Lets talk English English!

[DrunkWithPower]

It whole H difference kinda strikes a cord. It's not that I have a problem but when I play HQ on CoD, I really notice it.

 

[Zac_Dai]

Bollocks is the best English word.

 

[EFC_1987]

So Escapists, lets hear your best English English!

By the way, what the hell is a tosser? I've heard it in English English a few times but for the life of me I can't figure out what it means.

As a Brit, I've got to put my 2p in.

Firstly, there is no such thing as English English, American English or whatever. It is just English or American (Microsoft invented the whole American English thing).

Surprisingly enough almost all British insults involve masturbation, I think it's something they are obsessed with as a culture.

Side note I had a teacher named Mr. Wanker

I had a teacher called Mr. Bates, who we obviously referred to as Master Bates.

I have a habit of using rhyming slang, which annoys my Yank friends.

"Are you having a girrafe? Someone half inched my sharon stone! Ugh, I'm in so much barney rubble, you just don't have a scooby doo."

I set the challenge of a non "english" english speaker to translate it. Winner gets a Joe Blake

Part of the Cockney Rhyming Slang thing was to only say the first part of the rhyming words. So that would come out as:

"Are you having a giraffe? Someone halfed my sharon! Ugh, I'm in so much Barney, You don't have a Scooby."

Though there were so many combinations that most people had no idea what word you were trying to rhyme and therefore what you meant. Such as:

"You're having a Turkish."

Turkish Bath = Laugh
Turkish Delight = Shite

No wonder it died out.

I'm South Australian, we seem to have a more refined accent than that of the rest of the country (or the educated here do) and so I find it funny when I went to England and when talking to the English on XBL when I hear a Brit who doesn't actually speak proper English. (The best example I can think of at the moment is from the film Billy Elliot and that "FOCK USE!" style of speaking).

Once you hit the north of England, the accents do change a lot, so much so that Americans have to have subtitles when Scottish people speak in shows such as Taggart. Scouse and Mancunian aren't too bad, people who aren't British usually have a problem with Geordies and Scots.

 

[EFC_1987]

A wog means a "Worker of the government" and is a derogatory for anyone who isn't white. Basically, we brought you here to do the horrible jobs. Blackie means someone is black. SO a Blackie doctor is a doctor who is black.

A WOG is also "Wogan's Old Gits". A term for the old people who listen to Terry Wogan's radio show on BBC 2 (I think).

 

[Agema]

When most people think of "English" English, they mean received pronunciation (a.k.a. Queen's English, BBC English), and that's the stereotypical accent, mostly common in southeast England. The only other accent that generally seems well known internationally is cockney.

However, the majority of the population have a very different accent. If you hear Ozzy Osbourne speak, he's got the remnants of his West Midlands accent. The Beatles are Scouse (Liverpool), and so on.

I think what bugs me most about pronunciation in Britain is the letter "h". It's pronounced "aitch". However, someone nitwit somewhere decided to pronounce it "haitch", and it's taken root, much like increasingly common apostrophe abuse.

 

[Snotnarok]

I wanted to know (but never wanted to bother with a topic on it) why do the english call a ball point pen a biro. I looked it up and all I found was "a ball point pen is often refereed to as a biro" leaving me still wondering the reason.

I get bonnet and boot, water closet and other such terms but biro? I'm going to make a guess and say it was an early brand of ball point pen.

Feller who invented the ballpoint pen was called Biro.

And it is, most definitely, pronounced "Zed". I always wondered why the Americans changed this as most of their changes were for simplicity, this seems to be random.

OP: If you enjoy hearing silly English slang have a watch of Crank 2, there's some corkers there.

That's just as simple as I expected it to be haha, thanks for the answer.

 

[fudgebo]

A tosser, is a wanker, someone who self pollutes, enjoys the quick tug, a self pleaser. other terms include.

get this down your gregory: gregory peck = neck
pint of ken = heiniken
I'm a bit scooby doo, dubious
he's on the old rock'n'roll = dole or social welfare

 

[DragonsAteMyMarbles]

"I say, the weather is positively topping, what!."

"Arr, oi be sowin' me seeds this mornin'."

Both English - also both stereotypes.

