Brits don't speak foreign languages

On Tue, 6 Dec 2011 18:33:24 -0600, Dan Stephenson wrote in post :
news:2011120618332497938-stephedanospam@maccom :

On 2011-12-04 19:27:45 -0600, Erilar said:

No one teaches regional accents, but many children come to school with very
pronounced ones.

In all my European travels, the most difficult English for me to
understand was that spoken by the taxi driver taking me from Bath to
the Bristol airport. I think it is fascinating, how such a small
country can have such diverse and pronounced accents.

You should try Austria. Or Switzerland. One valley to teh next, or top and
bottom of the valley can be different.



I assume other European countries have this effect in their native
tongues. I have heard of German being very different from one side of
the country to the other, ...

From one town to the next sometimes.

... and the late standardization of Italian
probably means Venetians and Sicilians are far apart. True?


--
Tim C.

"Dan Stephenson" wrote in message
news:2011120618425349145-stephedanospam@maccom...
On 2011-12-05 10:34:51 -0600, JohnT said:

"Jack Campin" wrote in message
...
If it Irish is close to dead, why do they put up those confusing
road signs in Irish?

Similar reasons to why the US labels its money in Latin.


And why do Americans have Super Bowl XLVI?
-- JohnT

Oh, this is what I figu The Roman numerals have a history of denoting
something impressive or important, because people want the imprimatur of
the Roman Empire for something.

And American football is all about going BIG and outlandish, so I figure
the Roman numeraling is resulting from wanting the Super Bowl, which
started as the merger of two rival football conferences, to seem IMPORTANT
so as to improve the acceptance of the merger. And we're stuck with it.
Given that, the "XXX" Super Bowl was interesting, as was the "Extra Large
("XL") Super Bowl.

OK, you may be right on that. If you follow golf, what about "Davis Love
III". Is he overwhelmingly important or does he just want to point out that
there were 2 or 110 Davis Loves before him.
--
JohnT

Martin wrote:
On Tue, 6 Dec 2011 03:50:20 -0800 (PST), Surreyman
wrote:


I once had to, literally, 'translate', between my Managing Director
from Paisley, Scotland and Americans at a business meeting in
Pennsylvania.

I have twice translated between Frenchmen speaking reasonable English
and American traffic cops. One Florida traffic cop congratulated me on
my knowledge of French.
"Reasonable" English spoken by Frenchmen was probably still too French in
intonation for the Floridian.

--
Erilar, biblioholic medievalist with iPad

Dan Stephenson wrote:
On 2011-12-04 19:27:45 -0600, Erilar said:

No one teaches regional accents, but many children come to school with
very
pronounced ones.

In all my European travels, the most difficult English for me to
understand was that spoken by the taxi driver taking me from Bath to the
Bristol airport. I think it is fascinating, how such a small country
can have such diverse and pronounced accents.

LOL! You remind me of my last trip to Brussels (which involved changing
planes at Heathrow, meaning a transfer between terminals). Since I have
difficulty walking the distances, I generally request a wheelchair. The
English of the porter operating it for me was pretty much
incomprehensible, leading me to ask where he was from. "London" was the
reply!

JohnT wrote:

"Dan Stephenson" wrote in message
news:2011120618425349145-stephedanospam@maccom...
On 2011-12-05 10:34:51 -0600, JohnT said:

"Jack Campin" wrote in message
...
If it Irish is close to dead, why do they put up those confusing
road signs in Irish?

Similar reasons to why the US labels its money in Latin.


And why do Americans have Super Bowl XLVI?
-- JohnT

Oh, this is what I figu The Roman numerals have a history of denoting
something impressive or important, because people want the imprimatur of
the Roman Empire for something.

And American football is all about going BIG and outlandish, so I figure
the Roman numeraling is resulting from wanting the Super Bowl, which
started as the merger of two rival football conferences, to seem IMPORTANT
so as to improve the acceptance of the merger. And we're stuck with it.
Given that, the "XXX" Super Bowl was interesting, as was the "Extra Large
("XL") Super Bowl.

OK, you may be right on that. If you follow golf, what about "Davis Love
III". Is he overwhelmingly important or does he just want to point out that
there were 2 or 110 Davis Loves before him.

And there's OSX...

--
(*) of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
www.davidhorne.net (email address on website)
"[Do you think the world learned anything from the first
world war?] No. They never learn." -Harry Patch (1898-2009)

Martin wrote:

On Wed, 7 Dec 2011 21:58:19 +0000, (David Horne)
wrote:
[]
And there's OSX...

Anagram of SOX, innit?

Anagram of 'never bothered installing anti-viral software, never had one
yet' I think.

I had a problem with my office macbook a few weeks ago. The 'p' key
stopped working (and a few others it has to be said.) Problem was, my
password had a p in it.

