Reserved English
- Thread starter pickles
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Big_Spark
pickles said:
And your irrelevent point is Pickles??
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Big_Spark
pickles said:
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I think you would appreciate the book "Watching the English".
It's an anthropologist's take on the English as a people. Such things that we don't even think about, like queuing rules, class vs supermarket you shop at, not wanting to make a fuss.
Hilarious. Now I see these traits everywhere.
Apparently, to foreigners something as simple as a busy pub is incomprehensible to them. They've just got the hang of standing in a neat British line, not pushing in, but now they are faced with a random throng of people all standing at the bar, all trying to get served. Yet somehow, everyone at the bar seems to know the order in which they must be served. How many times has the barman offered to serve you and with a simple flick of the fiver in your hand told him, non-verbally, that the guy to your right was there first?
Of course it doesn't work in some bars, especially nightclubs and townie-haunts.
It's an anthropologist's take on the English as a people. Such things that we don't even think about, like queuing rules, class vs supermarket you shop at, not wanting to make a fuss.
Hilarious. Now I see these traits everywhere.
Apparently, to foreigners something as simple as a busy pub is incomprehensible to them. They've just got the hang of standing in a neat British line, not pushing in, but now they are faced with a random throng of people all standing at the bar, all trying to get served. Yet somehow, everyone at the bar seems to know the order in which they must be served. How many times has the barman offered to serve you and with a simple flick of the fiver in your hand told him, non-verbally, that the guy to your right was there first?
Of course it doesn't work in some bars, especially nightclubs and townie-haunts.
Whoose the author
The funniest book Iv'e read on living in the uk is Bill Brysons "Notes from a small Island". He turned up in the 1970's and stayed in a guest house in Dover for a while. His descriptions of the characters staying there had me in Hysterics
The funniest book Iv'e read on living in the uk is Bill Brysons "Notes from a small Island". He turned up in the 1970's and stayed in a guest house in Dover for a while. His descriptions of the characters staying there had me in Hysterics
Apparently Australian Aborigines seldom say "no" in English, so appear to be agreeing because they are saying "yes" when people are expecting a "no".
I read some law officials' guide to Aboriginal English once, that explained it all. Very interesting, actually.
I read some law officials' guide to Aboriginal English once, that explained it all. Very interesting, actually.
Yes, this kind of thing is very common. For example, "We'll see" in English usually means "Yes", but in Japanese it means "No".
When I was in Portugal I asked a colleague to translate "Please do not switch this off". It is "Deixar Ligado" (I think). I asked "What, no 'por favor'?" Apparently not.
This is why foreigners can come over as rude, they don't say P & Qs as in their language it is either just not said, OR implied in the tense/formation of sentences rather than just single words.
When I was in Portugal I asked a colleague to translate "Please do not switch this off". It is "Deixar Ligado" (I think). I asked "What, no 'por favor'?" Apparently not.
This is why foreigners can come over as rude, they don't say P & Qs as in their language it is either just not said, OR implied in the tense/formation of sentences rather than just single words.
AdamW said:How many times has the barman offered to serve you and with a simple flick of the fiver in your hand told him, non-verbally, that the guy to your right was there first?
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B****y hell Adam, I can't remember when I last got away with going to the bar and coming away having spent less than a fiver, especially with the wife and kids in tow
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You must mean 'roman' languages then, cause most germanic language it's the same:notb665 said:
Dutch = alstublieft (or a.u.b.)
German = Bitte
Scandinavion = Tak (if I remember correctly)
after (or before) every request or question you have.
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