Other Contries Customes and Terminology………
Was just wondering if there are any countries that adopt any of the UK customes and terminology, now I know we have introduced a lot of the American ones into our country, ie The Prom for the school leavers, used to be just eggs and flour bombs, Halloween is now a big thing here, we called it mischievous night, thanksgiving…..and others………I see the word hun and mom used often on sc from the English chatters, again words I think more common in America………. mam and mum more common here…..and just curious re the Prom nights, are all families in America able to afford these lavish affairs……..dresses costing hundreds of pounds, Limos, horses and carriages being hired for transport, lots competing trying to be the belle of the ball, of course there are so many families that cannot afford to do this, how does that make the less well off families feel………this blog is no way a slur on any other country, we copy because we choose to…….do any countries copy us….??
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Well the American judicial system is based, somewhat loosely on ours, although they have allowed it to evolve to match the times somewhat.
The French have riots about all the English words creeping into their language
So yes I think other countries do adopt things from the UK
Way, our legal system and law was totally English and we kept the laws except for the ones we changed, ignored or modified. Kind of like children who leave home.
Starlette, America was Brittish and we held tightly to the language and made few efforts to accommodate other languages, When countries or people are isolated, the language evolves. The US was a big leader in movies and television and our ways and words crossed the ocean but most American think of British speech and speaking as the gold standard. While Europeans were busy rebuilding after war damage, america was busy with tecnology that got delayed by WW2.
I have learned a lot of this after I joined senior chatters.
We have no chance here to learn a lot, because we get very few of your movies or television and the few we do see seem to lack a lot of informal language.
I wish we had shows with ordinary people and dialects.
Starlette,Most of what we have in Language comes from England. We cannot adopt a lot in more recent times because there is little opportunity to do so. I think most people in the US think of England as the gold standard and we admire the people greatly.
Everything here is of the British Empire Star, the language, the sporting rules of cricket and boxing, The Laws of the land, The early Buildings and houses were all built from English plans, the WESTMINSTER way of GOVERNMENT , and her ROYAL Majesty the queen is still the Head of our Country ,ahead of our Governer General,Who is our head of State….
Lani, but you still have a lot of your own words and customs.
OUR AUSTRALIAN LANGUAGE i BELEIVE COMES FROMTHE EARLY COCKNEYS WHO CAME OUT ON THE FIRST SHIPS SO i AM LEAD TO BELEIVE AND DERIVES FROM THAT EARLY ENGLISH SPEACH BLOOM …
Lani, why the caps.What are you saying. I am sure your language is English and that it has changed just as the US was English and it has changed. It is news to me that the original Aussies were cockney. I am ignorant of Australian history. I am happy to learn.
No one ever taught us what part of England, that’s what we call it here, most always,that the first settlers came from.
Well some of these facts i did not know, how interesting, suppose we sometimes live in a bit of a cocoon in our own countries, unless of course we study History……..surprising what you can learn on here….only have to ask…… yes i knew about the queen of course, but other facts not…..
EVERY COUNTRY HAS THEIR ORIGINS i GUESS STAR EVEN iNDIA HAD THE RHAJ. AND STILL SPEAK MOSTLY ENGLISH TODAY WITHA FEW iNDIAN DIALECTS ….
Hi Star,
what out of your own view England has to offer that could be adopted??xxxM
When I was in Adelaide, mid November, someone let off a huge firework display, one of the most spectacular I’ve ever seen. Would it have been a late bonfire night (Guy Fawkes), or an early New Year tester. Reading through here, makes me wonder where that one originated – China maybe? It seems to be pretty universal now.
And, talking about seeing the new year in, apparently in Sao Paolo they put on brightly coloured underpants, red to ring in new love affairs, yellow to encourage the money flow. Now that’s one we should encourage to our shores, I’m not even going to ask where and why it started!
