Sam Carter/Amanda Tapping Discussion/Appreciation

[Agent_Dark]

pants - underwear/boxers/briefs

afaik, australian english is basically the same as british english, and pants don't mean underwear. pants mean pants...

[Tracy Jane]

Yep, flashlight. I remember when I first read books set in England when I was a kid I was very confused as to why people were eating biscuits with tea (seemed a bit heavy to me for a snack) and cracked up as I pictured characters carrying flaming torches like the angry villagers in a Frankenstein movie. Oh and I think in some books the hood of the car is called a bonnet--is that still the case?

We still call it a bonnet, yes. Bonnet and Boot.

When I was at school, my friends and I understood very little American English. We'd get incredibly confused at words like "trunk", "pants" and "flashlight". We also only used "like" either as a verb "to like" or in the context of a similie or metaphor. As for the word "so", it was a conjunction and never a quantifier. When we watched "Friends" or at the end of term, our teachers would put on subtitles so we could understand - many of us couldn't process the accents quick enough to understand the jokes, and the accents were from New York, not the international sound that Disney tends to opt for.

You can see just how much American TV and culture has influenced people in Britain. For a start, there's the grammatical changes - we often use "so" in a quantifying context (that's so funny) and we also use "like" to pad out sentences. In terms of lexicon, I think many people interchange pants with trousers now, we also use cookies as well as biscuits. I would say that fries and chips are still very different things, but that's changing with the younger generation.

It's a fascinating transition to watch.

[Tracy Jane]

"...at the moment..." ???



I once tried to compliment a British fic writer by saying I couldn't tell her fic was written by a Brit, and she became incredibly offended All I meant is that the dialogue and whatnot was written so that it wasn't jarring, but she assumed that I thought that US fic was best (funny that, considering I'm not American, but hey, that's the joy of assumptions, I suppose).


Yeah -- this is reminding me quite a bit of the fun I had when I first moved here ... 'jumper' was one that caught me out while teaching. Then again, so did 'pants', 'arse' and how I pronounce both my 'ou' and my 'er' sounds... and you should've seen the face on the person I mentioned a 'fanny pack' to...



I agree. It doesn't bother me where the writer is from (so long as the work is beta'd - one thing I can't handle is when you have to *work* to read something full of spelling and grammar problems), and I don't mind local variancies popping up in the descriptions ... but when it hits the speech patterns of the characters, I find that it does tend to throw the momentum of the story.

It took you an hour to write that?

*pets the honey*

[jckfan55]

We still call it a bonnet, yes. Bonnet and Boot.

When I was at school, my friends and I understood very little American English. We'd get incredibly confused at words like "trunk", "pants" and "flashlight". We also only used "like" either as a verb "to like" or in the context of a similie or metaphor. As for the word "so", it was a conjunction and never a quantifier. When we watched "Friends" or at the end of term, our teachers would put on subtitles so we could understand - many of us couldn't process the accents quick enough to understand the jokes, and the accents were from New York, not the international sound that Disney tends to opt for.
.

That's great. On occasion I've been known to put on the closed captioning when I watch a British show. I do fine with most English English, but I think it's certain regions or maybe classes of characters that get more difficult for me.

To go back on topic--AT seems to have a facility for accents & has devised an interesting one for Helen Magnus. I also think it's great that Helen speaks quite formally b/c it gives her more of an air of being special.

[antoa]

Amanda: after hearing what antoa's favorite swear word is... That CAN'T be antoa's favorite swear word, it's MINE!

Hey, I am all for sharing. Especially with her

Yep, flashlight. I remember when I first read books set in England when I was a kid I was very confused as to why people were eating biscuits with tea (seemed a bit heavy to me for a snack) and cracked up as I pictured characters carrying flaming torches like the angry villagers in a Frankenstein movie. Oh and I think in some books the hood of the car is called a bonnet--is that still the case?

Hehehehe. Glad I am not the only one with visions of giant flaming torches and lynch mobs when someone uses a 'torch'. Also bonnet conjures up visions of the car wearing a lacy, frilly hat

[SWMBOTGSG]

brit american

torch - flashlight
car park - parking lot
boot - trunk
trolly - cart
telly - tv or television
jumper - sweater
biscuits - cookies (american biscuits are kinda ilke an unsweet scone)
fanny - part of the girl's anatomy that only her OBGYN sees
pants - underwear/boxers/briefs
tube - subway (by the way, colorado springs does NOT have one. only a half dozen or so US cities have subways)

add more that i haven't thought of

Personally? i don't mind the britishisms in hte narrative of a fic, but to have sam tell jack 'the food is in my boot'....well, THAT doesn't sound good

One of the more amusing differences is our colloquial term for an eraser. Becky tells of the horrified look on an American Exchange teacher's face when asked for a rubber!

Mumsey

[ames]

It took you an hour to write that?

*pets the honey*

I told you I had to edit a few things

[Tracy Jane]

That's great. On occasion I've been known to put on the closed captioning when I watch a British show. I do fine with most English English, but I think it's certain regions or maybe classes of characters that get more difficult for me.

Interesting you say that. In my first year of university, our sociolinguistics group had to perform experiments concerning people's perceptions of class related to accent. There's still this common misconception that an RP accent or general southern accent denotes a higher class than a northern one or certain areas like Somerset. In practice, of course, people's accents have little to do with their class and more to do with geographical location.

