International Englishes

[Vic Romano]

...And I think there's some place(s?) where no matter what company makes it, it's "coke."

That's me, Pepsi is Coke, Coke is Coke; we just love Coke, dangit! I know lots of people here on the East coast who call soda "Coke". Go out west and it becomes "pop."

we call it the U.S., they call it America

Actually, we tend to go by "The US", "The United States" or "The States." No one really says "America" that I hear of at least.

Oh, by the way, any americans mind the fact that I called you Yanks earlier? I heard somewhere that you're not fond of the term..

We've been called worse. I always liked the term "Yanks" but we generally tend not to call ourselves that. Go down to North Carolina and further down south and they'll call us "northerners" Yankees. As far as we go though; that's our baseball team. If our own consider "Yankees" a negative term, we in retort call them hicks because that really gets 'em angry! If anything were to be taken offensive, it'd be in our rules of grammer that you didn't capitalize "Americans."

But what do you call us Brits?

Brits, the British... There's not a load of slang there that we conjur up.

Here in the States, if you're being PC (politically correct), the Chinese are the Chinese, Indians are Indians and etc.; but believe me, some crass people have names for all of them that are very derogatorey.

 

[TogetherAgain]

That's me, Pepsi is Coke, Coke is Coke; we just love Coke, dangit! I know lots of people here on the East coast who call soda "Coke". Go out west and it becomes "pop."

I think "pop" is mostly a mid-West thing, because when I was talking to someone from California, we got into a little... er... "discussion" about it. Fortunately, we pretty much only had water available to drink, so it wasn't a huge issue on that trip.

 

[Vic Romano]

I'll never forget a trip to DesMoines where I went to a restaurant and ordered a cheese burger and was asked: "Would ya' like a pop with that?" I musta' stared at him for twenty minutes thinkin' "What the heck is this guy talkin' about!?"

I'm curious what the general opinion of Americans is. I've heard we're regarded as very arrogant, hot headed and rich playboys; is that true? We here put massive stereotypes on people from other countries and this is kinda' how it goes:
• England - A bit snooty, very proper, well educated and would rather mind their own bussiness. (I never saw the "snooty" side so commonly associated with the Brits, but rather extremely polite)
• Canadians - Very laid back. (I personally don't get this one as I have family in Montreal and them and all their friends party like they'll never get the chance again!)
• Scottland and Ireland - We're given the image of good ol' boys who beat the crap outta' eachother as a form of friendship. They also drink a lot. (This would be the only stereotype I might believe as I have several friends and family from Ireland and they are tough as nails, but a lot of fun as long as they don't beat the bejeezus outta' you)
• Aussies - All I can say is American women LOVE accents, especially an Australian accent, so if you're a guy and an Aussie and single, come to the States and you'll be a celebrity.

I don't mean to offend anyone and mostly these are the general stereotypes we Americans have of other countries. Fill me in, please!

 

[MrsPepper]

I don't capitalise alot of things, Vic. ^_^ I type too fast for my brain to handle.

Oh, this just may be a cultural difference. But what we call Natives or First Nations, I've heard them refered to as Indians by Americans. If you are talking about people from India, they're called East Indians.

Who calls it soda?! That's just bizarre. It's definately always pop here.

Hee, Canadians are laid-back, but tend to be party people. Prime example: Remember the huge east-coast blackout a few years back? Our power kept coming on and off, we were lucky. So when our tv was working, we'd watch the news. The American newscasters (we get alot of american channels) were freaking out about it saying, keep cool, go out and have fun, it'll be fixed soon, but what an emergency, tragic, how could it happen, blah blah blah. While the canadian attitude was, well since there's a blackout, it's a good time to have some friends over, break out your cooler and drink on the porch. Mind you tv newscasters didn't say this exactly. Radio ones totally did, though.

Oh, another difference: Americans (well, at least in Massachusetts) they have cookouts, whereas we have barbecues (BBQ's).

Vic, you're not gonna be happy. From what I see, the general idea of americans is that (to put it plainly as possible) they are undereducated and have egos. **winces** Not saying I agree with that, though! I've been to the states, and that's not true. The people are the same as up here. Alot of people are really nice and generous (Even in a new york city subway metro card line). Just some of the attitudes are different. But it seems though that the culture really focuses on being "American!" and isn't mindful of cultural differences in their own country, and ignorant of other country and worldly events. Like, if Canada is on the american news, it's nearly always something portrayed negatively by the biased media. i alwaysstop to see what they have to say about Canada on the american tv stations we get. One article was about how gay marriages are legal, another about drugs in BC, and it was all, how does this affect us? It gets a little tiring.
Oh and keep in mind this is a viewpoint from a chick who grew up in the country which is basically the equivalent to the states' whiny little brother, so yeah.

 

[luvtosr]

I'm curious what the general opinion of Americans is. I've heard we're regarded as very arrogant, hot headed and rich playboys; is that true?
I don't mean to offend anyone and mostly these are the general stereotypes we Americans have of other countries. Fill me in, please!

OK, from the English point of view here are our stereotypes (and I stress, stereotypes, not actually my personal opinion and, to be honest, I prefer to consider myself British over English.)

English - well, we kind of like ourselves, we often consider ourselves to be witty, intelligent and extremely likeable.

