Quote:
Originally Posted by Feanor
I often wonder about why words are said differently in different places but generally the reasons have been lost in the mists of time, or are understood only by academic linguists. There are many odd things about the different UK dialects, often the difference are far greater than the difference between US English and BBC English.
I'm learning Italian at the moment and since I already speak fairly fluent German and some French I'm seeing odd patterns between the languages. I'd love to know more about the roots of various words and the history of their development - in fact I think it'd help me learn and understand the vocabulary - but it's not really feasible.
So, sorry I can't give you an answer, but I wish there was an easy way of answering these sorts of questions  . |
I'm probably telling you something you know already, but a lot of Anglo languages have common roots in Latin.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tony20009
LOL
As it was your first trip to NYC, I would guess you went to Times Square, in which case you no doubt did get odd looks when asking about "****" as, back then, there were likely three for hire standing right next to you. Folks probably thought you were blind, not strange. LOL!!!
Edit:
Bimmerpost placed the four asterisks there; I did not. Whatever filters Bimmerpost have, they lack contextual sensitivity.
To Gay Folks:
Apologies to any gay folks who may have been offended by the tacit use of a certain word that I can't type here.
To Bimmerpost Monitors:
Please do not suspend my account for using that word. I assure you I didn't mean any offense. Should you require further proof of that, you need only look at the content of many of my posts to see that had I wanted to be insensitive/insulting to an entire social identity group, my deft with English is sufficient that I wouldn't have descended to puerile epithets to do so, to say nothing of having no history of doing such a thing in the first place.
|
I sighed when I read this, and felt sorry for the fact you thought you needed to type this to clear the matter up.
People need to have a steaming hot mug of concrete and harden up
On a slight tangent, about 20 years ago you could buy candy in shape of a cigarette- it was a thin, white tube with one end a bright red colour and they were called "f@g$". The quietly disappeared off the shelves never to reappear for some reason...
Quote:
Originally Posted by clarence
I think the French had their fingertips cut off when they were caught, so they can no longer use the bow against the English.
|
Correct