Quite so.
Time to own up. As you blasted colonials saw fit to mangle our language beyond recognition, we decided in the 1980s that we would, henceforth, make it up as we went along in an effort to confound your evil linguistic meddling.
Another precaution we took was to ensure that no English person born after 1965 would know the correct usage of who/whom, thus leading English(ish)-speaking foreigners to falsely suppose that they know the language better than we do. False sense of security and all that.
Useful information for foreigners visiting Britain
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GaryKelly
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I dunno. Maybe because it's a Virtual Monday and I had a heavy long weekend my sense of humour is at a low ebb...but I didn't find the original post amusing at all. Rather crude, to be honest. :roll:
"It might be a bit better to tune to one of my fiddle's open strings, like A, rather than asking me for an F#." - Martin Milner-
Martin Milner
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but a smilie jumping up and down outside a toilet door clutching its crotch ISN'T lavatory humour?? :roll:GaryKelly wrote:I dunno. Maybe because it's a Virtual Monday and I had a heavy long weekend my sense of humour is at a low ebb...but I didn't find the original post amusing at all. Rather crude, to be honest. :roll:
Last edited by Martin Milner on Tue Jun 01, 2004 7:43 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Martin Milner
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Tres
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Lucky for me I was born in 1964!buddhu wrote:Another precaution we took was to ensure that no English person born after 1965 would know the correct usage of who/whom, thus leading English(ish)-speaking foreigners to falsely suppose that they know the language better than we do. False sense of security and all that.
Tres
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Tres
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Ah- I see. For a while I thought that the "Alyoominium" crown needed to have their "cranums" examined!Martin Milner wrote:so it rhymes with Sodum, Potassum, Cadmum, Uranum etc.Tres wrote:All this information is helpful, but I still can't figure out why the Brits pronounce Aluminum "Alyoominium"?
Tres
Tres
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GaryKelly
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Well, there's clearly a difference between my idea of harmless humour and yours.Martin Milner wrote:but a smilie jumping up and down outside a toilet door clutching its crotch ISN'T lavatory humour?? :roll:GaryKelly wrote:I dunno. Maybe because it's a Virtual Monday and I had a heavy long weekend my sense of humour is at a low ebb...but I didn't find the original post amusing at all. Rather crude, to be honest. :roll:
BSE isn't funny in Wiltshire, though clearly it rates a giggle in London. So while you're busy chortling away at the notion of tourists asking for a Sinn Fein stamp in their passports or telling police officers they wish to commit acts of Gross Indecency in public lavatories, I'll stick with my harmless little smiley, ta very bloody much.
"It might be a bit better to tune to one of my fiddle's open strings, like A, rather than asking me for an F#." - Martin Milner-
buddhu
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Woh... Calm down, Gary. The original post was a little crude, although I think it opened up the way for a bit of good-natured teasing about the way our understandings of the "same language" vary.GaryKelly wrote:...
Well, there's clearly a difference between my idea of harmless humour and yours.
BSE isn't funny in Wiltshire, though clearly it rates a giggle in London...
BSE isn't funny anywhere. I haven't always been a vegetarian, and to be blunt BSE scares the holy sh*t out of me. That doesn't mean it's off-limits for jokers though. Humour can be a defence against fear - or at east an attempt at defence.
IMHO you might have been just a tad harsh there, mate.
And whether the blood be highland, lowland or no.
And whether the skin be black or white as the snow.
Of kith and of kin we are one, be it right, be it wrong.
As long as our hearts beat true to the lilt of a song.
And whether the skin be black or white as the snow.
Of kith and of kin we are one, be it right, be it wrong.
As long as our hearts beat true to the lilt of a song.
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buddhu
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I know the feeling. Had a brilliant bank holiday weekend, but this morning I felt my good mood fraying with every mile closer to the office...GaryKelly wrote:Ignore me... I'm having a generally bad day all 'round and will evict meself from the public gaze until normal service resumes...
Doh.
And whether the blood be highland, lowland or no.
And whether the skin be black or white as the snow.
Of kith and of kin we are one, be it right, be it wrong.
As long as our hearts beat true to the lilt of a song.
And whether the skin be black or white as the snow.
Of kith and of kin we are one, be it right, be it wrong.
As long as our hearts beat true to the lilt of a song.
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buddhu
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Oy, behave yerself!susnfx wrote:Okay, buddhu what's a "twitcher?" I just read it on a wonderful site I found and a mahvelous writer is describing a friend as a "bit of a twitcher." ()
Susan
(Susan seems to have followed the link in my signature to my kingswalden.com site
)"Twitcher" is a genuine British term (although probably used elsewhere also, for all I know). It means a birdwatcher - particularly one who travels in the hope of seeing uncommon seasonal/migratory/transient species.
I snapped a pic of a bird in the village where I live, but unfortunately I am an absolute ornithological ignoramus, and could not identify it. My friend, fortunately for me, is an obsessive bird enthusiast, and sussed it at a glance.
The stereotypical American tourist would love my neighbourhood. It is a (very) small English country village pretty much owned by a "Sir" (who is technically my next door neighbour
as well as my landlord). The late Queen Mother's family home was in one of the villages next to ours. Our village church has a stained glass window by William Morris. There is no street lighting, no broadband, no cable or digital TV and no mains gas supply. Time travel occurs as one enters the village.
The local dialect is not so much slang, more a kind of Olde English...
And whether the blood be highland, lowland or no.
And whether the skin be black or white as the snow.
Of kith and of kin we are one, be it right, be it wrong.
As long as our hearts beat true to the lilt of a song.
And whether the skin be black or white as the snow.
Of kith and of kin we are one, be it right, be it wrong.
As long as our hearts beat true to the lilt of a song.
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susnfx
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I'm not a stereotypical American tourist for the main reason that the typical American tourist actually has the money to tour somewhere. Nevertheless, I'd certainly put King'sWalden on my list of "must see" areas. It sounds charming - except for the absence of street lighting which just sounds dangerous. The website is great. I actually looked at your websites because I was intrigued by the acrylic plates - didn't know what they could be. Private companies can print and distribute license plates in the UK? Only the government does it here.