[Leica] Languages/dialects

[john at mcmaster.co.nz (John McMaster)]

Same could be said of Australia and NZ.....

john

-----Original Message-----

Surely the American citizens are not going to claim that they speak
English???    Haah! Just yanking your chain, mate.


Cheers
Geoff
http://www.pbase.com/hoppyman


On 12 May 2014 06:14, Herbert Kanner <kanner at acm.org> wrote:

> When I lived in England for eight years circa 1970, I was fascinated 
> by the linguistic similarities and differences. In particular, I 
> enjoyed learning the English equivalents for common sayings: "A dime a 
> dozen" -> "ten a penny", "I wouldn't touch it with a six-foot pole" -> 
> "I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole," and a favorite: "..and that's 
> easily done" -> "..and Bob's your uncle". Never got an explanation for 
> that last one. There was one U.S. expression for which I never found 
> an equivalent: "He's all wet". That, in my understanding is not a 
> global description of a person, but rather his savvy in some 
> particular context, like "He's all wet about the importance of global 
> warning".
>
> I'll omit all the obscene equivalences other to say that they 
> concentrate on the female ones rather than the male ones.
>
> Herbert Kanner
> kanner at acm.org
> 650-326-8204
>
> Question authority and the authorities will question you.
>
>
>
>
> On May 11, 2014, at 7:54 AM, Nathan Wajsman <photo at frozenlight.eu> 
> wrote:
>
> > While it is true that the US has English and Spanish as the two main
> languages, the variations in the way English is spoken is huge as 
> well, even if they are not formally recognized as different dialects. 
> When I lived in Buffalo, I was 100% fluent in English, meaning the 
> British and NE US variety; but I could not understand people in South 
> Carolina when we stopped at a rest area on our way to Florida.
> >
> > Also keep in mind that Spain was unified only in the 15th century; 
> > prior
> to that it was a bunch of separate kingdoms, and so the regional 
> identities have remained. And I suspect that until the 20th century 
> most people never left the town or the province they lived in.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Nathan
> >
> > Nathan Wajsman
> > Alicante, Spain
> > http://www.frozenlight.eu
> > http://www.greatpix.eu
> > PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws
> > Blog: http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/
> >
> >
> > On May 11, 2014, at 3:42 PM, Howard Ritter wrote:
> >
> >> Thanks, Nathan. I'm always intrigued and fascinated by the 
> >> existence of
> dialectical differences and linguistic regions within European 
> countries that nominally have a single official or characteristic 
> language, a phenomenon so unfamiliar to us USians.
> >>
> >> --howard
> >>
> >> On May 11, 2014, at 1:21 AM, Nathan Wajsman <photo at frozenlight.eu>
> wrote:
> >>
> >>> Thanks Howard. All the signs in Busot are in Valenciano, a local
> dialect of Catalan and the official language in the Comunitat 
> Valenciana, to which Alicante belongs. In the bigger towns like 
> Alicante, signs are in both Spanish and Valenciano; but in small 
> places like Busot, especially inland, they are in Valenciano only.
> >>>
> >>> Cheers,
> >>> Nathan
> >>