can't help you on 'pom', however.

'Yank' also gives us my favourite term for our American cousins: 'septics'.

GentlemanGuy wrote:Heres a question for you all. I know why americans are called yanks and i know why new zealanders are called kiwis but why are brits know as limeys in america and poms in australia?

Limeys has been answered, the reason we used lime rather than the superior lemon is because at the time we were - seriously - at war with all the world's major lemon producers.

Poms are poms because when it was a prison colony a lot of equipment coming from the UK was marked with a stencilled "POHM" for Property Of His/Her Majesty.

Actually Sir Humphrey Davey originally wanted to call Aluminium Alumium, he then changed his mind to Aluminum. The Royal Society made him change it to Aluminium so that it would fall into the convention with Sodium, and such.
Obviously they had forgotten about Platinum.

Dolts.

The lieutenant thing is because it is a French word that we adopted, keeping the pronunciation.
When you adopted it you pronounced it phonetically as you are wont to do.

The problem is that (in Britain) consistent phonetic pronunciation is the mark of a simpleton.

dsteingass wrote:That's ok, they taught us in school that in the event of Nuclear war that if we "duck and cover" under our wooden school desk that we would be safe. There was a lot of veiled government propaganda in the US public school system too.

What possible interest did the Labour government have in telling us that Americans were bad at spelling?

I guess just the little prods like that and the fact that Yankees all be fat would be enough to encourage us to don our redcoats and end what we started over there, eh?

English Assassin wrote:

Henners91 wrote:

dsteingass wrote:curious, why do British pronounce the rank of "lieutenant" as "Left-tenant" and not "Lew-tenant" ?

and why do you pronounce "Aluminum" as "alu-min-ee-um"?

I've been watching a lot of Doctor Who and Top Gear on BBC America lately and wondered, thanks

Aluminium has an I in there, the second one, before the U... so the more appropriate question is 'Why do Americans say Alu-min-um and completely ignore the second I?'

ANSWER ME THAT!

On the first page of this thread...

English Assassin wrote:Actually there's a bit more of a story to that one, Humphry Davy, the British scientist who isolated the metal from alum, originally chose 'aluminum'; it was only later revised to 'aluminium' to match the then-current system for naming newly-isolated elements. Strictly-speaking, since its oxide is called 'alumina', not 'aluminia' (as lanthanum's is lanthana and magnesium's magnesia) the American spelling has the better claim to correctness.

Despite this, however, the official spelling, as used by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry is the British one, presumably because chemists are concerned with other properties of things than their etymology.

Actually reading threads is for sissies.

If all Americans are fat, do all British have bad teeth? lol Cultural diversity as taught by television.

Henners91 wrote:Actually reading threads is for sissies.

Regrettably, help with reading comprehension would be a matter for another thread.

Edit: ironic typo.

dsteingass wrote:If all Americans are fat, do all British have bad teeth? lol Cultural diversity as taught by television.

Nah, the loss of our bad teeth was the seductive promise given to us by the dirty commies we let into government who built that dastardly National Health Service that annually places our elderly loved ones before boards of bureaucrats and asks them to justify their existence...

I'm afraid that the Yankee paupers are the ones to look to for broken smiles now...praise Lenin!

Our Beuraucrats are all tea-partying fascists who would rather pad their own pockets...trade ya.

dsteingass wrote:Our Beuraucrats are all tea-partying fascists who would rather pad their own pockets...trade ya.

Whereas Henners was being sarcastic i get the feeling you aren't...

dsteingass wrote:If all Americans are fat, do all British have bad teeth? lol Cultural diversity as taught by television.

Actually, there is no truth to the stereotype that the British have bad teeth:

Cracked.com wrote:A study performed by OECD, an international economic organization, on the state of dental hygiene in developed countries has concluded that the British have the very best teeth in the entire world, with an average of just 0.6 of a tooth decaying per citizen.

Meanwhile, the USA have the highest obesity rates in the world. So... yeah. Suck it.

You should always assume I am being sarcastic ..just playing, hold your fire!

dsteingass wrote:Our Beuraucrats are all tea-partying fascists who would rather pad their own pockets...trade ya.

A bureaucrat supporting minimal-state libertarians is like a cockroach having shares in a pest exterminator.

My questions have been answered thoroughly, thank you everyone.

Brother Azul wrote:

Uhlan wrote:The Kiwis sound a lot like their southern hemisphere brethren. To my ear the accent is so subtle as to be non-existant. But don't tell them that.

Aww dude dont do that. Thats a bad move. They hate it when you call em Australians.

Uhlan wrote:I thought all Aussies were supposed to sound like Crocodile Dundee. Most don't

The few American tourists i have met have all thought the the same thing and were blown away/devestated that its not the case.

But you still point out what is and isn't a knife, right... right


Automatically Appended Next Post:

TrollPie wrote:

dsteingass wrote:If all Americans are fat, do all British have bad teeth? lol Cultural diversity as taught by television.

