Yeah, "mum" sounds incredibly stupid to me, it's probably the one difference that annoys me the most. And "Lorry", although I'm having a hard time believing that that word is actually in daily use in England. How about "Torch"?

 

 

 

American English for the win. I just don't understand British English, or rather the motive behind it.

You have to bear in mind that what most Americans regard a "British accent" is hardly representative of most Britons. It's like when you learn French. What you're actually learning is the posh, formal Parisian form of French used mostly in the north of France, not the common form used in the south.

 

 

 

Likewise, I don't normally talk in real life like I write on here. I write in proper English here because it's easier to communicate. ;)

 

 

 

Selena Gomez tried doing a British accent on the radio the other day. It was OK, but only about two dozen landlords and their hunting dogs actually speak with that kinda accent (not sure if the link works outside UK).

 

 

 

As for "torch", I imagine it comes from old fire torches. Since their use was the same to a 'flashlight', it probably just got carried on.

Flashlight is a ridiculous word.

Flashlight is a ridiculous word.

 

 

 

I hate it when people say you shouldn't combine words, or hyphenate them. English is a freakin' Germanic language, we have the ability to combine, and I'm gonna do it! Also, I hate it when people don't capatalise proper nouns like Bible, and any other proper noun, again, English is Germanic, so we can do that.

Flashlight is a ridiculous word.

 

 

 

I hate it when people say you shouldn't combine words, or hyphenate them. English is a freakin' Germanic language, we have the ability to combine, and I'm gonna do it! Also, I hate it when people don't capatalise proper nouns like Bible, and any other proper noun, again, English is Germanic, so we can do that.

 

 

 

Combining words is fine, and I love a good portmanteau, but flashlight doesn't seem right. If anything it should be a shinelight.

If you turn it on and off rapidly it's a flashlight.

 

 

 

I call them lighty-thingies.

Flashlight is a ridiculous word.

 

 

 

I hate it when people say you shouldn't combine words, or hyphenate them. English is a freakin' Germanic language, we have the ability to combine, and I'm gonna do it! Also, I hate it when people don't capatalise proper nouns like Bible, and any other proper noun, again, English is Germanic, so we can do that.

 

 

 

Heh, I have the opposite pet peeve. Not that it matters, but americans are generally horrible with punctuation, capitalization and grammar.

 

 

 

I can't count how many times americans (even in official magazine interviews etc.) capitalize things like "the president mentioned global warming as a matter of National Security". I've seen it thousands of times, they capitalize all sorts of words and phrases that shouldn't be.

I speak Dutch and English and am studying French and German. French is going pretty good, German is harder but I'll manage.

Heh, I have the opposite pet peeve. Not that it matters, but Americans are generally horrible with punctuation, capitalization and grammar.

 

 

 

I can't count how many times Americans (even in official magazine interviews etc.) capitalize things like "the president mentioned global warming as a matter of National Security". I've seen it thousands of times, they capitalize all sorts of words and phrases that shouldn't be.

 

Fixed.

 

 

 

It's so annoying, because some languages capitalize and some don't. In Swedish and Finnish weekdays, months, and nationalities aren't capitalized, so I have to change every time I switch.

Heh, I have the opposite pet peeve. Not that it matters, but Americans are generally horrible with punctuation, capitalization and grammar.

 

 

 

I can't count how many times Americans (even in official magazine interviews etc.) capitalize things like "the president mentioned global warming as a matter of National Security". I've seen it thousands of times, they capitalize all sorts of words and phrases that shouldn't be.

 

Fixed.

 

 

 

It's so annoying, because some languages capitalize and some don't. In Swedish and Finnish weekdays, months, and nationalities aren't capitalized, so I have to change every time I switch.

 

 

 

Heh, thanks indeed for the correction... Yep, it can be arguably hard sometimes, if I recall right, Swedish and Finnish languages only capitalize country & place names (and people's names of course). In English almost everything is capitalized, even unique objects like "the Sun". This doesn't exist in other languages like Finnish where it's typed lower case.

 

 

 

Again, not that these things actually matter that much outside of school, because even in a business setting, for most words, the meaning can't be lost regardless of lower or upper case.. Heck, some people (especially older ones) write in all-caps, a bit annoying but I don't really mind as long as the message comes across

 

As for "torch", I imagine it comes from old fire torches. Since their use was the same to a 'flashlight', it probably just got carried on.

 

Yeah, a lot of electrical versions of old tools get the old name carried on, so there's no need to stick on a new word to an object with the same function. A torch is something which provides constant light, so a 'flashlight', which produces a constant not flashing beam of light, should be a torch.

 

 

 

In my opinion, a 'flashlight' should mean a stroboscope or similar.

 

 

 

P.S. when the word 'mom' is said, it sounds forced and unnatural. 'Mum' is more flowing, which is much better.

Why I like Chinese - We don't have arguments about spelling and capitalization. ;)

 

Though there's the whole dialect issue. And traditional vs. simplified. Annoying because basically all of mainland China (So all my friends here) use simplified, while Taiwan (...Me) uses traditional.

