Philosophy Discussion Forums | A Humans-Only Club for Open-Minded Discussion & Debate

[Sculptor1]

There are more differences between regions of the UK than there is between any British region and the all the US.

Perhaps that is so, I don't know. But the differences are quite extensive.

Spelling — honor vs. honour.
Pronunciation — "tomayto" vs. "tomahto".
Vocabulary — faucet instead of tap.
Cultural — directness vs. politeness.
Grammar — "Can I get a soda?" vs. "(Please) may I have a fizzy drink?"

English
He isn't hungry. He has already had lunch.
- Have you done your homework yet?
- Yes, I've just finished it.

American
He isn't hungry. He already had lunch.
- Did you do your homework yet?
- Yes, I just finished it.

It is true that British dialects also feature considerable differences, but I think those between American and English outweigh them?

Hes nay pecking. He scoffed dinner
Has ye done yer haimwork, hen?
Aye done n dusted.

[Sculptor1]

Spelling — honor vs. honour.
Pronunciation — "tomayto" vs. "tomahto".
Vocabulary — faucet instead of tap.
Cultural — directness vs. politeness.
Grammar — "Can I get a soda?" vs. "(Please) may I have a fizzy drink?"

"cultural" is changing the goalposts, but you are wrong there too.
Some regions of the UK are far more or less polite or more or less direct than the USA.

I need to power my nose.
I need the bog mate.

May Americans find that asking for the ****/ bog/ crapper shockikingly direct and use "bathroom" By contrast Brits can be severely reserved in many areas, whereas in others are very direct.

Pronunciations.
Bath, Cast, Past in the US outside Boston with a short a, and whilst you might think the long A is common in the UK it is probably more common, as in the US, to use the short a. This pattern can be repeated with other similat words, in which the common way is the same for both countries and "New England" and the South of UK tend to share pronunciations.

[Sy Borg]

The Welsh term for ladybug is buwch goch gota (trans: short red cow)

The Scottish Gaelic term for ladybug is daolag bhreac dhearg (speckled red beetle)

The English, American, Australian, Canadian and New Zealand term for ladybug is ... ladybug.

Did I notice you QEDing earlier, P-C? I might take that QED from you now, thank you.

[Pattern-chaser]

The Welsh term for ladybug is buwch goch gota (trans: short red cow)

The Scottish Gaelic term for ladybug is daolag bhreac dhearg (speckled red beetle)

The English, American, Australian, Canadian and New Zealand term for ladybug is ... ladybug.

Did I notice you QEDing earlier, P-C? I might take that QED from you now, thank you.

The English for "ladybug" is "ladybird".

[Pattern-chaser]

The Welsh term for ladybug is buwch goch gota (trans: short red cow)

The Scottish Gaelic term for ladybug is daolag bhreac dhearg (speckled red beetle)

The English*, American, Australian, Canadian and New Zealand term for ladybug is ... ladybug.

* — no, as in my previous post, the English is "ladybird".

A little light entertainment:

The other day I discovered that Ladybird in Irish is Bóín Dé which means, literally, “Little Cow of God”. I thought it a strange name for this critter, then a friend told me (via Facebook) that the Welsh is buwch goch gota which means “short red cow”. A little googling then told me that the Russian is Bozhya korovka which is in literal translation the same as the Irish, God’s Little Cow.

["Critter", of course, is an American term. It looks like it derives from "creature"...?]



I don't get your point: why are the Welsh (Brythonic Celtic) and Scottish (Gaelic Celtic) terms for an insect relevant here?

Oh, and by the way, although the Brythonic Celtic languages share mutual intelligibility, if only just, the Brythonic and Gaelic language-groups are not mutually intelligible. There are commonalities, but not so many. I think (i.e. not sure) that the Gaelic languages are mutually intelligible too. The Gaelic languages include Scottish, Irish, and Manx.

[Pattern-chaser]

Hes nay pecking. He scoffed dinner
Has ye done yer haimwork, hen?
Aye done n dusted.

