Scipio Africanus Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 Love how this thread is basically about the "c-word" and it still isn't locked.And by "c-word" I mean "corn" of course, which is very American indeed. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Littlefingers In The Air Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 I'm almost 28 and American and regularly use all those terms as well... fortnigh, if truth be told, and many more. I will say that here in America fortnight is rarely used. I've had to explain it's meaning to people both older and younger than me. As for another posters annoyance with the your/you're or there/their/they're mix ups, trust me it's just as annoying to those of us Americans that do use proper grammar. My biggest pet peeve is a lot as 1 word, just stop already! you're addressing me as if I'm not American lol. I'm from the crap state of Ohio but American all the same. And the a lot thing is annoying but I'm more lenient with it personally because I was doing it up until a couple of years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dany Girl Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 I too am an aspiring writer, and though I know I'm not the best speller in the world and at times my grammar isn't perfect, I can still make myself be understood.I know, if English is you second language, that this could be hard (I would find it hard to speak another language, let alone write essays like some of the people on this forum) but using txt slang is just... wrong.I know people who say O.M.G out loud, (instead of 'oh my God') though, I think TV hasn't helped with that one.I think it is more work trying to make sense of txt talk than it is typing out the word properly.I admit I do that. I say omg or sometimes brb but if I say lol u say it as a word not separate letters, not l-o-l. I started saying it ironically now can't stop... and i hate myself for it a little bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dany Girl Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 you're addressing me as if I'm not American lol. I'm from the crap state of Ohio but American all the same. And the a lot thing is annoying but I'm more lenient with it personally because I was doing it up until a couple of years ago.I did take it as you were another non- American lumping all the savage uneducated Americans into one category, which drives me crazy. We're not all dumb, and yes the educational system here is a sad state of affairs, but I know plenty of intelligent,l and well spoken Americans who do know proper grammar. I just hate being lumped in with the hoards of idiots that shout louder therefore are taken as the majority in our country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Littlefingers In The Air Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 I did take it as you were another non- American lumping all the savage uneducated Americans into one category, which drives me crazy. We're not all dumb, and yes the educational system here is a sad state of affairs, but I know plenty of intelligent,l and well spoken Americans who do know proper grammar. I just hate being lumped in with the hoards of idiots that shout louder therefore are taken as the majority in our country. I didn't mean to come off as lumping people but I am only speaking of a specific portion of our country, even if they portion of the country is rather large. I'm fully aware there are plenty of intelligent and articulate people in this country. Not to toot my own horn, but I'd count myself as one of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blood of the dragoon Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 Love how this thread is basically about the "c-word" and it still isn't locked.And by "c-word" I mean "corn" of course, which is very American indeed. ;)I forgot about corn. I wonder if he means it like an American (maize) or the original meaning (most common local grain). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Boar of Gore Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 Americans don't even use the possessive version of their when they're supposed to. There is used in almost everything. And don't get me started on the gross misapplication of your.It's nice of you to think non-Americans don't make these sorts of mistakes, but, unfortunately, we do. A lot.Oh and I definitely drink in pints. :drunk:The Americans eat ice-cream in pints. Smaller pints, of course.Love how this thread is basically about the "c-word" and it still isn't locked.And by "c-word" I mean "corn" of course, which is very American indeed. ;)The plant is; the word isn't. The plant I'm referring to is Indian corn or the corn in corn-on-the-cob, but corn meant wheat long before the discovery of America, and there is also John Barleycorn.I'm honestly not sure if Americans know this or not. What sort of corn do you imagine when the raven goes 'Corn! Corn!'? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Boar of Gore Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 I forgot about corn. I wonder if he means it like an American (maize) or the original meaning (most common local grain).There's no way he means it like maize. Next there will be turkeys, chipmunks, and moose! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Littlefingers In The Air Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 It's nice of you to think non-Americans don't make these sorts of mistakes, but, unfortunately, we do. A lot.The Americans eat ice-cream in pints. Smaller pints, of course.The plant is; the word isn't. The plant I'm referring to is Indian corn or the corn in corn-on-the-cob, but corn meant wheat long before the discovery of America, and there is also John Barleycorn.I'm honestly not sure if Americans know this or not. What sort of corn do you imagine when the raven goes 'Corn! Corn!'? I wasn't implying it doesn't happen elsewhere. I don't know much about what goes on with another countries literacy ( though I should study). I'm just focusing on the country I know about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scipio Africanus Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 I'm honestly not sure if Americans know this or not. What sort of corn do you imagine when the raven goes 'Corn! Corn!'