UK English Grammar vs. US English Grammar

[InsaneApache]

Yeah, all those words piss me off immensely. Especially "cheque". For God's sake, people, write in English.

It comes from the chequer board. As does the UK finance minister. The Chancellor of the Exchequer.

I don't know.

[Louis VI the Fat]

In England, you ask for the cheque and pay with a bill. In America, you ask for the bill and pay with a check.

[Sasaki Kojiro]

Usually you ask for the check and pay with a credit card

[pevergreen]

Ask for the bill, get disgusted at how much it costs, inform waiter that we shoulda stayed home and thrown another snag or two on the barbie for half the bloody price and it would have tasted better and why does this place support collingwood, thats silly, this is queensland dammit.

Then pay and leave.

[Aemilius Paulus]

Oh that is SO bad!

We ALL know that it is only the words that matters, not the thought behind it!

As an example... I could (in this forum) say that the swedish people in general is rapist killers who should not be allowed to exist*.

That would not be blatant racism. However, damn me if I say the F-word
or the N-word.

Hey, do not laugh at me :P. I have gotten infraction for literally everything you can possibly get in this place. I have gotten infractions for the usage of uncensored profanity do demonstrate its usage, I have gotten infractions when quoting a famous person's profanity, I have used profanity with all but the first letter obscured and got an infraction for that (I said "f" and then ": daisy :").

In other words, regardless of what my opinion is on the rules, I try follow them, and I am not taking any chances.

Plus, it is often difficult to understand what the thoughts behind the words are on the Internet, as all you see is the words; the letters. In RL the tone, pitch, loudness, the facial expression, the other body language signs can make things obvious that are not so on the Net. Once again, do not laugh at me - I do not make the rules

[pevergreen]

Quite correct, yet there are ways.

eg:

I ******* hate you!

against

I hate you!

Which one would you take in jest?

[Shaka_Khan]

Well, I'm currently studying linguistics, and I find the differences fascinating. Another interesting one: after a coronal consonant (one pronounced with the tip of the tongue), American English does not allow the diphthong [iu]. You'll find it after other American consonants (huge, cute, pure, beauty), but not after coronals. British English does allow [iu] after coronals, however, hence the different pronunciations of words like news, tune, lurid, presume, and suit.

Anyway, if you're interested in finding more differences, you can check this out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America...sh_differences

Ajax

Thanks.

[AlexanderSextus]

In America, you ask for the bill and pay with a check.

Where i'm from we always say "check please!" when we're done eating at a restaurant.

[miotas]

Well I thought that I knew most of the differences, but I never knew you guys write check. Also, when I see the american spellings I always think that it's how a young child would write before they learn how to spell properly, especially airplane.

Just look at the little gem known as "y'all". Perfectly addresses a small deficiency in the simplest and most elegant way.

What about youse?

[ajaxfetish]

What about youse?

Equally awesome. Also cool is the distinction between y'all and all y'all, and between yous and yous guys.

Ajax

[miotas]

What about youse?

Equally awesome. Also cool is the distinction between y'all and all y'all, and between yous and yous guys.

Ajax

Yet another spelling difference.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

Well I thought that I knew most of the differences, but I never knew you guys write check. Also, when I see the american spellings I always think that it's how a young child would write before they learn how to spell properly, especially airplane.

The word aeroplane is an abomination. Airplane is much more concise, to the point, and doesn't remind me of low quality chocolate.

[miotas]

The word aeroplane is an abomination. Airplane is much more concise, to the point, and doesn't remind me of low quality chocolate.

Well aeroplane reminds me of jelly(I mean jelly, not jam), but airplane seriously makes me think of a 2 year old who can't get their mouth around aeroplane.

[AlexanderSextus]

America has so many accents it's not even funny.

Like how people from Massachusetts say "cahh pahk" instead of "car park".

and "hahhba" instead of "harbor".

[A Very Super Market]

Britain has more, you know, because it's older.

Same with any European country. I hear Swabians are entirely incomprehensible to Northerners.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

Same with any European country. I hear Swabians are entirely incomprehensible to Northerners.

Forget German, you've never heard anyone from the depths of Oberbayern speaking English.

[ajaxfetish]

Yet another spelling difference.

Honestly, not being from New York, I have no idea how a proper Brooklyner would spell it. My thinking was that adding only -s would emphasize the relationship to the plural -s suffix, but I didn't want to alter your quote*.

Ajax





*(there's another difference btw: the use of either quote or quotation as a noun in American English, while if I'm correctly informed only quotation is allowed as a noun in British English)

[Banquo's Ghost]

This discussion is not an opportunity for disruptive members to test the boundaries of the rules.

Some have fallen foul. Others will follow in short order.

[Husar]

The British spell it as 'centre, metre, etc' to honour their cultural overlords from whom they aquired these concepts.

