Fine-Tuning 15, British English/American English

hi broadslad - I lived in Norfold and Suffolk for a few years when i was at school - not near the broads though, i now paint on the north Norfolk coast quite often

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Hi Vivien, Walter and McT: thanks for your nice welcome to A2K. Looks like it's going to be fun in here especially as contributors come from all over the world. The North Norfolk coast is a cool place to do some painting, Vivien....all that sky with changing cloud patterns and the coastline there cannot really make up its mind between land and water...fantastic birdlife which I enjoy watching which makes me happy to live in Norfolk. Hope you enjoyed your time in Essex, Walter....some very pretty villages, and in Suffolk, too. Next time come up to Norfolk..I will happily show you round my county which I love. So you "emigrated" to England, McT? Thanks for saying there's room for one more. I don't take up much space really!

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Broadslad wrote:

Hope you enjoyed your time in Essex, Walter....some very pretty villages, and in Suffolk, too. Next time come up to Norfolk..I will happily show you round my county which I love. So you "emigrated" to England, McT? Thanks for saying there's room for one more. I don't take up much space really!

I really enjoyed my to time - these times and before.

Thanks for the offer - but, since a friend originally from Hethersett, she's already waiting in the wings for that. (Besides, Dereham is twinned with a neighbour town from here.) :wink:

As far as I know, McTag really is a refugee and not an emigrant. I just learnt again that people still complain, he didn't learn English within the last decades. Laughing

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Quote:

The North Norfolk coast is a cool place to

Yes its cool all right, like February with a NE gale is quite warm. Very Happy

Walter's friend from Hethersett is Mrs Steve41oo btw (and welcome to a2k Broadslad)

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Thanks to you as well for the welcome, Steve. Yeah, those frigid winter nor'easters off the North Sea make us a tough breed in Norfolk.

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Steve (as 41oo) wrote:

Walter's friend from Hethersett is Mrs Steve41oo btw (and welcome to a2k Broadslad)

... and actually, Mrs. Walter has been addressed, if I remember correctly :wink:

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Hi all,

I have only just joined this morning and I haven't moved past the language forum!
Quick intro; I speak seff effrican eeenglishh and I enjoy reading up on the regional differences of English from around the world.
But I digress, what prompted me to post was...
Whisky vs. whiskey
I was told that Whiskey is Irish while Whisky is Scotch.
The Americans use the Irish spelling for theirs (I think?)

The Portuguese have tried insisting on 'Uisqui' seeing as they don't have the letters W; K; & Y in their alphabet but general usage is both spellings of whiskey/whisky. They tend to speak English with a mid-Atlantic accent. Whoops! I digress again.

BTW, I now live in Berkshire, UK. (has anyone figured out WHY the English insist on Berkshire being 'BARKsher' and not B-erk-sh-ire? Bloody annoying during the 1st weeks after I arrived here with the Brits laughing at my pronunciation... Rolling Eyes

)

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ArohemQ wrote:

BTW, I now live in Berkshire, UK. (has anyone figured out WHY the English insist on Berkshire being 'BARKsher' and not B-erk-sh-ire? Bloody annoying during the 1st weeks after I arrived here with the Brits laughing at my pronunciation... )

There are a couple more similar to that.

Might be, Berkshire is today still pronounced like in the times of the Saxon kings.

(Just for the record: Berkshire nowadays is only a geographic and ceremonial county, divided into six unitary authorities: Bracknell Forest, Reading, Slough, West Berkshire, Windsor and Maidenhead, and Wokingham.)

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Berkshire

Yes, as Walter says it has been pronounced "Bark=sheer" since Saxon times. Down in Gloucestershire (for those not sure...pronounced "Gloster-sheer) there is Berkeley Castle (Barkley). Unlike the university in California where it is spelt the same but say it as "Burkley". It was at Berkeley Castle in 1327 where poor Edward II had a nasty encounter with a red hot poker

Sorry to hear that we Brits laughed at your pronunciation slip, Arohem! Aren't we a rude lot? Hee hee! :wink: No offence intended I assure you.

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I don't know much about whisky/whiskey, but a voddie is something different!