?Well I'm not 'Murican so I won't speak for them.But in my country we don't call the plant corn but "mais" translated maize.And whenever Mormont's Raven squaks 'corn' I do think of, you know, maize. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Ghost- Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 I'm a 28 year old American male in upstate New York and I dont think I've ever heard anyone call someone a cunt, except for me. I use it on both men and women. Some do not take it well when they are called that, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morienthar Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 It just weird for me to see that people who speak the same language have just so many different meanings for each word, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Boar of Gore Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 And whenever Mormont's Raven squaks 'corn' I do think of, you know, maize.No! No maize, no tomatoes, no potatoes, no New World foodstuffs in Westeros whatsoever! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Summerqueen Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 It's nice of you to think non-Americans don't make these sorts of mistakes, but, unfortunately, we do. A lot.Thanks for owning up! If editing a scholarly journal has taught me one thing, it's that Americans are no worse than scholars in the UK or Australia when it comes to formal writing. My biggest pet peeve as an American is hypercorrectness, using "I" instead of "me" in object situations because of the fear of using the objective case incorrectly in the predicate of the sentence. The reality is that many Americans do not understand parts of speech. Listen to just one prime time TV block. You will hear some variety of " [subject noun] [verb] to [object noun] and I." Or possibly the always incorrect phrase "between [object noun] and I." But many Americans stop learning grammar at age 12. College prep courses start focusing more on reading comprehension, more advanced issues such as dangling modifiers, and logic. I've never seen an instance from outside North America of a person being hypercorrect (making errors through fear of using the wrong pronoun case). Does it happen? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the trees have eyes Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 I beg to differ I would have no idea how to estimate a distance in metres and when I measure for say new carpet or tiling I do it in Feet squared and then have to google the metric equivalent. My husband is even more hopeless at Metric than I am and insists there is no reason to bother converting the measurements for such tasks as all the blokes in the shop will not understand Metric either, Also when I go to the Deli counter I ask for my ham in lb's and if I ask for sweets weighed out from a jar in the paper shop I ask for a quarter. in the haberdashery the lady cuts my fabric by the yard,I bake using lb's and ounces too and I'm not old by any means and I don't think my community is unusual.Oh and I definatly drink in pints. :drunk: Imperial still rules for "weights and measures", I fully agree. It's why I gave the example of knowing my height in feet but not in metres; same applies to my knowing my weight in stone / pounds but not in Kilograms. But for estimating distance as opposed to measuring length for shop fittings / new wardrobes and the like, feet isn't really used in my experience. I might expect the height of a bridge or a mountain in the Lake District to be given in feet but not for someone to tell me to walk "about 500 feet" down the street to find the shop I wanted. We are something of a hybrid as miles rules for long distance and of course car travel but feet and yards have been replaced by metres for judging shorter distances. And pints, yes, most definitely pints :drool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stannis Gotta Stan Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 nm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Boar of Gore Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 I wasn't implying it doesn't happen elsewhere. I don't know much about what goes on with another countries literacy ( though I should study). I'm just focusing on the country I know about.Interesting. I thought you were contrasting yourselves with the rest of us, but actually you weren't thinking of others at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starfell Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 I only found out a couple of years ago that "cunt" is considered sexist in the States. I'd say that while it's stil the "strongest" swearword in the UK, I've never thought of it as being taboo; anybody who's comfortable with using "fuck" a lot probably wouldn't bat an eyelid at "cunt", for example.With regards to other Americanisms, I think "laying" is used a couple of times whereas I (as an Englishman) would always use "lying". I think a general rule of thumb in the UK is that laying is something you do to something else (eg. you lay down a carpet) whereas lying is something that something does on its own (eg. I lie down or the brush is lying on the floor) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the trees have eyes Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 There's no way he means it like maize. Next there will be turkeys, chipmunks, and moose! The Hornwoods have a bull moose as their symbol. But the moose is apparently a Eurasian as well as North American species (I always thought is was specifically North American). And Coldhands rides an elk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blood of the dragoon Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 No! No maize, no tomatoes, no potatoes, no New World foodstuffs in Westeros whatsoever!I imagine maize, being 'murcan, but i also read everyone in the books with American accents, so...There are new world foods in westeros, ie hot peppers.Edit spelling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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