You are not logged in. Would you like to login or register?



14-4-2016 20:14:28  #31


Re: What It Means to Be an American

ztyper wrote:

I was actually thinking about a typewriter that can type in Korean.

Well, in that case Kat was right: you find them in Korea! 


The pronoun has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
 

15-4-2016 19:49:36  #32


Re: What It Means to Be an American

colrehogan wrote:

I've been told that I don't sound like an American by someone in the U.K.  I asked what an American sounds like but they couldn't tell me.

I used to be told regularly that I don't sound like a New Yorker. When I think why "used to", it occurs to me I have not been outside of New York City recently. When I pressed, some said I sounded like a newscaster. Twenty years ago a friend told me that the only real New York accents you hear anymore were in New Jersey. Maybe today they are a dead language, like Cockney. 

I noticed a long time ago that British royalty did not have much of a British accent. Maybe message is that a veneer of education wears the edges off regional accents.


"Damn the torpedoes! Four bells, Captain Drayton".
 

15-4-2016 22:32:40  #33


Re: What It Means to Be an American

I can confirm that the "New Yorker" accent is dead. Nobody's spoken like that since the 80's, and that was just in Hoboken anyways.


A high schooler with a lot of typewriters. That's pretty much about it.
 

16-4-2016 05:40:28  #34


Re: What It Means to Be an American

Accents are a funny thing. They change over time, too: nobody talks now the way they did in the 1930s. 

Certainly the whole point of an education used to be to smooth away the rough, regional edges - the biggest difference between now and the 30s is that regional accents are now respectable. The royal family speaks perfect RP, or Received Pronunciation, which is the most 'invisible' English accent. But England (let alone Britain) has so many accents that George Bernard Shaw was barely joking in 'Pygmalion' when Henry Higgins claims he can tell what street someone's from by the way they talk.

My accent is a neverending subject of very tedious conversation. Some say I've 'really kept it!' Some say they can hear New York; I used to work with a woman who wanted me to come to her desk every morning and say, 'I wanna cup of cawffee!' Some say I've 'really lost it'. In London it's remarked on in some way by almost every person I meet, and in America people think I'm English. I think the truth is that it slips around all over the place.

Funnily enough I read last week that Americans had voted a Glaswegian accent as the 'sexiest' UK accent.

 

16-4-2016 12:13:24  #35


Re: What It Means to Be an American

KatLondon wrote:

Funnily enough I read last week that Americans had voted a Glaswegian accent as the 'sexiest' UK accent.

 I don't remember that...


A high schooler with a lot of typewriters. That's pretty much about it.
 

17-4-2016 04:05:38  #36


Re: What It Means to Be an American

Ye dinnae mind it? Och, here it is.

 

17-4-2016 07:56:08  #37


Re: What It Means to Be an American

Centrifugal and centripetal forces are perhaps best balanced. Uniformity is like a metric system for language and speeds commerce and exchange of ideas. But invariably there is a push back from defenders of the regionalisms, who want to preserve their culture. I was reminded of this researching - yes - Kazakhstan! I wanted to know something about the home of my future typewriter. Russian is the "commercial" language of Kazakhstan, and almost everybody speaks Russian. But the Kazakh language is alive, and now that the Russian empire has backed off - in theory - there is of course a drive to revive and preserve Kazakh. Sound familiar? Couldn't sound anything like Celtic? Now that the British empire is backing off there is of course a drive to revive and preserve Celtic. I think that is a good thing, but the remnants of the Celts are also stuck with English, the unifying language of commerce and the exchange of ideas.

Although there were many temptations to belong to other nations I thank God I was born a FormerEnglishColonyman!

P.S. I hope my adopted typewriter is on its way and I have not been bilked by a ersatz Kazakh typewriter trafficking ring.


"Damn the torpedoes! Four bells, Captain Drayton".
 

21-4-2016 20:25:54  #38


Re: What It Means to Be an American

KatLondon wrote:

Kazakhstani typewriter! Brilliant, keep us posted on that when it arrives. 

It's heeeere! And it's everything I could have hoped for.

But full description and photos will have to wait for a day with more leisure. 


"Damn the torpedoes! Four bells, Captain Drayton".
 

01-5-2016 16:10:00  #39


Re: What It Means to Be an American

beak wrote:

Interesting to read again OPs opinion of how others see Americans in the light of his dramatic exit from the forum today.  A conflation of how the world views 'Americans' and how the world sees one of them?

Aw dry up, Mister beak!
 


Underwood--Speeds the World's Bidness
     Thread Starter
 

01-5-2016 16:15:44  #40


Re: What It Means to Be an American

ztyper wrote:

I feel like the topic of pride is something that has come up here again and again. In my opinion, I do not feel like pride is something that is that should be suppressed, given that it's not used to snub the other person or to make everyone else feel bad. There is pride in one's achievements, history, and heritage. Saying that you're glad to be who you are, and where you're from is not a bad thing, it can be a driving force to make your world a better place, in return gives you pride in the fact that you have done something beneficial to someone other than yourself. But there is also the "dirty" pride, the kind that you say to lift yourself higher than the rest so you may shine with light of a thousand stars and that you bathe in a shower of a thousand kisses. And between those two kinds of pride is a very fine line.

Am I proud to be an American? Yes, yes I am. Much in the same way I am proud to be from New Jersey (yeah take that! "Armpit of America," pffff, give me a break...). I'm proud of the people that live here, and though we can do better, I think overall it's a nice place and I think you should visit sometime.

JustAnotherGuy had a very good point though, we need to be careful about not labeling ourselves to avoid fencing ourselves and further dividing the world. I too have noticed that, especially among my peers, that we like to keep ourselves in little groups of like-minded people. Now, I think that it's just a high school thing because many adults and teachers have pointed this out, but I can't be sure because I still need to mature and see the world for myself. I sometimes wish I was surrounded by like-minded people all the time. Thinking would be much easier (because there is none) and my opinion would always be repeated back to me, reassuring myself that I am always right. But no, I must always challenge my thought process and I must always listen to others to see their opinion and then form my own from my beliefs and morals. Because believe me, both extremes in my school are unbearable, so I refuse to belong to either even if I used to.

So as a wise sailor once said "I yam, what I yam" and that's the philosophy I follow. I'm proud of who I am, what I do, and what I stand for. I don't belong to any group (besides the label of "typewriter-lover"). If you don't like me, well, then you can go... please reconsider because I want to be your friend. 

Very well said.
 


Underwood--Speeds the World's Bidness
     Thread Starter
 

Board footera

 

Powered by Boardhost. Create a Free Forum