My first americans

[seigus]

American here - and I say "bloody" all the time. Keeps me from saying the worse words (sometimes).

[Megg]

The thing I hated about the Harry Potter books published by Scholastic in the US was that Scholastic felt they had to translate them from English to American.

I must be living under a rock, I had no idea! Wow. Makes me want to buy a whole new set for myself from the UK. The daughter can keep the American ones.

[Pagan]

American here - and I say "bloody" all the time. Keeps me from saying the worse words (sometimes).

I use it, too. Except it's usually followed by "hell"....

[Ghel]

You do understand that American English is a dialect of English and not a wholly separate language. People from the UK and the US can normally understand each other with minimal difficulty.

Edited for accuracy. There's enough differences between dialects and accents that it can be difficult to understand each other.

Personally, there's quite a bit of English that I only picked up from watching Doctor Who and Monty Python.

[Broomjockey]

Anyone who wants the UK version of Harry Potter can just pick up the Canadian set from Amazon.ca and save themselves some postage and currency conversion pain.

http://www.amazon.ca/Harry-Potter-Bo...5269576&sr=8-1

[Mike Taylor]

First. STUNNED that either of you felt it necessary to point that out.

Second, I was really going for the geography thing - languages of the Americas. 'Native to' and 'originate in' hadn't been specified at the point in the thread where I responded. I was just adding to the choices that lilstu50's customer might have to decide from.

I like to have the Native American languages ready for the "This is America! Speak English!" crowd.

[Pagan]

Edited for accuracy. There's enough differences between dialects and accents that it can be difficult to understand each other.

Personally, there's quite a bit of English that I only picked up from watching Doctor Who and Monty Python.

Not to mention that we have trouble in the US understanding each other from region to region.

Say "pop" around here for soda and you're likely to get a look from us.

[EricKei]

Not to mention that we have trouble in the US understanding each other from region to region.

Say "pop" around here for soda and you're likely to get a look from us.

"Pop"...? Certainly, you must mean a "cold drink"...

SIGH. I'm just jealous. I wish I were in Scotland.

~Awaaaay, awaaay, awaaay down south in Glasgowwwwww~

...Sorry, I simply couldn't resist any longer

[edible_hat]

"Pop"...? Certainly, you must mean a "cold drink"...

oh! beer! Pale or sparkling?

[EricKei]

oh! beer! Pale or sparkling?

I'm a tee-totaller, but friends o' mine prefer Smithwick's (sp?) or Guinness.

Down in the Big Easy, "soft drink" or (less commonly) "cold drink" or "Coke" are our generic terms for ANY carbonated beverage. Yes, this means that "Pepsi" is a valid answer to the question "What sort of Coke do you want?" ...If you can find it. It's rare to find Pepsi sold at restaurants here that are not required to do so by contract. Coke is THAT popular here.

When that overpriced behemoth known as Rite Aid (a drugstore/pharmacy) here moved into town last decade, many people -- including some friends of mine -- successfully boycotted them for carrying Pepsi products, but NOT Coca-Cola products (due to a nationwide contract, I believe). I'm sure there were some CS tactics used in it. I know of at least one instance where someone went shopping there, asked the manager "Where are the Cokes?", and was told "Sorry, we don't carry Coke products." -- Said customer/protester said "Oh", left his shopping cart there, and walked out. It should be noted that the people WORKING there felt that their failure to carry Coke in this market was outright insanity, as well. Said discrepancy has long since been rectified. Denying people their Coke and Barq's here is unwise.

[Pagan]

I'm a tee-totaller, but friends o' mine prefer Smithwick's (sp?) or Guinness.

Yeah, I'll drink anything alcoholic from the British Isles! Slainte!

Down in the Big Easy, "soft drink" or (less commonly) "cold drink" or "Coke" are our generic terms for ANY carbonated beverage.

We just call it all "soda" around here.

My grandfather had his own special word for it, "sody-pop". We haveno idea where he got that from.

[edible_hat]

Coke is THAT popular here.

It's that popular everywhere. The Coca Cola delivery drivers, reps, etc. are total arseholes. They know they can be like that and we'll still buy from them. Because if you don't sell Coke products, say goodbye to half your drink sales.

[Ironclad Alibi]

I'm a tee-totaller, but friends o' mine prefer Smithwick's (sp?) or Guinness.

"Smithwick's" is the correct spelling. But the pronunciation is something else. "Smit-ick's" perhaps. "Smithwick's (pronounced /ˈsmɪθɨks/ or /ˈsmɪtɨks/" according to Wikipedia.

[EricKei]

Hat -- here, pissing off the Coke rep means losing more like 80% of your sody-pop sales ^_^ I would expect 50% in most places. It's my understanding that the situation is reversed in Europe (Pepsi > Coke there). (a) can anyone confirm this, and (b)am I correct in assuming that it may be due, in part, to the tendency to NOT add ice cubes to drinks there; i.e., they drink them warm? Room-temperature Coke is rather nasty. Room-temp Pepsi is at least tolerable.

Ironclad -- My friends say it as Smit-icks

[Pagan]

i.e., they drink them warm? Room-temperature Coke is rather nasty. Room-temp Pepsi is at least tolerable.

And this is where I'm weird. I'll drink either of them warm, I actually don't like ice in them. Mostly because I don't drink soda fast and by the time I get done, the ice has melted and is watering the drink badly.

I also don't mind flat soda. I just can't drink Mexican Coke at all....it's too sweet. And in 3 1/2 weeks I'll be able to get my hands on some Irn Bru again!