This shirt cracks me up so bad

Wai Jia: The Kung Fu Forum Kung Fu Training and Health
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I’m also interested in accents and linguistics in general. I wrote my freshman paper on the evolution of the unnamed Proto-Indo-European language into Sanskrit into Greek/Latin and into modern day languages. Right next to my exercise books are books on linguistic evolution and the framework of many of the world’s languages.

My primary concern is that the English is grammatically correct. I cannot stand common errors (common here in the states, I don’t know about down there) such as double negatives (“we didn’t have no fun”) or use of the word “ain’t” (“we ain’t gonna go”). Now, I’m talking about in native English speakers here. For example, if your native language was Spanish where it’s considered correct to use double negatives, then I can understand why you might use them in English, too. I’ll let certain errors slide, such as ending a sentence with a preposition. Oh, I also cannot stand improper verb conjugation such as “we is gonna go” or “So I says to her,” and very close to the top of my hate list is the phrase “I seen,” such as “Yeah, I seen one of those cars before.”

I find a few accents annoying and I find a few other accents pretty cool. However, another thing I cannot stand is the glorification of “ghetto” English when you have middle to upper-class, educated kids dumbing down their English because MTV told them it was cool. “Yo dawg, we finna be up out dis b.itch.” Do you guys have this phenomenon in Australia?

Note: “Finna” is a contraction of “fixing to,” which is a southern expression meaning “preparing to do something.” Going to : gonna :: Fixing to : finna.

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Originally posted by IronFist
I’ll let certain errors slide, such as ending a sentence with a preposition.
It’s a known thing in Oz, but. I did it yesterday IIRC. Finishing a sentence with “but”, I mean. I don’t do it much, but I was making a point yesterday.

Originally posted by IronFist
Do you guys have this phenomenon in Australia?
Not so much. There isn’t such a melting-pot of cultures here yet. You might get some kids trying to be American ghetto seeing you have such pervasive (by way of media) culture, but that won’t get much respect from peers.

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Originally posted by Toby
It’s a known thing in Oz, but. I did it yesterday IIRC. Finishing a sentence with “but”, I mean. I don’t do it much, but I was making a point yesterday.

Hmm. Maybe this is different, but I’ll end a sentence with “but” if the rest of the sentence is implied or something I don’t want to say. Or, sometimes it will also end with “but, yeah…” when there is a mutual agreement between the speaker and the listener as to what will happen. For example:

“When am I going to find time to go to the post office? They open at the same time I’m supposed to be at work and they close at the same time I get off of work. I guess I could go in the morning and show up to work late, but… (I’d get in trouble)”

Not so much. There isn’t such a melting-pot of cultures here yet. You might get some kids trying to be American ghetto seeing you have such pervasive (by way of media) culture, but that won’t get much respect from peers.

Wow, at least it’s not respected there. In some places here people will look at you funny if you speak correctly.

Q: Where da train station at?
A: Over there

Q: To whom do I give my ticket?
A: Wtf is you talking about?

It’s not like that everywhere, but in some places. In fact, in certain places (demographically speaking, they usually have many poor black people) there is a phenomenon where education is looked down upon. You lose your “street cred” if you get an education. They call it becoming “white washed” or something. So, if you stay on the streets and sell drugs and speak ebonics people respect you, but if you go to school and start speaking “the white man’s English” you are basically ostracized from the community. Hooray. It’s cool to be dumb. :rolleyes:

Please note that poor English is generally acceptable when used for mocking purposes :smiley: If we’re parting and I say “I gots to go back to my crib and cheeeell (chill)” and I’m saying it to be funny, that’s cool. But if I always say that and I’m being serious, then I suck :smiley:

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PS. Hey Toby, have you ever been to the states? All the ladies love Australian accents :smiley: Oh wait, aren’t you married?

PPS. This goes for people from the UK, too.

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Accents are hot :wink: Especially Irish and French :smiley:

Half of my girlfriends have been Canadian, now I have a Joiszey girl, heh.

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Originally posted by IronFist
Hmm. Maybe this is different, but I’ll end a sentence with “but” if the rest of the sentence is implied or something I don’t want to say. Or, sometimes it will also end with “but, yeah…” when there is a mutual agreement between the speaker and the listener as to what will happen.

Well then, you’re not ending it with a but, you’re ending it with an ellipsis. :smiley:

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^ lol :smiley:

I meant “but” is the last word in the sentence, punctuation nonwithstanding. Because if punctuation counted, every statement would technically end with a period or exclamation point.

