Poll: English or American spelling?
- Thread starter Arkhangelsk
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Does it really matter who had the language first?Sparrow Tag said:
The people who came to North America were British, or mostly British, and was their basis for any language(s) they were going to further adopt into their own. Just because the American language has changed over the years doesn't mean they don't have any more right to the British english language than those people that live in Britain. The British english language has changed just as much as the American english language due to location and influences, neither culture has a 'right' to claim a base language that was more than likely an offshoot of another culture and changed due to location and other influences.
Being 'first' doesn't mean something is right, since you are talking about two completely different cultures now.
Lemme guess, your one of the people that think American Football rightly deserves the name Football. Newsflash, England called "Soccer", Football first.crypt-creature said:
And yes, being first does give you an advantage. Look at it this way. You manage to find out how to make a working teleporter. Your friend looks at your plans, and sells it to a company.
Who's in the right? The guy that was FIRST or the SECOND guy that stole the plans?
Ive also talked with Americans who hate what there country is doing, and express patriotism for other countries, and Ive known British people who automatically dismiss anything that dares come across as, "American". Basically what it comes down to is that people tend to take having pride in a sense of community through your opinion and identification with countries, and turn it into a means of lableing certain people, "Others". That's almost always bad.blarggles said:
Of course, to play Devils advocate for your friends, what would have happened if this was done in Britain? Is it possible that your friends would have been quiet about there American Patriotism, and just quietly acknowledged your British patriotism out of respect? Despite the bad rap Americans get, i'm pretty the majority of Americans would think something along the lines of, "Sure, the whole revolution thing leads to some petty squabbles over weird food and silly spelling, but we both beat the shit out of Hitler, and that's what really matters, isn't it?"
I was working on the theory that he didn't know accents the heavy britolian accent is hilariously awful so it would be fun if he got one!DannyBarnes said:
ahhh i see your point now hahamurphy7801 said:
well yes it would be amazing to see him take the bristol or like birmingham accent proper strongly he would sound like a proper meff, im sure he wouldnt want a british accent then ^_^
The English language seems to have so much more character.
There are things that just seem out of place when actually thinking about it, but without that silent letter here or there the word seems simple and uninteresting, yet also a bit alien.
The American language is so simplified to be written as it sounds that it just loses out on awesomeness.
Also, Aluminum! What the hell... It sounded cooler before taking out one of the letters America.
There are things that just seem out of place when actually thinking about it, but without that silent letter here or there the word seems simple and uninteresting, yet also a bit alien.
The American language is so simplified to be written as it sounds that it just loses out on awesomeness.
Also, Aluminum! What the hell... It sounded cooler before taking out one of the letters America.
I go with English, because that has the original spellings, it just seems kind of dumbed down in the American version. I'm not saying Americans are dumb, I'm just saying the spellings seem dumb to me.
The evolution of the english language into modern 'american' is only a natural event considering the events that led to it being the predominant language of the USA. Religion had some small part to do with it, considering french, italian and spanish were spoken by mostly catholics, and the founding fathers realized those guys were maniacs. German could have been an official language, but england hired german mercenaries that scared the colonists more than the soldiers from england. Also there was the whole thing that the colonists thought of themselves as englishmen, even if the pricks over the ocean didn't think they were worth treating as such.
We could thank Noah Webster for the current spelling of american english. The whole dictionary thing unified the new country with a standardized spelling free from the corruption of english aristocricy.
Hell, all that really matters is that amercicans and english can understand eachother, even with alot of the silly english slang.
We could thank Noah Webster for the current spelling of american english. The whole dictionary thing unified the new country with a standardized spelling free from the corruption of english aristocricy.
Hell, all that really matters is that amercicans and english can understand eachother, even with alot of the silly english slang.
wow...ask a question to get the name right and you start an international incident. Apologies to any citizen of Wales or (i hope I get this right) The Republic of Ireland if I insulted your national identity. Please ignore the silly American who likes to use generalizations to try and grasp the basic principles. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go listen to some U2.Lukeje said:
Firstly, you guessed wrong. I don't care what you call American football because it's just a freaking game, and I'm quite aware of where the term came from. Thank you for trying to be smug about it and failing.Sparrow Tag said:
Secondly, cultures all over the world use the same word and a vast majority of them have slightly different meanings. That's how culture works, no one culture has any right to say 'your wrong' since cultures borrow terms and words all the time.
Secondly, that is rather far from comparing American english to British english.
Here's a better comparison. You and your friend find a way to crate a working teleporter, only you disagree on some things during the final stages of its creation. So, you decide to call it quits as a team, maybe one of you tells the other their out of the project, whatever, but both of you go off to do your own thing when it comes to the final production of the item.
You both complete your teleporters, and while they have similarities they are also different from each other.
No one is 'in the right' to claim the teleporter since they both had a say in its original design, they just came out differently.
The first 'Americans' didn't steal the British language because they were British to begin with, they didn't steal anything from the british aside from their independence because, again, they were inherently British to begin with and that is the dialect they were taught. This isn't a pissing contest since the very fist dialect of English doubtedly sounded and read exactly like the current British version of English or the American version of English. Languages change over time, including the British version of english, and every culture has subcultures that pronounce their 'original' words differently. This is the way of languages and cultures, no one has a 'right' to anything.
American english is changing enough that it should be recognized as American, not American english.
Figures. I mean, your not going to make yourself look even MORE of a prat are you?crypt-creature said:
Anyway, you have no evidence other than "This is how cultures work, ya da ya da". You didn't even bother to include a cool decision making task like me.
Shame on you.
What evidence do you have aside from 'Yar, they stole or language because the British made the language first!'Sparrow Tag said:
Tell me how you plan to support that? Are you a historian, have you lived for thousands of years and can tell people for certain which culture came up with the basis for the 'British english' first?
No, I doubt you can.
Shame on you for not looking at the whole picture, and bashing a country who were initially a part of yours. You just seemed pissed that they got away and didn't come up with a whole new dialect and used the language that was taught to them.
You're just as much of a prat as I since you have even less of an argument and lack any sort of practical reasoning and basis for your view.