Subtle differences between the US and the UK that baffle me/you/us. - by SubJeff
Sulphur on 3/12/2012 at 20:36
The noun's a different matter from the participle, though. The root is 'orient', so I'd have thought 'oriented' sounds much less clumsy.
Vivian on 3/12/2012 at 23:50
You seem to pronounce 'twat' as 'twot'. What the hell is wrong with you?
SubJeff on 4/12/2012 at 10:03
A broken image link?
Yes, I guess it might as well be.
faetal on 4/12/2012 at 10:44
Quote Posted by Subjective Effect
A broken image link?
Yes, I guess it might as well be.
Fixed. Not sure how it was my fault that the site removed the image after I posted it though. It was displaying after I posted it.
Chimpy Chompy on 4/12/2012 at 11:51
Something that caught me out me out the other day was reference to booting a car. Which to me sounds like some guys went and physically kicked the thing down the road? Turns out it's what we'd call clamping.
june gloom on 4/12/2012 at 19:39
Doesn't help that what we call the "trunk" you guys call the "boot," eh?
Though in some parts of the U.S., particularly during certain time-periods, it was just called "stiff storage." Depression-era Chicago, it's a hell of a town!
faetal on 4/12/2012 at 20:35
Regional dialect variation is a big player in the confusion. I always assume that any US reference to "UK English" refers to BBC English - what is the US equivalent?
june gloom on 4/12/2012 at 20:55
Off the top of my head I'd say it's the Midwestern non-accent. Though calling it a non-accent is bollocks because obviously Midwesterners (in this case, people around the north end of Illinois and other nearby states close to the Canadian border*) do have an accent. It's just neutral-sounding and is the ultimate goal for most actors headed to Hollywood and the majority of network TV newscasters.
*The Midwest, as a region, extends further than that, and includes Ohio; however, there's a lot of overlap in these regions. I myself am from Michigan, which has its own distinct Canadian-influenced accent, but have spent far too many years of my life in a region with a heavy blend of Midland and Dixie and my accent has, with the unfortunate combination of my hearing loss making everything wonky, become much more regional.
nickie on 4/12/2012 at 21:11
So would they be the equivalent of UK people who speak with RP, BBC as it used to be, or Queen's English, all more or less the same thing, who don't think they have an accent. Is that what you mean by the non-accent?
I had read somewhere or other that everyone in the US thought UK people spoke in a posh accent until Upstairs Downstairs was exported to the US. True or False?
