Nuances and Idiosyncrasies of the English Language

[IrishHeart]

@Giles laughing to Derek and Clive is one of my great memories from the 6th form common room at school.

[Cutlasshound]

Mine and @Giles favourite word.

The C Bomb. A masterclass in the idiosyncrasies of the English language distilled into a single pure, beautiful, expressive word.

[Giles]

@IrishHeart said in Nuances and Idiosyncrasies of the English Language:

@Giles laughing to Derek and Clive is one of my great memories from the 6th form common room at school.

I find it utterly unbelievable that this was broadcast in 1976......

[Tago Mago]

If I send this to my mother she'll cut me out of her will

[IrishHeart]

@Giles agreed, but that’s what made it so hilarious. None of us had heard anything like it before, and we couldn’t stop using the same terminology on our mates.

[Nocturama]

A quote for every occasion…! 🫣

For some reason, “Hamburger stands, but no fucking hamburgers” (from Joan Crawford’s ****) sticks in my head to this day!

[Kasi]

Bender..

Been out partying for 24 hours more, or weekend none stop
mash out of your head.

[EdH]

@T4920 This has reminded me of a question I have never had answered by a (proper) American:

Why is Arkansas pronounced "AR-kan-saw" and not "Ar-Kan-sas", if Kansas is pronounced just "Kan-sas"?

[SKT]

@EdH same reason some pronounce my state Missour-ee and some pronounce it Missou-rah…because we Americans don’t always make a lot of linguistic sense.

[Giles]

Same reason that if you live in Clapham, you pronounce it Clarm

[T4920]

The most definitive sign that the English language is out to troll us all is that it is linguistically sound to pronounce the town 'Loughborough' as 'Loo-gah-bah-roo-gah'

I've seen weirder place name during my time in Australia though...

[EdH]

Not saying us brits are any better... "Lieutenant" caught me out when reading aloud in English class at school:

Me: "... lieutenant ..." ("lew-ten-ant")
Teacher: "it's [lef-tenant]"
Me: "oh, it doesn't have an 'f' in my copy"
Teacher (getting angry already): "It's [lef-tenant] in English, [lew-ten-ant] is American"
Me: "oh, I must have an American translation"
Teacher: "stop being sarcastic"
Me: "I'm being sarcastic?"
Teacher: "That's a demerit"
Me: scratches head in confusion

[Oaktavia]

@T4920 hahah, yeah I've seen something similar. Maryland is close to KY but not touching.

[Oaktavia]

@EdH don't try to make sense of American pronunciation, we're super improper and make zero sense, wait till you hear me say "Maryland" at the party.

[Oaktavia]

My favorite is Appalachia pronounced regionally as "Apple-atcha" or by outsiders as "Apple-ay-shuh".

[T4920]

@Oaktavia sounds like Marilyn? I went most of my life thinking 'Marilyn' was a state after hearing Maryland pronounced that way

[seawolf]

I read recently about how it must be confusing to learn English as a second language. Imagine trying to tell the difference between a butt-dial and a booty-call.

[Oaktavia]

@T4920 that's hilarious

[louisbosco]

@seawolf you could butt-dial a booty call but not booty call a butt-dial

[EdH]

@seawolf said in Random conversations:

Imagine trying to tell the difference between a butt-dial and a booty-call.

A fat-chance and a slim-chance are the same thing...
Tooth/teeth, but not booth/beeth
Mouse/mice, but not house/hice
etc, etc

English is such a bastardised and influenced language that it's apparently very hard to learn as a second language or as an adult. I've got a Ukrainian friend who, even after marrying a Brit over 20 years ago, and him not bothering to learn her language, still makes grammatical errors like the above.