Although much attention is given to differences in usage, spelling, and pronunciation between United States and British English over the years, there are many other differences within national borders too. If you have the time, I highly recommend The Story of English, a nine-part video series narrated by Robert MacNeil that was produced in 1986 and aired on PBS and BBC. It's available on YouTube.
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In a matter of generations is the English dialect changing significantly?
- Thread starter Huntn
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Remember my focus is on the service industry. Think if it this way, after looking over the menu you order veal sauté mascot, artichoke, and mushroom, with a bottle of Chenin Blanc... would you rather hear My pleasure or No problem?
I'd rather hear "Excellent choice, and we hope you'll enjoy it." But, at Mickey D's that could be a little much to hope for.
As a giggle: Awhile back I got a promo receipt from McD's that I had bothered to validate after driving my nephew though there. When the same nephew stopped by one day to help me put up some windowscreens, I suggested a quick pass through the place to collect the promotion deal.
Right so he was just past having got his driver's license and asked if he could drive in. I said sure -- and... "you know how to drive a stick, right?" He hesitated a second and then said, yeah but I don't practice a lot. I said so it's good to practice then, yes? He regained his enthusiasm and off we went.
We get to the drive-in lane's menu and microphone. He says "I have a promo receipt for two quarter pounders with cheese so I'll have that, and.. . some large fries." She says great that will be something or other and change, drive up to first window.
We were on a slight incline. He revved it up pretty good before managing to halt a slide backwards, engaged in first, zoomed fowards and screeched to a halt at the cash window.
"Pretty excited about the promo, are we? It's not really like winning the powerball."
As service industry riffs go, that one will stick in my head for a long time.
Without looking it up is it Ring around the rosey, a pocket full of poseys? I don't know the meaning.
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I've mentioned this before in a thread about driving car with manual transmission, and my Fiat 500 automatically applies the brakes for when you are stopped on a hill, that auto release when you engage the clutch and gas. I learned on stick decades ago so I don't really need it, appreciate the short clutch throw, and it does make it a little easier.
Ring Around The Rosies was also very popular in my school days overseas when I was a young lad. I, too, didn't have an idea of how old the rhyme was or the true meaning behind it until my later years. I've rarely seen "top crust" used in speech or writing. The term "upper echelon" is more common.
I love a good legend and I hate to be "that guy"
But Ring of Roses is not related to the Plague or Black Death… on careful investigation it seems that the connection was only made in the mid 20th Century and has no basis.i like the British accent.. that and Scottish.
neither did I know the meaning, but i don't care.. it was fun as kid.
neither did I know the meaning, but i don't care.. it was fun as kid.
@Huntn you'll find some things of interest in English Language & Usage Stack Exchange. For your McDonald's example: http://english.stackexchange.com/a/146679/11504
Ring Around a Rosie: We thought it was just fun, and it was. What I learned of it beforehand was limited to being told most emphatically not to play the game in a white dress on a clover lawn.
"Top crust": I had heard that as a kid, picking up inference of elite or very best. I do remember arguing with a brother out in the pantry of my grandma's place as he went through her stash of freshly baked goods trying to figure out which crust was the top or bottom. He was looking at the ends of the loaves for some reason.
Boys, I'm tellin' ya. I should have got a gold watch at the end of helping bring them up. Regional dialects: another brother swears a Yankee has not not lived until he hears a diner waitress in Lousiana, while passing a menu to the customer, asking if one would like a glass of water. I am not sure what that sounds like, but apparently to his Yankee ears it was not anything like American English except the darlin' part at the end.
Regional expressions (?): I never heard "well gag me with a spoon" until I met my former sister-in-law, who hailed from Wisconsin. I was not sure if it was a Wisconsin expression, since I hadn't followed pop culture on TV. I was startled, to say the least. I guess it means something along the line of the the more southern "well shut my mouth." Anyway in the northeast just more like "Wow, really?" ---->>> EDIT: read on to discover, if you don't already know, how far from both "well shut my mouth" and "Wow really?" that expression actually happens to be.
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Actually I believe the expression originated from a song by Moon Unit Zappa (daughter of the famous musician Frank Zappa). The song was called, "Valley Girl" and was a spoof of the unique vernacular and sayings uttered by the mindless teen-aged girls of the Los Angeles area's San Fernando Valley during the early 1980's.
http://english.stackexchange.com/qu...-the-origin-of-the-phrase-gag-me-with-a-spoon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_girl
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_Girl_(song)
Thanks for links and for reminding me not to be so lazy... (not sarcastic!).
At least now I know my former sister-in-law, her family and home state were not responsible for that interesting expression. Moon Unit was pretty creative there if she made up even some of what she deployed as a lampoon of the culture.
Anyway my guesses for "gag me with a spoon" were far removed from actuality. I'm going to edit my previous post and say so!
From what I recall of my wavering youth, Valley Girls weren't paid much attention by us then boys and young men. A former friend of mine would refer to them as "easy flings" speaking to their dim wit and easy attitude about things I dare not mention on a public forum.
This:
Can I just point out how bizarre it seems to say that "'no problem' ... implies that there was a problem," i.e. the literal opposite of what the phrase means? Sure, it'd be far from the only phrase that means the opposite of what it seems to, but I just find it very curious that anyone would jump to that meaning without a strong record of established usage.
When being asked something that is routine like ordering off a menu, it's makes no logical sense to say "no problem". Obviously it's on the menu, it's no problem providing it, and it's redundant to say no problem. Where it would be more appropriate if a customer asks for something not on the menu, implying an inconvenience, even if the restaurant does not consider it an inconvenience, then no problem would be more appropriate.
I used to work for a company that prohibited employees from saying "No problem". According to management it didn't give the right impression. They felt that if an employee said "No problem" then the implied meaning was "somethings that customers request are problems but yours isn't". They wanted our customers to think that nothing they could ask would ever be considered a problem. We were instructed to say "It is my pleasure" or "Of course" or something along those lines. For me personally, I prefer "No worries" to "No problem" as it sounds more positive (to me at least).
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