You know, right, that Scotland has its own language, one of the Gaelic tongues, and that many Gaelic 'features' carry over into the way Scots speak the language of the English invaders ("sassenachs")? ["Saesneg" in Welsh.]

Out of interest, "hen" is used in Wales too. Its literal meaning is (from memory) "old". I've heard it used informally too, apparently in a similar way to the Scottish dialect you quote.



But what does this tell us? That Welsh and Scottish leak into the English spoken there?

[Pattern-chaser]

I need to power my nose.

Is that an idiom describing cocaine use, perhaps?

[Sculptor1]

Hes nay pecking. He scoffed dinner
Has ye done yer haimwork, hen?
Aye done n dusted.

You know, right, that Scotland has its own language, one of the Gaelic tongues, and that many Gaelic 'features' carry over into the way Scots speak the language of the English invaders ("sassenachs")? ["Saesneg" in Welsh.]

Not relevant.
Both the Scots and the Welsh mostly speak English. Where Gaelic and Cymraig is spoken it is still spoken mostly as a second language.
None of the references I made are Gaelic or Welsh.

Out of interest, "hen" is used in Wales too. Its literal meaning is (from memory) "old". I've heard it used informally too, apparently in a similar way to the Scottish dialect you quote.

Hen is a Germanic word.

But what does this tell us? That Welsh and Scottish leak into the English spoken there?

No. quite the opposite.
Welsh also shares a common Latin root with English too. English via the French mostly.

[Sculptor1]

I need to power my nose.

Is that an idiom describing cocaine use, perhaps?

Sorry I mean to say "powder".
Probably from when "powder room" was used as a euphemism for ****

[Sculptor1]

Hes nay pecking. He scoffed dinner
Has ye done yer haimwork, hen?
Aye done n dusted.

You know, right, that Scotland has its own language, one of the Gaelic tongues, and that many Gaelic 'features' carry over into the way Scots speak the language of the English invaders ("sassenachs")? ["Saesneg" in Welsh.]

Out of interest, "hen" is used in Wales too. Its literal meaning is (from memory) "old". I've heard it used informally too, apparently in a similar way to the Scottish dialect you quote.



But what does this tell us? That Welsh and Scottish leak into the English spoken there?

PS. IN any event you were talking about "BRITISH" English, which does not disclude Scotland, Wales and Norther Ireland.

[Sy Borg]

The English*, American, Australian, Canadian and New Zealand term for ladybug is ... ladybug.

Touché! I always called it "ladybird" ... but it looks like the Yanks got to me

If I start speaking with damn rhotic "r"s, please put me out of my misery.

[Sy Borg]

... ladybird

Touché! I always called it "ladybird" myself ... but it looks like the Yanks got to me

If I start speaking with rhotic "r"s, please put me out of my misery.

[Pattern-chaser]

I need to power my nose.

Is that an idiom describing cocaine use, perhaps?

Sorry I mean to say "powder".

Yes, of course. I was making a little joke...

[Pattern-chaser]

Hes nay pecking. He scoffed dinner
Has ye done yer haimwork, hen?
Aye done n dusted.

You know, right, that Scotland has its own language, one of the Gaelic tongues, and that many Gaelic 'features' carry over into the way Scots speak the language of the English invaders ("sassenachs")? ["Saesneg" in Welsh.]

Both the Scots and the Welsh mostly speak English. Where Gaelic and Cymraig is spoken it is still spoken mostly as a second language.
None of the references I made are Gaelic or Welsh.

Are you seriously suggesting that the Welsh and Scottish languages have no influence on the variations of English as it is spoken in those countries?



P.S. I grew up in Wales, and encountered quite a few Welsh people who spoke only one language, and it wasn't English.

[Pattern-chaser]

PS. IN any event you were talking about "BRITISH" English, which does not disclude Scotland, Wales and Norther Ireland.

I'm referring to any place where English, as opposed to American, is spoken as a native tongue, or something close to that.