Some notes on English languge from a non-native speaker

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Since English is not my first language (that being Spanish instead), I ended up developing my own 'dialect' which combines both British and American spellings (although now I'm going more American). As a result, sometimes I use both the British and the American words interchangeabily, while at other times one word has taken over the other. Here are some examples.

-er/-re. I use those two indistinctly, although I'm now leaning to the -er ending. For example, kilometer/kilometre (although here I use '0.621 miles' ). However, with -our/-or it is always -or.

Freeway. I avoided this word until recently as I see it paradoxical if one is tolled, instead using expressway. However those aren't my words of choice, motorway is. But since that word is not used in the USA, I have to use the other two.

Truck. This is the word I use, far over 'lorry' which (for me) is, and only is, a British truck.

Chips. Problematic one, since you Americans use it to designate what British call crisps, and they use it for what you call fries. So I avoid that by using both crisps and fries! (However here I would replace crisps with chips to reflect American usage).

Football. You are the only country that call simply 'football' what the rest of the world know as American football, while the rest of the world call simply 'football' what you call soccer, a word I don't like. Since I'm with the rest of the world, and to avoid confusion, I refer to the 'rest of the world football' here as 'association football', its full name.

Diaper. This word has came up recently in another thread. I swear english si and all the Brits would call it a 'nappy'. I don't have a preference, since I don't have to use one of two.

Estimated Time of Arrival. I always abbreviate that to HEL (from Spanish Hora Estimada de Llegada) in order to avoid naming a (no longer active, fortunately) Basque terrorist group with the same initials.

What you think of my usage of English? Oh, and as answer to that random grammar poll, if I don't know the gender, I use 'it' .

[hotdogPi]

What about -ize/-ise?

[kphoger]

Well, around here, the Spanish word for truck is "troca", while chips is "totopos".

And I dispatch for field technicians who don't know what "ETA" stands for:  you're ahead of the curve!

[Duke87]

Freeway. I avoided this word until recently as I see it paradoxical if one is tolled, instead using expressway.

As you may be aware, there are regional variations on this within the US. "Freeway" is considered the correct technical term by engineers, but most of the east coast would prefer "expressway" or "highway". In some places people simply say "interstate", typically areas where there are no significant roadways of this grade that are not interstates.

As for the seemingly paradoxical nature of the term, the "free" in "freeway" means that traffic on it flows freely and does not have any intersections to stop at, not that it free of charge for use. There are, however, some places where toll roads use the term "tollway" in their names.

Football. You are the only country that call simply 'football' what the rest of the world know as American football, while the rest of the world call simply 'football' what you call soccer, a word I don't like.

Not quite. There are a few other countries that call it soccer, and several more where the predominant term is something else entirely (e.g. "calcio" in Italy). This site has a cool map.

Meanwhile, as much as they like to disown the term and perpetuate the myth that it's a strictly American thing, it was the British who first called the game "soccer".

That said, the term "soccer" is generally declining in popularity around the world. Even within the US, some of our professional teams have taken to using the term "Football Club" in their official names. Also, the Spanish-speaking population here generally calls it "futbol", at least when speaking Spanish.

Estimated Time of Arrival. I always abbreviate that to HEL (from Spanish Hora Estimada de Llegada) in order to avoid naming a (no longer active, fortunately) Basque terrorist group with the same initials.

It's worth noting that the term "ETA" is not universally recognized in the US. It is used by the military, by first responders, and in the transportation business, but outside of these fields not everyone knows it. A lot of people would simply ask something like "how long until you get here?" or "where are you?", and might not understand what you mean if you ask them "what's your ETA?"

[jwolfer]

Since English is not my first language (that being Spanish instead), I ended up developing my own 'dialect' which combines both British and American spellings (although now I'm going more American). As a result, sometimes I use both the British and the American words interchangeabily, while at other times one word has taken over the other. Here are some examples.

-er/-re. I use those two indistinctly, although I'm now leaning to the -er ending. For example, kilometer/kilometre (although here I use '0.621 miles' ). However, with -our/-or it is always -or.

Freeway. I avoided this word until recently as I see it paradoxical if one is tolled, instead using expressway. However those aren't my words of choice, motorway is. But since that word is not used in the USA, I have to use the other two.

Truck. This is the word I use, far over 'lorry' which (for me) is, and only is, a British truck.

Chips. Problematic one, since you Americans use it to designate what British call crisps, and they use it for what you call fries. So I avoid that by using both crisps and fries! (However here I would replace crisps with chips to reflect American usage).

Football. You are the only country that call simply 'football' what the rest of the world know as American football, while the rest of the world call simply 'football' what you call soccer, a word I don't like. Since I'm with the rest of the world, and to avoid confusion, I refer to the 'rest of the world football' here as 'association football', its full name.

Diaper. This word has came up recently in another thread. I swear english si and all the Brits would call it a 'nappy'. I don't have a preference, since I don't have to use one of two.