Je parle en français parce que j'étudié pour cinq années à l'école, mais je ne parle pas français très bien parce que je n'ai pas fait les études après l'école à la college*.

 

 

 

Oh God, it's been three years since I last used French! I don't even think that's right. To think I got an A at GCSE level too. :roll:

 

[hide=*]It's meant to read:

 

I speak French because I studied for five years at school, but I do not speak French well because I did not study at college after school.[/hide]

 

 

 

Not quite right but almost.

Heh, I have the opposite pet peeve. Not that it matters, but Americans are generally horrible with punctuation, capitalization and grammar.

 

 

 

I can't count how many times Americans (even in official magazine interviews etc.) capitalize things like "the President mentioned Global Warming as a matter of National Security". I've seen it thousands of times, they capitalize all sorts of words and phrases that shouldn't be.

 

Fixed.

 

 

 

It's so annoying, because some languages capitalize and some don't. In Swedish and Finnish weekdays, months, and nationalities aren't capitalized, so I have to change every time I switch.

 

 

 

Fix'd some more.

I speak English, but I study French. It's kind of required to get it up to Grade 9 here. ;)

Why I like Chinese - We don't have arguments about spelling and capitalization. ;)

 

Though there's the whole dialect issue. And traditional vs. simplified. Annoying because basically all of mainland China (So all my friends here) use simplified, while Taiwan (...Me) uses traditional.

 

Thats because kanji is silly and people just accept it when you get something wrong because ITS SO DAMN HARD. It was invented to keep us white devils from ever learning it.

Heh, I have the opposite pet peeve. Not that it matters, but Americans are generally horrible with punctuation, capitalization and grammar.

 

 

 

I can't count how many times Americans (even in official magazine interviews etc.) capitalize things like "the President mentioned Global Warming as a matter of National Security". I've seen it thousands of times, they capitalize all sorts of words and phrases that shouldn't be.

 

Fixed.

 

 

 

It's so annoying, because some languages capitalize and some don't. In Swedish and Finnish weekdays, months, and nationalities aren't capitalized, so I have to change every time I switch.

 

 

 

Fix'd some more.

 

 

 

Exactly what I mean... :P

 

 

 

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/02/10/ ... index.html

 

 

 

President is not capitalized in the middle of a sentence..

 

 

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/environm ... 0G20081211

 

 

 

Neither is global warming.

 

 

 

It seems Americans have a misconception that "important things" somehow have to be capitalized, which is totally incorrect.

Not "president" but "The President." It's definite, it refers to the position or a specific person.

 

 

 

And Global Warming is an idea invented by one person, therefore it is a concept that has to be capatalised just as I capatalise Wal-Mart and Tip It. Although, I don't know if Al Gore ever trademarked it, still, it's HIS idea so therefore it is not a general concept, but a concept attributed to him.

Not "president" but "The President." It's definite, it refers to the position or a specific person.

 

 

 

And Global Warming is an idea invented by one person, therefore it is a concept that has to be capitalised just as I capitalise Wal-Mart and Tip It. Although, I don't know if Al Gore ever trademarked it, still, it's HIS idea so therefore it is not a general concept, but a concept attributed to him.

 

 

 

Uh.. Global warming has absolutely nothing to do with Al Gore, besides him making people more aware of the phenomena. It has been happening for over a hundred years. http://ipcc-wg1.ucar.edu/wg1/Report/AR4 ... nt_SPM.pdf

 

 

 

It's not his idea or even really a concept, it's an ongoing process in nature which in modern ages is partially affected by humans and the industrial pollution they create.

 

 

 

Wal-Mart is indeed capitalized.. Tip.it isn't. Go http://www.tip.it/runescape/ and check the title bar. It's not set in stone though, in some articles it's capitalized, in others it isn't.

Not "president" but "The President." It's definite, it refers to the position or a specific person.

 

 

 

And Global Warming is an idea invented by one person, therefore it is a concept that has to be capatalised just as I capatalise Wal-Mart and Tip It. Although, I don't know if Al Gore ever trademarked it, still, it's HIS idea so therefore it is not a general concept, but a concept attributed to him.

 

 

 

Uh.. Global warming has absolutely nothing to do with Al Gore, besides him making people more aware of the phenomena. It has been happening for over a hundred years. http://ipcc-wg1.ucar.edu/wg1/Report/AR4 ... nt_SPM.pdf

 

 

 

It's not his idea or even really a concept, it's an ongoing process in nature which in modern ages is partially affected by humans and industrial pollution they create.

 

 

 

Global warming is a phrase defined exactly by the words in which make it up, I believe that is what separates it from a "invented" or trademarked idea. For example, El Niño is another weather phenomenon but given a non-apparent name probably chosen by its' founder.

 

 

 

e.g: If I discovered that bananas are getting sweeter all over the world, and I decided to make it public and referred to this phenomenon as "banana sweetness gain" it wouldn't automatically turn that phrase into a proper noun.

Not "president" but "The President." It's definite, it refers to the position or a specific person.

