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Roger
Joined: 19 Jan 2003
Posts: 9138
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 Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2005 2:45 am Post subject: |
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| High Plains Drifter wrote: |
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| Why do some Americans persist in claiming that their 'distinctly American' revision of the language is correct and that the original version, as used by every other English-speaking country in the world, is not? |
Aramas,
I cannot recall ever hearing any American make such a claim. Can you give us some examples? It's the Brits who act as if they invented the language and belittle and ridicule speakers from other countries, including--brace yourself--Australia. |
Yes, the OP.
Neither for the first time. |
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Deconstructor
Joined: 30 Dec 2003
Posts: 775
Location: Montreal
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| Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2005 4:33 am Post subject: |
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Aren't you guys tired of bickering about this? It's language; it's evolving; it's mysterious; it's a disease from outer space as Kurt Vonnegut once said; it's an oral fart as yours truly once said; it's auto affective: it plays with itself and refers to itself and never to anything outside itself. There is no outside language: it is a prison house and we're all born in it, trapped in it and will die in it.
Glad to cheer you guys up. |
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donfan
Joined: 31 Aug 2003
Posts: 217
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| Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2005 5:21 am Post subject: |
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| Stephen Jones wrote: |
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| It was a very logical question. If I want to abbreviate bicycles, I change it to bikes, not bike. If I want to abbreviate automobiles I abbreviate it to autos, not auto. It is logical then that if I want to abbreviate mathematics I abbreviate it to maths, not math. |
We don't shorten bicycles to bikes. Bike is the abbreviation of bicycle and bikes in the plural of bike.
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Of course we shorten bicycles to bikes. Everytime we say bikes it is an abbreviation of bicycles.
E.G. My friend and I went for a ride on our bikes(i.e bicycles). |
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donfan
Joined: 31 Aug 2003
Posts: 217
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| Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2005 5:23 am Post subject: |
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| High Plains Drifter wrote: |
| Yeah, donfan. Why don't you call him a d*ckhead. |
I save that for people who really are. |
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