Ebglish. That would be my specialty. Glissandes a la eBeth, the eBeth that was, before the mutation.
ummmmm, the question. I don't really feel like I have much in common with people from the U.S., or Britain. I also don't have much interest in travelling to other English-speaking countries. Nope, not feeling any cement, well, except for what seems to be in my eye right now.
Just a typo, I saw it after I posted but rarely correct typos.
<<sigh>>
now my specialty has become a typo
How lucky you are, ehBeth!
Typo is such a common language...you should be able to converse anywhere!
So - Beth does NOT wish to come to Oz?
Icy silence....
I'll go to Oz if I can meet the Wizard
hmmmmmm....Wicked Witch of the South I can do....
I feel I have more in common with the rest of Europe (even the French) than those speaking my language (US, Can, Oz, NZ etc), even if we (the British public in general) don't like any of them.
Maybe this is because the historical ties go further back, or all the wars with various Euro-chums over the last 1000 years, the interbreeding of the royal familes etc.
Since the former colonies (you lot) managed to get rid of us, they've all seemed to do their best to become as different from us as they could manage. The Europeans have always been different, which makes them the same, in a perverse way.
That doesn't however stop Tony Blair and all previous PMs from brown-nosing the Americans and claiming they are our closest pals, whilst alienating us from the rest of Europe. Nice one Tony...
I think I've lost my way here a bit. Sorry.
No problem, Boss, let's just consider this an English-speaking Digression thread . . .
Se habla Espanol? I don't. Don't care for Vegemite much either.
I think the point I was attempting to make was that I do not agree with the concept of the English-Speaking World as a tangible entity, for the reasons ranted about above.
Does that make more sense?
Yes, and as an answer to one of the questions of this thread, it is breathtakingly relevant . . .
Setanta - which part & which question?
One thing I do find interesting is that Britain is the only English-speaking country I can think of that has football as the national sport.
Setanta wrote:What are your thoughts on "the English-speaking world?" Do you find it simply a mental construct? Or, do you believe that such an informally grouped population actually shares a community of interest, and shares common goals? If you believe that there truly is a real, English-speaking world, how do you characterize it?
Which was the meat of the thread . . . i would say that you answered the second question--"Do you find it simply a mental construct?"--in the affirmative. I could be wrong, but, of course, will never admit to it . . .
Par le Par, G, are you in the city of York?
Graham, I am guessing the question asked by Setanta, do you think the English-speaking world is simply a mental construct? Your post regarding said concept as not a tangible entity opens the door for further serious discussion, which is always a good thing.
GRAHAM, you are probably right about football.
As for English language, the way it is spoken and written changes from place to place, quite radicaly at times over short distances. If you listen to a Londoner speaking, the accent, coloquialisms are very different from a Tyke, Geordie, Scouser, Scot and so on. The broader the brogue the harder it is to follow. So jusk within the UK, there are many forms of the English language. A West Indian speaking English is another accent that is hard to understand sometimes.
The so called Queens English must have thousands of "bastard" offspring dotted around the globe and they don't play football very often
The dog-sitter beat me to it...grrr....(play grrr, of course)
Well, I have lived in England, traveled extensively in S. Africa but my roots are in Brooklyn and Manhattan, even New Joisey, so I qualify as a native speaker of English.
The English language is one type of 'binding element' in society, or, between societies, but only one. For within continental America, the culture subdivides into various linguistic strains: television announcerese, academic, blue collar, professional, street slang, Eubonics, hip-hop etc. which is the true 'American,' not to mention 'English' ?
But there is another meaning, the cultural exports of the United States: popular culture, the Fast Foods, the Jeans, the Cell phones and cameras. Plus the night life of discos, bars, rap, sexual exploitation and violence. These carry the language, and, in turn, are carried by it.
These are all carried along, like so much flotsam and jetsam by the Jet Set, the military, the capitalists, the Peace Corps and their imitators.
I suggest that the focus on the use of 'English' does not do justice to the cultural messages that its usages imply. 'English' is NOT a language, it is an approximation.
25% Celtic
35% Germanic
30% French
15% Scandinavian
10% Chinese
8% Voodoo
7% Native American
6% Hebrew
5% Italian
4% Scatological
3% Rushin'
