A blanket by any other name?

Don Morrison - Henry Higgins wasn't referring to the English language in terms of grammar or vocabulary. He was commenting on something *much* more important to us Brits - accent!

The first thing the British notice about a newly-met compatriot is his/her accent. Based on this, we make an instant judgement about the person's class, background, job, intelligence and education.

But it's not just a question of whether or not you have a regional accent. The ultimate judgement depends on *which* regional accent - a complex subject, far too lengthy to examine here.

Bottom line - if you have an unacceptable regional accent, you're stupid; if you have no regional accent, you're a snob.

Being British is complicated!

;-)

I am Amused by all the comments on the use of the English language. To quote Professor Henry Higgins in the musical My Fair Lady: "Why can't the English teach their children how to speak? ..."

Sven, if you're concerned about the quality of your English, then you must have someone else writing your blog for you! Its command of the language is a hell of a lot better than that demonstrated by many of my fellow Brits!

English benefits/suffers (delete as you feel appropriate!) from being perhaps the most impermanent and flexible language in the world. Its very foundation is a mongrel blend of various Ancient British dialects, Latin, Saxon German and French with whole heap of other linguistic bits and pieces thrown into the stew. Through the centuries, the language has shamelessly plaigerised and absorbed any word - from any source - that it finds useful. So English has an enormous polyglot vocabulary, and boasts a rich variety of subtly nuanced ways of expressing the same idea.

So, if its been a while since you were last in this country, don't feel concerned or embarrassed if you encountered some linguistic pitfalls. While you've been away, we've been cheekily remodelling parts of the English language once again - just to keep you on your toes!

Come back soon!

I lived in the UK for over 26 years, and travelled over much of it in my work. You can find that in one small town there may be multiple dialects. My favorite southern English dialect was found just outside Salisbury, where fahvver and muhvver took me by surprise.

Love your blog, but if you ever get to Australia, then you will really get confused, the Brits language is simple in comparison, there are to many oddities to count, and you would only get more confused. I must admit that having visited Britain many years ago I had similar problems, and even today often have to put sub titles on to watch some of the police drama on the TV so we can understand the written word against the spoken one.

Keep up the good work, and I hope that you enjoyed the break.

To me, Sven, you enjoyed more than you expected.

Really loved your observations and I still enjoy being surprised by new experiences of language and customs. Recently returned from a similar trip to Europe and stemming from there originally I definitely identified with "duvet". In Australia we also have a rich culture of slang to confuse and amuse visitors.

Duvet is in origin a French word... And even German borrowed from French: restaurant, appartement...

Sven, don't worry about dialects, I am from Flanders part of Belgium, here every 40km another dialect!!!

How To Speak Australian Slang Words.

http://www.koalanet.com.au/australian-slang.html

Hi Sven,

It is pleasing to hear that you enjoyed your time in Britain...... which was never called the UK when we lived there, then I came to Australia with my family from the North of England.

We speak English, but in the early days of living here in Australia the Australians had difficulty understanding our Northern English.

We said 'ello as dropping the aitch which was was common at 'ome in th'ouse (England) (in the house)

'ow are ya? (no H) goin' - was going, nowt - was nothing, 'owt - was anything, ah dunno - was I don't know, thi'- was you and tha'- was your ...

Added to many, many more to cause utter confusion.

Then of course we had to try to understand Aussie-speak, car is caah, bar is baah, bonzer is good, arvo is afternoon, barbie is barbeque, and there are a lot more.

Here is a link of Aussie slang words, in case you have a vacation in Australia ..... holiday is used, not American vacation.

Now I will continue learning the Hamburg and Munich German language with Jürgen und Ingrid,

Auf Wiedersehen für den Augenblick und Vielen Dank für Ihre sehr angenehm Artikel.

Your difficulty understanding British accents and dialects reminds me of the similar problem that I had when I lived in Germany. I lived and worked in Stuttgart for six years, and although I learned sufficient German to hold a conversation, I never really got to grips with the local Schwäbisch dialect. Fortunately most locals seemed to be able to switch to Hochdeutsch when necessary.

Recently, I discovered an album of schwäbisch folk music by Max Trierweiler sung in the local dialect. I had previously been quite proud of the wide range of German vocabulary I had learned, but when I listened to the songs I must admit that I hardly understood a single word!!!

Unfortunately they no longer teach spoken English in schools or colleges. What used to be called common, is now the rich English language of dialects.

I am an Anglo Australian, I spent my first 10yrs in England and the rest here. In 1974 my wife and I toured Europe for 10mths, small car and tent, I had lived 13 years in 'Oz' and it had taken the edge off my 'ampshire accent. I had studied French in school with Australian teachers, and in Paris I was asked by someone what the time was, he had a very strong provincial accent, the fun started when I discovered my watch had stopped, we worked it out with 'Gallic gestures'. I had discovered that written and text book languages are very different to what is spoken. As Ned Kelly said " such is life", to answer the next question, Ned Kelly was a notorious Australian Bushranger (outlaw, bandit, highway man, robber), these were his last words when he was hung.

I come from and live in the city in which your first photo was taken. I recognised it immediately and wondered if you had managed to visit it. As a city it is known for its cosmopolitan outlook. However, although the dictionary definition of being an area free from local bias is applicable we actually have a different take on the word. For us cosmopolitan means out of the ordinary and catering for the unusual. The reputation of Brighton fits that to a 'T' (another saying found in English). The surprising thing about the English language is its adaptability and its ability to come up with so many words for exactly the same thing or even to give the same word so many different meanings and nuances. It's what makes the language so much fun, even for a native speaker.

