urge to kill rising... (a proof read rant)

[JP Dogberry]

The word "bastardisation" comes to mind.

[The Jade Knight]

That's an excellent word.

I happen to find many British spellings aesthetically pleasing.

And American punctuation is just generally stupid when compared to the Continental or British model.

All hail logic!

[Entsuropi]

Entropy, hate to break it to you, but that isn't the F-bomb.

No crap, sherlock.

[Archon]

Well then, my dear Watson, why don't you refrain from mislabeling your profanity?

[Master Xaio]

Make Bones post here already. If he refuses, sing "Bones, Bones, Bones, Bones, Don't you love to suck the marrow?" at him until he agrees.

Yeah, uh, NO.  Much as I like pretty white wraparound jackets with the shiny (Shiny, Gopher! Shiny!) buckles, I think I'll pass in this instance.  And I'd be very much interested to see you trying to shoot a crossbow.  Complete geeks from BDC don't have a good history with crossbows - y'know, Bones shooting himself through the hand with one   But anyway...

Could I just point one thing out SE? I believe that at various points in history, the Romans, Alexander the Great, the Crusaders, the Mongols, Hitler, Britain, and, I think, Russia, have all thought that they were going to pretty much 'own' the world, and that everyone would be converted to their way of speaking and thinking... sorry to burst your bubble, but I last I heard people were still speaking things apart from latin, german, and english

What *will* probably happen is that in 50 years time, there will be two seperate languages - English and American.  Then people can argue which one is better.

[JP Dogberry]

and American will look like this:

"Y'all wesoo owx0e all yonder world right here and there, yokel, so, iffin, uh, yokel, uh, iffen ye be minded to talk to y'all over 'in there, we iffin uh yokel have the right to be wielding yer guns, so we mustin' be yokel be bein the best nation on earth!"

And yes, that's supposed to be funny, not insulting.

[Master Gopher]

Make Bones post here already. If he refuses, sing "Bones, Bones, Bones, Bones, Don't you love to suck the marrow?" at him until he agrees.

- yes, well I poke him every now and then, tell him he's a stooge, steal his food, and point and laugh at his bad haircut, but all as yet to no avail. Say Xaio, about that armoury...

[Jelly_Belly]

What *will* probably happen is that in 50 years time, there will be two seperate languages - English and American.  Then people can argue which one is better.

I think that it will take much longer than 50 years (in fact we've talked about this in some of my classes). First of all, America and Britain have been separated for 400 years and yet, in general, Americans are able to understand the British just fine and vice versa. To add to this, the language separation between America and Britain has slowed down considerably since the world has gotten "smaller" (i.e. through satellite communication, media, world-wide travel, etc.). This doesn't mean that the languages won't separate, but it will take quite a bit longer than if there was the same amount of communication between the two countries as there was back in the seventeenth century.

Besides, when can you really say that America has taken on a completely new language and is no longer the same as that spoken in Britain? There are many languages that are considered separate languages even though they can be understood by speakers of other languages (for example, Ukrainian and Russian). I think that it will be considered a separate language when enough people advocate for it being separate and it is accepted by a wide populace. I am not sure that will happen very easily because a lot of people like English being the widest spread language and as long as the language that is spoken in Australia, the U.S., England, South Africa, India, etc. is considered the same, then it will keep its position as a powerful language. It empowers speakers of English and people like being empowered. Anyway, it's something to think about.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

Could I just point one thing out SE? I believe that at various points in history, the Romans, Alexander the Great, the Crusaders, the Mongols, Hitler, Britain, and, I think, Russia, have all thought that they were going to pretty much 'own' the world, and that everyone would be converted to their way of speaking and thinking... sorry to burst your bubble, but I last I heard people were still speaking things apart from latin, german, and english

What *will* probably happen is that in 50 years time, there will be two seperate languages - English and American.  Then people can argue which one is better.

The other problem with that idea is that Latin DOES still dominate. there are more European languages that have Latin as their foundation than any other tradition. We still use latin modifiers and terms. And the single largest Christian organization still uses Latin as an official language. It's often used in science. THis 1500 years after the nation who made the language ceased to exist. Sorry, that's pretty darn influential. For hundreds of years it WAS what you spoke. I never said American English would be permanently enshrined, but I think it will come to dominate over other forms of the language.

and American will look like this:

"Y'all wesoo owx0e all yonder world right here and there, yokel, so, iffin, uh, yokel, uh, iffen ye be minded to talk to y'all over 'in there, we iffin uh yokel have the right to be wielding yer guns, so we mustin' be yokel be bein the best nation on earth!"

And yes, that's supposed to be funny, not insulting.

What's really funny about it is that I hear many many more australians speak on par with this intellectual level than Americans.

As for anything else being funny about it, I don't think so. It just sounded like more American bashing, which is the thing about you that angers me the most, Jam.

[JP Dogberry]

I'm not bashing Americans, I'm bashing stupid americans.

I bash stupid Australians too. Equal oppurtunity stupid people bashing!

[Archon]

I'm not angry, I just want to point out that that is in no way representative of the way normal American's speak. I have relatives from the south (whom I think you are trying to refer to) that I visit, and that isn't remotely representative of them either, even taking into account that it is exaggeration. So yeah, not out of line so much as out of place.

[JP Dogberry]

ya think?

[Melonade]

I'm not bashing Americans, I'm bashing stupid americans.

I bash stupid Australians too. Equal oppurtunity stupid people bashing!

Is there a difference between an American and a stupid American?  I thought the therm 'American' just automatically inferred the 'stupid'.

Also, uh, if America, like, was formed by the British, and also their language originated likewise, wouldn't you think that it would make more sense to maintain it?  Obviously not, I suppose it is logicalthat over the centuries, in order to allow for the decrease in the intellectual average, the American language and grammatical requirements have had to have to been simplified.

Nerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[fuzzyoctopus]

(to reply to your introduction post)

There are a few regular gals around here  - me, Brenna, stacer, Old One, Mistress of Darkness, Ms. Fish, Tekiel and Sigyn are the ones that come to mind.  Jelly Belly just joined our ranks as well.

(Who am I forgetting?)

Ah yes, Master Gopher as well.

Welcome!

[Master Gopher]

*0_0*

JP got himself a minion!!!
Also... Woo, now I know it was *you* who randomly spawned on my msn list...