Hot answers tagged speech
24
The closest thing might be the NATO Phonetic Alphabet.
Alpha
Bravo
Charlie
Delta
Echo
Foxtrot
Golf
Hotel
India
Juliet
Kilo
Lima
Mike
November
Oscar
Papa
Quebec
Romeo
Sierra
Tango
Uniform
Victor
Whiskey
Xray
Yankee
Zulu
23
When I learned this “rule” (in first grade, I believe), it was explained that and separates the whole part from the fractional part: 2⅔=two and two thirds. The word and would only represent the decimal point in decimal numbers when they are read out in the formal “fractional” reading of decimals, as 2.3=two and three tenths, or 1.75=one and seventy-five ...
20
The practice of doing so is actually a field of research and the use of these words in such a manner can be classified as fillers, used while someone is busy grasping what they want to say and so on.
From Wikipedia we get a general overview of this:
Fillers are parts of speech which are
not generally recognized as purposeful
or containing formal ...
20
This is more a linguistics question than an English language question in my opinion.
The quality of Yoda's speech that makes it sound strange to English speakers - and the speakers of the majority of earth's langauges is that it uses a very uncommon linguistic typology or word ordering known as Object-Subject-Verb (OSV) or sometimes Object-Agent-Verb (OAV).
...
18
This is a touchy and complicated issue. There is no simple answer. I'm gay and I probably would be far more offended by the use of "retarded" than by the use of "gay" that you're describing. The problem is not if you are offending anyone but if you might offend someone, and where and when. I personally don't mind people using the word "gay" that way, in ...
15
Here is an article on Yoda-speak at the Language Log.
One way to look at Yoda's syntax is that it shows signs of favoring OSV syntax (Object-Subject-Verb) as the basic order in the simple clause. In fact one could call it XSV syntax, where the X is whatever complement would appropriately go with the verb, whether it's an object or not.
And then:
...
15
I'm not sure I understand your question, but I believe the speakers are using this Native American word. From the Wikipedia article on the Lakota language:
"Hau kola", literally, "Hello, friend," is the most common greeting, and was transformed into the generic motion picture American Indian "How!", just as the traditional feathered headdress of the ...
14
Just saw a question about the topic not too long ago ;P
"Hyperbaton and Anastrophe"
Hyperbaton: An inversion of normal word order. A generic term for a variety of figures involving transposition (see below), it is sometimes synonymous with anastrophe.
Anastrophe: Usually synonymous and occasionally referred to as a more specific instance of hyperbaton: ...
14
In 24-hour notation you never say o'clock. Say the value of the hours part first, then the minutes.
If the hours or minutes are less than 10, say Oh (for zero) first.
Non-military people don't usually say the "Oh" before hours, especially if the minutes are non-zero.
If the minutes are zero, say (hours) hundred. People (esp military) often say hundred ...
14
The armed services (and their veterans) really have this engrained in my mind as such:
Rendezvous at 0600 [O-Six-Hundred] hours!
Drop point is X degrees north, at 1200 [Twelve-Hundred] hours!
Otherwise, where more precise in terms of declaring minutes, you can just split them and speak each unit of time individually:
Your meeting is at 1530 ...
13
I used to feel the same. I'm not a native English speaker either.
I think I got used to reading the subtitles when I was younger and didn't speak English. And even when my English became good enough to understand most of what was being said in the movies, I would still turn subtitles on because I didn't want to miss any lines. That's how you become ...
11
Using "like" as in "this is, like, uncool" used to be strongly associated with Valspeak:
Many phrases and elements of Valspeak are stable elements of the California English dialect lexicon, and in some cases wider American English (such as the widespread use of "like" as a hedge).
This use of "like" is again mentioned in the Wikipedia entry on ...
11
What you're talking about is known to linguists as the High rising terminal (HRT), and referred to informally as uptalk. This is a relatively recent phenomenon in spoken American English, and its origins are unclear. What is clear is that it doesn't signal a question, and is perceived by many people to be sub-standard and irritating. For that reason you ...
9
Another culture-dependent question.
Both are regarded as profane in the UK; they are commonly used, but generally not in polite company. Whether it would get bleeped on television depends on context, and particularly whether they are before or after the watershed.
I get the impression, and it is only an impression from television, that both terms are ...
