Thread: US English vs Other English

Originally Posted by tommo

IF it oxidises at all? It does, end of story, do you even buy a new lightbulb when one no longer works?

There has to be some amount of fire, otherwise the filament wouldn't break.

Well obviously there is some slight amount of oxygen within the light bulb, because we can't make 100% pure gas. However once that oxygen has been used up, more oxygen will only be let in very slowly, if at all. Thus it oxidises slowly, if at all.
Because fire is the only thing that can cause something to be worn out? The thing is heated to over 2000 degrees Celsius in normal light bulbs, you know. It might be evaporating slowly, it will definitively be expanding in the heat and shrinking once it grows cold again, causing wear. And even if it is the oxidation that does it in, fire is a rapid oxidation. A light bulb lasts for months, that's not exactly "rapid". There's just no way fire is related to light bulbs.

Originally Posted by Taosaur

The technology is nearly obsolete anyway, so why don't we just move along?

Oh no! We fight to the death! The death!

*kills khh*

I spose it just depends on how you define it then.

I notice sometimes when I type that I will spell words differently such as "humour" instead of "humor" and I only notice because of the red squiggly line underneath the word.

Does the common question "how's it going?" make any sense? I feel bad for people that have to learn English in the US

Originally Posted by louie54

Does the common question "how's it going?" make any sense? I feel bad for people that have to learn English in the US

I know "how's it going" is asked the same way in French, "Comment ca va?" I'm a big fan of the transcendental pronoun, "How's it going?" "Is it raining?" "It's windy out there."

Originally Posted by tommo

It is produced by electrons being inhibited by a material, producing heat and light.
IF it oxidises at all? It does, end of story, do you even buy a new lightbulb when one no longer works?

There has to be some amount of fire, otherwise the filament wouldn't break.

The filament breaks because it gradually gets weaker due to the Tungsten evaporating, which you can usually see inside the bulb if you look carefully once you replace it. Oxidation is effectively halted by using an inert gas. It is not 'fire'.

Hey, wasn't this about spelling?

Originally Posted by Xei

You must do idioms differently over there. Does 'beating a dead horse' mean 'having a valuable discussion' for you guys?

[If this quoted post is not ironic..]

Xei? Not a criticism, just an observation: you do speak a strange form of english. "Beating a dead horse.."? Never ever heard that one.. "flogging a dead horse" is another matter. Your (perceived) accent sounds something like a native US-speaker trying to sound UK.. odd.

Bad UK can be amusing: "I would of went if I'd of known, but I didn't know nothing about it.." etc etc.

There's a german forum on which, recently, they have been discussing english phrases which can mean the opposite of what they literally state: their top favourite seems to be "That's very interesting.." with the top forum reply to that being "That's very interesting.."

I've gotta go and have a fag..

English is not my native language (google translate tells me to use the phrase "mother tongue" but I'm not going to do that because it sounds stupid). But since nobody besides Swedes speak Swedish we are forced to learn English in school.

The teachers don't care if we use British or American English, as long as we are being consistent. That is so annoying! How am I supposed to ever be able to remember if for example elevator is US English or not? Seriously, can't you people just come to an agreement or something!?

I want to speak British English because it sounds much more intelligent. No offence, but American English is very ugly. You all sound like morons. Unfortunately, American movies are much better than English movies so I kind of like speak with an American accent anyway. It is really depressing...

Of course you say "take a shower", not "have a shower". "Have a shower" doesn't make any sense at all. But that I can live with. However, it is kind of offending when you say that you're "crossing your fingers".

I'm keeping my fingers crossed =I'm lying
I'm holding my thumbs = I wish you luck

I don't know who is responsible for this, but you really have to do something about it.

Originally Posted by Insikt

No offence, but American English is very ugly. You all sound like morons.

oh... none taken...

I use both to make my place of origin ambiguous.

Red Flag.

Well at least you're switching between American English and British English.

I'm switching between proper English and broken English. My country isn't a fan of phrasing their words properly. As a result, my language has suffered for years. It was till recently that it has gotten better because I wrote quite a number of reports for school.

So basically when I'm speaking with my country's folks, I'll switch to my broken English which is a mixture of English, Chinese, Malay and Hokkien (a dialect) words and with very bad usage of grammar. I guess that's what happen when a country tries to go bilingual? This language is otherwise known as "Singlish". Here's an article on Singlish for some light reading: A Quick Guide to Singlish

And with any other English speaking community, I'll try my best to speak British English.

So basically when I'm speaking with my country's folks, I'll switch to my broken English which is a mixture of English, Chinese, Malay and Hokkien (a dialect) words and with very bad usage of grammar.

It's good to know when to code-switch I guess. I think most of our friends and family will judge us and think we're some obnoxious idiots who look down on them, just because we're speaking in proper English.

I'm not exactly proud of Singlish, but it's much easier using it to express how you feel i.e anger (knnb chao cheebye etc)

And hey a fellow Singaporean 8D

Originally Posted by Dianeva

The same time zed became zee?

zed became zee during revolutionary times. pronouncing Z as zee had become a part of the American accent, and it became a way to separate American patriots from Brits and loyalists. Anyone who wanted to be considered American had to pronounce Z the 'American way'. I suspect many other differences could have a similar origin.