General Chat

I thought it was people from Edinburgh who spoke the properist English lol Oh well I was close. They were definitely Scottish though.

Liz - No.1 comes next door to my office to get me when he finds a bumble bee in the house. Bugs are my bailiwick, as vermin are yours. ;) I got to fish the dead baby racoon out of my little (7-foot wide) swimming pool a couple of years ago; not bad enough the guilt I felt, he couldn't have just disposed of it without me knowing, no.

I'll bet AllAn never makes his treasure do such things.

I shall keep Leeds Sue up my sleeve. So far, I have had no more argument (or deletion!).

And yes, well, after reading such ignorance of such useful and widely known expressions as "back and forth", I'd be surprised that anyone knew what "whom" was too. ;)

Now tell me about the subjunctive. Hahahaha. That's another bit of proper English we colonials have preserved and you don't got anymore, the result being that you sometimes sound very odd. And illiterate.

nyahahaha.

Keep your subjunctive thoughts to yourself Janey...and as for our ignorance....not even going to answer that one :-))))

lol Janey

Just call me the Undertaker.

I have to bury all the corpses (and part-corpses) left by our cats. Mice of all sizes.

This morning I was asked to dispose of a live one brought in during the very early hours. It was still alive so carried it out of the house and let it go in an area of the nieghbourhood not frequented by cats!

Allan

hi janey, always say back and forth or to and fro, probably the first one more, hope this sorts you atrgument out!

Rushes in after skipping pages between 4 and 8. Now noticed mention of mice. Certain am far to late for the original question. Too busy to skip back and forth between the pages.

Answer to your question. Most emphatically YES.

All the time.

And PS. Janey. Are you arguing with yourself? Must be!

And never, ever end a sentence with a preposition.

And it is a well known fact, Secret Squirrel, that the best English is spoken in Dublin, not Scotland..... lol....

no Cheshire BC..

BC I thought it was the Irish that had the best education but I could have sworn it was Scotland that spoke the best English. However, it may depend on when it was said. It was a few years ago that I'd heard it.

I don't know how old this is:

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9B05E4D7153EE233A25751C1A9619C946997D6CF

No, Lesley, I think it is true, it was told to me by a man in a Dublin pub many years ago and I believe him:)) lol BC XX

Hah, quoting yanks (the NYTimes) on who speaks the best English. A new low!

But oops, it is an opinion from "The London Academy", 1908. Alrighty.

The west coast of Scotland, and Ireland.

Well -- Ireland has retained some original English, it's true -- and that's what got passed on to North America, too, from the original English settlers and also the later Irish influence. You people there didn't start dropping your "r"s until the 1700s, for instance. The Irish (and North Americans) still pronounce a distinct "r" at the end of words like "father" (unless you're a New Yorker saying "hello mudda, hello fadda"). No poncy "ah"s for us.

Just like "back and forth". Good English that we kept, and you're forgetting. ;)

As it happens Janey, not all regional dialect have dropped their 'r's. The west country, from Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and even Hampshire all have distinctive rounded r's. But it really does depend on where you come from.

When I was at school, I was taught in 'proper' english, the r's are rolled, rather like the scots, but who does that any more?

Alright. All together.

Around the rugged rocks the ragged rascal ran.
She sells sea shells by the sea shore. The sea shells that she sells are sea shells I'm sure.
How much wood can a woodchuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood. As much wood as a wood chuck could chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood.
I'm a pheasant plucker's - whoops no not that one, sorry

We both sound our Rs me from Hampshire living in Gloucestershire and him from Devon living in Gloucestershire.

I like the way an attractive woman rolls her 'R's' when she is walking and talking

:0))

Allan

I feel discriminated against because I can't roll my r's.

Allan's being naughty again.

Just came across another word we don't seem to use here at all, but I heard it used in the UK years ago. Is it still used? Shan't. We say won't.
You might want to toss that one around for a few pages.

I say "I won't" But won't is will not and shan't is shall not so maybe both are correct.

I sound my Rs I don't roll them.

I shan't tell you Berona lol

Actually, I say I won't or in this context probably I'm not telling you lol