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Billos
Joined: 14 Oct 2008 Location: Korea
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Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 4:18 am Post subject: My 2 pence (or should it be cents) |
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I'm half irish and have visited Galway county (on the west coast of Ireland) and even there almost everyone speaks English at home, in the (many) pubs and in church, although it wasn't on the actual coast.
Anyway English is English, as long as I teach my students enough to be understood by/understand someone else who speaks english no matter what type of English I teach I think I've done alrite. |
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head-in-the-clouds

Joined: 14 Oct 2008 Location: London for now
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Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 4:22 am Post subject: |
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| rusty1983 wrote: |
| head-in-the-clouds wrote: |
| rusty1983 wrote: |
Considering the history of the English Language, claiming a 'purest form' is silly. It is the least pure language ever. It was developed by heathens and since then people have just taken it and ran with it. When English began to come together we were being ruled by the French.
The mad variety of accents in Britain keep things interesting, they are a great thing about living here. That's the best thing about English, the way it gets mangled and twisted to evolve into something new.
I am completely hooked on the way the black folks from Baltimore in The Wire talk. For a while I could barely understand it at all but it is really funky once you get used to it.
I guess you could argue that the 'Queen's English' is where we started the world spread and therefore should be considered as the first reference point of English, but *beep* the Queen and the posh cunts that run this country. Selfish stuck-up fuckers all of them. It pisses me off when I meet someone here who gets on their high horse about 'proper English' and I often wonder who the hell they think they are. I hate the way posh people sound.
Ive taught people from alot of different countries recently and they confirm what we all knew anyway, that British people are much nicer to listen to. The girls do love it, much more than American accents. This is because it is much softer and easier on the ear. My Korean friends here told me they go gooey over a nice English accent.
Although bare in mind it does need to be neutral, not regional or 'Queen's' English.
I didnt need to ask my students this though I knew it from my American friends, they love our accent too.
However, if youre talking pleasant to the opposite sex then British English gets absolutely trounced by Italian and French, but thats not the point here is it?
Australians sound like morons to me, but I think that is because Ive spent too much time in London where I believe the most cretinous faction of Aussies live. |
The 'posh cunts' built the uk and created decency and civility. I much prefer old money to the new money asswipes that run the country now. you have no class. |
No the people who run the country now are posh cunts too, but worse. When I think of ruling English I think of Margaret Thatcher or Boris Johnson and I want to vomit.
We did a fair job of bringing capitalism and christianity to the world, how civilised all of that is is up to your own discretion.
I like your class comment, very apt |
wow just wow. Are you real  |
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BS.Dos.

Joined: 29 Mar 2007
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Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 4:28 am Post subject: |
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I'm Cornish.
The English can f.uck off. |
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head-in-the-clouds

Joined: 14 Oct 2008 Location: London for now
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Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 4:30 am Post subject: |
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| BS.Dos. wrote: |
I'm Cornish.
The English can f.uck off. |
best icecream in the world |
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westport
Joined: 04 Apr 2008 Location: Suwon
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Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 5:51 am Post subject: |
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| I've never yet met an Irishman who can speak more than some memorised phrases of Gaelic. Only around 70,000 people speak it as their first language. It's popularity is much the same as Scots G�idhlig (60,000 speakers) but they are all in the North West Highlands and Outer Hebrides islands. Official documents, road signs etc will have both English and Gaelic, as in Highland Scotland, but to say it is anywhere near the first language is ridiculous. |
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head-in-the-clouds

