Slang Preferences

[Elizabeth]

Just curious: Would you rather a non-Brit/Scot, etc try and use the everyday slang while at university? Would people just laught at you if you started saying knickers and jumpers and boot in an American accent? Would you think someone a poser or respectful of the culture?

[Pilmour Boy]

If used in a pretentious way, then of course we don't approve. If it just happens to come out, in the same way that some brits (such as myself) will say trash or couch, then fine.

[hr]There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarrly inexplicable

[Prophet Tenebrae]

Who cares, just so long as Americans don't spend the entire time demonstrating their total inability to understand anyone who doesn't speak like an English bond villain.

[Little she-bear]

[s]Prophet Tenebrae wrote on 21:30, 14th Dec 2002:
Who cares, just so long as Americans don't spend the entire time demonstrating their total inability to understand anyone who doesn't speak like an English bond villain.


Oh, this isn't going to turn into another American bashing thread is it? That old chestnut.

I think people should use what ever slang they want, if people don't understand they can ask and have it explained to them. I mean, crikey, this isn't a british vs. non-brits thing, there's a multitude of different regional slang differences even within the UK. Trying to reduce this to an 'Americans don't understand us' baiting thread is crass in the extreme.

[Prophet Tenebrae]

I'm not "american bashing", I happen to like Americans - it just seems that a lot of them have surprisingly little apptitude for understanding regional dialects.

[Miss Maryland]

if an american wants to go to a british university, than that person should make sure they are able to understand the local vernacular. and yes, it can be done. i love british slang and every now and then i catch myself using it!

[Prophet Tenebrae]

That's the sort of attitude I like to see! The idiocy of people that make important decisions, such as which university they'll go to, without doing any research is extremely amusing and also idiotic.

Although I suppose one could reasonably argue that there are so many Americans here, that it's unnecessary but still...

[Al]

The ability to understand local dialects or slang is hardly the most important of criteria on which to base a university application. As Little she-bear there are many regional dialects in this country. Many British people struggle to understand other British people. For some reason, people from the South have especial difficulty understanding regional dialects. Which is fine because no one wants to talk to them anyway.

[hr]"Life is a horizontal fall"

[Homer]

I must agree with Al on that whole 'people from the south not understanding regional dialects' thing.

I always get very confused when people in Scotland start talking about ancient Greek city states when they actually mean the local Constabulary!

[Little she-bear]

[s]Homer wrote on 23:02, 15th Dec 2002:I always get very confused when people in Scotland start talking about ancient Greek city states when they actually mean the local Constabulary!


Lol! Ah, but that's mainly people from the West Coast. In my neck of the woods it's more likely to be "Bobbies" than "Polis".

[Miss Maryland]

I didn't mean that an american must understand everything the brits say. My point was that when an American applies, he/she must remember that the British speak an almost completely different language, and as that person should have considered this before choosing to study at St. Andrews, he/she has no reasonable excuse to complain about not being able to understand the local dialect.

[LeopardSkinQueen]

[s]Al wrote on 22:52, 15th Dec 2002:
Many British people struggle to understand other British people. For some reason, people from the South have especial difficulty understanding regional dialects. Which is fine because no one wants to talk to them anyway.

I always had more trouble being understood by people from britain than I ever did from overseas students. It was really wierd.

I've had to tone it down a lot just so I can get by in everyday life- and my accent was not very strong. A friend of mine brought her English boyfriend over to our fair city over the summer- he spent most of the time not having a clue what people where saying to him. I don't know why; it isn't as if you don't hear other accents on TV all the time now.




[hr]
"Do not meddle in the affairs of slashers, for they are subtle and quick to anger."

[Thackary]

You may not hear them all the time, but even when there are regional dialects and accents on the TV, they are often toned down.

Part of the appeal of Rab C Nesbitt was that most people couldn't actually understand what he was saying. Although his accent was partly exaggerated, there are people out there who really do talk like that.

[Prophet Tenebrae]

Yes, Glaswegian is the one dialect that I don't expect anyone to understand as it is quite literally unintelligable.

[Little she-bear]

[s]Prophet Tenebrae wrote on 15:39, 16th Dec 2002:
Yes, Glaswegian is the one dialect that I don't expect anyone to understand as it is quite literally unintelligable.


Oh stop complaining, you can learn it. Buy 'The Patter.'

If you want a really difficult Scottish dialect, try Doric.

[A noel]

I use british slang. And sometimes it sounds awkward coming from my american accented voice, but most of my british friends don't tend to comment on my usage of it unless it comes out completely wrong, in which case we all start laughing. What I would deem most offenssive culture wise was if you were an american who came here and made no effort to learn any of the culture and spent your whole time here bitching about how much better the states are than here. To those people I pose a question: If you like the states so much why are you here?

[Bonnie]

We all must endeavor to teach the barbarian masses. If that means I must sacrifice my young life to teach these Brits a thing or two, then that is my service.




I would so dearly hope someone caught up on the sarcasm there. I don't want any "why are you such a bigot?" statements being thrown at me. Of course, I have to clarify myself in such a way because there are so many in St Andrews who are yet to pick up on how much of British humour is sarcasm. Stop taking things so seriously people! I sometimes try to slip in some slang, it always comes out wrong, and we resultingly have a good laugh. A friend who spent half of his life in England and the other half in Scotland, purposefully changes his accent and vocabulary to make funny statements. Int he end, just talk in whichever way comes out naturally. In the odd event your mind does start to use British phrases, al the better; it shows you're really getting comfortable here.
On a separate note, I am a pet project of my friends. They're trying to make me more British. Don't tell them, but I think it's working. Today, I forgot which was the American or British pronunciation of tomato. They're succeeding insofar as I don't automatically go to the American way anymore! Help! I might start to eat cucumber sandwiches on a regular basis!

[Scunthorpe]

Ts, tsk Bonnie! You still have so far to go. Only when you are aware of the where, when and how regarding cucumber sandwiches will you be truely Anglified.

I can appreciate the dialect problem. Having been brought up in Scotland, but with no Scots whatsoever in the family, my accent sometimes gets scitzophrenic. Often, I can't understand what's coming out of my own mouth. Or perhaps that's just the gin.

[hr]The Bible contains six admonishments to homosexuals and three hundred sixty-two admonishments to heterosexuals. That doesn't mean that God doesn't love heterosexuals. It's just that they need more supervision.

[underworlddreams]

Often, Scunthorpe, we don't know what's coming out of your mouth either.

On another matter, I find myself in a reversal of the British-slang/accent problem. Since many of my friends are overseas students, mostly from the States or similarly educated, I find myself listening in American English* and talking (hopefully) in British. This can sometimes lead to the problem that I'll pronounce something accidentally in an American fashion, or say something particularly American (sidewalk anyone?) and, if nearby to other Brits, earn myself a round of laughter and ridicule.

Add that to the fact that I'm English born and Welsh bred, and thus my accent is also screwed up, and you can get the idea that people can rarely tell where I'm from.

[s]*American English - a strange term that I only really discovered through my colonial friends. However, it does seem as arbitrary as saying "Spanish Italian" or "Chinese Argentinian" - they only make sense if they are in reference to nationalities.[/s]

[hr]In the Beginning was nothing, which exploded

[Professor Calculus]

Nuh-uh, they're just incoherent