Re: True English

gerardM Jeu 7 Mai - 14:32

Thanks for the address of the blog Muriel.

ThunderWolf Ven 8 Mai - 12:16

gerardM a écrit:
MurielB a écrit:...
Mais c'est vrai que les Etats unis sont vastes et il doit y avoir de nombreuses nuances.
Pas sûr que ce soit un régionalisme sauf pour la côte est qui est vraiment très British.

Je vais voir ça !
Je commence par étudier soigneusement le problème grâce à Google.
Ensuite, j'interrogerai des profs (en particulier la fille de Jeannine qui était maîtresse d'école en Californie et qui est maintenant prof de maths) et ceux que je prendrai en flag !
Je vais aussi essayer d'interroger Carole (une ancienne copine) qui a habité l'Ohio, le Kansas, la Georgie, qui est secrétaire de direction, qui est employée chez Barnes'n'Nobles mais dont la mère est Anglaise.

Bref ! J'aimerais tirer ça au clair car :
- suite aux cours de Norma (Américaine de Boston), j'ai utilisé if-past, then-conditional
- j'ai abandonné l'enseignement de Norma pour me convertir à ce que je pense être l'Américain : if-conditional, then-condit.

La structure if cond-cond est utilisée ici (Anglais d'Irlande)

Perso, j'ai déjà souvent entendu "If I could, I would" et ça ne me paraît pas spécialement american-only.

gerardM Ven 8 Mai - 14:21

Hi ThunderWolf,

ThunderWolf a écrit:... Perso, j'ai déjà souvent entendu "If I could, I would" et ça ne me paraît pas spécialement american-only.

How do you know "could" is a conditional and not a past?

Months ago, I had an argument with English teachers as they told me if-conditional was absolutely incorrect/forbidden/impossible and that Americans using this should go back to school.
I found in grammarbooks that if-conditional was possible in specific situations.

MurielB Ven 8 Mai - 15:41

Gérard a écrit:Months ago, I had an argument with English teachers as they told me if-conditional was absolutely incorrect/forbidden/impossible

Hi ThunderWolf, Gérard !
What Gérard said is true. when you say "If I could I would..." it is correct and could is an imperfect.
In English and in French => les si n'aiment pas les ré . You can't have a conditionnel after si or if.

gerardM Sam 9 Mai - 22:11

Bring to / take from

Bring to / take from
Bring to / take from
Bring to / take from
Bring to / take from
Bring to / take from

gerardM Sam 9 Mai - 22:28

Expressing big quantities:

Code:: Way too Very That

I just discovered "very" associated with "many" scratch

after so many years!!
(weird... of course, "very much" was familiar)

gerardM Mar 12 Mai - 22:44

"easy peasy lemon squeezy"

EMTs do like to repeat sounds and create kinda nursery rhymes.

- "Easy peasy" is very commonly used especially by Australians, who stay big kids.

easy peasy lemon squeezy
slang phrase (from an old British detergent commercial) used to express that something was quickly and easily done.
the claim processes was easy peasy lemon squeezy

MurielB Mer 13 Mai - 9:09

"easy peasy lemon squeezy " is very funny. It 's like "Teeny weeny string bikini" we already talked about. The first one means "Easy" and the second one "Tiny" and the play on words is for children or for grown ups who have kept their child's heart.

gerardM Mer 13 Mai - 19:57

The English title of the well known song of the 80s was "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini".

MurielB Mer 13 Mai - 21:44

Thanks for the precisions Gérard !

gerardM Mer 13 Mai - 23:14

Easy peasy is not the only expression commonly used by grown-ups.

Okey dokey is another one.
Of course, Krystyna, as every Australian, keeps using such rhymes (Australians are still kids)... when she speeks with Steven, an American living in France, he also says Okey Dokey... I don't know if he does this to please K but I'd say Americans are also big kids.
Some people go even further saying "Okie Dokie Archidokie" to mean "good bye" Smile

-> http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Okie+Dokie+Artichokie

Of course, in this area pronunciation is more important that spelling so that we et various words such as Okey Dokey, Okie Dokie,
Okidokeys is even the name of a company dealing with keys and locks; isn't "Okidokey locks" another funny expression?

Similarly, another company is "Okie Dokie Clothes"

MurielB Jeu 14 Mai - 8:11

Gérard, for Young children I also like

•see you later, alligator
•after a while, crocodile
•no way, José
•ok, croquet
•good deal, banana peel

gerardM Jeu 14 Mai - 15:16

LOL

Thanks

gerardM Jeu 14 Mai - 15:19

Do we have many such expressions in French except: "Chauffe Marcel !" or "En voiture Simone !" (I'm joking, there're no rhymes in these)?