Estimated Time of Arrival. I always abbreviate that to HEL (from Spanish Hora Estimada de Llegada) in order to avoid naming a (no longer active, fortunately) Basque terrorist group with the same initials.

What you think of my usage of English? Oh, and as answer to that random grammar poll, if I don't know the gender, I use 'it' .

Esribas inglés bastante bien.  Español fue mi concentración en la universidad. Cuando uso español estoy flujo más o menos....

You write Spanish very well. Spanish was my major in college. When I use Spanish i am more or less fluent.

In Spanish I have a Puerto Rican accent with a bit of Uruguay, because of the people from whom I learned Spanish.

Colombians are easiest to understand they say.  I find Mexican Spanish the hardest to understand, it's sing songy and influence from native American languages

[kphoger]

The sing-songy nature is due to a difference in how we time our syllables. In American English, at least, we assign basically the same amount of time to each syllable, whether that syllable is stressed or not. In Mexican Spanish, at least, they time only the stressed syllables to a "beat" and let the unstressed syllables fill the gaps accordingly.

[english si]

Diaper. This word has came up recently in another thread. I swear english si and all the Brits would call it a 'nappy'. I don't have a preference, since I don't have to use one of two.

Yep, it's a nappy.

Not quite. There are a few other countries that call it soccer, and several more where the predominant term is something else entirely (e.g. "calcio" in Italy). This site has a cool map.

That is a cool map.

The soccer places have their own separate code that is more popular - American (USA), Canadian (Canada), Gaelic (Ireland), Aussie Rules (Australia), Rugby (southern Africa, Oceania) - or places like Japan that were exposed to western culture via the US (Japan, parts of the Philippines). The exceptions to that are the Rugby areas of the UK and France, where Rugby is more popular, but they still call Association Football 'Football'.

Meanwhile, as much as they like to disown the term and perpetuate the myth that it's a strictly American thing, it was the British who first called the game "soccer".

Only, and I do mean only, among the elites going to the top public schools* (Eton, Harrow, maybe one or two others in the handful of schools called that) to distinguish 'Association Football' from 'Rugby Football' (rugger) 100 years ago. Football and Rugby dominated the language outside the public school system, and is universally used outside the public school system ('rugger' might appear as an equivalent to 'footy', but soccer is a no-no. Probably due to it's American-ness).

*In British English, public schools are fee-paying, owned and run by the 'public' rather than the state or a church or whatever, whereas state schools are Government-financed. Private schools are also fee-paying, and the difference is a mystery to me, and most people. I think there was some law in the 1850s or something.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

What about -ize/-ise?

This is another case like -er/-re. However I go more with -ize.

As you may be aware, there are regional variations on this within the US. "Freeway" is considered the correct technical term by engineers, but most of the east coast would prefer "expressway" or "highway". In some places people simply say "interstate", typically areas where there are no significant roadways of this grade that are not interstates.

As for the seemingly paradoxical nature of the term, the "free" in "freeway" means that traffic on it flows freely and does not have any intersections to stop at, not that it free of charge for use. There are, however, some places where toll roads use the term "tollway" in their names.

Yup, I've realized/realised (whichever one is used in the US) the actual meaning of 'freeway' recently and as such I started using it. That said, I prefer 'motorway' as it's unambiguous, but that word is not used in the US (apart from that Mitsubishi Motorway somewhere in the midwest).

Esribas inglés bastante bien.  Español fue mi concentración en la universidad. Cuando uso español estoy flujo más o menos....

You write Spanish very well. Spanish was my major in college. When I use Spanish i am more or less fluent.

In Spanish I have a Puerto Rican accent with a bit of Uruguay, because of the people from whom I learned Spanish.

Colombians are easiest to understand they say.  I find Mexican Spanish the hardest to understand, it's sing songy and influence from native American languages

You don't write Spanish very well. What you wanted to write is 'Escribes el inglés muy bien. Español fue mi carrera en la universidad. Cuando uso el español lo hago de forma más o menos fluida'.

[mgk920]

Well, your English is much better than my Spanish.

 

You are correct in that there are many regional variations in the USA, including the meaning of the word 'freeway'.  A big example is that nobody, but nobody, here in Wisconsin nor Illinois would ever refer to a road that requires a direct toll to use as a 'freeway'.  It's a 'tollway', period.

Yes, 'soccer' is short for 'association football' and was coined by the British.  I often differentiate that from the USA's 'football' by using 'fútbol' for the former in both writing and casual conversation.

Also, I would like for the British word 'lorry' to take hold in North America in that right now, there really is no good unique word or term here that describes those heavy over-the-road goods carrying trucks.

'Motorway' is another word that I'd like to see catch on here, too.

Mike

[Brandon]

Also, I would like for the British word 'lorry' to take hold in North America in that right now, there really is no good unique word or term here that describes those heavy over-the-road goods carrying trucks.

'Motorway' is another word that I'd like to see catch on here, too.

