Clary wrote:Scots and Geordie pose a problem, and probably Scouse and Welsh and Irish too if you come to think about it.
I think that top of the list must have to be the Devonians...
It amuses me when American pundits decide that British spellings and idioms are wrong.
The poor, deluded fools.
BaileyStapleton wrote:Hey, Joe, I really hope you do realize that that show is not serious (for if you did, that would be, ahh, strange).
Does this mean there's no Ministry of Silly Walks? Oh well, I guess I'll just have to seek funding elsewhere.
I find it interesting that Americans have trouble with British language, but there are rarely complaints from Britons about difficulty understanding Americans. I suppose it's because we have more exposure to them than they do to us. Which is not how it should be. Less Americanisms! Long Live King George!
I have vague memories of this being on the telly (yet another Briticism!) and thinking it was quite good. Perhaps we can do 'gritty realism' better?
Hmmh - I'm pro-Hannover as well :wink:
(Btw: does anyone know, why the second "n" in 'Hannover' was erasured on it's way across the Channel?)
Walter Hinteler wrote:Hmmh - I'm pro-Hannover as well :wink:
(Btw: does anyone know, why the second "n" in 'Hannover' was erasured on it's way across the Channel?)
Yes. It was done by the same guy who changed Braunschweig to Brunswick. And Livorno to Leghorn. :wink:
And Vlissingen to Flushing.
I see, it's the obviously the same guy who travelled through Westphalia, over Hamelin to Heligoland and found out that to go for Spires, he had had better passed Hesse instead:wink:
Braunschweig is rendered as Brunswick in English*; the Italian city of Livorno is know to the English as Leghorn. In case your life's experience hadn't brought this to your notice, our English cousins live in their own little world.
(*Which does help one, though, in distinguising the American Braunschweiger from Brunswick sausage.)
Even Americans call Roma Rome, Venice for Venezia, Florence for Firenze, Athenai Athens and Bangkok for Krung Thep (but see true name
http://www.into-asia.com/gifs/bangkok/introduction/bangkokfullname.gif)
Picture from Clary's the link above
Indeed . . . all of which is a far cry from turning Livorno into
Leghorn . . . i mean, really . . . most speakers of different languages at least attetmpt to approximate the name according to their lights . . . and we've likely picked up our bad habits from too close an association with those across the pond . . . i am reminded of Churchill who stated that to him, that city in Turkey would always be Angora . . .
Celon was Sri Lanka and now it is again. Peking is now back to Beijing. Mumbai....
I know these anglicised spellings are approximations to the originals; much may be lost in the transposition.
But I bet not many Americans know that the name of their Flushing Meadows has the origin given above. Very interesting, I find this topic.
McT
Well now, New Amsterdam was conquered by James Stuart, Duke of York, in the mid-17th Century. That would suggest to me that Englishmen were responsible for the place name Flushing Meadows.
But then, what do i know, i'm just a lowly speaker of the American langauge . . .
Thay reminds me too, that to the British "Tommies" of WWI the town of Ypres was apparently known as "Wipers".
The British have a rare gift with foreign languages, in their ability to mangle them I mean.
