Noah Webster, the guy who wrote Webster's dictionary made quite a few changes to the language when he wrote it. Namely getting rid of spellings that he found illogical (i.e. removing unpronounced vowels like the 'u' in colour).JDKJ said:
American-British Q&A
- Thread starter BoredDragon
- Start date
Recommended Videos
East Londoner watch a Guy Ritchie film or a film with Michael Caine in it and you'll know what one is.
Nope my ancestors are the Russian, Polish, Czechoslovakians, and the Hungarian. I don't have any ounce of British blood in my veins.Jazoni89 said:
My question: what in the hell is Marmite and why do people in the UK go batshit for it?
I'm British but I have a question for other Brits (yeah, that sounds kinda stupid): why do we use a mix of imperial and metric measurements? In mainland Europe, (I assume) they use mostly metric and in North America, (I assume) they use mostly imperial - our system is just all over the place. ml/km/m for distance, kg/g/st/lbs for weight (the latter two more for the weight of a person), ft/in/m for height, mL/L for volume....
It's like a jam made outta dog shit. And it tastes like you'd expect a jam made outta dog shit to taste.ParadiseOnceLost said:
The Aussie have a similar product called Vegemite. As referenced by Men at Work in "Land Down Under":
Buying bread from a man in Brussels
He was six foot four and full of muscles
I said, "Do you speak-a my language?"
He just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich
rofl where do you live where girls ask you "do something British"? That sounds so moronic ^_^Baby Eater said:
Here is a question as a British Scottish person how would an average American (if such a thing exists which I doubt) differentiate me from an English person?
I understand the whole English accent = snarky comic relief/villain thing but that is used so commonly in conjunction with "British" it leaves me curious.
Especially since I think Scotland has quite a strong and recognisable national identity for our size.
I understand the whole English accent = snarky comic relief/villain thing but that is used so commonly in conjunction with "British" it leaves me curious.
Especially since I think Scotland has quite a strong and recognisable national identity for our size.
So the silent "k" in "knight" is logical? How about the silent "m" in "mnemonic"? The "w" in "sword"? Either you're lying to make North Americans seem better or this Webster fellow REALLY wasn't thorough AT ALL in his mission.ThisIsSnake said:
This is a pretty good question.SuccessAndBiscuts said:
I'm Scottish too, so I feel a high-five is in order, good sir.
Actually, this is the second time the Americans are trying to establish football here. Back in the late 1970s, after Pele retired from Brazil's national team, they brought him here to play for the New York Cosmos (part of a league that eventually folded due to lack of public support).Lionsfan said:
I'm not sure about the anti-social part, but if posh means what I think it means then its probably some kind of stereotype we have in the US.Blazing Steel said:
lolmynamewastaken said:
you're talking to the people who still aren't using the metric system, I think we need to work on that before we change our date format
Swing and a miss ...JDKJ said:
My grandad, who won more trophies than he had space for in each, explained the difference ... the problem being I forgot.
The only thing I know for sure is, pool involves yellow and red balls with one black. You pot one colour and it's yours, first to pot all there colour then the black wins.
Billiards has something to do with jamming the balls in a pocket and bouncing the cue ball of both balls to get a huge, mega score.
I want to know why you invented a few words, such as faucet? Tap is so much quicker.
Why does it seem so many people end up in weird cults?
Why did wal-mart, who are famous for selling guns, ban a sissor sisters album for an offensive lyric but I bet they sell rap?
Because older people didn't adapt to the change and in some areas imperial just feels more natural, hell I'm 21 but when I learned woodwork in school my teacher taught the class in feet and inches. So now whenever I'm doing manly work like building things that involve giving verbal estimates to the people I'm working with I do it in inches.MisterM2402 said:
Think of it like this metric is the "official" scientific version and imperial is the equivalent of slang words you pick up from people around you.
At least that's how I understand it.
To americans: Why are you letting your government throw in the towel for manned space missions, instead now relying on the russians for transport?
1. I'm from YorkshireMisterM2402 said:
2. We were taught that in A2 English Language class (from a David Crystal Documentary). It's also mentioned on his wikipedia page
"As a spelling reformer, Webster believed that English spelling rules were unnecessarily complex, so his dictionary introduced American English spellings, replacing "colour" with "color", substituting "wagon" for "waggon", and printing "center" instead of "centre". He also added American words, like "skunk" and "squash", that did not appear in British dictionaries. At the age of seventy, Webster published his dictionary in 1828."
Removing letters for logical spellings isn't superior, superiority is none existent in language.