Another one in English: "Let's go Jo!"

MurielB Jeu 14 Mai - 22:45

Apparently a girl by the name of Simone Louise de Pinet de Borde des Forest got her driving permit at age 19 in 1929 and proceeded to enter rally races and had considerable success.

Gérard i enjoyed reading the origin of that expression.

gerardM Jeu 14 Mai - 23:15

gerardM a écrit:...
Some people go even further saying "Okie Dokie Archidokie" to mean "good bye" -> http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Okie+Dokie+Artichokie

I made a mistake! I wanted to write: "Okie Dokie Artichokie" to mean "good bye"

LOL

gerardM Lun 18 Mai - 22:03

Hi everyone,

Long time I didn't speak on this subject LOL

At our last Roundtable, we had 5 newcomers; among them a native German lady.
She agreed with me: the French are a bit deaf, they cannot perceive all of the sounds of German (long, short, open, closed vowels), or English (still more than in German) and that's a problem for them when they try to speak a foreign language.
~~~
Surprisingly, this German member, along with a colleague or hers, work at Air France-KLM (not in the planes but at Roissy Airport): I"m rather surprised thay are not correctly trained in such a company. scratch

As I'll attend the Annual meeting of Air France-KLM on Thursday, I'll ask the boss.

MurielB Lun 18 Mai - 22:33

Hi everyone ! Hi Gérard !
This post is very important because we cannot reproduce a sound we cannot hear. That's the reason why the French have difficulties in Learning foreign languages. Do you know Tomatis method ? It could help the French

The goal of the Tomatis® Method is to improve the functioning of the ear, especially as it is involved in listening, understanding and communication a écrit:

http://www.jackkeogh.com/Tomatis%20Language%20Method%20K&A.pdf

MurielB Ven 22 Mai - 21:25

German is very easy isn't it ? Wink

Guilaine Sam 23 Mai - 20:02

Excellent ! I like that one, it seems true indeed.

gerardM Sam 23 Mai - 20:09

Hi everyone,

I guess I wrote here about Krystyna who was disappointed and criticized the French as she intended to buy "sets de table" at the mountain (years ago) - she found them cheap... she was disappointed as as a "set", she expected at least 2; so she criticized the French who took the English word but didn't respect the number and she laughed at the French who invented "a set of one".

...

Maybe the French could take their revenge today LOL

Imagine that today Krystyna purchased a "pèse personne" and do you know the English word???
LOL
The English word is "a set of scales"!!!
LOL
I don't know why they put a plural there (prolly because we put both feet)
I understood that this was a good example of an English "set of one"... I'm not sure I'm right on this one because it's a set of several things and the question is "why a plural for scales"?
... probably a plural because old scales had 2 sides: one for the object to weigh, one for the weights.

Guilaine Sam 23 Mai - 20:55

Hi Gérard, Yes I think you're right : old scales had two trays. Therefore we have the plural. Isn'it the same with trousers, pajamas, jeans ?

gerardM Sam 23 Mai - 22:26

Guilaine a écrit:Hi Gérard, Yes I think you're right : old scales had two trays. Therefore we have the plural. Isn'it the same with trousers, pajamas, jeans ?

Yes pajamas etc have 2 thingies but present electronic scales don't have: they should change the name to set of 1 scale Wink

gerardM Mar 26 Mai - 15:30

Hi everyone,

Another problem with my French ears!

(you know, I often write here about French people having poor hearing hence poor understanding and speaking in English)

I got several surprises in my life... here's the latest.

Born several decades ago, Cliff Richard and the Shadows helped me dance Rock'n'Roll thanks to their wonderful music.
Given what I heard several times somewhere on TV or radio, I got to think the guy was also a member of the Rolling Stones... which was somewhat surprising as Cliff is a singer and not a guitar player scratch

but I heard this information!!

Now I know and Krystyna laughed a lot about this as she knows everything regardig the Stones.
So the truth is that the member of the Stones is named Keith Richards! You know, the "ei" in Keith is pronounced "i - French i", to my ears "th" and "ff" are similar, "cl" or "K" sound close as well; as for "Richard" and "Richards"... !
So, to me, the names Cliff Richard and Keith Richards can be confused.
Though, to Krystyna, Cliff Richard and Keith Richards are undoubtlessly, obviously different!!
LOL in such cases my conversatin goes to "sens dessus dessous"

Continued on page 17

Guilaine Mar 26 Mai - 16:02

Hi Gérard,
Very interesting indeed. One has to be careful.