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And further north, outsite England, we find Edinburrah (Edinburgh), Brottie Ferrie (Broughty Frry), Carnoostie (Carnoustie), Kinnuchar (Kilconquhar) ... (And you should hear me saying 'Auchtermuchty'! :wink: )

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You're right on the whisky/whiskey, AyohemQ. It's been discussed on other threads. In the USA, we spelled it with the extra, useless 'e' while Canadians prefer the sensible 'whisky' spelling.

Don't worry about being snickered at for your pronunciation of Berkshire. Here in Boston, Massachusetts, we snicker at the visiting Brits for saying Barclay Street when it plainly says Berkeley Street on the street signs. (To confuse matters further, there's a Berklee College of Music in Boston. Some people have trouble spelling.)

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They laughed at me in California when I said Berkeley pronounced Barclay when they say Brrrclay or something similar. Smile

I can't believe I've met a German who knows that Kilconquhar is pronounced Kin-yucher by the locals. Shocked

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Walter......still back hame in Scotland (sigh......cannae wait to get back frae this heathen land o' England! :wink: ... only joking!) how about: Moniave (mow..nee..eye); Culzean Castle (cull-ayne); Milngavie (miln..guy..ee). As for Auchtermuchty..don't forget to emphasise the "r" and have a good gargle before and afterwards. Actually, it's a nice wee place... across the Firth in the Kingdom of Fife.

If you need a really good challenge.....go to Wales....guaranteed to tie your tongue in knots there. I think they have their own way of spelling whisky/whiskey there but I don't know what it is.

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Broadslad wrote:

As for Auchtermuchty..don't forget to emphasise the "r" and have a good gargle before and afterwards. Actually, it's a nice wee place... across the Firth in the Kingdom of Fife.

Quote:

My "teacher" was an actress/dancer from Auchtermuchty, who was the director of some amateur groups ([young] auntie of a friend).

I'm Westphalian - known for their "r's" and my hometown is call Cccccheseke [Geseke] :wink: .

You met one, McTag :wink: - I've been around Fife a couple of times

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My cousin lives in Auchtermuchty. It's a couthy airt, ye ken.

(another Scottish word which is the same as Plattdeutsch, kennen)

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MerryAndrew: Thanks! The whiskey/whisky debate was posed to me many years ago while I was in Portugal as they use both English language forms as well as their own and end up confusing themselves, hence my labelling the Portuguese speaking English as speaking with a mid-Atlantic accent. I was always roped in to settle disputes regarding American/British spellings or expressions and would frustrate them by agreeing both were correct Wink

I know someone from Reading, Berks County in Pennsylvania but I am curious about its pronunciation. Would you know if it is the same as its original namesake, Reading (red-ding), Berkshire?
This is a tall order I guess....Berks County, PA is only 300 000 odd people...erm. nevermind ;-)

Broadslad: Cheers for the explanation! But like Bill Bryson I take the quirky & quaint British pronunciations as part of its culture ;-) Like Loughborough, Leicester, Cirencester, Gloucestershire...sheeeesh!
I also don't seem to have a very strong South African accent and so don't attract much teasing from the Brits in general ;-)

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BTW Merry Andrew, the last American friend who visited me in London a couple of months ago was from Boston. Love your accent!
I, as yet , have only visited Boston in England.ahem.
I have standing invitations to two friends' homes in and around Boston but my next trip to the USA in July will be to Michigan. Bugger.
Well, at least I have a black Boston coffee mug which my friend brought over for me ;-)

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ArohemQ, by a strange coincidence I happen to know that, yes, Reading, PA is ponounced red-ing. Been there. Big fan of Oscar Wilde's poem "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" which is a very strange way to spell 'jail' in my opinion. In July I won't be in Boston nohow. Until the 14th I'll be somewhere in the American Southwest -- W. Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, On Bastille Day I'm flying from Los Angeles to Honolulu and spending a good part of the rest of the Summer in the Sandwich Islands. Michigan can be nice in July. Except Detroit. Stay away from Detroit.

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I'm afraid I can't resist the inevitable conclusion, so here goes: Briticisms have passed their sell-by date, and the odor (or should I say odour) is getting a bit rank.

I think I may start a little thread on this article.
I thought denizens of this thread would find it interesting.

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Fine-Tuning 15, British English/American English

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