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JoeKing
Joined: 30 Apr 2008
Posts: 519
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 Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 6:44 am Post subject: |
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| MuscatGary wrote: |
| JoeKing wrote: |
| MuscatGary wrote: |
| My major bugbear is when Americans pronounce pronunciation as 'pronounciation'... |
Well, that gets to me too, but it's wrong when anyone pronounces it that way, not just Americans. How many Americans have you heard mispronounce it that way? |
Many, and I've only ever heard one Brit mispronounce it that way and he was prone to howlers. |
What can I say? America has a population 5 times the size of the UK's, hence 5 times the number prone to howlers.  |
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MuscatGary
Joined: 03 Jun 2013
Posts: 1364
Location: Flying around the ME...
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| Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 6:54 am Post subject: |
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[/quote]What can I say? America has a population 5 times the size of the UK's, hence 5 times the number prone to howlers. [/quote]
Actually much more than that but I can forgive the Americans who don't come from the USA.....I'm afraid another of my bugbears is the confusion beween the country and the continent..... |
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johntpartee
Joined: 02 Mar 2010
Posts: 3258
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| Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 7:08 am Post subject: |
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| another of my bugbears is the confusion beween the country and the continent |
Same here. I always tell people that, yes, I am an American but so are Mexicans, Brazilians, Canadians, Tierra del Fuegans........
I am a United States citizen. |
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JoeKing
Joined: 30 Apr 2008
Posts: 519
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| Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 7:10 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| What can I say? America has a population 5 times the size of the UK's, hence 5 times the number prone to howlers. |
| Quote: |
| Actually much more than that but I can forgive the Americans who don't come from the USA.....I'm afraid another of my bugbears is the confusion beween the country and the continent..... |
Actually 2 continents, North and South. Was there confusion here? I used "American" because you did.....and assumed because we were talking about errors made by English speaking countries we could rule out all of South America, and also Mexico in the North. Why exactly can you forgive Canadians but not U.S. citizens? |
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MuscatGary
Joined: 03 Jun 2013
Posts: 1364
Location: Flying around the ME...
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| Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 7:29 am Post subject: |
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| Actually 2 continents, North and South. Was there confusion here? I used "American" because you did.....and assumed because we were talking about errors made by English speaking countries we could rule out all of South America, and also Mexico in the North. Why exactly can you forgive Canadians but not U.S. citizens? |
There's differences of opinion on this, in Europe we're traditionally taught that America is one continent as it is a single large land mass which is the definition of a continent. I don't forgive Canadians either unless they're French speakers! |
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JoeKing
Joined: 30 Apr 2008
Posts: 519
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| Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 7:49 am Post subject: |
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| MuscatGary wrote: |
| Quote: |
| Actually 2 continents, North and South. Was there confusion here? I used "American" because you did.....and assumed because we were talking about errors made by English speaking countries we could rule out all of South America, and also Mexico in the North. Why exactly can you forgive Canadians but not U.S. citizens? |
There's differences of opinion on this, in Europe we're traditionally taught that America is one continent as it is a single large land mass which is the definition of a continent. I don't forgive Canadians either unless they're French speakers! |
Yes, and some regard Eurasia as a single continent, and I have heard the French do no consider Antarctica to be a continent.
At any rate, the population of the United States and Canada(less the French speakers) combined is about 5.5 times that of the UK.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population |
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johntpartee
Joined: 02 Mar 2010
Posts: 3258
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| Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 11:24 am Post subject: |
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| in Europe we're traditionally taught that America is one continent |
Same thing in Mexico (sorta); it's referred to as "The Americas".
I call it Eurasia because I don't think Europe is large enough to qualify as a continental land mass and it shares too much of a border with Asia.
Australia and Antarctica (and the other stuff down there, New Zealand, etc.) are a lump called "Oceania". |
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JoeKing
Joined: 30 Apr 2008
Posts: 519
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| Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 11:43 am Post subject: |
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| Well if Europeans are taught that the Americas are a "single large land mass" even though they are connected by a thread of an isthmus, what are they taught about Europe and Asia? Because I don't see any break in that land mass from Kamchatka to Portugal. |
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Sashadroogie
Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 11061
Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise
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| Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2013 2:43 pm Post subject: |
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I think continents are more a cultural construct than a geographical reality. The idea of Europe as a separate continent makes sense from the point of view of its ancient Greek origin. The peoples of Asia Minor and North Africa were clearly culturally apart from the Greeks, in the Greeks' mind, and the surrounding waters made that separation physical. The barbarians to the north didn't count - what cities did they have? What culture? With no seas to demarcate the north-eastern border with Asia, a river had to do. Most ancients viewed the Don as the border.
Makes as much sense as anything we have today... |
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johntpartee
Joined: 02 Mar 2010
Posts: 3258
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| Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2013 3:07 pm Post subject: |
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| I disagree. Is Egypt not part of Africa because of the (HUGE) cultural difference from most of deepest darkest? I go with geographic division. My opinion is that there are four continents: The Americas (or America), Eurasia, Africa and Oceania. |
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JoeKing
Joined: 30 Apr 2008
Posts: 519
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| Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2013 12:45 am Post subject: |
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| Sashadroogie wrote: |
| I think continents are more a cultural construct than a geographical reality.. |
It looks like you went to the same source that I did, but I thought that was more an explanation of why they separated Europe and Asia in the past.
It seems from what I read that geologists today generally argue whether there are 5, 6, or 7 continents. But the four that JP describe make just as much sense. |
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MuscatGary
Joined: 03 Jun 2013
Posts: 1364
Location: Flying around the ME...
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| Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2013 4:12 am Post subject: |
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| I love the way that the threads on here develop so randomly, this one started as a discussion about pronunciation and has moved to geology/geography! Reminds me of the old Chinese whispers game in some ways. |
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johntpartee
Joined: 02 Mar 2010
Posts: 3258
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| Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2013 4:39 am Post subject: |
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This is nothing, take a look at the China forums. By the time any discussion gets to a second page, the subject is TOTALLY removed from the topic.
I'm assuming "Chinese Whispers" is what we called "telephone" in the US. |
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MuscatGary
Joined: 03 Jun 2013
Posts: 1364
Location: Flying around the ME...
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| Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2013 4:44 am Post subject: |
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| Not sure, it's when a group of people pass a message round by whispering in the ear of the person next to them and then compare the final person's understanding to the original message. Obviously the more people involved the greater the distortion, often hilarious distortion! |
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johntpartee
Joined: 02 Mar 2010
Posts: 3258
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| Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2013 8:28 am Post subject: |
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| Yeah, that's it. |
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