At 04:57 PM 11/17/99 +0000, Steve Rouse wrote:
>
>>Bill East wrote:
>>
>>>Can it be that Crockers is even more pedantic than me?
>>
>This reminds me of how much trouble I caused on Medieva-l some weeks ago
>when I offhandedly remarked that Americans do not speak English but
>American. May I seize the opportunity to ask Crockers for a definition of
>'ditsie' in his discourse of a few days ago.
>
>
I suggest United States (or USA) English or maybe Yankee English rather
than American (or American English), and for what you speak, English
English. We also might have Canadian English, Australian (or Aussie)
English, New Zealand (or Kiwi) English, Indian English (the ones from
India, not the Red Indians, known to many USAns as Indians tout court
although the politically more correct nowadays say Native Americans, I
guess in honor (or honour) of Amerigo Vespucci, who I seem to have heard
never managed to invade America but wrote some letters in some variety of
Italian purporting that he did, and dew a map of sorts referring to some
part of Americas) Hong Kong English, and so on for all the remnants of the
British Empire.
Just to say that someone speaks American leaves one in doubt as to whether
that is some variety of English or of Spanish or of Portuguese or Mayan or
various other languages, inasmuch as there are a number of Americas, such
as South, North, Central, and even Little (having to do with Richard Byrd
and the South Pole). Even within the USA, to say that some one speaks
American nowadays leaves open the possibility that this means some variety
of Spanish, although I admit that many USAns might think you mean a variety
of English, although they themselves would almost always say that someone
speaking USA English was speaking English, tout court.
These names can be added to to take account of regional dialects, as for
example Minnesota American English, Southern American English, Yorkshire
English English, Midlands English English, etc. One might debate whether
or not we should have Scottish English or Scottish English English, and
similarly for Wales and the Irelands, Northern and Republican (not to be
confused with Northern and Republican as used in the USA).
Or, we could just stick to plain English, as in such pleas as "please
explain what's going on here in plain English."
Gordon Fisher [log in to unmask]
>Crockers wrote
>>O Contraire, ma frere, it strikes this reader as a sentence which makes
>>perfect gramatical--and, therefore, rational--sense.
>
>
> Perhaps Oriens should have been addressed as 'ma pere' if this is the new
>gendered version of Frenglish.
>
>Steve Rouse
>(Aspirant pedant)
>
>
>
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>Steve Rouse
>Phone 00 44 (0)1372 372650
>Fax 00 44 (0)1372 818698
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