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Why is it that Americans.....

1) ...say "a quarter of four" when they really mean "a quarter to four"? As it's fifteen minutes before the hour, surely "a quarter to" would make more sense.

2) ...say, when they're ordering a meal in a restaurant, something like "I'll get the chicken/fish/beef"? What are they going to do? Go to the kitchen and get it themselves?

3) ...say "I need" when they're ordering food? In Orlando, I once saw a woman who weighed the best part of 300 pounds say "I need a quarter pounder". Well, she might have wanted it but she sure as hell didn't need it.

4) ...say "I'll fix you a sandwich"? Why? Is it broken? Why not just say I'll make one.

This is all said light-heartedly, so don't get upset. If you can answer any of the above, or think of Anglicisms that irritate the hell out of you, then please post below!

Fond greetings from across the Pond!

J

I've been an American for almost all my life....well, actually ALL my life. And only one of those is a common "saying" that I'm familiar with.

"I'll FIX me a sandwich." Also "Turkey with all the FIXINGS."

That fat woman one (NEED a Big Mac)) is used rarely.

Also, I've heard "It's a quarter of four." as much as "It's a quarter TO four." but only in the afternoon bacause I'm never up socializing at quarter of four in the morning.

The "I get the BLT." only occurs after the food is brought to the table with other sandwiches.

Jonothan -

Those are all colloquial usages. I love the context of your number 3 - a morbidly obese person saying the need more empty calories!

I think that media exported from the USA tends to have a pretty broad cross-section of colloquial American English in it, so people abroad are used to a lot of our colloquialisms. I do not think that has historically been true of UK media.

When I was little, I remember listening to Richard Burton speaking - what beautiful English, even when he was not quoting the Bard! The point is, the only British accents we ever heard over here were very polished and educated-sounding British accents, therefore I think many Americans came to identify a British accent with an "educated" accent. It is an eye-opener to travel to the UK (I do frequently). and hear how modern English actually sounds in the UK when spoken on the street by common folk. When I look at your domestic programming with real people speaking - like guests on talk shows, I need subtitles to understand all the colloqialisms, accents, slang, and arcane cultural references. It's fun, but it sure is different!

Anyway, the one thing that always gets me is the failure of Brits to use a definite article with the word "hospital". Here's the BBC:"A bus crash in Yorkshire last night resulted in 5 people being taken to hospital." My wife, who is not a native English speaker but has a PhD in English Philology, informs me that in fact you Brits are technically correct, we don't need the definite article with "hospital". Maybe this helps explain "the chicken" - "I'll take the chicken" sounds right to us but it actually is not.

Thank goodness for the little differences that make life interesting. I remember the first time I was in London, I walked up the stairs at Picadilly underground on the "wrong" side. A couple of teenage boys told me I was on the wrong side and called me a "plonker". It took me quite a while to figure out what that meant - people were embarrassed to tell me when I asked!

Cheers (to what - why do you people always say Cheers??? )

BobFV1 wrote:...Cheers (to what - why do you people always say Cheers??? )

As my premenstrual wife might say....

.. BECAUSE WE JUST DO - THAT'S WHY!

Seriously, I think it's just a modern evolution of the expression used before taking a drink.

And you are oh so right, because English regional accents, particularly Geordie (Newcastle), Scouse (Liverpool), Brummie (Birmingham and the Black Country) are virtually unintelligible to most Brits, never mind foreigners.

I think a whole load of rubbish is spoken about the correct and incorrect use of English. It's a constantly evolving entity and we must embrace it as such, whichever side of the Pond we're on.

A very interesting point about the definite article in reference to taking someone to hospital. Do you know, I'd never even noticed or considered that before. You live and learn.

J

Well, Jonothan...

You do have a point. Americans can mangle the English language as well as anyone...

But then again, over here in the USA a "Bag" (rhymes with bag, but begins with an "F" - gotta' get past the 'net nanny) is not something most normal American males would want to smoke...