Before I make my next comment below, bear in mind that what I have just said only applies to the present!

To go back on topic--AT seems to have a facility for accents & has devised an interesting one for Helen Magnus. I also think it's great that Helen speaks quite formally b/c it gives her more of an air of being special.

Definitely. I think Amanda's been incredibly clever with the choice of accent for Helen. At first I wasn't quite convinced by it, but once I thought through the process myself, it made a lot of sense. The way Amanda has incorporated Helen's history into the accent, making it mid-atlantic is fantastic and the perfect compliment to Damian's portrayal of a character with linguistic quirks and hints to her past.

I would, however, like to see a few Victorian colloquialisms thrown into the mix in the future, because the sign of an upper class woman was the ease with which they could use the socially accepted slang of the day. I'm not saying every two words, but I would love to see the odd word thrown in, and not just the more formal but modern lexicon such as "modicum".

[jckfan55]

Interesting you say that. In my first year of university, our sociolinguistics group had to perform experiments concerning people's perceptions of class related to accent. There's still this common misconception that an RP accent or general southern accent denotes a higher class than a northern one or certain areas like Somerset. In practice, of course, people's accents have little to do with their class and more to do with geographical location.

I think we have a similar thing in the US regarding perceptions of regional accents.

[Tracy Jane]

One of the more amusing differences is our colloquial term for an eraser. Becky tells of the horrified look on an American Exchange teacher's face when asked for a rubber!

Mumsey

Well, Amy managed to tell her class to stop tossing in the classroom. Can you imagine the looks on their faces?

[Celandine]

It's me

Hey guys, it's me Rocky 456, I just changed my name. I figured it made more sense, since I was born in 89. I just thought I'd let everyone know it's me, so you guys didn't get worried .

Hey Rocky..love the new name.

Hello hello hello!!! I think this is my first time posting in this AWESOME thread, but have always loved reading the posts! I'm just so full of Samanda goodness right now that if I don't say something I fear I might burst at the seams! I just downloaded "Quarantine" on Amazon and watched it again and it's so different when you're so close to the screen you can see EVERYTHING and well,

Spoiler:

I'm watching right, and it gets to the scene when Carter is praising Zelenka and if you look at Sam's hands, she's holding something...a spoon in her right hand and then you see in her other hand she's totally holding...

BLUE JELLO!!!!

check it out! I know it is! You can kinda of see it here in JennyJ's HQ pic

Spoiler:

Nice catch and Welcome bossluna to Samanda! I'm glad you decided enough was enough and delurked..and what better reason to!

brit american

torch - flashlight
car park - parking lot
boot - trunk
trolly - cart
telly - tv or television
jumper - sweater
biscuits - cookies (american biscuits are kinda ilke an unsweet scone)
fanny - part of the girl's anatomy that only her OBGYN sees
pants - underwear/boxers/briefs
tube - subway (by the way, colorado springs does NOT have one. only a half dozen or so US cities have subways)

add more that i haven't thought of

Personally? i don't mind the britishisms in hte narrative of a fic, but to have sam tell jack 'the food is in my boot'....well, THAT doesn't sound good

I'm plotting/planning a little trip to England hopefully (if the funds line up) in June so the other day I picked up a little travel book to gaze and daydream by. Anyway, in the back it has a British to Yankee dictionary which I thought was fun. Here's a few that cracked me up.

cos - romaine lettuce (where they got that one I'll never know )
cotton buds - Q-tips
car boot sale - temp flea market
cat's eyes - road reflectors
face flannel - washcloth
fruit machine - slot machine
ice lolly - popsicle
ironmonger - hardware store
jacket potato - baked potato
knackered - exhausted (my official new fun word to use with friends now..hehe)
mangetout - snow peas (huh?)
mobile (pronounced MOH-bile) - cell phone
moggie - cat
sleeping policeman - speed bumps
twee - quaint, cute
twitcher - bird watcher
whinge (rhymes with hinge) - whine

These are just a few that caught my eye and gave me a chuckle. I dunno how I'll survive when I get cross the pond. One wrong slip of a word and I might either get some very strange looks or be run out of town.

afaik, australian english is basically the same as british english, and pants don't mean underwear. pants mean pants...

Exactly

[The-rage]

I believe he's referring to a training bra

lmao! Welcome to the gutta! lmao

[SWMBOTGSG]

mangetout - snow peas (huh?)

This is courtesy of our continental heritage (long past) Mange tout is French for Eat All - not only do you eat the peas inside the pod, but you eat the pod as well - ergo mangetout.

Mumsey

[RealmOfX]

These are just a few that caught my eye and gave me a chuckle. I dunno how I'll survive when I get cross the pond. One wrong slip of a word and I might either get some very strange looks or be run out of town.

Oh I'm sure you'll muddle through, though sometimes it can be really fun sorting out first the accent and then an unfamiliar word. Just don't use the word fanny!!

[antoa]

Oh I'm sure you'll muddle through, though sometimes it can be really fun sorting out first the accent and then an unfamiliar word. Just don't use the word fanny!!

Good to know that 'fanny != booty' across the pond. I am making a mental note.