ameriacans and english

There has to be a standard version (call it BBC English, RP, Queen's English, whatever) so we can write comprehensible letters to each other.

Speaking is different, but if I was, for example, in court, at a job interview or making a public speech, I would adjust my grammar and accent accordingly, as it gives the impression (rightly or wrongly) of intelligence & education. Which can only be a good thing.

Conversely, if I'm accosted by beggars or random kids hassling people for money, I'll lay on the accent as thick as possible, as it gives the impression (rightly or wrongly) of being 'street-wise' and 'tough'. Well-spoken people are more likely to be mugged, as they are seen as 'soft'.

The only celebrities I can think of who have a similar accent to mine are Vic Reeves & Bob Mortimer and Brian Robson. Which is not much use to anyone from outside the UK.

I don't talk funny, it's the rest of y'all who've got a mouthful of mush, or sommat . . .

I might add Quebec French to that list...the Parisians can't stand the accent.

Ah, so what, nobody else can stand the Parisians . . .

I say screw Paris. They don't even have the best restaurants anymore. Give me Belgium any day over France.

Ah yes, and in Bel-gee-uhm, you can get frites with mayonnaise from street vendors . . . a high degree of civilization, n'est-ce pas?

Délicieux, Set, especially, when "rouge-blanc":

Veddy nice pic, Walter. My old chef-mentor was famous for his fries, which were served with house-made mayo. Lately, he has been topping them with a little fried calamari as well. Those fries were one of the first things I learned to cook during my apprenticeship. They used to call me "fry guy".

Actually, I'm one of the few, who doesn't like the (thicker) Belgian fritten but prefers the (thinner) French pommes fritures :wink:

We made them thin at the restaurant Walter, and double-fried for extra crispiness, the classic model.

'Bookmarked', cav!

They remind me of good quality British chips.

Cav - by double-fried do you mean blanched at a lower oil temp, rested, then finished-off at a higher temp? This was the method the kitchens I've worked in have used. There used to be big plastic bins (trash-cans) full of blanched chips sitting near the friers. 3 sacks of spuds in 4 hours on a busy night.

Or have I got it wrong?

Grand Duke, you have it right. Blanched first at a lower temperature, and then fried at a higher temperature for serving. I remember those bins of blanched chips....now, did you know that peeled potatoes made crispier fries than unpeeled? I have done them both ways, at different restaurants.

I think the other reason for 2-stage frying was for the speed of service as well. It also seems to work well for roast pots as well (par-boil first to soften, then roll in oil then stick 'em in with the joint).

Well, what you say is hoch-deutsch (high german), and that is the german which has originated from hamburg. (well because of Radio and TV, it is now all around in germany) I used the word "Dialect", and maybe it was not a proper word to use, but you got what I wanted to say.

and I live in hamburg. (well since a couple of years )

You could check that out going to a library or by asking an authority of these matters.


(and besides, every language has dialects, and the most proper one of the dialects is used as a "high-language" (in this case, high german) )

Hhm.

Well, the Hamburg dialect is called 'missingsch'.

'High German' was first used - if one can say so - by Luther, in his Bible translation.
Thus, it developed actually from a Thuringian dialect.

In the 15th/16th century, High German was spoken in German's southern regions, Low Gwerman in the northern part.

It's another subject that people say, the north Germans would speak the best German - meáning Hannover, however.


But I admit that my linguistic courses at university are ages back, so indeed, authorities could have found out something different by now.
(Although the newest book I've got on this subject - Gerhard Wolff, Deutsche Sprachgeschichte, UTB, Stuttgart, 1999 - doesn't say different. And this is a book, still said to be essential when studying German [linguistics/ litterature sciences] at universities in the German speaking countries.)

-Prayer- wrote


This is said by whom - besides you?

Perhaps you have a look at this language tree HERE :wink:

Belgian frites are actually very good (much better than french fries), and people should respect that. Leve de Vlaamse frietjes!

Limburgse vlaai and Luikse wafels!

Very good as well, especially the Limburgse vlaai. Yummy

hi, prayer ! belated welcome to able2know. just got into the thread and noticed with interest that you have been living in hamburg for the last two years. as you may have gathered from my "callname" , hamburg was my hometown. have lived in canada since 1956, but visit germany and hamburg every few years; actually made two trips to germany last year. i grew up in and worked in the harbour before coming to canada, where we settled at the eastern end of lake ontario (didn't want to be too far away from the water !). i'd say that the german language and its many dialects - particularly the low-german or platt-deutsch - can be quite challenging. i'm not sure that i'd agree that there is a distinct hamburg dialect any more. the "missingsch" that walter referred to has become pretty well extinct i believe. i think it disappeared in the years after the war when large parts of the german population were uprooted and moved to different states, cities and villages in the remaining part of germany (and particularly west-germany). i don't think i heard anyone using "missingsch" during my last visits to hamburg. the particular kind of low-german specific to hamburg also does not seem to be widely spoken anymore, i believe. i have a fair number of german books in a variety of different styles of low-german in my library and still like to read them, and i have also been able to pick up few more at HENNING'S bookstore when visiting hamburg. i hope you'll stay on this thread for a while and we might discuss the various branches of the low-german language (i'm not a linguist - i was an accountant by profession). would be interested to hear where you live and work in hamburg and how you like living in hamburg. in the meantime " HUMMEL HUMMEL !" . hbg