Joined: 14 Oct 2008 Location: London for now
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Privateer
Joined: 31 Aug 2005 Location: Easy Street.
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Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 10:25 am Post subject: |
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| DaveMcK wrote: |
It is now recognised as a language in its own right and was historically its own language too.
There's debate about it though but my own opinion would be that the argument against it being a distinct language comes from the fact that the elite, who were pro union, made it their mission to learn English and rid themselves of their 'Scottishness', subsequently creating the myth that Scots was simply poor English. That's why nowadays it's mostly a language of the working classes and never used in any education establishments (and has no official written form - there are regional dialects of Scots itself).
There are a number of words in English and Scots that have come from Celtic languages (like peat) and there's quite a lot of debate about how much influence the Celtic languages have had on English. |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scots_language
By calling Scots a dialect I wasn't in any way attempting to subscribe to the ridiculous notion that Scots is 'simply poor English'. Didn't that notion die with the creation of prestige Scots literature? Anyway, I see from this article that you could call it a language, a dialect, or even a 'halbsprach'. Let's just say it's clearly related to English.
I wouldn't know about Scots - would seem plausible that it contains a fair amount of Gaelic influence - but the influence of Celtic languages on English in England to my knowledge is essentially zero. Perhaps the odd loanword or two. I challenge you to find ten words in the English dictionary with Celtic etymology. |
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DaveMcK
Joined: 22 Oct 2008
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Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 11:06 am Post subject: |
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| Privateer wrote: |
| I challenge you to find ten words in the English dictionary with Celtic etymology. |
take your pick, mate.
Some of these words will not be known to you however I'm sure you'll find ten in there that are. |
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head-in-the-clouds

Joined: 14 Oct 2008 Location: London for now
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Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 11:12 am Post subject: |
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| DaveMcK wrote: |
| Privateer wrote: |
| I challenge you to find ten words in the English dictionary with Celtic etymology. |
take your pick, mate.
Some of these words will not be known to you however I'm sure you'll find ten in there that are. |
Its nice to know the scots can learn a language in between mouthfulls
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/scotland/7011757.stm |
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DaveMcK
Joined: 22 Oct 2008
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Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 12:02 pm Post subject: |
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| head-in-the-clouds wrote: |
| DaveMcK wrote: |
| Privateer wrote: |
| I challenge you to find ten words in the English dictionary with Celtic etymology. |
take your pick, mate.
Some of these words will not be known to you however I'm sure you'll find ten in there that are. |
Its nice to know the scots can learn a language in between mouthfulls
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/scotland/7011757.stm |
Aye, and they also run that shit hole of a country you call home. |
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Tiger Beer

Joined: 07 Feb 2003
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Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 12:05 pm Post subject: |
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Mm....I'm gonna have to disagree with the general tone of this thread and say JAMAICAN is the best, MON.  |
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Privateer
Joined: 31 Aug 2005 Location: Easy Street.
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Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 4:40 pm Post subject: |
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| DaveMcK wrote: |
| Privateer wrote: |
| I challenge you to find ten words in the English dictionary with Celtic etymology. |
take your pick, mate.
Some of these words will not be known to you however I'm sure you'll find ten in there that are. |
Ha. Kudos to you, you found them. And it's an interesting list but...
Some of them are terms for geographical features restricted mainly to the British isles or even - like burn - to specific regions of the British isles, nd many are not widely used. Of those that have wide currency, it seems to me, more are of Irish Gaelic origin than Scottish Gaelic. You can argue that if you want.
It's still not a very impressive list. There's a myth that English is a hybrid of Anglo-Saxon, French, Latin, and Celtic just because the Britons were Celts, but you can see from that list that the number of words of Celtic origin is little more than the number of German or Spanish loanwords, say.
The point stands: English owes barely anything to Celtic languages. |
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head-in-the-clouds

Joined: 14 Oct 2008 Location: London for now
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Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 4:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Privateer wrote: |
| DaveMcK wrote: |
| Privateer wrote: |
| I challenge you to find ten words in the English dictionary with Celtic etymology. |
take your pick, mate.
Some of these words will not be known to you however I'm sure you'll find ten in there that are. |
Ha. Kudos to you, you found them. And it's an interesting list but...
Some of them are terms for geographical features restricted mainly to the British isles or even - like burn - to specific regions of the British isles, nd many are not widely used. Of those that have wide currency, it seems to me, more are of Irish Gaelic origin than Scottish Gaelic. You can argue that if you want.
It's still not a very impressive list. There's a myth that English is a hybrid of Anglo-Saxon, French, Latin, and Celtic just because the Britons were Celts, but you can see from that list that the number of words of Celtic origin is little more than the number of German or Spanish loanwords, say.
The point stands: English owes barely anything to Celtic languages. |
What this list. The most useless words unused in the english language? |
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BS.Dos.

Joined: 29 Mar 2007
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Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 4:47 pm Post subject: |
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| I see spunk's in there, or should I say, spong. |
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head-in-the-clouds

Joined: 14 Oct 2008 Location: London for now
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