Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT Strips 3356-3360 (21st to 25th November 2016)
Case:
--- Quote from: Akima on 21 Nov 2016, 01:01 ---
--- Quote from: oddtail on 20 Nov 2016, 23:22 ---* Well, native speakers of the language. Not just anyone.
--- End quote ---
Speaking as a non-native speaker, I take issue with this. The price native English-speakers pay for the convenience of the widespread use of their language all over the world, is that they don't own the language any more.
--- End quote ---
--- Quote ---non-native speakers as of 2003 outnumbered native speakers by a ratio of 3 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English-speaking_world)
--- End quote ---
Why don't 'we' simply have a vote on who 'owns' the language? :evil:
--- Quote from: Tova on 21 Nov 2016, 01:09 ---I could care less about this.
--- End quote ---
http://blog.dictionary.com/could-care-less/
Typical native-speaker's lack of competence in clearly communicating in an international setting, according to the BBC:
http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20161028-native-english-speakers-are-the-worlds-worst-communicators
--- Quote ---“The native English speaker… is the only one who might not feel the need to accommodate or adapt to the others,” she adds. ... With non-native English speakers in the majority worldwide, it’s Anglophones who may need to up their game.
--- End quote ---
I'd add that I personally would tentatively exempt Canadian native speakers of English from that conclusion - the few that I know mostly communicate in a way typical for someone who is aware that there's 'other ways to communicate in than the one taught at Smallville Junior High, Ohio'.
Tova:
--- Quote from: BenRG on 21 Nov 2016, 09:25 ---True but, nonetheless, that does seem to be the origin of the word and it has been in use in my part of the UK for as long as I can remember (35+ years).
--- End quote ---
Are you familiar with the word etymology? The word was formed from the Latin "etus" ("eaten"), the root "mal" ("bad"), and "logy" ("study of"). It meant "the study of things that are hard to swallow." True story. *nods*
Don't forget that the word 'piss' is used to refer to (usually foul-tasting) alcohol, so it may well come from that.
Personally, I also have a history of getting a bit cranky about all kinds of language misuse, but regional slang variations would have to be very low in that list. So, to be frank, I'm a little bemused at the fuss over the word "pissed." It's slang, it doesn't "really" have either meaning, if you want to be technical about it.
Regarding the bait that I threw out there (sorry, Case, I was deliberately referring to this): David Mitchell
If you haven't seen it before, then enjoy. Spoiler: he doesn't mention "pissed."
TheEvilDog:
--- Quote from: Method of Madness on 21 Nov 2016, 07:33 ---How does pissed meaning drunk inherently make any more sense than pissed meaning angry?
--- End quote ---
Because its a contracted version of "piss drunk", as in someone is so drunk they can't control their bladder.
Its more that in the UK "pissed" is more related to drunk than angry, while the reverse seems to be the case in the US. Its regional.
(click to show/hide)And for anyone interested, some terms for being drunk around the UK & Ireland:
- Ankled (Bristol)
- Bladdered (UK & Ireland, rarely used, but its the same idea as pissed)
- Blocked
- Gashed (Scotland, presumably someone so drunk they'll get into a fight)
- Langers/Langered (Cork, Ireland. Although its a broad term, including fool, as well as other terms)
- Loaded (UK, though this is used more with wealth than drunkenness)
- Locked
- Rat-arsed
- Smashed
Of course, this isn't an exhaustive list, but rather a short list of the most commonly heard ones.
Method of Madness:
I prefer "Rickety Rickety Wrecked".
Travis B.:
I do not see what the issue with using a North American English usage in QC is. After all, it is set in the US and the author is an American, so it is natural that captions in QC would be in some variety of North American English. And personally I find it very annoying when people view English English or some sort of international English as "more correct" than North American English; in this context, both would be entirely inappropriate given the setting of QC - except maybe in the mouth of a character specifically from the UK or one who specifically learned English outside North America as a non-native speaker - and in general because North American English has far more native speakers than any other English dialect group.
About the BBC article, that seems to indicate that native speakers of English should be expected to impoverish their language because non-native speakers just cannot be expected to understand, that one is now supposed to treat English as an international auxiliary language rather than a language with actual native speakers who speak actual dialects (even if they think they speak a standard variety) who don't grow up learning to dumb down their speech because people elsewhere happen to have adopted it as an IAL. Personally, I work with people from India and China quite a bit, and while I often have a good bit of trouble understanding them because the English they speak often does not follow the sort of phonology I am used to (lack of stressed fortis plosive aspiration (e.g. in Indian English), lack of strong stress accent, lack of strong vowel length allophony (e.g. in any non-native sort of English, and even in some native sorts), different sibilants than native English (e.g. in Indian English), etc. are often problems for me), I have never been told to simplify how I speak, nor have I been told to use a more standard phonology (and apparently I have a very strong accent too).
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