Unpopular opinions
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Americans who say 'erbs' or 'urbs', instead of 'herbs.'
Angers me to no end…Read "Mother Tongue" by Bill Bryson. One of his assertions in that book, is that American pronunciation of English is truer to the way English used to be spoken by the English than the way the English themselves now speak
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Aluminum/ Aluminium
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Sean: Interesting, i'm sure that I have heard an American pronounce 'Herbs' with the H before… Maybe i'm dreaming.
As I am from Australia, my first trip to America was actually the first time i have ever heard 'urbs' and I was utterly confused about what they wanted to season my steak with...Giles: Great point! I have read a little of Bryson's work in 'A Short History of Nearly Everything.' I would love to learn a little about ye olde English linguistics and history, I wonder why the Americans would have 'truer' pronunciation...
There seems to be extreme variation in accent/pronunciation across England (For a small country geographically), I can see how the language has been altered by region.
I have been all over Australia, and apart from a few state dependant colloquialisms, we all sound the same, IMO. -
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I wonder why the Americans would have 'truer' pronunciation…
Bryson's premise is that the American culture had a very strong ethic of the Town Hall and recording the meetings held there, in great written depth, Thus the words were written down and hence did not mutate over time as much as in England where we didn't bother recording stuff like that.
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Aluminum/ Aluminium
Completely agree with this one too ::)
Dude I have argued that one with forum members in person and via PM, you cannot just remove a letter because you feel like it
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http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/aluminium.htm
You may find this interesting.
They are still wrong though -
James, I'm sure that some Americans do pronounce the "h". I just haven't heard it.
For what it's worth, I have no idea what anyone is saying in the Southeastern part of the US; so you aren't alone.
A good friend of mine is from Mississippi and I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm deaf. Every few sentences I respond, "what?"
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Hahaha, oh yes, i'm sure a lot of confusion occurs with the 'Southern' accents.
Although not having experienced it first hand, I have watched a few television programs where the 'Hillbilly/Southerners' have to be subtitled, because nobody from outside Southern America can understand what they are saying.Namely, TopGear 'U.S. Road Trip' when Clarkson attempts to find tires that fit his AMG… Ohhhh the hilarity, mixed with confusion.
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Namely, TopGear 'U.S. Road Trip' when Clarkson attempts to find tires that fit his AMG…
That was a brilliant bit… "I'm gonna get the boys..."
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James, I don't think anyone had issues understanding what I was saying, but I did get quite a few comments on having an accent. I grew up in Seattle, which is pretty mild in the accent department. I know one example is I pronounce "cot" and "caught" exactly the same. Same for "don" and "dawn." Supposedly, there is a clearer distinction in the eastern side of the country.
California accents are the easiest, though. Just say "like" every three words.
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You guys would have a ball learning Dutch in Belgium… I don't understand the people living 40 km from me in either effin direction (East, West)... In the North we have The Netherlands. Huge difference language-wise... And in the South of Belgium they speak French... Well: some kind of French... And some of the hillbillies in the mountains speak German...
I'm glad I live where I do, where the dialect is juicy and I understand everything... :-\
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James, "Vakka" is bad, and I can't recall hearing that one. Although, I guess I could see how someone could drop the "d" if speaking swiftly. People do it all the time with Antarctica and dropping the first "c."
Sounds wild, Seul. Although, if I had daily access to all of the wonderful beer in Belgium, I would be one sloppy, slurred mess.
Okay, last one and I'm done. The word "hella" is hella popular in Seattle. Every time I hear it I cringe, and I kind of hate myself for just using it as an example. It gets worse, though. Some people have adapted it to "hecka" to avoid an extremely-mild swear. If you ever hear someone use that word, do the person a favor and fatten their upper lip.
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I pronounce comfortable as kom - for - ta - ble and believe it to be right
and not
komf - ter- ble (hate this for some reason)I second what seanocono says
In my speech class, this girl kept saying "like" every god damn sentence for 3 minutes. It was not fun.Here in LA, I think most people go to the gym for the sake of telling others they go to one.
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Giles, I've heard the same said of continental versus Canadian French. Those cunning linguists and their counterintuitive conjectures.
"Aluminum" actually predates "aluminium," in England and abroad; it's not our fault that crazy Limey couldn't settle on a spelling for the element he discovered.
