5 ms·
Complete tangent but ... you grew up in the bay area, currently live in socal ... but you spelled it "pay through the arse" like I (a .uk resident) would. Care
by mst 7y ago
Complete tangent but ... you grew up in the bay area, currently live in socal ... but you spelled it "pay through the arse" like I (a .uk resident) would.
Care to explain why? No big deal, but my linguistic curiosity is piqued.
- xvedejas 7y agoI see "arse" used on occasion here in the US as a way to make "ass" sound milder. It's like using "darn" instead of "damn", munging the pronunciation. In either case, the cultural exchange goes both ways.
- hhsuey 7y agoWe say "arse" here to be less crass.
- klipt 7y agoThat's funny, because calling someone an "ass" can be euphemistically explained away as just saying they're a donkey, while "arse" is unambiguously anatomical.
- 0xcde4c3db 7y agoBut it's more British, and therefore classier. Because that's definitely how these things work, somehow.
- asveikau 7y agoI think sometimes arse is used in a sort of ironic sounding way here. In general though, outside of this one, a lot of things that somes get described as British use turn out to be things that I would also say. Sometimes there are regional differences in the US, or sonetimes it might even vary with the individual. The patterns of who says what aren't always so neat and organized as "this is always American, this is always British." I myself have one parent who was born in England and immigrated here fairly young, and I sometimes wonder if or assume that's a factor for me.