Actually, there is no truth to the stereotype that the British have bad teeth:

Cracked.com wrote:A study performed by OECD, an international economic organization, on the state of dental hygiene in developed countries has concluded that the British have the very best teeth in the entire world, with an average of just 0.6 of a tooth decaying per citizen.

Meanwhile, the USA have the highest obesity rates in the world. So... yeah. Suck it.

NAh, that's somao with a 94% obesity rate we've only got 66.7%

Brother Azul wrote:

Uhlan wrote:The Kiwis sound a lot like their southern hemisphere brethren. To my ear the accent is so subtle as to be non-existant. But don't tell them that.

Aww dude dont do that. Thats a bad move. They hate it when you call em Australians.

Oh man, do I know this from experience.

I joined a group of Kiwis and Aussies who were sitting around having a great time. When it was my turn to 'shout' I decided to raise a toast to all the 'Aussies' sitting around me. Most of them quickly looked at each other and it got dead quiet. One of the Kiwis rather flatly pointed out that they weren't all Australian. I innocently implied that I couldn't tell the difference in the accents. The Aussies just sat there smirking quietly while the Kiwis got indignant and accused my mother of some rather aberrant behavior where my birth was concerned. This opened a whole can of worms and a shouting match which led to a very short 'tussle' amongst 7 or 8 of us.

After that exchange I told the Kiwis that if they wanted me to recognize them they had better sit to my right so I could make the distinction. Once over we just sat there and started to laugh and went back to drinking as if nothing happened.

Edit: I can't freaking spell...

dsteingass wrote:You should always assume I am being sarcastic ..just playing, hold your fire!

I know, but I prefer to get angry.

youbedead wrote:

Brother Azul wrote:

Uhlan wrote:The Kiwis sound a lot like their southern hemisphere brethren. To my ear the accent is so subtle as to be non-existant. But don't tell them that.

Aww dude dont do that. Thats a bad move. They hate it when you call em Australians.

Uhlan wrote:I thought all Aussies were supposed to sound like Crocodile Dundee. Most don't

The few American tourists i have met have all thought the the same thing and were blown away/devestated that its not the case.

But you still point out what is and isn't a knife, right... right

Uhh... For you mate yes. Yes we do...

Uhlan wrote:

Brother Azul wrote:

Uhlan wrote:The Kiwis sound a lot like their southern hemisphere brethren. To my ear the accent is so subtle as to be non-existant. But don't tell them that.

Aww dude dont do that. Thats a bad move. They hate it when you call em Australians.

Oh man, do I know this from experience.

I joined a group of Kiwis and Aussies who were sitting around having a great time. When it was my turn to 'shout' I decided to raise a toast to all the 'Aussies' sitting around me. Most of them quickly looked at each other and it got dead quiet. One of the Kiwis rather flatly pointed out that they weren't all Australian. I innocently implied that I couldn't tell the difference in the accents. The Aussies just sat there smirking quietly while the Kiwis got indignant and accused my mother of some rather aberrant behavior where my birth was concerned. This opened a whole can of worms and a shouting match which led to a very short 'tussle' amongst 7 or 8 of us.

After that exchange I told the Kiwis that if they wanted me to recognize them they had better sit to my right so I could make the distinction. Once over we just sat there and started to laugh and went back to drinking as if nothing happened.

Edit: I can't freaking spell...

Pro tip: If you want to settle em back down with out losing some teeth, buy the next few rounds out of good faith or if its your shout next, like in this situation, buy a round a shots as well and make it something potent. You end up a little extra out of pocket but it can save you a potentialy nasty thrashing.

Other wise that sounds like a fairly normal drinking "altercation"

I used to hate the way the Americans butchered the beautiful eclectic mixture of languages that English has become.

This is nothing in comparison to what the ENGLISH do to their own language.

I can just about make my peace with text speak (C you 8r, and all the rest of that crap)

But when you hear what we in England might call a 'chav' speak it beggers belief that its coming from a sentient human being.

Every sentance has to be followed by either 'nah wat i is sayin blood' or 'nah wat i meen bruv'

These unbearable fethwiths actually go out of their way to sound stupid. It is the greatest tragedy to hit the England for centuries. In this I include the plague/fire of london/the blitz.

This could very easily escalate into me ranting about English working class (or not working class for 99% of them as they are lazy freeloading bums who can't/don't get a job because they can not produce coherant sentances) but I won't allow it to go to that.

American English is what it is. I don't know why we both say you speak English, you don't you speak American and why shouldn't you.

