Cultural Curiosities: Life in Other Countries

[mm1991]

I stand by what I said.
My point was that I am fully aware there is no "British accent" because the area that is Great Britain contains different regional accents. And there is no "American accent" because it's all regional, too. Even Canada has it's own accent.

*Anyways*.....I'm also curious about LoN's question...what do you call pop?!

[Shantih]

Great Britain refers to the landmass that is our lovely island, it's not a country. Regional accents aren't the same as accents of seperate countries. By your reasoning there'd be one European accent I will call the American accent a 'United States' accent if that will clear things up.

[Watziznehm]

Yeah, I agree with Valiant_Lucy. We don't really have a too noticeable difference in accent, unless you compare us to somebody from Texas or Kentucky or somewhere like that. Then, you will definitely be able to tell the difference!

Of course, we do say "eh" a lot. (Did we inherit that from you Brits?)

Another thing about Canada: we have many, many cultures do to our rising population of emigrants. So, don't be surprised if you come to Canada and hear an Asian accent or an African accent or anything else.

That said, where you will find a difference is in the French accents. They are definitely different then what you would encounter in France.

So, yeah, that's about it.

[Shantih]

Oh yes, I've only spoke to a couple of French Canadians so I can't quite remember how their accent was. I do have a friend from Algeria (where French is widely spoken) and I just can't understand his French because the accent is so different to what I'm used to! I wonder if I'd have the same trouble with French Canadians

[Lucy of Narnia]

Coca Cola is usually just called Coke. We don't say soda, the British alternative is either pop or just 'fizzy drink'.

So do people say "Mum, can I have some fizzy drink?"

I think what we call biscuits you call cookies, although there's some cross overs (like the big chocolate chip 'American style' cookies are called cookies... if that makes sense )

Ok, so to you these are biscuits? Because they are cookies to us Americans.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.cakesetc.ca/_images/cookies_trplch.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.cakesetc.ca/wholesale_cookies.asp&usg=__LC5xfyIWVMOMQYsXkQtJLLg9oXs=&h=400&w=400&sz=50&hl=en&start=67&zoom=1&tbnid=2ocpbSXgUN-H1M:&tbnh=166&tbnw=166&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcookie%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1728%26bih%3D853%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C13530%2C1353&um=1&itbs=1&ei=OTkhTbzuBsKqlAew66TADA&iact=hc&vpx=517&vpy=441&dur=1062&hovh=167&hovw=167&tx=97&ty=97&oei=MTkhTZyrC4WKlwfU4dS6Cw&esq=3&page=3&ndsp=32&ved=1t:429,r:10,s:67&biw=1728&bih=853

So are you talking about the big, soft "Grandma style" cookies are called cookies in England? Is that because the brand says "American style cookies" or something?

Lu

[Shantih]

Yep, the 'Grandma style' are the kind I was talking about. This is where is gets a bit confusing

These are biscuits -



but then I'd probably call the ones you posted a photo of biscuits too. For example, these are popular over here -



and as you can see, they're called cookies on the packet and I guess they are...but they go under 'biscuits' as far as I'm concerned I think over here everything like that is called a biscuit, but the American usage of 'cookie' is starting to sneak in for some brands.

[Ithilwen]

I have a question concerning England, Australia, and New Zealand.

The question is about freedoms. I know the US (where I am right now) is more free than some of the above mentioned countries, and less free than some of the others mentioned. And I wanted to know the differences in freedoms. Like, in what ways are they more/less free?

I'm wondering, because I am not sure what country I want to live in when I'm older. So I'm starting my research now.


~Riella

[MinotaurforAslan]

Is the insane overuse of the word "like" just an American thing?

People in the United States, I've noticed, will use the word "like" constantly.

"Like, man, I was going to the skating park, and my friend was like, we should get some pizza, so we did, and it was like, awesome."

[Ithilwen]

^^ I think it could be more of a Californian thing instead of a USA thing.
Whenever I visit relatives outside of California but still in the US, they're like (I just said "like" again, lol), "Why do you guys say "like" so much? I've never heard anyone use that word so many times before."

Heehee.


~Riella

[georgiefan1]

^^ I think it could be more of a Californian thing instead of a USA thing.
Whenever I visit relatives outside of California but still in the US, they're like (I just said "like" again, lol), "Why do you guys say "like" so much? I've never heard anyone use that word so many times before."

Heehee.


~Riella

I agree with this one million percent, as a Californian, we use this also to describe a conversation :I was like"you need to tie your shoes" and she was like "okay". something to that degree.

So a question to east coasters, do you guys make fun of how we talk? And I actually have qute a few east coast friends IRL and they can hide their accent until they wwant to use it(its very wierd actually) can all east coasters do this?

[Jillhope]

Not so, it's all over Oregon and Washington and Idaho too! It's so weird...

[outlier]

^^ I think it could be more of a Californian thing instead of a USA thing.
Whenever I visit relatives outside of California but still in the US, they're like (I just said "like" again, lol), "Why do you guys say "like" so much? I've never heard anyone use that word so many times before."

Heehee.


~Riella

I agree with this one million percent, as a Californian(this is very much only a California thing), we use this also to describe a conversation :I was like"you need to tie your shoes" and she was like "okay". something to that degree.

So a question to east coasters, do you guys make fun of how we talk? And I actually have qute a few east coast friends IRL and they can hide their accent until they wwant to use it(its very wierd actually) can all east coasters do this?

*Seconds (or is it thirds?) that* But it makes me wonder if that adds to the sterotype of Californians being very "hollywood"???

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Ithilwen, I'm not sure what you mean by freedom. Could you be a little more specific? In Australia, we have freedom of speech and freedom of religion. Here, Christianity isn't tied to politics like it is in the US. Also, wars haven't been fought on our soil. I'm not sure what else to say. Australia's probably one of the safer places to live if you disregard all the dangerous wildlife.

[georgiefan1]

Not so, it's all over Oregon and Washington and Idaho too! It's so weird...

really? I have family in Oregon and have never heard that...=/

and to outlier, who are you asking your question to?

[wolfloversk]

^^ I think it could be more of a Californian thing instead of a USA thing.
Whenever I visit relatives outside of California but still in the US, they're like (I just said "like" again, lol), "Why do you guys say "like" so much? I've never heard anyone use that word so many times before."

Heehee.


~Riella

I agree with this one million percent, as a Californian(this is very much only a California thing)

Actually I do that a lot, especially if I'm speaking in front of a large group of people and I'm from upstate NY (although I watched a ton of Scooby-Doo when I was little, maybe that had something to do with it.) My high school math teacher used to tease me about it (not maliciously )

[outlier]

Hmmmm I guess just anyone not in California and not overusing the word like... because when I put my mindset of someone who does not live in California and think of the state, I think of Hollywood/celebrities/gossip and was wondering if that was true, or if my imagination has low expectations for the state