Interesting... in America, "flat" sounds more exotic.
Do you highlight everything looking for secret messages?
Bird mom
I love how he implies that "hike" is know longer used as "a walk in the country" (I hear it in that context far more that the "an increase" sense) . And how he objects to terms that have no British versions (hospitalize). And the whole thing reeks of hipocrisy.
The Crystal Caverns A bird's gotta sing.
Proud Canadian
What a fucking elitist. He is being highly hypocritical as well, likking A Merican words he grew up with, but hating ones he didn't.
edited 13th Jul '11 9:11:17 AM by Erock
If you don't like a single Frank Ocean song, you have no soul.
Micromastophile
BBC?
So I'm to assume this writing is government funded?
Proud Canadian
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
It is, but the government doesn't exact that kind of control.
edited 13th Jul '11 7:21:13 PM by Erock
If you don't like a single Frank Ocean song, you have no soul.
V
doesn't, by the way.
And no, The BBC isn't directly-Government controlled (it can, and has critised the Government). Just read the article:
edited 13th Jul '11 9:18:08 AM by Greenmantle
Keep Rolling On
Oh God no - here having an "apartment" makes you sound like some high-flyer with a place in the city centre, while having a "flat" implies that you live in a tenement block.
And let us pray that come it may (As come it will for a' that)
^ Its the opposite here
Apartment means rundown tenement to "decent, but small place"
Flat on the other hand, brings to mind british decadence. (in other words, soft operatic music in the background, nice furniture, old world style, etc)
Yeah. Saying that you live in an 'apartment block' makes you sound better than 'live in flats'.
Also, the BBC is taxpaper-funded, but free from government control. State-funded, yes. State-controlled no. It is not a state broadcasting corporation.
English is a crazy language, so I don't know what the author means by "malleable quality".
Now using Trivialis handle.
I see the Awesomeness.
It means she doesn't resist no matter how much you rape her.
Fight smart, not fair.
Lover of masks.
Ha. We can pollute english with our media. Let's do it.
But really this comes off as elitist. What's wrong with wrench I ask you.
Please.
Sneering Imperialist
Yeah, I don't really get what's so "vile" about "hospitalise".
With cannon shot and gun blast smash the alien. With laser beam and searing plasma scatter the alien to the stars.
"hospitalise". It sounds good. It's useful. "He got sent to hospital" is a bit of a mouthful. "he got hospitalised" is much, much easier to say, and especially to a close one.
vigilantly taxonomish
Sensationalist elitism from start to finish. Foreign words are invading our language! Now perfectly normal words no longer mean what everyone still uses them to mean! SOON WE WILL EVEN BE WRITING THE DATE THE WRONG WAY AROUND!
Anyway, I'm British, and even I think "e-post" sounds pretty stupid.
Also, I find the assumption that British people know nothing of baseball kind of amusing. We played that in primary school.
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I did baseball (well softball) every year at school!
Do you know the Infield Fly Rule? If you don't, then you know NOTHING!
I always say I live in a flat, as does my address. My post box claims it's an apartment. Make of that what you will.
Oddly enough, I was actually thinking about the use of "guy" for both sexes this morning, and thinking how convenient it is. There isn't really a word in British English that you can use to address a group of people of both sexes. Having said that, I still can't bring myself to use the word to refer to anyone who isn't male.
"Well, it's a lifestyle"
Isn't "guys" normally used to address a group?
I've noticed that races tend to use "Drivers start your engines" more than "Gentlemen start your engines" or even "Ladies and Gentlemen" and well, I'm sure "Children of All Ages" is not going to come up in any broadcast, but maybe in some local events.
In British English? Maybe nowadays, but if so, that's fairly recent. There are still people who go completely batshit if you start talking about "the guys", one of whom is my Dad.
edited 13th Jul '11 11:04:40 AM by captainbrass2
"Well, it's a lifestyle"
vigilantly taxonomish
To my mind, "guys" denotes a group containing at least one male individual, while "guy" just means a bloke.
Admittedly, I'm a little rusty on the rules of baseball, but not sufficiently that I don't know what left field, the plate or "three strikes and you're out" mean.
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Well, I refer to the girls I know as "dude" but I never say that to the guys. Make of that what you will.
And let us pray that come it may (As come it will for a' that)
I use 'dude' to refer to both sexes, but 'guy' to refer to males.
'guys' and 'dudes' are used to refer to groups, either mixed or not, for me.
Dude also means milk in Sanskrit-based languages.
edited 13th Jul '11 11:13:56 AM by Inhopelessguy
I saw this article
on the BBC and found it quite interesting. The author seems to be arguing that English's malleable quality is the key to its success as a global language while simultaneously bemoaning the absorption of all other English dialects into American English. I suspect that Americans will generally be unaware of differences between the words they use and what other English speakers may use, which is only natural considering that American English appears to currently be the dominant form, so I thought it would be interesting to get some more perspective on it.
This is NOT a discussion about which is the superior version of English and I do not wish to have it derailed into one, so kindly refrain from that.
With cannon shot and gun blast smash the alien. With laser beam and searing plasma scatter the alien to the stars.