Oh Honey, I can hear you ;)

Being German myself, I totally understand your experiences and frustrations. I never learned English in school (wasn't offered at my time) so I took a 3 week crash course in Torbey (beautiful SW England country side) before immigrating to the US in 1997. That were 3 tough weeks to say the least but I felt pretty confident when I left the lovely area and people again. Arriving at the point of immigration at NY airport I had to attend an interview with an immigration officer first. My built-up confidence to be able to communicate at least not too bad was shuttered in pieces after his first two questions - I didn't understand a word he just said!!! Not only was I a little nervous but his English sounded totally different just like a different language. I thought I would pass out and then sent back on the next flight to Germany. Luckily the officer was kind enough to start over again speaking slowly and trying to avoid most of his NY slang. Finally I passed all questions and became with the stamp on my papers an official legal resident.

The first year was difficult. The British English I was so proud to have learned (well, basics of course) helped but only a little bit. The Americans have just their own English language. I didn't know and understand what "wanna" (want to) or "gonna" (going to) means or what a pop is (soda) e.g., or saying "he DON'T do that" instead of " he DOESN'T do that" and until this day I refuse saying that! There is a lot more but I think you get the point. I really like living here in the States but I love the British English. If you ever have the chance just watch an episode of the British comedy "Keeping up appearances". Their you will hear the Queens English as well as some slang and the humor will crack you up :)

Best wishes from the Las Vegas area to all of you :)

:-) Come to Ireland, as the district's other English :-)

Every sentence ends with a call ,, WHAT ''

They say that America and England are divided by a common language !! ie, Candies = Sweets, Cookies = Biscuits, Soda = Anything with gas in the bottle we refer to as a Fizzy Drink (Coke, Fanta etc) Potato Chips = Crisps. fries = Chips etc etc.

It is a voyage of discovery when travelling in either direction. It may be easier for the Brits going to USA than the Americans coming to the UK, due to the majority of Movies (= Films) we all watch which are from Hollywood with American Actors. rather than Shepperton Studios and British Actors. ..... and why is it that the US Film Industry seems to favour (Favor... what happened to the U ??) the British Actor when they cast a villain?

It is an amusing thing to watch people on travels in "English" speaking countries when they face the local accents or jargon.

I lived in Australia in my early 20's and they have words the English don't recognise as well. Feeling Crook = being ill, Chunder = Throwing up, and there are more. The New Zealanders simply shift some Vowels one up the register. So a clothes Peg is a PIG,, having a rest is a RIST, - listen carefully next time you speak with a Kiwi and see if you agree.

As Sven who wrote the first observation on Language here has said, the Blanket is called a duvet, Pronounced Doo-vay. It is also called that in Switzerland, Sweden and the other Nordic Countries to my best knowledge but I will take advice on that.

Travel is a wonderful educator and I have been to many countries and enjoyed the experience. I hope the readers of this message get the chance to do the same.

Alan Phipps - Currently An Englishman in Iraq and resident in Philippines.

I have the same problem with understanding American English, particularly when communicating with Afro-Americans. This is not English! Duvet, serviette, rubber and full stop are examples of true English. Now you can substitute rubber with eraser and call rubber whatever you think it should be, but this doesn't meen it will work well for you outside the U.S. I really don't like the tone of your article. American Englush is just another dialect, nothing else.

My then wife, a german, was amazed to see literally dozensof Toilets along Argyle Street in Glasgow. I had to point out that these were "To Let" signs (zu Vermieten) above empty stores!

Another idea for the origin of loo. It was originally called a water closet and the slang was waterloo, after the battle, this became shortened to loo. I tried to learn German once but gave up as my German girl friend spoke perfect English and I was getting nowhere with my German.

Hi I also like your blog very much here in Australia, You think you have trouble with the English in the U.K. Come down to Australia, the English in the U.K. is out the door it's the Australian version and you'll need your app as it's different in each state, me old matey.

You want to experience languages? Come to South Africa where we have ELEVEN official languages, and English being the second language to most whose mother tongue is of the other ten. Listening to the SABC, (South African Broadcasting Company) when news is broadcast by different presenters with different ways of pronouncing words, brings the English speaking person to tears. Do you know how many ways there are to pronouncing the word DEMOCRACY? At first one screams with laughter, but as it changes with different presenters, one cries tears at the misuse of consonants and vowels in a word. Then when a word cannot be pronounced, they resort to acronyms to describe their references such as SABC, ANC, DA and so forth. Then there is the favourite with all South Africans, and that is to anglicize their own language, by peppering their sentences with English words, This is the norm when producing programs such as soapies and the like.

Most are out of context, so we do have a sense of humour.

Non South Africans don't find it amusing!

I enjoyed your blogg. Don't worry, we native English speakers (Southern RP/BBC for what it is worth) have a problem with some dialects!

A very amusing German stand-up comedian, Henning Wien, is frequently on BBC radio to my huge enjoyment.

He had a program recently which described the difficulties with "mixed" marriages and the potential for misunderstandings. You can get it here:

http://tinyurl.com/jr2tfvg

I have travelled extensively round the world (offshore engineering), English gets you most things. I lived in Rio de Janeiro for a while and learnt my Portuguese there but the use of slang and the accent made it quite difficult to be understood elsewhere in Brazil.

I traveled to England once and that was enough. As for you, English is not my mother's tongue. My companion was New York born and raised. Neither of us could understand what the people were saying. I believe that that policewoman in Chessington is still laughing at us, having given us road indications in a language that I had never heard before. We managed, though.

Incidentally, Spanish in South America is full of regionalisms. A 'guagua' would be a bus in Puerto Rico or a crying infant in Ecuador. A lady's nickname in the Caribbean can become a woman's genitals in Venezuela and so on.

People in any country appreciate a foreigner's efforts to speak their language. This usually opens a lot of doors. I say: Learn another language besides English. It will be rewarding.