Ask a British Person.......

[Kara x]

With regards to big borther, it IS'NT popular anymore. In fact i'ts hated by the vast majority and now watched by idiots [half the amount that it used to]. In fact it's run it's course and only has one more series. It's a dutch invention though, i believe.

 

[dave_rhino]

With regards to big borther, it IS'NT popular anymore. In fact i'ts hated by the vast majority and now watched by idiots [half the amount that it used to]. In fact it's run it's course and only has one more series. It's a dutch invention though, i believe.

It definitely isn't as popular as it used to be, but "hated by the vast majority" is an overstatement. Sounds like you are stating your opinion (although I share the "idiot" opinion) and not facts.

 

[Bigoldowls]

Richard (Richard the Third - bird = Female)
Boat (Boat Race = Face)
Sky (Sky Rocket = Pocket)
Flowery (Flowery Dell = Cell, Prison)
Jekyll's (Jeckyll and Hyde = Strides = Trousers)
Tom (Tom Foolery = Jewelery)
Dog (Dog and Bone = Phone)
Duke of Kent = Rent
Duke of York = Chalk
Union Jack = Sack

 

[strongbadia4000]

Personally as an American I like the British accent. What do you think of the American accent? Can you describe what it sounds like cause of course we have know idea how we sound to you. Thanks.

 

[dave_rhino]

Describing an accent to someone is extremely difficult.

I like the American accent, more so in this country than in their own. When you hear it constantly it can be a bit much.

I used to have a really strong American accent as a kid, I'm glad I lost it eventually. :1orglaugh

 

[BlueBalls]

Personally as an American I like the British accent. What do you think of the American accent? Can you describe what it sounds like cause of course we have know idea how we sound to you. Thanks.

I like the american accent especially the southern accent. And if its a hot woman with it thats an added plus.

 

[dave_rhino]

^ Yeah I agree with the southern accent thing, that is extremely sexy. But again, if I lived in southern America I'd probably get sick of it.

 

[Kara x]

It definitely isn't as popular as it used to be, but "hated by the vast majority" is an overstatement. Sounds like you are stating your opinion (although I share the "idiot" opinion) and not facts.

Indeed it was my opinion, not fact. In fact, if it was'nt for the fact that the sun needs to fill column inches it would have dissapeared off our screens several years ago in my opinion.

 

[Bigoldowls]

Frog and Toad = Road
Two and Eight = State
Whistle and Flute = Suit
Brown Bread = Dead
Moby Dick = Thick (Stupid)

Old Bill = Police
Rozzers = Police Constable

An 'arm and leg' means something very expensive.
To 'leave it out' means I disagree/disagreement.
To have 'more front than Brighton' means effrontery/a show-off.
To 'rabbit' means to talk.
'Rabbiting' means to talk excessively.
'GBH of the earholes' means to receive verbal criticism.

 

[HeyFellas]

It's easy to see that ********** is (or was) a Southerner, i.e from the Southern half of England. Here in the North a sandwich is a buttie, and we don't use most of the other phrases, Barnie Rubble, Frog and Toad e.t.c, as these are Cockney Rhyming Slang, not normal English language. And the anti-Welsh/Scottish feeling seems more pronounced when you live near the border.

I've noticed a lot of American spelling is a simple version of English, as if the person who came up with the word couldn't spell very well and tried one letter at a time. But I suppose the American Dictionary was written a couple of hundred years ago, maybe things were different then.

In terms of accents, I think California is very distinctive for some reason, and I really like that Brooklyn "forwardness", but I'm not to fond of the Southern style, it reminds me of Cletus and Brandine.

Oh, and Big Brother was only really popular in the first couple of series, and during the recent Shilpa Shetty deal.

Speaking of TV, do you get many British shows in the US? What do you think of them? :wave2:

 

[gunslingingbird]

The one "an arm and a leg" is also very popular in America. They got that one off us, somehow.


Oooh, lots to respond to here.

First of all, Big Brother is huge, for awhile it was the biggest phenomenon in England, and now it still gets wtf?wtf?wtf?wtf?wtf?wtf?wtf?wtf?c ratings. Like Britney Spears, people love it, people hate it, depending on the weather, but it's still massive.

British shows in the USA - there's a few. Some weird things are popular here that you wouldn't expect, like Benny Hill. They also take our shows and recycle them and make their own versions - The Office, and American Idol being prime examples. We do the same with theirs once in awhile. Nothing from England is even nearly as popular as, say, Friends is, in England.

Simple versions of English words - yep. I think it has something to do with the rebellion against the former colonists, they changed a lot of words to make them more simple. Didn't help college kids though, who can't spell for shit.

And finally, let me dispel the preconceptions you have about me. My Dad is from the Middle East but he's an Oxford Grad, and I was born and raised in Oxford, where I also went to Uni for awhile, and my brother just graduated Cambridge, so I have that foreign/very posh southern background on 50% of me. My Dad however married a girl from the poorest of the poor neighbourhoods in Manchester (Ladywell Flats in Salford, born in Hope Hospital), and when they divorced I got to live in council houses in Salford and get racially abused and beaten up for my posh accent for a few good years before I learned to play footy and be a bit more street.

