There's a difference between correcting pronunciation when somebody is speaking a foreign language (like your RAF guy mispronouncing Russian) and correcting somebody who speaks the same language as you, but comes from a different region. They're not learning a new language, they're speaking their own. I think it's really rude to 'correct' them.
No, no, no, no. Sorry. I simply will not be accountable for enabling the co-dependent love/hate relationship you Brits have with the French. Napkin is a perfectly valid word based in a right-good Anglo-Saxon word-root. Serviette.... No.
English people say 'skedjol' just as much as Americans do, I reckon. It is only a classic class indicator, s'pose - one says shedyule at one's school. ...the scene is good for fun, and play, not much else, good for your ampfralogical studies. Still reeling from 'ethnocentric.' I am not Germaine Greer, you bitches.. [a news joke] ... You want good grammar on 'your' page because you want to be taken seriously. It is disappointing if a so-called sub-editor is not rigorous with his standards.
No, you are not, Mattie. But, as a Yank, the internet seems littered with "Bizarre ways American say things" articles, and it gets a little tedious.
Also, on a completely unrelated note, and directed at no one in particular, for every disparaging article I read concerning American chocolate, the only answer that's needed is: As long as you guys have the audacity to put this on the shelves and call it food, I don't want to hear shit about American chocolate. </derail>
How can they call that 100% vegetarian? Billions of yeast died for that jar! oh.. and Go Team Hershey!!
No, no, no serviette's for the plebs. It's napkin when you're on the loo with the queen. ETA: Got sidetracked before posting this. And now it seems all out of sync. What's this thread about?
I lived in Quebec for a while and they have a very strict regulating body for the Canadian version of French (which you'd better not refer to as 'Canadian,' but rather, 'Quebecois'). It's so pervasive that if you're having a conversation with a sales clerk in a store, they refuse to understand you unless your Quebecois is spot on. Needless to say, I gave up on learning French and moved back to English-speaking Canada. Napoleonic Law be damned!
And something I've noticed is that no matter how often I proof a post before hitting that "Reply to Thread" button, I always see another typo or too two afterwards.
And when one looks at the origin of any 'sch' word (German) it becomes obvious that it's sked-jool. Oh. And I have one more comment: aluminum.
I read something interesting on this recently (or heard it on QI, one of the two). A study showed that up until the Victorian era, accepted British pronunciation was almost identical to what we think of now as an American or Canadian accent which means that until then, we all had more or less the same accent. It was the British upper class who decided to change things and it had a trickle-down effect (kind of like what they said about the economy back in the 1980's, except that with language, it actually worked). Then actors got involved and that brought the whole mid-Atlantic accent into play which survived in movies and on stage until well into the 1950's. They didn't, however, say anything about 'schedule.'
It's even worse for Canadians. No one cares how we pronounce anything... or even which beaches we stormed.
OMG. Yes. And tomato. Do we say po tah toe? No. Then why to mah toe? Hmm? Hmmmmm???? They're both New World vegetables. So shut up.
