International Englishes

[That Announcer]

It's a shame that the old dialects are getting lost, I love it when I can speak proper Yorkshire and have someone understand me completely.

Here in Canada, we've got about five dialects. There's Newfunese, which really is a language all by itself, inasmuch as there's words in Newfoundland you don't here anywhere else. There's Maritime, which is like a combination of proper English, sea language, Scottish words and unique phrases. I try not to speak it, but occasionally, a word gets out. There's Quebecois, which when stereotyped comes awful close to my Jean Chretien impression, but usually just ends up with some regular English and a lot of French for curses. Then there's Middle Canadian and Prairie, two dialects with which I'm not familiar. Maybe MrsPepper could shine a light on them?

 

[luvtosr]

Here in Canada, we've got about five dialects.

Crikey, I don't think I could fully list all the English dialects, let alone all the British ones!

 

[Beauregard]

Crikey, I don't think I could fully list all the English dialects, let alone all the British ones!

Crikey! Is that your australian accent comign through? lol

 

[luvtosr]

Crikey! Is that your australian accent comign through? lol

Australian? Eh? What's Australian about 'Crikey'? It comes from 'crikey Mick' (as far as I know) which is just one of those stupid phrases that don't really mean anything.

Perhaps I should have said 'crumbs'...um, DM.

Or maybe 'blimey' - that's typically English, isn't it?

 

[Don'tLiveonMoon]

One of the times I went to a Colin Hay performance (ex Men At Work singer, born in Scotland, moved to Australia when he young), he was joking about how Australians often put "or" at the end of sentences. An example he gave was standing in the airport with all the band's gear and someone might come up to you and say "Are you in a band, or...?" "Are you going to Sydney, or...?" I've never heard anyone do this myself, but his description of it was funny.

In Pittsburgh, PA and the surrounding areas we called soda "pop." When I moved to Los Angeles I had to get used to saying "soda." Also, the ATM was a "MAC machine" It stood for Money Access Center. Shortly after moving here I asked someone where a "MAC machine" was and she looked at me like I had two heads. I had to train myself to say ATM. One thing in Pittsburgh that makes me cringe is the tendency for people to say "Yinz." For example, instead of saying to a group of people "Are you going to the movies?" someone might say "Are yinz going to the movies?" It's generally a blue-collar thing though.

I still usually say MAC machine, and I always say pop. It was funny, my aunt, visiting for the weekend from York, PA, asked for a soda in Dairy Queen and they didn't know what she was talking about!! I found that a bit surprising, but pop definitely is the preferred term around here. I have another aunt who says "yous"; seems to me I know someone who says "yins," but I can't think who...
Erin

 

[JaniceFerSure]

I am one of those people in england who sticks sharply to the upper class english accent. When in poblic it goes up two notcches and becomes high-cass.

I've heard you speak Beau,I say you still sound like Chris Langham,LOL.Not a bad thing really.

 

[Vic Romano]

I've picked up saying "Aces" in place of saying "cool" as it seems that's what the Brits say. Is that what it means?

 

[RedDragon]

• 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.

IT'S SO TURE!!!!!!!!! I love the Aussie accent. But I love the Irish accent more.

 

[RedDragon]

I've picked up saying "Aces" in place of saying "cool" as it seems that's what the Brits say. Is that what it means?

I say Swanky instead of cool and wanky instead of crazy/werid just to be different.

 

[Whatever]

One of the times I went to a Colin Hay performance (ex Men At Work singer, born in Scotland, moved to Australia when he young), he was joking about how Australians often put "or" at the end of sentences. An example he gave was standing in the airport with all the band's gear and someone might come up to you and say "Are you in a band, or...?" "Are you going to Sydney, or...?" I've never heard anyone do this myself, but his description of it was funny.

In German we put "or" on the end of a sentence to turn it into a question, like adding "right."
Ex: Today is Wednesday, right?
Today is Wednsday, or?

Since I'm studying in England, I'm learning to use a lot of British phrases. A few that I have not seen mentioned are: boot= trunk (of a car), lift= elevator, biscuit= hard, not very sweet cookie. I have not yet figured out what you would call in America a biscuit, a soft doughy pastry like a roll, is called in Britain.