Mike

I'll politely disagree with you there.  We have several terms for heavy goods vehicles, depending on size and regional dialect.  There's the box truck (a smaller vehicle with the cab and cargo area on one chassis), the semi or tractor-trailer (articulated with the cab separate from the cargo trailer, sometime called an eighteen wheeler), the double, the triple, and even the turnpike double.

As far as "motorway", yuck.

[Brandon]

Since English is not my first language (that being Spanish instead), I ended up developing my own 'dialect' which combines both British and American spellings (although now I'm going more American). As a result, sometimes I use both the British and the American words interchangeabily, while at other times one word has taken over the other.

Now try the spoken language.  Some of the accents and dialects are mutually unintelligible from each other.  Here's mine: http://www.michigannative.com/ma_home.shtml

Here's some quick guides for some others:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/AmericanAccents
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_accents_of_English

[vdeane]

I heard that "soccer" fell out of favor in the UK specifically because the sport started to become popular in the US and the US used "soccer".

[Rothman]

I heard that "soccer" fell out of favor in the UK specifically because the sport started to become popular in the US and the US used "soccer".

Wankers.

[english si]

I heard that "soccer" fell out of favor in the UK specifically because the sport started to become popular in the US and the US used "soccer".

I said that upthread. But bare in mind that it was only the poshos that said "soccer".

Wankers.

Given we're talking about Public Schoolboys, and only Public Schoolboys, then they were all massive wankers anyway.

[kphoger]

I speak of the following, in order of increasing goods capacity:
Pickup
Cargo van
Package van
Box truck
Straight truck
Tractor-trailer

[jwolfer]

What about -ize/-ise?

This is another case like -er/-re. However I go more with -ize.

As you may be aware, there are regional variations on this within the US. "Freeway" is considered the correct technical term by engineers, but most of the east coast would prefer "expressway" or "highway". In some places people simply say "interstate", typically areas where there are no significant roadways of this grade that are not interstates.

As for the seemingly paradoxical nature of the term, the "free" in "freeway" means that traffic on it flows freely and does not have any intersections to stop at, not that it free of charge for use. There are, however, some places where toll roads use the term "tollway" in their names.

Yup, I've realized/realised (whichever one is used in the US) the actual meaning of 'freeway' recently and as such I started using it. That said, I prefer 'motorway' as it's unambiguous, but that word is not used in the US (apart from that Mitsubishi Motorway somewhere in the midwest).

Esribas inglés bastante bien.  Español fue mi concentración en la universidad. Cuando uso español estoy flujo más o menos....

You write Spanish very well. Spanish was my major in college. When I use Spanish i am more or less fluent.

In Spanish I have a Puerto Rican accent with a bit of Uruguay, because of the people from whom I learned Spanish.

Colombians are easiest to understand they say.  I find Mexican Spanish the hardest to understand, it's sing songy and influence from native American languages

You don't write Spanish very well. What you wanted to write is 'Escribes el inglés muy bien. Español fue mi carrera en la universidad. Cuando uso el español lo hago de forma más o menos fluida'.

Lo siento. I am a bit rusty I haven't written Spanish extensively in over 15 years. I do normally write Spanish better, but based on this example you are correct.. Not written well at all.. I did have a the escribas wrong.

I was writing just before bed and my autocorrect does not like Spanish.

Concentración for major in college was what I learned from native speakers from Puerto Rico, Honduras, Cuba and Uruguay.. One of the differences from continental Spanish I suppose.

[Road Hog]

Diaper. This word has came up recently in another thread. I swear english si and all the Brits would call it a 'nappy'. I don't have a preference, since I don't have to use one of two.

Yep, it's a nappy.

Not quite. There are a few other countries that call it soccer, and several more where the predominant term is something else entirely (e.g. "calcio" in Italy). This site has a cool map.

That is a cool map.

The soccer places have their own separate code that is more popular - American (USA), Canadian (Canada), Gaelic (Ireland), Aussie Rules (Australia), Rugby (southern Africa, Oceania) - or places like Japan that were exposed to western culture via the US (Japan, parts of the Philippines). The exceptions to that are the Rugby areas of the UK and France, where Rugby is more popular, but they still call Association Football 'Football'.

Meanwhile, as much as they like to disown the term and perpetuate the myth that it's a strictly American thing, it was the British who first called the game "soccer".

Only, and I do mean only, among the elites going to the top public schools* (Eton, Harrow, maybe one or two others in the handful of schools called that) to distinguish 'Association Football' from 'Rugby Football' (rugger) 100 years ago. Football and Rugby dominated the language outside the public school system, and is universally used outside the public school system ('rugger' might appear as an equivalent to 'footy', but soccer is a no-no. Probably due to it's American-ness).

*In British English, public schools are fee-paying, owned and run by the 'public' rather than the state or a church or whatever, whereas state schools are Government-financed. Private schools are also fee-paying, and the difference is a mystery to me, and most people. I think there was some law in the 1850s or something.

All that rugby puts hairs on your chest.