Hi soundflyer, the fireworks seem to be used all around the world now for various occasions……..but Chinese crackers have been around forever……..so maybe they were the original source………not even going there with the underpants……..new love affairs…..ermm…..red for danger me thinks…lol xx
🙂
Michael I wouldn’t know where to start…….I suppose a lot of our traditional English food is served around the world………Fish and Chips, Roast beef and Yorkshire puddings………we have the May Day celebrations, the Morris Dancers, so many quaint English customes kept alive in the country villages………in Sherwood Forest close to me there is the annual Robin Hood festival, where re enactments of History take place, Jousting, Falconry etc. The Peak district Derbyshire have The Well Dressings, this is where wells, springs and other water sources are decorated with intricate designs made from thousands of flower petals, said to originate from the Pagans……..all go back through the ages of our History………maybe other countries already do some of these activities I don’t know……….but The Well Dressings could be adopted , depicting scenes relevant to you own country ……….nice activity for the school children to participate in during the summer months……….. …xxx
one Sunday a month my mom would make roast beef and Yorkshire pudding and asparagus with hollandaise sauce….my favorite meal to this day!
All those so called traditions i.e. bonfire night, fireworks displays, Easter Eggs, Christmas, New Year celebrations and every other cockamamie holiday you can think of are now in the hands of commercialism, and the general public fall for it hook line and sinker. I personally have never been one for traditional things. I buy when I need to and want, I eat what I want and when I want, waiting once a week for roast beef and Yorkshire I don’t think so not exactly something to look forward to. But as always each one to its own, I wouldn’t worry about the language or idioms and slang from different countries, given time no one will be talking to each other, it will be the age of texting in text speak, take a look around now, how many times do you see ppl look at their mobiles or cell phone at least once every 15 seconds, sit on a bus tram or train and that’s all you see, I have even seen people in restaurants checking mobiles while eating, whats up with these people, are they afraid they might miss out on a message, yes my fellow chatters the mobile will rule and the spoken word will be forgotten.
You are telling the truth Ted.
Hi Star,
it must have been 10 / 15years after WW2. a lot of crimes were to be seen here in cinemas that came were English production. During the 60ths it was fashionable to drive an English car.
Me too I had a Jaguar MK2 followed by an Austin-Healey at this time which both I didn’t have for long time caus they were to sensitive for daily use. I asked myself how English people were doing with those cars in bad weather over there??
It was also fashionable to wear Burberry coats as I remember. Later on Mary Quant fashion came over to us but this was for young girls to wear and for the eyes of the elderly gentleman ( not only ! )
What could we adopt from England today? Perhaps part of the English manners I could imagine. Oh yes politeness as well but that kind of politeness I received in stores, pubs and on busses.
What else is left? I realy don’t know. Robin Hood would be fine but sorry we don’t have person like him in our history!
One thing has the English language done to our language which it can’t be blamed for; it has runed our language in total.Used by people who don’t know how wonderful and challenging the English language really is.
So I come back to the 60ths when it was done to integrate latin words into our language just to show how well educated one was.
Today it’s a pleasure for me when I get asked; you want a coffee to go (Togo ) and I can answer; no I take one from Tanzania pease. Or when a shop assistance tells me that this
pullover is one of their latest casuals!!! Oh I love going out and into shops just for having some fun.What a nasty Germany I am??
No if I look around I think there has come more ( and still comes ) from the USA than it comes from England. And when I see the food offer at Tesco (frozen) than I’m happy the pizza comes from Naples and not from London. xxxM
vonMichael, America also took a lot from Germany. Until recently many students in science and engineering were required to study German.
Hi Michael, yes the coffee to go and the over easy eggs are now in our everyday vocalbulary …….all from America………I think the majority of us here still have the politeness and manners, as well as the stiff upper lips that we are known for, not so much into showing our emotions and being as demonstrative as some other countries maybe……….. but I have to say for politeness, good manners, generosity and humour for me the Irish come out on top….just my findings of course…….xxx
Here, the Irish are known for their gift of gab and I think it is called “kissed the blarney stone. The English people were so nice to me when I was there,
American are so much English that is hard to say what we got. Most of it, we got from England. We also took from all the large groups that migrate.
Better than us all speaking Latin star lol
Still learning the English Rosh ….Latin nooo….xx