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How to speak the kings english?

Forums: Kings English, Grammar, Language, Esl, English
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Walter Hinteler
 
  1  
Reply Thu 5 Jan, 2012 10:19 am
@Setanta,
Setanta wrote:

I am greatly entertained, too, by the response of Brit's to the use of the expression "the American language."

I'm terribly sorry but, deaaarest setantah,i am sure that the filly sepeaks english ... fancy taught at the depaaartment of english - queen's universitiee!
Setanta
 
  1  
Reply Thu 5 Jan, 2012 10:20 am
@Walter Hinteler,
Queens University? You mean, Queens University in Kingston, Ontario? They sound a lot like 'Mericans.
0 Replies
 
fresco
 
  1  
Reply Thu 5 Jan, 2012 10:32 am
@Walter Hinteler,
...or Queen's College Oxford
... or Queens' College Cambridge.
jespah
 
  1  
Reply Thu 5 Jan, 2012 04:51 pm
@fresco,
I've been to Queens.
0 Replies
 
ehBeth
 
  1  
Reply Thu 5 Jan, 2012 04:54 pm
@oristarA,
too funny! that sounds like old CBC tapes from the 1940's

0 Replies
 
Lustig Andrei
 
  2  
Reply Thu 5 Jan, 2012 04:57 pm
Reminds me of the story of the British Lord visiting America for the first time. He was asked by an ignorant Yank if he were British. His Lordship answered:

"Why, if I were any more British you couldn't understand me at all, don'cha know."
ossobuco
 
  1  
Reply Thu 5 Jan, 2012 05:47 pm
@Lustig Andrei,
I'm hard of hearing, as they say, and not as swift as I used to be, and listening to some videos sends me to despair - why don't more videos show the text? I'm not sure those two are connected - I would have likely had trouble understanding fast brit talk years ago too.

I suppose at some point I'll need captioning, but I'm in between. I understand plenty of other videos, but usually not the brit ones.

I think the video sites let/put a lot of us out of the loop.

How hard would text be?
ossobuco
 
  0  
Reply Thu 5 Jan, 2012 05:51 pm
@ossobuco,
Re Alot to Learn - I haven't yet understood a thread question. I don't mean to be mean, understand not getting language.
0 Replies
 
JTT
 
  0  
Reply Thu 5 Jan, 2012 06:53 pm
@Lustig Andrei,
Quote:
He was asked by an ignorant Yank if he were British.


Why did you use 'were', Merry?
Lustig Andrei
 
  3  
Reply Thu 5 Jan, 2012 07:37 pm
@JTT,
JTT wrote:

Quote:
He was asked by an ignorant Yank if he were British.


Why did you use 'were', Merry?


Why not?

Was you opposed to that there usage?
ossobuco
 
  3  
Reply Thu 5 Jan, 2012 08:16 pm
@Lustig Andrei,
JTT is in subjunctive denial.
Lustig Andrei
 
  3  
Reply Thu 5 Jan, 2012 08:24 pm
@ossobuco,
ossobuco wrote:

JTT is in subjunctive denial.


More like pluperfect prescriptivism, Osso.
ossobuco
 
  2  
Reply Thu 5 Jan, 2012 08:31 pm
@Lustig Andrei,
not to me, snorts
0 Replies
 
JTT
 
  0  
Reply Thu 5 Jan, 2012 08:54 pm
@Lustig Andrei,
Quote:
Why not?


You didn't explain why you chose 'were', Merry?
ehBeth
 
  1  
Reply Thu 5 Jan, 2012 08:57 pm
@JTT,
You must have missed the New Year's resolutions thread.
0 Replies
 
Lustig Andrei
 
  1  
Reply Thu 5 Jan, 2012 08:59 pm
@JTT,
JTT wrote:

Quote:
Why not?


You didn't explain why you chose 'were', Merry?


You didn't explain why you'd ask?

Why? Is it somehow grammatically uneccaptable to you?
ossobuco
 
  3  
Reply Thu 5 Jan, 2012 09:00 pm
@Lustig Andrei,
oh, god, not again
0 Replies
 
JTT
 
  -3  
Reply Thu 5 Jan, 2012 09:09 pm
@Lustig Andrei,
Quote:
You didn't explain why you'd ask?


Merry, I asked you a question and you reply with more questions. If you don't want to answer, why not just say so.

More likely, you can't answer, but just say so, either way.
Lustig Andrei
 
  5  
Reply Thu 5 Jan, 2012 11:29 pm
@JTT,
I see you're going to keep this badinage up, no matter what. I used the conditional past tense (or whatever the hell you want to call it) because it's perfectly good, grammatical English and because I damned well felt like using it. Now what's your next question?
oristarA
 
  1  
Reply Fri 6 Jan, 2012 04:41 am
@Setanta,
Setanta wrote:

oristarA wrote:
I believe he refers to King James English.


This is false. The current expression should properly be the Queen's English, because the monarch is currently a woman, Queen Elizabeth II. There is precedent for this, as well. Writing in 1600, Shakespeare refers to "the Queen's English." The monarch in 1600 was a woman, Queen Elizabeth. The language is, in this phrase, spoken of as the possession of the monarch, in the sense of guardianship, or trusteeship. Therefore, it is only the King's English when the monarch is a man. It is generally taken to be English as it is spoken by an educated person in the south of England, and in particular, in the home counties, outside metropolitan London (where no one can be sure whose English is being spoken).


But where are the Kings of England gone? Henries and Edwards et al will howl at your from their graves. Very Happy

You cannot deny King James I of England's place in history of English language. His Majesty's order of revising the translation of the Bible had won him the honor of King's English. The fact doesn't conflict with Queen's English, whose greatness is felt everywhere in this world of science and technology.
 

 
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