NationStates Jolt Archive

I was watching a human interest piece on NBC about this greek-american singer, and the interviewer's says "So you sing in both Greek and American?"

More stupid reporters giving us Americans a bad name . . . grr :mad:

But of course. Didnt you know that american is a new language? Bush talks it.

But of course. Didnt you know that american is a new language? Bush talks it.
No bush talks southern :-P there is a difference

(and I find it funny that this thread turned into an anti bush thread by the first post lol)

I don't know, to my ear, what Bush speaks sounds like, "Uh-murrican"...and it's never too soon to turn threads into anti-Bush breeding grounds...

Are we self-centered?

Of course we are. Europeans keep starting threads about us. If you have nothing better to focus on, why should we?

No bush talks southern :-P there is a difference

(and I find it funny that this thread turned into an anti bush thread by the first post lol)

No, wrong still. He speaks American but in a form of the "southern midlands" accent. Most often associated with CB radios and country music.

Not to be confused with the even more interesting "coastal southern" that I have the pleasure of using on a daily basis.

Quick fact:
The "normal" American accent is usually considered to be "Standard Midwestern."

But beyond this, the reporter was actually speaking correctly. American is actually a form of english and it is the form taught by american schools in (not so ironically) America.

Does not change the fact that he probably would have been better off saying "English" instead. :p

Reminds me of a Sesame Street video I watched back in the day called "Big Bird Goes to China." He asked a little Chinese girl if she spoke American, and she replied "No, but I do speak English."

Of course the difference was that the distinction was MEANT to be funny.

There is a distinct difference between English and American. English includes such strange words as "lorry," "blimey," and "crumpet." American does not, which means that it is better. :D

There is a distinct difference between English and American. English includes such strange words as "lorry," "blimey," and "crumpet." American does not, which means that it is better. :D
Bite your tongue, hoser! English contains words such as chesterfield, serviette, mickey (and not that huge Texas one)....

Bite your tongue, hoser! English contains words such as chesterfield, serviette, mickey (and not that huge Texas one)....
Yes I do have a huge Texas one, but that's not the point here...

Yes I do have a huge Texas one, but that's not the point here...
I know. I felt the need to briefly hijack the thread...or, just assist in the hijkacing process. :D

There is a distinct difference between English and American. English includes such strange words as "lorry," "blimey," and "crumpet." American does not, which means that it is better. :D

You are mistaken, the more crazy words the better. Scots is surperior even to English, with "wee", "laddie", "bairn", "greetin" and in fact several hundred other words to diversify the volcabulary. Check out the nation states region "Scotland" for some written scots, you won't get much political debate (mostly it's a few friends slagging each other [and their mothers] off) but an interesting language/dialect to see in written form.

Or try a google search for "Robert Burns", my favourite is "To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest, With The Plough", included here, just because I can:

Wee, sleekit, cowrin', tim'rous beastie,
O, what a panic's in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
Wi' bickering brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee,
Wi' murd'ring pattle!

I'm truly sorry man's dominion,
Has broken Nature's social union,
An' justifies that ill opinion,
Which makes thee startle
At me, thy poor, earth-born companion,
An' fellow-mortal!

I doubt na, whiles, but thou may thieve;
What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!
A daimen icker in a thrave
'S a sma' request;
I'll get blessin wi' the lave,
An' never miss't!

Thy wee bit housie, too, in ruin!
It's silly wa's the win's are strewin!
An' naething, now, to big a new ane,
O' foggage green!
An' bleak December's winds ensuin,
Baith snell an' keen!

Thou saw the fields laid bare an' waste,
An' weary winter comin fast,
An' cozie here, beneath the blast,
Thou thought to dwell ---
Till crash ! the cruel coulter past
Out thro' thy cell.

That wee bit heap o' leaves an' stibble,
Has cost thee monie a weary nibble!
Now thou's turn'd out, for a' thy trouble,
But house or hald,
To thole the winter's sleety dribble,
An' cranreuch cauld !

But Mousie, thou art no thy lane,
In proving foresight may be vain;
The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy !

Still thou art blest, compar'd wi' me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But och! I backward cast my e'e,
On prospects drear!
An' forward, tho' I canna see,
I guess an' fear!

Those aren't so much words as...emotions. :confused:

@Giga,

There is also German or Swiss German (which almost is a language of its own). Austrian German is not that different though, but also has partly its own vocabulary.
And the difference between British English (BE) and American English (AE) or American is something you should have heard about at school.
Oh, well, let me think. You didn´t learn English at school in East Germany before 1990. It was introduced after the reunification (step by step). So you may not have heard it then, due to the lack of English teachers or something. Or you probably don´t remember colour (color), centre (center), Yours sincerely (Sincerely yours) and many, many more.

and us Irish have words like feck and arse

Eh....so long as we don't ever start putting u's into words like 'color' here in America, I'll die a happy man....

Me!

Colour Colour Colour Colour

and us Irish have words like feck and arse
That´s cute. So you speak Irish English. That is indeed quite different to British English. It is very easy to hear that. And you still have your own old language. The street signs are in English and Irish, though people don´t speak it at least in Dublin where I´ve been. That is really a great city.
I´ve heard that there are regions in the west of the country where it is spoken. Right?

Eh....so long as we don't ever start putting u's into words like 'color' here in America, I'll die a happy man....

Me!

Hey, I like the u's! And I'm supposed to be an objective third party (Dutch), so I'm right :p

American, British, Irish, Canadian.. It's all just different forms of ENGLISH.