So I have a half-southern and half-nothern background and I don't belong to the prejudices attributed to either one, however, if I had to say which do I relate to, well I am a political activist mainly standing up for the underrepreseted which would be the poorer among us and the working classes, which is associated with Northern England. I'm also a Liverpool fan for life, I've been to Anfield, I used to wear the kit around Manchester and get my arse (ass, Americans) kicked for that too.

I wouldn't really know what Steak N Kidney Pudding and Lancashire Hot Pot and such were, would I, if I was a true southerner. I spent many a holiday in Blackpool, my friend.

Yep so I don't really fit into the class divide or the north-south divide, although I will say it is very very rife in England. I have a song called North of The Midlands which is encouraging the North to stop being bossed by the obnoxious South. I went to Oxford to see what the "elites" are all about, what makes them tick. Not cause I'm one of them.

And I am well aware that half of what I said was Cockney Rhyming Slang, from which I have no real background at all, however the Americans don't really mind whether only 2 of us use it (although there are a few million Londoners who still use that speak), they just want to be entertained. I was in a hurry so I wasn't feeling like distinguishing between north and south.

But I did say "ta-ra" which is very northern and of course "pet" (in Yorkshire and Newcastle they say "pet" instead of "honey" "baby" "darling" or "dear").

Very Northern:
"Mam, 'am goin' t'et Chippeh!"

(Mother, I am going to the Chippy, aka, the Fish N Chip Shop).

I think Manchester has the best chippies ON EARTH.
And I think Liverpool has some of the loveliest people on earth, the best football team, and one of the hottest women alive (see HeyFellas sig).

Call me an ignorant dumb ass (or dumb arse, if that's how you say it), but I'm not sure I'm following that whole north and south thing. It seems to me that north and south in the UK is the opposite of north and south in the US. Here, the north is stereotypically the better educated, more refined area, while the south stereotypically tends to be uneducated and unsophisticated. Could you explain what north and south is in the UK? :dunno:

 

[BlueBalls]

Call me an ignorant dumb ass (or dumb arse, if that's how you say it), but I'm not sure I'm following that whole north and south thing. It seems to me that north and south in the UK is the opposite of north and south in the US. Here, the north is stereotypically the better educated, more refined area, while the south stereotypically tends to be uneducated and unsophisticated. Could you explain what north and south is in the UK? :dunno:

Its the opposite here, the wealth and I suppose the more refined live down south in the London area, and the underclasses live more northern, I suppose you could put it like this, once you pass into Birmingham you have reached the hicks and the hillbillies.

To any northerners on the board, know its true

 

[dave_rhino]

Speaking of TV, do you get many British shows in the US? What do you think of them? :wave2:

They just take our television programs and rerecord them. And fuck them up.

Take the office for example. Dear God, they really missed the point with that one.

 

[Bigoldowls]

We spell these words by keeping the letter 'u'. For example:

Colour
Harbour
Neighbour
Flavour
Favour
Valour
Honour
Rumour
Tumour

 

[Facetious]

Milwall

Are a battery of "hooligans" eh :yesyes:

 

[HeyFellas]

Its the opposite here, the wealth and I suppose the more refined live down south in the London area, and the underclasses live more northern, I suppose you could put it like this, once you pass into Birmingham you have reached the hicks and the hillbillies.

To any northerners on the board, know its true

Yep, can't get much more refined than an Essex girl, they're far superior to those Northern commoners like the Duke of Westminster. :thefinger

Gunslingingbird, the only real difference is the accent, and even that is regional within the North or South, after all Devon (on the South coast) is renowned for being home to hillbilly farmers, whereas Cheshire (in the North) hosts some of the richest and well educated people in the country. :wave2:

 

[Bigoldowls]

We use the letter 's' in words such as:

Organise
Categorise
Nationalise
Rationalise
Unionise

And use the letter 'u' in these words:

Rigour
Vigour

 

[youwanttoshagme]

I once came down from Manchester and jumped off the train in London. Man that was weird. I started looking for the duty free. South (particularly London) is another world from the North. Glad I don't have to go there very often.

And Essex girls :throwup: Not my thing at all.

 

[gunslingingbird]

Yep, can't get much more refined than an Essex girl, they're far superior to those Northern commoners like the Duke of Westminster. :thefinger

Gunslingingbird, the only real difference is the accent, and even that is regional within the North or South, after all Devon (on the South coast) is renowned for being home to hillbilly farmers, whereas Cheshire (in the North) hosts some of the richest and well educated people in the country. :wave2:

Cheshire is a real place?!? I thought it was just the name of the cat in Lewis Carrol's story. Well I'll be damned.

 

[dave_rhino]

Cheshire is a real place?!? I thought it was just the name of the cat in Lewis Carrol's story. Well I'll be damned.

:rofl: