class prostheses

padraig (u.s.)

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
suspendedreason said:
there's a fact of the matter which is that the owners speak meaningfully poorer English
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the problem is with assuming another person's inability to communicate, not that I'm accusing you or anyone of this tbc

if they truly can't, of course the gap has to be bridged somehow - that's how pidgins develop (I believe)

but in my experience people are often quick to make the assumption

I speak fluent Spanish, have spent plenty of time in Mexico, and have many times, on both sides of the border, watched American non-Spanish speakers default into a slow, loud Spanglish to service sector workers who often speak reasonable English

personally, I studiously avoid using Spanish in public settings here unless it's very clear the other person's English isn't sufficient for the task at hand. I specifically pronounce loanwords as you would in English i.e. no rolling rrs etc.
 
WashYourHands

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
version said:
Also stuff like combovers. Now people just shave it or get a transplant.
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A lion and its mane roars

Advanced-Hair-Studio-Does-It-Work.png
 
Leo

Leo

Well-known member
padraig (u.s.) said:
the problem is with assuming another person's inability to communicate, not that I'm accusing you or anyone of this tbc
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yeah, that's what's made me feel uncomfortable when I catch myself doing it. it's sometimes easy but other times hard to tell how fluent the other person is in English. in the case of the local Italian deli, I'd like to think they view me first and foremost as a long-time loyal customer as opposed to that jackass white guy.
 
WashYourHands

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
The faces on US eatery staff when you open your mouth as a Brit can go one of two ways:

"Your accent is so cute".

"Listen to this redcoat cunt" (unspoken, but the looks say it all).
 
beiser

beiser

Well-known member
once went to order fast food in a restaurant in a tier 3 city in china. Nowhere near a tourist area at all … stared at the menu before going in, looked up words, figured out exactly how to order. walk in. bustle behind the counter as I approach. I cough out a stilted order, something like "我想买第三个套餐”. The woman behind the counter nods, and in perfect midwestern-accented english says: “Great. And do you want the chicken teriyaki bowl with or without rice?”
 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
padraig (u.s.) said:
if they truly can't, of course the gap has to be bridged somehow - that's how pidgins develop (I believe)
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Such as how Middle English came about essentially as a pidgin of Old English and Old Norse, which were still close enough to allow basic communication between English and Danes using only the stems of words, so nearly all the endings that indicate case and tense were ditched, resulting in the greatly simplified grammar of Middle and ultimately modern English.
 
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IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
Yeah I wonder how much nuance you lose from simplifying the verbs that way? Maybe some... but sometimes when I hear a language has fifty different forms of "have" or whatever then I wonder how much richness is that adding to the language? Wouldn't it better to add fifty new concepts to the language instead of increasing complexity for limited additional meaning? I mean of course I realise things don't develop through conscious choices like that but you know what I'm getting at.
 
WashYourHands

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
We have a ton of words for the range of rain and its effects. Used to think of sopping as a northern term, but everyone uses it.

Rain’s lexicon unites the classes in a rare confluence.
 
IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
Sure but what I'm saying is, does it matter that we say; I have, you have, we have... ooh "she has" is a bit different and then for past it's I, you, he, we etc had and for the future and so on you're back to I will have or could would etc?
Would the language be better if there were more verb forms or does that add needless complexity? Genuinely don't know. I mean in Portuguese you can miss out the subject cos you know from the verb; "preciso de.... " just says "need..." but you know it is "I need..." cos it ends in "o".
 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
beiser said:
once went to order fast food in a restaurant in a tier 3 city in china. Nowhere near a tourist area at all … stared at the menu before going in, looked up words, figured out exactly how to order. walk in. bustle behind the counter as I approach. I cough out a stilted order, something like "我想买第三个套餐”. The woman behind the counter nods, and in perfect midwestern-accented english says: “Great. And do you want the chicken teriyaki bowl with or without rice?”
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My de-facto brother-in-law studied Arabic and speaks it very fluently, but of course it's "standard modern Arabic", which is a somewhat artificial dialect used mainly in business and media, I think. And of course Arabic is strongly dialectal, so that people speaking colloquial Arabic from different countries can't necessarily even understand each other.

Anyway, years back he was on a trip to Egypt, and went into a very humble little café in Cairo, in a working-class and non-touristy part of the the city, and tried to order - in Arabic. The owner listened in disbelief for a moment, then realised that this Westerner was speaking in absolutely correct - but, given the context, totally out-of-place - Arabic, roared with laughter, switched to his own pretty ropy English for the rest of the transaction, and ended up giving him a free coffee just for the amusement value.
 
K

kumar

Well-known member
bumped into my mate on the street earlier and they had brought lidl bags for life to waitrose just in case they bumped into a mate on the street.
 
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