American or English

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Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
is what americans speak american, or english? you tell me, personally, i hava absolutely no idea, but, then again...um, i dunno, anyways, tell me. i'm gonna say probably american is what it should be called.



oh, and if we decide americans speak american, should we create a new language?
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  • Reply 1 of 38
    I blame Webster.
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  • Reply 2 of 38
    wrong robotwrong robot Posts: 3,907member
    I say Americans speak American English, our languages are not drastically different, but they are also not that similar all said and done.



    It's kind of like Classical Music Theory and Jazz Music Theory, it's all the same stuff(for the most part) just the rules and usage are totally different.
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  • Reply 3 of 38
    ipodandimacipodandimac Posts: 3,273member
    language names are just corporate labels thrown on to the simple process of fluctuating our voice patterns to convey ideas. does it really matter what anything is called?



    FYI, i feel the same way about clocks and time zones--they're pointless and just an example of how stupid our world is.
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  • Reply 4 of 38
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Wow, how nihilist of you.



    American English. Much like Canadian French, a dialect of a mother tongue that has taken on a life of its own... and that the originating country disowns as much as possible.
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  • Reply 5 of 38
    wrong robotwrong robot Posts: 3,907member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by ipodandimac

    language names are just corporate labels thrown on to the simple process of fluctuating our voice patterns to convey ideas. does it really matter what anything is called?



    FYI, i feel the same way about clocks and time zones--they're pointless and just an example of how stupid our world is.




    I feel similarly about Genre names for music. My philosophy is that if it sounds good, it is good. Now, while Genres and such are useful for organization, too many people define themselves or their listening habits by genres. They like having that 'something' to latch onto I guess. \



    Why do you feel that time zones are stupid? btw
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  • Reply 6 of 38
    wrong robotwrong robot Posts: 3,907member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Kickaha

    Wow, how nihilist of you.



    American English. Much like Canadian French, a dialect of a mother tongue that has taken on a life of its own... and that the originating country disowns as much as possible.




    and I thought I typed quickly
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  • Reply 7 of 38
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Dude. What's my title again?
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  • Reply 8 of 38
    buonrottobuonrotto Posts: 6,368member
    Don't forget Swiss-German.



    Do Australians speak Australian? Isn't it all non-inflected Indo-European anyway?
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  • Reply 9 of 38
    podmatepodmate Posts: 183member
    I vote for American, as long as we can move all the political correct speak and ebonics idiocy out of it.
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  • Reply 10 of 38
    drewpropsdrewprops Posts: 2,321member
    We speak English you baboons.
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  • Reply 11 of 38
    shetlineshetline Posts: 4,695member
    American English is clearly a distinct dialect (set of dialects, actually), but hardly different enough to count as a separate language.



    If you take as examples British English as spoken by a BBC announcer, and American English as spoken by a typical network news anchor, both are easily comprehensible by the vast majority of all speakers of English -- words and phrases which weren't clear to all listeners would come up now and then, but wouldn't be major impediments to understanding.
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  • Reply 12 of 38
    podmatepodmate Posts: 183member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by drewprops

    We speak English you baboons.



    No, we speak a version of English.

    I have worked with numerous people from England and I can tell you that there are significant differences in the 2 version of the language. Many words have different meanings and spelling can be quite different.

    I remember failing a spelling test because I spelled shop -- shoppe and tire -- tyre. These are proper (although older) English spellings but not proper American spellings.
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  • Reply 13 of 38
    vargasvargas Posts: 426member
    Slightly bastardised English
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  • Reply 14 of 38
    fangornfangorn Posts: 323member
    It's English. Aside from some spelling variations, the rules of grammar and punctation are the same. Differences in pronunciation and collequial expressions are relatively minor, especially when you consider that such variations exist even within the repective countries. The differences of pronunciation and expression are as different between an American New Englander and, say, someone from the Deep South (Georgia, Tennessee, etc) as they are for someone from any given U.S. region and your choice of places in England. Even within the U.S., the differences within regions can be just a great: a Georgia accent is significantly different from a Texas drawl. And you really don't find anyone outside of Texas who uses the term "yonder" (as in, "it's over yonder."). Futhermore such variations exist even on the relatively small island of England.



    That said, I would, however ,argue whether or not what is spoken in Scotland actually qualifies as English. I watched a Scotish movie not that long ago (forgot the title) and the darn thing had subtitles--and it was a good thing because I couldn't understand more than a word or two they said!
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  • Reply 15 of 38
    hardheadhardhead Posts: 644member
    I love my country dammit, but jeeez, are we just arrogant in our ignorance or what?!



    Technically Canadian's and Mexican's are also "Americans". You know, as in countries on the "north" American continent. Heh...



    Yeah I guess, just call it American instead of English. We have that right, we are God's "real" chosen country anyway...
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  • Reply 16 of 38
    mattjohndrowmattjohndrow Posts: 1,618member
    maybe it's English, we're just Americans, well, disoriented, if you will, but, um, yeah, i think it's american
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  • Reply 17 of 38
    crazychestercrazychester Posts: 1,339member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by BuonRotto

    Do Australians speak Australian?



    Are you fair dinkum sport or have you got a few roos loose in the top paddock?
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  • Reply 18 of 38
    billybobskybillybobsky Posts: 1,914member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Kickaha

    Dude. What's my title again?



    how fast do you type?
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  • Reply 19 of 38
    markjomarkjo Posts: 28member
    As I recall, there's an old saying about US and England being 2 countries seperated by a common language.
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  • Reply 20 of 38
    stoostoo Posts: 1,490member
    Quote:

    That said, I would, however ,argue whether or not what is spoken in Scotland actually qualifies as English.



    Careful now. You wouldn't want to make us Scoattish go all pure mental.
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