I know that, the concepts are nice and I like them, however I'm of the opinion that these cultural overlords have a big gap between what they say and what they write and should thus not be taken very seriously concerning what they write, talk about superfluous letters at the end of every second word, not to mention that when you say "er" it would make sense to write "er" instead of "re". In the case of the cultural overlords I wouldn't be surprised if they write "centre" and say "cent" because they always leave half the word out when they say it.
Well, one can't excel in everything, the measurement system itself is quite ingenious IMO.

[Subotan]

Forget German, you've never heard anyone from the depths of Oberbayern speaking English.

Just for reference:
English: Hello, I'm Peter and I come from Munich.
Hochdeutsch (Normal German): Hallo, ich bin Peter und ich komme aus München.
Bavarian: Habèderè, i bî da Pèda und kumm vo Minga.

[miotas]

[...]talk about superfluous letters at the end of every second word, not to mention that when you say "er" it would make sense to write "er" instead of "re".[...]

"re" is pronounced differently to "er", that's why some words are written with the longer "er" ending and some with the short "re", they could probably be written like metr and centr, but that just looks silly

[pevergreen]

I was playing a game with some americans the other day, and they were questioning me about speaking australian.

My favourite question was:

"Do you really stand in queue's down there? Not in long lines?"

[Husar]

"re" is pronounced differently to "er", that's why some words are written with the longer "er" ending and some with the short "re", they could probably be written like metr and centr, but that just looks silly

And wasting precious time, paper, colour, bandwidth, space and fresh air to always add a superfluous e to the end of a word is not silly?

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Just for reference:
English: Hello, I'm Peter and I come from Munich.
Hochdeutsch (Normal German): Hallo, ich bin Peter und ich komme aus München.
Bavarian: Habèderè, i bî da Pèda und kumm vo Minga.

"I am Peter and I come from Munich"

Which just demonstrates how close English and High German are.

And wasting precious time, paper, colour, bandwidth, space and fresh air to always add a superfluous e to the end of a word is not silly?

No, because the "e" stretches the "r" sound, otherwise you would need "cent'r", which is worse. "center" would be pronounced like "better", that reflects American pronunciation, but not English.

Also, language tends towards contraction, not expansion.

[Viking]

Also, language tends towards contraction, not expansion.

Not strictly. Take a look at this etymology:

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rau%C3%B0ur

I don't know of any better examples (or perhaps, more relevant for this topic), but typically Old Norse -r became -er (Scandinavian) or -ur (Icelandic/Faroese).

[Strike For The South]

Where i'm from we always say "check please!" when we're done eating at a restaurant.

That's because it's nothing but Ital's. Going into a restaurant in Jersey is like walking into a buzzsaw. Loud, confusing, and lots of guys who shop at the big n tall.

The correct thing to do is this:

Sir, May I have the check?

Yes sir, I'll bring that right out to you

Thank you

You're welcome.

No yelling and no demanding. You yankees are always in a hurry.

[Vladimir]

That's because it's nothing but Ital's. Going into a restaurant in Jersey is like walking into a buzzsaw. Loud, confusing, and lots of guys who shop at the big n tall.

The correct thing to do is this:

Sir, May I have the check?

Yes sir, I'll bring that right out to you

Thank you

You're welcome.

No yelling and no demanding. You yankees are always in a hurry.

That's why you people still ride horses. Get off the road!

[Louis VI the Fat]

The correct thing to do is this:

Sir, May I have the check?

Yes sir, I'll bring that right out to you

Thank you

You're welcome.

No yelling and no demanding. You yankees are always in a hurry.

An entire conversation, in English, without any occurrence of that most essential of British words: 'please'.





See, this is what I meant in the 'you uncivili(z/s)ed brute' thread. It is not so much the words or the spelling, but the use of language that is the most telling difference between American or British English.

Strike's conversation just screams 'America'. Here's the same conversation in Britain:
'Excuse me, could we have the cheque please?'
'Sod off, mate'
'Oh pardon me. Ever so sorry to disturb you'
'Can't you see I'm busy, you *anagram of Newark*?'

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

An entire conversation, in English, without any occurrence of that most essential of British words: 'please'.





See, this is what I meant in the 'you uncivili(z/s)ed brute' thread. It is not so much the words or the spelling, but the use of language that is the most telling difference between American or British English.

Strike's conversation just screams 'America'. Here's the same conversation in Britain:
'Excuse me, could we have the cheque please?'
'Sod off, mate'
'Oh pardon me. Ever so sorry to disturb you'
'Can't you see I'm busy, you *anagram of Newark*?'

Actually, I'd be more inclined to say:

"Excuse me, could I see the bill please?

Your example provokes the "sod off" response for obvious reasons.

[Louis VI the Fat]

Actually, I'd be more inclined to say:

"Excuse me, could I see the bill please?

You're example provokes the "sod off" response for obvious reasons.

That explains it all!