I'm from Texas, and we have some twists on English that you might enjoy... Like:

1. The engine's runnin' but ain't nobody driving (Meaning = Not overly-intelligent)

2. As welcome as a skunk at a lawn party (self-explanatory)

3. Tighter than bark on a tree (Meaning = Not very generous)

4. Big hat, no cattle (Meaning = All talk and no action)

5. We've howdied but we ain't shook yet (Meaning = We've made a brief acquaintance, but not been formally introduced)

6. He thinks the sun come up just to hear him crow (Meaning = He has a pretty high opinion of himself)

7. She's got tongue enough for 10 rows of teeth (Meaning = That woman can talk)

8. It's so dry the trees are bribin' the dogs (Meaning = We really could use a little rain around here)

9. Just because a chicken has wings doesn't mean it can fly (Meaning = Appearances can be deceptive.)

10. This ain't my first rodeo (Meaning = I've been around awhile.)

11. He looks like the dog's been keepin' him under the porch (Meaning = Not the most handsome of men)

12. They ate supper before they said grace (Meaning = Living in sin)

13. Time to paint your butt white and run with the antelope (Meaning = Stop arguing and do as you're told)

14. As full of wind as a corn-eating horse (Meaning = Rather prone to boasting)

15. You can put your boots in the oven, but that doesn't make them biscuits ( meaning = You can say whatever you want about something, but that doesn't change what it is.)

16.) The lights are on buy nobody's home. (Meaning = Not Overly-Intelligent)

17. Yankees are kinda like hemoroids, they're not too bad when they come down and go back up, but they're a real pain in the butt when they come down and stay. (self explanatory)

18.) She's had more hands on her than a doorknob. (Meaning = Promiscuous woman)

And many, many others...

But yet you Brits have a few to answer for, eh?

Over here, we put our foot in a boot... You put your luggage in it. Our luggage goes in the trunk.

Over here, a woman wears a bonnet on her head... You stuff an engine up under one. Our engines go under a hood. Of course, our heads go under hoods sometimes, too... and certain ethnic groups live in 'hoods.

You stand in a queue, whereas we stand in a line. We do play pool, or billiards, with a cue, however.

To you, a bat is a flattened wooden club, whereas to us it's a round wooden club.

Cricket is a noisy little creature we often step on, but to you it is a national pastime that takes days to play and makes no sense...

Football is football to us, but to you it's soccer.

Over here we have trucks, whereas you have lorries.

A bender to you is a "Bag" (susbstitute "F" for "B" in bag, please) to us. A bender to us is when you Brits get pissed. When we get pissed we are far from happy.

Something bent over here is just that - bent. Bent to you is someone light in his loafers.

And how on Earth did you come to call one of the most beautiful parts of a woman's bady "Bristols"???

Of course, we both have some of the same oddities...

Like parking on a driveway, yet driving on a parkway.

Or when something travels by ship, it's cargo... Yet when it travels by truck (or lorry), it's a shipment.

Language is a funny, odd beast...

Cheers!

Dallara

I get like more distressed like listening to all the kids like trying to say like what they mean like you know what I mean. And my kids suffer from Maryland Mushmouth - they talk so quickly and so low you can't understand a word they are saying. And then don't get me started on the clarity of the languague used in rap music these days. I must be getting old!

I loved the scene in Goldmember where Austin and Nigel Powers were talking dingle Rhyming Slang. No idea what they were talking about. But it was fun to listen to. Much like the old Monty Python RAF Banter sketch.

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy, indeed!

Jonothan:
different cities as well as north/south, etc., have many different expressions/pronounciations. in pittsburgh "Yinz" is used for 'you' or 'you guys'. downtown is pronounced 'dahntahn' ,and out 'aht', for starters. haven't heard this anywhere else in usa. oh, the pittsburgh steelers (american football) art the 'stillers'. great stuff, many different ethnic groups here. there are books on 'pittsburghese'.
dan

How ya going Jonothan....they sure do talk funny don't they.. ..even at Maca's down under they ask..do yo want fries with your order...I say..chips..you mean chips...no thanks...

DJ

Hey Dallara,
point of order on the football thing (this from my son who used to have a girlfriend in Iowa and has explained this point often).
Only one country in the world has Soccer (the USA) because the name Football has been taken up by a game where you throw the ball.
The rest of the world plays Football, with their feet (hence the FIFA World Cup and not the FISA World Cup.
It doesn't matter to me I hate the bloody game

The son wants me to tell you about the first match I took him to; In the UK teams are close enough together that fans can travel around the country following their teams without too much expense, these are the away fans and have their own section in every ground, to prevent crowd trouble. So off we went, he got his brand new shirt, we went off and found our seats and slowly the ground filled around us with everyone in their nice shiney red shirts. Our problem? My son was sitting in his nice new shiney navy and yellow shirt.

