Job Discussion Forums

[cangringo]

hmmm methinks that I have used methinks for a long time and I don't know where it came from...

I do know that I picked up mayhap from the Gunslinger...

how's about we all jess tok like we wanter and it spell phonetically, we could jess start makin all da words simpler by making more contractions. We could say things like t'will and t'were.

Ok sorry, too much coffee s'mornin

Here's one for you... "I personally think"... wouldn't "I think" imply that it is you personally. I mean isn't that just redundant??

[Henry_Cowell]

Not if somebody else usually does your thinking for you.

[eclectic]

OK, after re-reading this thread from the original post, it becomes clear to me that NO ONE, I repeat, NOONE (spelled it different 'cuz I ain't sure which it is), is interested in learning the King's English.

BTW, I first heard "The King's English" phrase from a black Guyanese man who swore to me that the official English language was only spoken by people from Guyana, and that it was the true "King's English".

Lemme tell ya, that's REALLY stretchin' it, if any of ya have ever heard countryside Guyanese English spoken. I bet the english they learned was from Cockney pirates who tyrranized the Caribbean and claimed direct descendence from the King of England just to legitimize their crimes.

It just sounds better to me than "The Queen's English".

[cangringo]

http://www.ic.arizona.edu/~lsp/QueensEnglish.html

Go there to read about the "king's english" or the "queen's english" as it were.

On that note, it is important to learn proper english (even though there is debate as to what is proper) but it's also important to include idioms and slang related to the culture and possibly age that you are teaching.

Howzat?? I have to admit I have had a few cervezas...so hopefully this still makes sense in the morning.

One more thing..."suspension of belief" or "suspension of disbelieif"?? Too tired to give my opionions on it but discuss.

[hlamb]

[sarliz]

Oooh! Oooh! I know one! Suspension of disbelief is correct, you usually use it to discuss your reaction to fantastical movies or plays, or other plot lines that you're going along with against rational knowledge because you've put your usual disbelief in check. It's a double-negative-style thing. When a movie doesn't properly engage you, you lose this suspension, and your disbelief returns, returning you to your usual jaded, skeptical self (this is me we're talking about here).

I can't think of a time that I've heard anyone claiming to have suspended their belief; that one doesn't make so much sense to me. "When I was 8 I suspended my belief in the Tooth Fairy,"? That would kind of imply that it's going to come back, no? Maybe it's a phrase for agnostics.

[cangringo]

Ah yes ok, I've heard it both ways and have also seen arguments about it. Ok but I get it now I think...

You have to admit that it's a tad confusing. I mean suspension of belief to me says that you have to pretend to believe in what's being sold, you're suspending belief in what you know to be true. Now I see what you mean though, suspending your disbelief...stop disbelieving...yes...makes more sense.

Yay, now I can go argue this one with authority.

[eclectic]

I've only heard of a suspension of one's drivers license.......

[Twelvetongue]

English, Chinese, and Arabic are all diglossic languages. The written forms and the spoken forms are on their way to becoming languages.

Slang is wonderful fun for advanced learners or as a way of making the curriculum fun for students who already have a taste for English language popular music, but it belongs on the periphery. Slang expressions are great at the flea market, but not in the boardroom.

Seeing as you're from NJ, one thing you and a speaker of King's English can agree on is that English learners should not learn to rely on rs or hs to be pronounced. I once knew a Nigerian-American (a veteran) who got her unemployment denied because a Latina social worker couldn't understand her received pronunciation. Understanding 'ain't' and y'all' as well as dropped 'hs' and 'rs' is part and parcel of fluency, just as Spanish fluency requires the ability to moderately understand Andalucian and not just Castillian Spanish.

[ls650]

[MELEE]

[eclectic]

yeah soon all spoken langs will be official. Give it 3 or 4 years.

[Twelvetongue]

The Chilean, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Argentinean, (but not inland Mexican) Spanish is Andalusian to a certain degree, the same way Barbadian is related to Cockney and Appalachian is related to Scots.[/b]

[Twelvetongue]

Since when was C-O-C-K-N-E-Y a dirty word?

[ls650]

Since it contains the word C-O-C-K. I guess the posting software doesn't like roosters.