--
(*) of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
www.davidhorne.net (email address on website)
"[Do you think the world learned anything from the first
world war?] No. They never learn." -Harry Patch (1898-2009)

Martin wrote:

On Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:49:02 -0700, "EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)"
wrote:



Dan Stephenson wrote:
On 2011-12-04 19:27:45 -0600, Erilar said:

No one teaches regional accents, but many children come to school with
very
pronounced ones.

In all my European travels, the most difficult English for me to
understand was that spoken by the taxi driver taking me from Bath to the
Bristol airport. I think it is fascinating, how such a small country
can have such diverse and pronounced accents.

LOL! You remind me of my last trip to Brussels (which involved changing
planes at Heathrow, meaning a transfer between terminals). Since I have
difficulty walking the distances, I generally request a wheelchair. The
English of the porter operating it for me was pretty much
incomprehensible, leading me to ask where he was from. "London" was the
reply!

It's odd that it is mainly Americans who have problems with UK
accents.

There are locals in my partner's office who can't understand other
locals- and make a big deal of it...

--
(*) of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
www.davidhorne.net (email address on website)
"[Do you think the world learned anything from the first
world war?] No. They never learn." -Harry Patch (1898-2009)

Martin wrote:

On Wed, 7 Dec 2011 22:17:35 +0000, (David Horne)
wrote:

Martin wrote:

On Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:49:02 -0700, "EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)"
wrote:



Dan Stephenson wrote:
On 2011-12-04 19:27:45 -0600, Erilar said:

No one teaches regional accents, but many children come to school with
very
pronounced ones.

In all my European travels, the most difficult English for me to
understand was that spoken by the taxi driver taking me from Bath to the
Bristol airport. I think it is fascinating, how such a small country
can have such diverse and pronounced accents.

LOL! You remind me of my last trip to Brussels (which involved changing
planes at Heathrow, meaning a transfer between terminals). Since I have
difficulty walking the distances, I generally request a wheelchair. The
English of the porter operating it for me was pretty much
incomprehensible, leading me to ask where he was from. "London" was the
reply!

It's odd that it is mainly Americans who have problems with UK
accents.

There are locals in my partner's office who can't understand other
locals- and make a big deal of it...

Shhh! I was trying to cause a panic or a anic as you would ty e it.

Don't remind me! I spent quite a few hours on trains etc. (when I
couldn't attach an external keyboard) using the system's 'keyboard
viewer.'

--
(*) of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
www.davidhorne.net (email address on website)
"[Do you think the world learned anything from the first
world war?] No. They never learn." -Harry Patch (1898-2009)

martin trying hard...

"Martin" a écrit dans le message de groupe de discussion :
...

On Wed, 7 Dec 2011 19:30:58 +0000 (UTC), Erilar
wrote:

Martin wrote:
On Tue, 6 Dec 2011 03:50:20 -0800 (PST), Surreyman
wrote:


I once had to, literally, 'translate', between my Managing Director
from Paisley, Scotland and Americans at a business meeting in
Pennsylvania.

I have twice translated between Frenchmen speaking reasonable English
and American traffic cops. One Florida traffic cop congratulated me on
my knowledge of French.
"Reasonable" English spoken by Frenchmen was probably still too French in
intonation for the Floridian.

The other time it happened was in California.
--

Martin

keep on wondering, chitchat clown.


"Martin" a écrit dans le message de groupe de discussion :
...

On Wed, 7 Dec 2011 22:37:17 +0000, (David Horne)
wrote:

Martin wrote:

On Wed, 7 Dec 2011 22:17:35 +0000, (David Horne)
wrote:

Martin wrote:

On Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:49:02 -0700, "EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)"
wrote:



Dan Stephenson wrote:
On 2011-12-04 19:27:45 -0600, Erilar said:

No one teaches regional accents, but many children come to school
with
very
pronounced ones.

In all my European travels, the most difficult English for me to
understand was that spoken by the taxi driver taking me from Bath
to the
Bristol airport. I think it is fascinating, how such a small
country
can have such diverse and pronounced accents.

LOL! You remind me of my last trip to Brussels (which involved
changing
planes at Heathrow, meaning a transfer between terminals). Since I
have
difficulty walking the distances, I generally request a wheelchair.
The
English of the porter operating it for me was pretty much
incomprehensible, leading me to ask where he was from. "London" was
the
reply!

It's odd that it is mainly Americans who have problems with UK
accents.

There are locals in my partner's office who can't understand other
locals- and make a big deal of it...

Shhh! I was trying to cause a panic or a anic as you would ty e it.

Don't remind me! I spent quite a few hours on trains etc. (when I
couldn't attach an external keyboard) using the system's 'keyboard
viewer.'

When they showed on TV a slot machine selling keyboards at Facebook, I
wondered who could possibly need one :-)
--

Martin