 

 

 

And Global Warming is an idea invented by one person, therefore it is a concept that has to be capatalised just as I capatalise Wal-Mart and Tip It. Although, I don't know if Al Gore ever trademarked it, still, it's HIS idea so therefore it is not a general concept, but a concept attributed to him.

 

 

 

Uh.. Global warming has absolutely nothing to do with Al Gore, besides him making people more aware of the phenomena. It has been happening for over a hundred years. http://ipcc-wg1.ucar.edu/wg1/Report/AR4 ... nt_SPM.pdf

 

 

 

It's not his idea or even really a concept, it's an ongoing process in nature which in modern ages is partially affected by humans and the industrial pollution they create.

 

 

 

Global warming is a phrase defined exactly by the words in which make it up, I believe that is what separates it from a "invented" or trademarked idea. For example, El Niño is another weather phenomenon but given a non-apparent name probably chosen by its' founder.

 

 

 

e.g: If I discovered that bananas are getting sweeter all over the world, and I decided to make it public and referred to this phenomenon as "banana sweetness gain" it wouldn't automatically turn that phrase into a proper noun.

 

 

 

Exactly my point.. In that case you wouldn't capitalize "Banana Sweetness Gain" in any case, unless you wanted to look unprofessional and inaccurate. Those words just describe the phenomena, it's not an actual "trademark" or a given name like the El-Niño phenomena of increased flash floods, sudden drought, etc.

Uh.. Global warming has absolutely nothing to do with Al Gore, besides him making people more aware of the phenomena. It has been happening for over a hundred years. http://ipcc-wg1.ucar.edu/wg1/Report/AR4 ... nt_SPM.pdf

 

 

 

It's not his idea or even really a concept, it's an ongoing process in nature which in modern ages is partially affected by humans and the industrial pollution they create.

 

 

 

Wal-Mart is indeed capitalized.. Tip.it isn't. Go http://www.tip.it/runescape/ and check the title bar.

 

 

 

Only the first letter is capitalized as usual.

 

 

 

Tip It or Tip.it are both acceptable, but Tip it, no way. Only because the .it Italian domain has spread out to Tip It.

 

 

 

But Global Warming is talked about as the variety popularised by Al Gore most of the time, and so I see no reason it shouldn't be capitalised. Global Warming suggests human involvement on high levels, and is not a universally recognized phenomena. Neither is Evolution, or Creation. You don't generalise concepts that have heavy oppositions. I also capatalise Gay Marriage, the Death Penalty, Partial-Birth Abortion, etc.

Uh.. Global warming has absolutely nothing to do with Al Gore, besides him making people more aware of the phenomena. It has been happening for over a hundred years. http://ipcc-wg1.ucar.edu/wg1/Report/AR4 ... nt_SPM.pdf

 

 

 

It's not his idea or even really a concept, it's an ongoing process in nature which in modern ages is partially affected by humans and the industrial pollution they create.

 

 

 

Wal-Mart is indeed capitalized.. Tip.it isn't. Go http://www.tip.it/runescape/ and check the title bar.

 

 

 

Only the first letter is capitalized as usual.

 

 

 

Tip It or Tip.it are both acceptable, but Tip it, no way. Only because the .it Italian domain has spread out to Tip It.

 

 

 

But Global Warming is talked about as the variety popularised by Al Gore most of the time, and so I see no reason it shouldn't be capitalised. Global Warming suggests human involvement on high levels, and is not a universally recognized phenomena. Neither is Evolution, or Creation. You don't generalise concepts that have heavy oppositions. I also capatalise Gay Marriage, the Death Penalty, Partial-Birth Abortion, etc.

 

 

 

The two words global and warming in succession does not have any heavy opposition, it is the concept embedded into it that gets people - whether or not we caused it; I don't want to get into a debate about something so irrelevant.

 

 

 

So I guess according to you, depending on the context of the phrase, it is sometimes capitalized. Regardless, I still have never heard of something being capitalized because there is "heavy opposition" against it, direct me to the committee that judges whether or not something has enough of this "opposition" to become a proper noun.

 

But Global Warming is talked about as the variety popularised by Al Gore most of the time, and so I see no reason it shouldn't be capitalised. Global Warming suggests human involvement on high levels, and is not a universally recognized phenomena. Neither is Evolution, or Creation. You don't generalise concepts that have heavy oppositions. I also capatalise Gay Marriage, the Death Penalty, Partial-Birth Abortion, etc.

 

 

 

I don't know if you're being serious, without even going into the scientific and curricular basis of evolution or the historical basis of the death penalty (which has been around for thousands of years), all of the above is horribly linguistically inaccurate. You don't capitalise "death penalty", "gay marriage", "evolution, "creation" in any single country on Earth.

 

 

 

Try a quick Google search http://www.google.com/search?q=the+death+penalty

 

 

 

Only if every single word in a title is capitalised for easy reading, those phrases are capitalized too. In normal usage, concepts are never capitalised like in your example. It's improper usage and you'd get marks off a test were you to use capitalised letters in that fashion on official school reports or exams.

Do you capatalise Creation?