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In America you say "elevator", in England we say "lift". In America you say "TV", in England we say "telly". In America you say "'erb", in England we say "her
by Zelphyr 14y ago
In America you say "elevator", in England we say "lift". In America you say "TV", in England we say "telly". In America you say "'erb", in England we say "herb" because there's a fucking "H" in it.
- kstenerud 14y agoAnd yet you say "alf" instead of "half".
- untog 14y agoHa. I think it's actually impossible to generalise about British accents because there are too many of them. I definitely pronounce the H in half, though I'll agree that many don't.
- derleth 14y agoAnd "Bri'ish" because replacing a 't' with a glottal stop is a perfectly reasonable thing to do.
- hcho 14y agoAgain, which British. We have more accents than you have states.
- beachstartup 14y agowe have more accents than we have states too.
- louthy 14y agoThe only American pronunciation that stops me in my tracks is "nitch" for 'niche'. Whereas in the UK we'll pronounce it "neesh".
- pessimizer 14y agoWow. An example where the British chose the French pronunciation and the US is (a bit spottily) tending to Anglicize a word. I never can think of one when I try. Thanks for that.
- arethuza 14y agoCoupé is my favourite - in the UK it is pronounced the French way whereas in the US it seems to be pronounced as "coop".
- metageek 14y ago"Neesh" is taught as Correct in the US, though it's not universally used.
- dazzla 14y agoHere's the clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs5H7cgcpkg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs5H7cgcpkg
- gte910h 14y agoIn parts of the US we say herb too
- vacri 14y agoI remember seeing a linguistic graph of the US showing how different regions referred to fizzy sweet drinks (here in Australia, that's 'soft drinks'). The predominant usage was 'soda', fair enough, I can see it. Then there was a fair area of 'pop', which sounds cute and archaic to my ears, but fair enough. The confusing one was a swathe of the US south where they're referred to as 'coke', regardless of the actual drink. I remember someone here on HN relating the story of being asked to get some coke, came back with Coke, and being told he got the wrong thing...
- softbuilder 14y agoThe Coca-Cola Company is based in Atlanta, in the South. It's where the drink has existed the longest. Still crazy, but maybe that gives some perspective.
- darkarmani 14y agoAnd somehow that trademark is still not generic.
- gte910h 14y agoIn the south, you almost always ARE getting a Coke product. Pretty much only at Taco Bell/KFC are you getting a Pepsi product.
- mratzloff 14y agoThe proper exchange is: "I'll have a coke." "Which kind would you like?"
- gte910h 14y agoI live in Atlanta. It's no weirder than Xerox to mean photocopier honestly once you've noticed.