Scottish - Tight with their money, terrible tempers, great whisky.

Irish - unfortunately they tend to be streotypically portrayed as extraordinarily stupid in a real simpleton kinda way. Still, great whiskey and great black stuff - and potato cakes which are just ace.

Welsh - (I noticed you missed Wales out of yours Vic, I'd be curious to know what Americans think about the Welsh). They're generally portrayed as a bit daft too, or of a somewhat deviant nature.

Canadians - As far as I know Canadians are generally famed for their sense of humour, especially when it comes to alternative comedy, that and lumberjacks, log cabins and Mounties.

Aussies - In a word 'beer'. In a few more words, Neighbours, Kylie, cork hats, Steve Irwin. We like Aussies - they're drunk and play with dangerous animals.

Americans - Oh dear, we tend to think of Americans as terminally stupid, terminally obese or ridiculously over-concerned with their looks. Shallow, narrow-minded, patriotic (which really isn't a bad thing), attention-seeking and inconsiderate. We often read news stories and say things like 'only in America' and we like to blame your country for all the social ills in ours like increased youth crime/gun crime/ suing over broken nails etc... It's always the 'American influence'.

If it's any consolation we stereotypically hate the French way more than the Americans.

As I said these are not my views, I'm a 'come as you are', 'different strokes for different folks' type of lass.

What does amuse me is that your stereotypical English person is our stereotypical upper-class person. I think if you heard my accent you would be under no doubt that I am not one of them.

Oh and we tend to call fizzy drinks by their name or 'fizzy pop' or fizzy drinks. Cola is 'Coke' until we know the definite brand. Soda is what you put in whisky, if that's your thing.

(This is all mighty intereting by the way.)

 

[JaniceFerSure]

Another good topic to bring up is currency.

Noted,in the US
(dollar bills):100,50,20,10,5,1(sometimes 2 when the gov. is bored)
(coins)dollar coin,25 cent(quarter),10 cent(dime),5 cent(nickel),1 cent(penny)

English currency goes over my head.Pounds,quid,pence,etc...*hand skims over head*

http://www.the-old-sea-dog.net/uk10.html

Do Canadians really end most sentences with eh?

There's also O'Canada and here its Maryland,My Maryland.

 

[MrsPepper]

Oh Canada is our national anthem. My friend's great uncle or something wrote the words to it.

And we end alot of sentences with eh. If you scanned some of my posts on here you'd probably notice it. Typical example is "It's mighty cold out today, eh?"
You can't just end any sentence with eh, though. It has a purpose. In that example it's kind of like saying, "don't you agree".

 

[JaniceFerSure]

Oh Canada is our national anthem. My friend's great uncle or something wrote the words to it.

And we end alot of sentences with eh. If you scanned some of my posts on here you'd probably notice it. Typical example is "It's mighty cold out today, eh?"
You can't just end any sentence with eh, though. It has a purpose. In that example it's kind of like saying, "don't you agree".

Reminds me of Bob and Doug McKenzie from SCTV.They say eh? a lot & call each other hosers.

 

[luvtosr]

English currency goes over my head.Pounds,quid,pence,etc...*hand skims over head*

Hehe, it's all pounds and pence. we have notes to the value of £5, £10, £20 and £50 and the coins go 1p (pence), 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p, £1 and £2

'Quid' is just a slang term for pound so twenty quid is twenty pound. Other slang terms are 'bob' - 5p, score - £20, tonne - £100

Shilllings,crowns, d, ha'pennies, thruppenny bits, sixpences and the like are all defunct imperial tender which have been replaced by our new shiny metric system (well, it's not that new but hey.)

As for 'eh' I'm assuming it's pronounced 'ay' as in 'hay', here in Yorkshire we often turn statements into questions by saying 'eh' pronounced like the 'e' in 'get' but we also use the phrase 'eh' pronounced 'ee' at the start of some sentences and on it's own to show a sort of mild amusement or concern or anything really depending on the tone.

 

[Vic Romano]

I'm intrigued by the educational thing about Americans, I know our president doesn't seem like he even knows how to tie his shoes, but the rest of the country; hmm... didn't see that one coming! It is funny how we are viewed as being overly concerned with our looks (which we are) and at the same time generally overweight (which is also true), so know that you're close to spot on with those.

The patriot thing bothers me in a way, mainly because most Americans are what I call "band wagon patriots". People who all of a sudden took a brainless pride in their country as a form of dealing with the tradgedies of September 11th. In other words, a prime example is we disrespect our flag by turning it into beach towels, bandanas and other items of clothing. Many Americans are rather shallow minded about this sort of thing and that's always bothered me, because I do have great pride in my country. We have morons who, because the French don't agree with our decisions in the Middle East, have decided a curt way to deal with them is to stop calling French fries: French fries, and start calling them Liberty fries. Unbelievable!

I am on a "different folks, different strokes" platform as well, and believe the earth is shrinking so much in the communications industry that we need to be more respectful, understanding and caring towards our fellow earthlings and not just our "allies". I'm an American, and **** proud to be one, but I'm even prouder to call all of you outside these United States my friends, friends who I find breaking their countries stereotypes and welcoming us dumb hoity Yanks as their friends too.