Re: english accents
@Sebby: No, I'm Canadian. But never the less, your linguistic elitism is not grounded in any kind of linguistic or scientific reality, and quite frankly utterly inappropriate for discussion here.
Then it is opinion. And your claim, equally, is opinion, that holds equal weight. We'll have to agree to disagree, I'm afraid.
I agree that English isn't a particularly good language. But it is an international one. Attempts to assert any kind of national claim on modern English are unwelcome and incorrect.
When I am communicating about every dialect of English that is spoken and recognised worldwide, I speak of English. When I refer to a dialect of English, I refer to it as, for example, Australian English or South African English. I really can't understand why anyone would object to making that distinction . They are varieties of English that originated in their particular regions and should be respected as idiosyncratic of those regions. I think US English is sufficiently weird that I jokingly call it "American", and I only use the term "British English" when referring to the especially well-known varieties like RP/academic/royal (I usually single out local variations, like northern, Irish, Welsh, etc). I am, as I said, quite reluctant to refer to all English, except when speaking about all English, simply as English. If we disagree, then it will have to be on equal terms.
And I use the Canadian OED, because that is a thing that exists no matter how you feel about it, and my uses of the words dialect, racism, and bigot are entirely correct.
"Bigot", quite probably. (Note: the immediately preceding sentence is meant to be humour. You spell "Humour" with a u, BTW.) The other two, I& #039;m not so sure. Either we don't have the same book, or you're extraordinarily sensitive. I am not (and would not) attack anyone based on race, and a dialect is a peculiarity of a language. What I think you're saying is that you think I'm excluding a group of people based on their choice of language, but I'm not. It's also not racism. Again though, I prefer to identify dialects as such.
And I'm pleased to hear that you use the OED. I think it's ponderous and pedantic, but it's an excellent dictionary.
You don't get to declare that American is a different language just because you dislike Americans, and that is exactly what you are trying to do.
Did I say I disliked Americans? I find it irritating, for sure, and it always infuriates me when American English creeps into formal contexts. It's "Based on", not "Based off of", for goodness� 39; sake. But it is a language that people use, so I don't hate people for it.
It is as wrong, and as inappropriate, as saying Australians speak Australian, South Africans speak African, and Indians speak Indian.
The mitigating factor is that the term "US English" is essentially redundant; English is the US's primary language. In other cases, especially for colonial regions, there is the danger of some implied racial prejudice, which of course there isn't in my comments. Also, yes, American English is particularly annoying sometimes; I reserve the right to make fun of it whenever I please.
And saying it is a controversial opinion does not buy you a get out of jail free card. Try telling a group of feminists that it is your controversial opinion that men are smarter than women, and women should work exclusively in the home, and see how far that gets you. There are some opinions that nobody in modern society should hold, and if you do hold them, they should never be expressed in a public forum.
It's nice to see that you care about equality, but I'm afraid I can't understand the source of your offence. I think you need to start with the expectation that people are good. You also need to realise that some opinions will not be agreeable to you, and calling them "Offensive" or shunning the person for them without a widely accepted standard of ethics to support it is not likely to engender people to your cause.
URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=177652#p177652
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