How was I to know that they'd be selling tickets to put us in the 'wrong end'!

Si

Simon D wrote:Only one country in the world has Soccer (the USA)

Point of order, my good man.

Canada also refers to European Football as soccer for we too have a unique brand of footie here in Canada that is akin to, but different from, the American game.

Ours is played on longer pitch than the American game (110 yards versus 100 yards)

Our end zones are deeper than the American game (25 yards versus 10 yards)

Our pitch is wider than in the American game (don't ask me the dimensions here)

Our game gives a team 3 "downs" (attempts) to make 10 yards whereas our American cousins are allowed 4 "downs"

Our game puts 12 men on the field at a time whereas that number would draw a penalty in the American game (they are allowed 11 men)

In Canada, our regular season tends to suck but the championship game played for the Grey Cup is usually a barnburner. In the US, the regular season is tons of fun, but the championship game (The Super Bowl) more often than not does not live up to its moniker.

I much prefer the American game over the Canadian game though.

There is football in a nutshell...at least as it exists here in North America.

And then there is Australian Rules Football, which doesn't look much like soccer to me...

Doesn't matter much personally. I don't give a rat's patootie about any of 'em! I don't pay any attention to football, rugby, soccer, basketball, baseball, volleyball, tennis, golf, bandminton, curling, ping-pong, squash, water-polo, track-and-field, polo, etc., etc., etc....

Like Hemingway said... There's bullfighting and motor racing - the rest are just games..."

Ya' know... Those sports where death is staring the participants right in the face...

Of course, in England when you go to a soccer/football match the only ones staring death in the face are the spectators!

Cheers!

Dallara

jonothan wrote:Fond greetings from across the Pond!J

Ah, the Brits and the Yanks. Two great nations separated by a common language... - Lee

Come visit the deep south Jonathan. I knew my son was a true Alabamian when at age four he looked at his mother and me and said, "Are ya'll fixin' to carry me home?"

I enjoy the little differences in languages around America and the (English speaking) world. I might enjoy some of the others if I knew them, but I barely can count English.

Us Aussies play football. Some Aussies play soccer, but they want the rest of us to call it football. It'll always be soccer

http://w6rec.com/duane/bmw/brit-yank.htm

Like JCsman, I too am a Southerner in the US and don't even need to get in on this conversation. I have enough trouble speaking with fellow Americans! After only two years of college, my cousins accused me of talking like a Yankee. But when I moved to Montana, everyone knew I was from the South as soon as I opened my mouth. (Southern accents seemed to work in meeting women out there though! )

In all our interreactions on the board, the accents don't come through, although we certainly have some fun with the different word usage. You can't hear me talk, but imagine Larry the Cable guy!

We could really have some fun with a giant conference call!

They play soccer in japan too. Football is commonly known as an American sport.

Let's not leave the Aussies out of this conversation.

Why is the 'A' sound pronounced "aye"?

I work for a US based aircraft repair copmpany, but I am stationed at ANA (All Nippon Airways). One day I entered the Qantas hangar in Sydney to inspect some damaged aircraft components that belonged to an ANA airplane. The supervisor asked me if I was from "aaye n' aaye".

I said no.

A little while later we both figured out what I was supposed to be doing there.

And some common English and Aussie phrases that I don't get.

What is (are) bullocks? Why are dog's bullocks more commonly referred to than any other animal's bullocks? Do kangaroos have bullocks? Are they less valuable than the dog's?

Does everyone in Australia and England live together? Why is everyone the mate of the other? (Actually, in Australia, they are mites!)

What is the actual meaning of bloke? Is it offensive?
I know that it is OK to say "those blokes" or "that bloke".
Is it proper to say, "hello bloke"?

new2BMW wrote:What is (are) bullocks?

wncbmw wrote: You can't hear me talk, but imagine Larry the Cable guy!

Git-R-Done!

I love the way English is spoken all over the world, though the translation is sometimes difficult on the fly. For your perusal and edification I offer:

http://www.angelescity.com/aussie_slang.html#b

and

http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/

and

http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/ameri ... rn/sounds/

Please forgive me. I work at a University and can't help myself sometimes.

For those interested to see if they "Talk Yankee" or "Talk Southern" here's an on-line quiz.

http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/yankeetest.html

FWIW: I'm from the mid-west and have lived there, the NW, the eastern seaboard and now for 20+ years in the south. I scored 55% (Dixie) "Right on the Mason-Dixon line".