Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: Dieci motivi per studiare l'americano piuttosto che il britannico

(tra il serio e il faceto!)
 
1. The British don't have water mixer taps.
2. Lots of American movies and TV shows.
3. American English grammar exercises are easier!
4. The USA have tasty Mexican cuisine in Tex-Mex restaurants, as
opposite to the Scottish haggis made with the heart, liver and lungs
of some poor sheep!
5. Too many languages and dialects spoken around the British Isles!
Interesting yet confusing.
6. Once you understand an American, you understand them all (almost).
Not so in Britain: too many and stronger local accents and social
variants.
7. The USA have a democratically elected President as opposite to a
Queen unfair to Lady D!
8. Most Americans know how to properly pronounce R's.
9. Fewer British than American female tourists to hit on in Italy and
around the world.
10. Americans don't skip syllables as often as the Brits do.
 
 
Ora sparate pure! :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
 
 

 10. Americans don't skip syllables as often as the Brits do.
Ya sura that?
Jeet yet?
Jave breakfast?
Jwanna come with?
Ze ready?
Zit whatch wanned?
etc. etc. ec. e.  :)
 
Note that I neither agree nor disagree with the premise.
 
-- 
Joey from New York
Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator,
but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh.
   -- WH Auden
 

 Ora sparate pure! :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
 
haggis ain't THAT bad!
 

 Ya sura that?
[...]
 
Well, I was stretching it a bit.
Actually there are syllables dropped in both British and American
English.
 
Here is a passage from what seems to be an interesting article on the
subject.
 
QUOTE
Although schwa elision occurs frequently in both General American and
in Standard British English (RP; and certainly in most other English
dialects as well), there are differences between the dialects
regarding which syllables are dropped in which words. (At the bottom
of this page are a few examples of this type of elision in RP, with
sound files.) In RP these words, for example, do not usually have
schwa elision: family (3), chocolate (3), separate (as an adjective)
(3); but secretary has only three syllables: ['sɛk ɹə tɹi], while in
GA it has four: ['sɛk ɹə tɛ ɹi]. The word laboratory usually has the
same number of syllables in both dialects, but in GA it is pronounced
['læ bɹə tɔ ɹi] and in RP it is [lə 'bɔ ɹə tɹi] – GA drops the second
syllable, and RP drops the second to the last (or penultimate)
syllable – though you will again find variation in actual
pronunciation of the word among different speakers. Toward is two
syllables in RP, one in GA. Patterns of schwa elision can differ
within US English as well. In my Minnesota accent, I pronounce orange
with just one syllable: [oɹndʒ]; but in General American it is usually
pronounced with two syllables. Caramel is pronounced with 3 syllables
in some parts of the US; I say it with just two: ['kɑɹ ml̩]. And I
pronounce comfortable as ['kʌmf tɚ bl̩]. (Note how the /r/ sound comes
after the /t/; this is an example of phonetic metathesis.) Some words
seem to be in the middle of a possible change to an elided schwa, e.g.
realize can be pronounced with two syllables in casual speech, but
normally is pronounced with three. General can be either two, two plus
a greatly reduced second syllable, or three syllables. Theory is by
now mostly just two syllables. Make sure that you adopt one consistent
form of pronunciation – do not mix different accents – to minimize
confusion to your listeners.
[/QUOTE]
http://homepage.ntu.edu.tw/~karchung/intro%20page%2032.htm
 

 subject.
 
Interesting passage. Thanks.



and we all wear bowler hats.
 
Mike 
 


Still, you invented them! :P
 
The bowler hat, also known as a coke hat, derby (US), billycock or bombín,[1] is a hard felt hat with a rounded crown originally created in 1849 for the British soldier and politician Edward Coke, the younger brother of the 2nd Earl of Leicester. The bowler hat was popular with the working class during the Victorian era though it came to form the official work uniform of bankers.[2] Later in the United Kingdom, it would come to be worn as work dress by the officers of the Queen's Guards.[3]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowler_hat