Try playing Fable. There's a selection of English dialects for you - particularly West Country and West Midlands. The guards are mainly Scots, and there's the odd Liverpudlian thrown in for good measure.

 

[beddo]

In the spirit of asking questions, do english people actually say "zed" instead of "zee" when they're talking about the letter "z" or is that just jokingly?

Yep, we say 'zed' though it's not something that comes up often.

In the 'little' alphabet which children learn for phonetics before the normal alphabet we say 'zuh'

 

[beddo]

In the spirit of asking questions, do english people actually say "zed" instead of "zee" when they're talking about the letter "z" or is that just jokingly?

It's a joke. We say zee.

I also greatly enjoy the British accent.

We say 'zed'! Well, in the South we say 'zed' anyway.

 

[cobra_ky]

can you really just say "shit" whenever in Britain? i hear it all the time on the BBC, but nobody says on American TV.

However, in England

A SKINHEAD IS NOT A NEO-NAZI

There are: Communist skinheads. Normal skinheads. Poor Skinheads. Rich skinheads. CHav Skinheads. ETC

that's true in America, too (well i don't know if we have chavs). unfortunately the media only publicizes racist skinheads so most people don't know it's an entire subculture beyond that.

 

[beddo]

I've actually never heard the term "English English" before.

We tend to call it UK English.

EDIT:

We actually just call it English but when we are mentioning variations we would say:

British, English

and/or

UK English

 

[Froobyx]

I'm a Yorkshire lass myself. So I speak all common like.

So when I moved down south everyone thought it was odd when I pronounced my to the as tuh.

Example "Am off tuh shops"


Anyone read the book Kes? I was offended when my southern English teacher tried speaking northern xD

 

[Lukeje]

can you really just say "shit" whenever in Britain? i hear it all the time on the BBC, but nobody says on American TV.

Yup (well, after watershed normally); it's the dog's bollocks.

Edit: and in writing that post I just had d&#233j&#224 vu of having d&#233j&#224 vu... weird.

 

[Rusman]

I have a habit of using rhyming slang, which annoys my Yank friends.

"Are you having a girrafe? Someone half inched my sharon stone! Ugh, I'm in so much barney rubble, you just don't have a scooby doo."

I set the challenge of a non "english" english speaker to translate it. Winner gets a Joe Blake

EDIT: Over the "Zee" over "Zed" thing. I'm British and I missed the joke as well because I say "Zed". I also say "Nought" instead of zero sometimes

One of my old lecturers used to have a go at us for buggering up cockney rhyming slang so its kind of stuck in my head and I now have an annoying urge to call you out. Sorry.

Undesirables on the streets of old London made it up so they could communicate without alerting or being overheard by the police. Because of this you shouldn't actually use the rhyming part of the slang just the first word so its sounds even more like non-sense.

"Are you having a giraffe" (Well ok that right ) But the rest should have been "Someone halfed me Sharon! Urg, I'm in so much Barney you just don't have a Scooby..."

OT: English words/terms for the police are legendary:-
The fuzz
The rozzers
The law
And it always must be preceeded by "Bloody hell its the..." and ended with "SCARPER!"
And its Zed.

 

[Sulu]

Yeah English English is not cockney rhyming slang like has been posted in this thread! Unless of course you mean that Austin Powers scene

Youtube someone from the royal family and that is 'English English', just picture it a little less posh and you have the correct way of speaking the language - (as long as you come from the South East

 

[Nevyrmoore]

English insults and phrases?

Just buy Roger's Profanisaurus: The Magna Farta. You've got over 10,000 words and phrases in there, all of which come from the British public.

As some examples, there's kidney prodder, potato fat, saga louts and biggie smalls.

 

[Soulkiller3]

Am a Brit and this "English English" term seems abit retarded, if anything its "the queens english" also people seem to of got cockney mixed up with it, cockney is just a old dialect in the london area that most people dont even use anymore.

And why do you americans butcher our language?
+ 1 for it being "ZED"

 

[cobra_ky]

can you really just say "shit" whenever in Britain? i hear it all the time on the BBC, but nobody says on American TV.

Yup (well, after watershed normally); it's the dog's bollocks.

Edit: and in writing that post I just had d&#233j&#224 vu of having d&#233j&#224 vu... weird.

i had to look up what watershed meant. the dog's bollocks means "good", right?