I just wish the English would speak English


Automatically Appended Next Post:
The best way to tell a Kiwi from an Aus is the E's

In NZ it works a little like this, the name Edward would sound more like ID - WARD, and TEN comes out TIN

Ask an Auz or Kiwi for sex, if they shout back a SIX in shock, you know they are a Kiwi

Pacific wrote:
Going into a old-fashioned little tea shop deep in the heartland of Wales I could hear everyone speaking English, the moment I opened my mouth to say something everyone in there immediately started speaking Welsh.

I experienced this when I was in Wales, too. I thought it was because I was American (or Texan).

kronk wrote:

Pacific wrote:
Going into a old-fashioned little tea shop deep in the heartland of Wales I could hear everyone speaking English, the moment I opened my mouth to say something everyone in there immediately started speaking Welsh.

I experienced this when I was in Wales, too. I thought it was because I was American (or Texan).

This tends to happen more in central/northern Wales, never understood why. I used to think this was one of those ridiculous myths, people would say happens all the time. Then it happened to me and I was quite shocked. Mainly because Welsh sounds like someone doing a bad impression of a turkey.

lukewild1982 wrote:

kronk wrote:

Pacific wrote:
Going into a old-fashioned little tea shop deep in the heartland of Wales I could hear everyone speaking English, the moment I opened my mouth to say something everyone in there immediately started speaking Welsh.

I experienced this when I was in Wales, too. I thought it was because I was American (or Texan).

This tends to happen more in central/northern Wales, never understood why. I used to think this was one of those ridiculous myths, people would say happens all the time. Then it happened to me and I was quite shocked. Mainly because Welsh sounds like someone doing a bad impression of a turkey.

It's because they don't like the English...
They don't bother to check if you are English however.

lukewild1982 wrote:I used to hate the way the Americans butchered the beautiful eclectic mixture of languages that English has become.

This is nothing in comparison to what the ENGLISH do to their own language.

I can just about make my peace with text speak (C you 8r, and all the rest of that crap)

But when you hear what we in England might call a 'chav' speak it beggers belief that its coming from a sentient human being.

Every sentance has to be followed by either 'nah wat i is sayin blood' or 'nah wat i meen bruv'

These unbearable fethwiths actually go out of their way to sound stupid. It is the greatest tragedy to hit the England for centuries. In this I include the plague/fire of london/the blitz.

This could very easily escalate into me ranting about English working class (or not working class for 99% of them as they are lazy freeloading bums who can't/don't get a job because they can not produce coherant sentances) but I won't allow it to go to that.

American English is what it is. I don't know why we both say you speak English, you don't you speak American and why shouldn't you.

I just wish the English would speak English


Automatically Appended Next Post:
The best way to tell a Kiwi from an Aus is the E's

In NZ it works a little like this, the name Edward would sound more like ID - WARD, and TEN comes out TIN

Ask an Auz or Kiwi for sex, if they shout back a SIX in shock, you know they are a Kiwi

I am sure that they said the same thing about the peasantry in the past.

'It's yes MY LORD.'

'Thass wot oi said zurr, oi mean milordshep!'

'CURSE YOU VILLAINS, I AM MOST CONTENTED THAT YOU HAVE YET TO GAIN LITERACY!'

Fortunately they still haven't...

TrollPie wrote:

dsteingass wrote:If all Americans are fat, do all British have bad teeth? lol Cultural diversity as taught by television.

Actually, there is no truth to the stereotype that the British have bad teeth:

Cracked.com wrote:A study performed by OECD, an international economic organization, on the state of dental hygiene in developed countries has concluded that the British have the very best teeth in the entire world, with an average of just 0.6 of a tooth decaying per citizen.

From what I recall, the stereotype stems not from dental hygiene, but from how Americans view Orthodontia. Here, we're raised and brain washed into believing that perfect and straight teeth is the norm and beautiful, meaning we put an emphasis on braces and anything else to make them straight, bleached white, and socially acceptable. Anything else, while not actually tied to real hygiene, is viewed as incorrect and thus unhygienic as well.

As I understand it, that's not as true across the pond, where I believe the emphasis is simply on healthy teeth.

My teeth are sort of cream (normal-looking); was always told that just meant they were strong... I felt tempted to describe them as yellowish but they look nothing like smokers' teeth.

At any rate, I'd associate bleached teeth with corny gameshow hosts....

But kudos to that post Platuan4th... it's a good one. I do believe you'll find more broken smiles in the US, though.

My teeth are regularly commented on by people without medical degrees in dentistry as looking bad.

My dentist, who has these aforementioned medical degrees and therefore is qualified to comment, say's they're perfectly normal.

Yeah, teeth don't have to point in the same direction to be healthy.
It is just the shade of that slightly raised tendency for our American cousins to be a touch superficial.

My wife loves it, whenever she is in the US she always tells me that she would rather have a service person hate her and pretend to be nice for tips than be totally indifferent and show it.

I prefer the latter.

I have fantastic teeth! Even more so since I stopped smoking some years ago. And I rarely see bad teeth......that I notice. But sometimes those methheads come by and ruin everything