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Originally posted by IronFist
PS. Hey Toby, have you ever been to the states? All the ladies love Australian accents :smiley: Oh wait, aren’t you married?
Yeppers. Manhattan - my parents have friends that have (had) a spare apartment they use as an office on West 87th IIRC. Cleveland - my mother-in-law came from there 40yrs ago so lots of rellies to stay with. L.A. - a friend of my wife lives in Orange County but we stayed with her mum in Anaheim Hills. San Fran - wife’s cousin. Aspen, CO - my mum’s friend. Jackson, WY - wife’s cousin. All that spread over two visits. I wasn’t married then, but got engaged in an airport motel in Calgary as soon as we left the states one time. Romantic, huh? :smiley:

Ending a sentence with “but” may be common. It’s not good grammar, but.

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Originally posted by Toby
mum

I always thought it was funny that British people and Australians actually spelled that word m-u-m. I thought they were just pronouncing “mom” with a different vowel, but they actually write it that way :smiley:

Ending a sentence with “but” may be common. It’s not good grammar, but.

So do you use it the same way I explained (to imply something that you don’t want to say), or do you just throw it on the end of a sentence for fun?

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Originally posted by IronFist
I always thought it was funny that British people and Australians actually spelled that word m-u-m. I thought they were just pronouncing “mom” with a different vowel, but they actually write it that way :smiley:
Yeah, the correct way :rolleyes:
Originally posted by IronFist
So do you use it the same way I explained (to imply something that you don’t want to say), or do you just throw it on the end of a sentence for fun?
Both. The former less, though. Like I said, I don’t use it often but.

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Bollocks. It’s because the people in Neighbours say it like that.

“I cannot stand common errors (common here in the states, I don’t know about down there) such as double negatives (“we didn’t have no fun”) or use of the word “ain’t” (“we ain’t gonna go”). Now, I’m talking about in native English speakers here. For example, if your native language was Spanish where it’s considered correct to use double negatives, then I can understand why you might use them in English, too. I’ll let certain errors slide, such as ending a sentence with a preposition. Oh, I also cannot stand improper verb conjugation such as “we is gonna go” or “So I says to her,” and very close to the top of my hate list is the phrase “I seen,” such as “Yeah, I seen one of those cars before.””

That sounds like cokerney to me, me old mucker.

ho, ho :slight_smile:

If I could only visit one place in the US, where should I go?

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Originally posted by scotty1
Bollocks. It’s because the people in Neighbours say it like that.
Lol! I haven’t watched Neighbours in years. Do they often end sentences with “but”? Dunno.
Originally posted by scotty1
If I could only visit one place in the US, where should I go?
I like the Rockies, but I’m a mountain lover. Any small town in the Rockies. Depends what you’re looking for. I didn’t like L.A. (too sprawling with no centre) but did like Disney and Universal Studios. Manhattan was alright for a few days look around.

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Well, 200yrs ago we came from England.

Toby, you guys didn’t come from England, you were kicked out of England!:smiley:

Manhattan was alright for a few days look around? The freakin center of da univoirse and dats da best youse can say?

Anyways thanks for Yahoo Serious and all those Outback restaurants.

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Originally posted by rogue
Toby, you guys didn’t come from England, you were kicked out of England!:smiley:
:smiley: True, true, although my family owned a large porition of land in this state, so I guess they probably came over after the early batches of crims. Plus I live on the other side and we weren’t quite the penal colony that NSW and Tasmania had a reputation as being.

Originally posted by rogue
Manhattan was alright for a few days look around? The freakin center of da univoirse and dats da best youse can say?
You know, I found Manhattan smaller than I ever thought. We walked one day from 87th to the southern tip. Didn’t take long. I guess I should say that most big cities bore me. I’m into sports and stuff and cities aren’t so conducive to that. I’ve usually been with girlfriend->wife, so we end up shopping at crappy department stores. I’d rate London marginally better than Manhattan personally. Rarely I’ll enjoy a city, but I’ve liked Montreal and Amsterdam. Munich’s pretty cool too. Copenhagen, Monte Carlo, Venice, Rome, Florence, Vienna. Some cities have flavour, but Manhattan didn’t really to me. We were only there less than a week, though.

Originally posted by rogue
Anyways thanks for Yahoo Serious and all those Outback restaurants.
:rolleyes: You’re welcome, but you forgot Crocodile Dundee III, Kangaroo Jack and ugg boots on movie starlets in bikinis.

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Regardless of where you go, you better not say a word like “meter” (metre?) or “kilo” here or people will look at you like this: :confused:

Then again, if you say “kilo” people might think you’re talking about marijuana :smiley:

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That’s funny, because over here street drugs are measured in oz and lb (except by the cops :p).

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Yeah same here.

And I’ve got an image in my head of Holly Valance in a schoolgirls uniform saying “but” at the end of a sentence. Dunno how that got there…

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who cares if it’s impossible for most people to understand, it’s an awesome shirt. The right wingers have one “Even on drugs, Rush is right”

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Toby, Amsterdam is a trip. I was always surprised by the window tappers.:wink:

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I like Boston brahmin accents. not pahk ya cah boston, but John Kerry/ Ted kennedy style. Tony Blankely on Mcglauhlin group does too, yo