9
I personally don't find either offensive. But I generally lose respect for anyone who wears out terms. In your sons case, it doesn't sound like it's a matter of prejudice. That would be a different matter. If people would worry less about words and more about the message, we'd be in better shape.
9
This figure of speech is called hypophora. If you follow the figures of speech link or visit this web page about rhetoric you can find more information about this and other devices.
9
Your first instance gives it away:
Bad for big chief. Bad for tribe. How
The character is imitating the stereotype of Native American speech. How is recorded as being a greeting adopted from the Sioux, or perhaps Omaha.
See this dictionary entry for reference.
8
For what it's worth, as an American, I've never heard the usage "one hundred and fifty" to mean 100.50 (or similar). I would say "a hundred fifty," or "one hundred and fifty" to mean 150, but not "one hundred fifty".
Even in dealing with currency I never hear and used to indicate a decimal unless the decimal is followed by the word cents.
IE: for $20.75:
...
8
As reported on Wikipedia (Rhotic and non-rhotic accents), English had become non-rhotic by the end of the 18th century; John Walker used the spelling ar for the pronunciation of aunt in 1775, and reported caad as pronunciation of card in 1791.
British colonization of the Americas began in 1607 in Virginia, even though there had been previous attempts in ...
8
The standard grammatical explanation of this is that it’s a variant of constructions like:
What the reason is is that she’d just returned from Guatemala.
These are quite standardly grammatical, analogous to e.g.
What I know is that capuchins are a kind of monkey.
This construction acts in some respects as a fixed idiom, with slightly different ...
8
As other commenters have stated, it's a mock-American-Indian greeting. Westerby uses the metaphor of an American-Indian tribe to loosely refer to the British Intelligence Service. Smiley chooses to follow his lead, and so responds with the stereotypical response how to the stereotypical greeting how, hence the "echo".
There isn't any deeper meaning or usage ...
7
There is enough phonemic variation among speakers of English to make many vowels sound to some listeners like something else entirely. Usually fast speech and lazy enunciation are the culprits, but that is how people usually speak in normal, casual conversion, myself included. This can make it hard for non-native speakers to understand all the words. And ...
7
If you're going to use what as a verb in this way, you have to decline it as usual. So this is correct:
They had whatted the car?
However, while the above is certainly comprehensible and usable in speech, I would probably just say They did what to the car?
When using what as a pronoun, I prefer keeping it indeclinable:
They bought three what?
...
7
In America, most dialects don't distinguish between RP /ɒ/ and /a/, so operator is normally pronounced with [a]:
['apəˌɹeiɾɚ]
Standard American is rhotic, with [ɹ] instead of [r] and final [ɚ] instead of [ə]; and the /t/ is reduced to a tap [ɾ] between a preceding stressed vowel [ei] and a following unstressed vowel [ɚ].
6
I'm a native English speaker (American) and have trouble with American movies. The younger the actors, usually the worse it is. I believe it has to do with mumbling and slurring and rapid speech (sometimes dependent on the way the actor does the character, rather than the actor's natural speech patterns). It also has to do with hearing loss that comes with ...
6
Listening to something that has been narrated can be pretty effective. Like listening to a book on tape while actually following along with the print version. English tends to have an awful lot of nonsensical rules and pronunciations, so the best thing to do is to just plain immerse yourself in the language (listen to it).
6
summary: keep trying, keep listening.
I think this is actually a fairly interesting question, to which there is both a simple, and a complicated answer.
The complicated answer is that to fully understand how different accents work, you need to study linguistics, and phoenetics. Many rules for speaking with a certain accent can depend on relatively simple ...
6
There's no simple yes or no answer to that question.
In general, I avoid using words that I think my intended audience is unlikely to understand. If that means a longer, explanatory phrase, so be it. Of course that depends on context. When speaking to a group of engineers I will freely use technical terms that I would not use when speaking to a general ...
6
These shortened words are known as contractions. They're used in writing in order to reflect he patterns of speech.
In spoken English, we're always shortening or clipping words in order to express ourselves more efficiently. (This process of shortening goes on in all languages.) Over time, some of the most common and widely-used shortenings have become ...
5
I have a number of gay and bisexual acquaintances and friends, and of those near my age (19), none has ever expressed a terrible amount of offence over "gay" as a pejorative. It's seen as pretty mild: saying "that's gay" is on the order of saying "that sucks"; similarly, saying "that's retarded" is pretty close to saying "that's damn stupid".
The only ...
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