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The Public Shaming of England’s First Umbrella User

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Re: The Public Shaming of England’s First Umbrella User

#31

Post by mattmanser »

BjoernKW wrote: post #29
oblio wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> At least the English tolerate all kinds of foreign mangling pretty well. That's because they mangle their own language awfully enough. I'm not a native English speaker but I've heard quite a few native Englishmen and their accents are horrible. Received Pronunciation is obviously nice to hear and quite clear, but those local accents... oh my! I'm not saying that my accent is any better, but at least I try to make m…

There's no letter-to-sound correspondence in English. English probably - at least compared with other European language - is one of the most irregular languages in terms of pronunciation: http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/english1.html This is simply due to the language having been heavily influenced by a host of other - quite different - languages over the centuries, Old Norse and French in particular. There's also the…

There's pidgin English in Nigeria.

When you first hear it you think it's a different language.

Re: The Public Shaming of England’s First Umbrella User

#33

Post by pjc50 »

oblio wrote: post #21
mc32 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's worse, that or not speaking a perfect Frankish language of when in the land of Franks? At least the English tolerate all kinds of foreign mangling pretty well.

> At least the English tolerate all kinds of foreign mangling pretty well. That's because they mangle their own language awfully enough. I'm not a native English speaker but I've heard quite a few native Englishmen and their accents are horrible. Received Pronunciation is obviously nice to hear and quite clear, but those local accents... oh my! I'm not saying that my accent is any better, but at least I try to make m…

> sounds be as close as possible to the actual letters used in the word

So you'd pronounce "ghoti" as "fish" then?

Re: The Public Shaming of England’s First Umbrella User

#36

Post by zhte415 »

f_allwein wrote: post #8

"In the minds of many Brits, umbrella usage was symptomatic of a weakness of character, particularly among men. Few people ever dared to be seen with such a detestable, effeminate contraption. To carry an umbrella when it rained was to incur public ridicule." This sentiment is very much alive today. I'm always surprised how I seem to be the only person carrying an umbrella in London when it rains. Especially bankers…

> I'm always surprised how I seem to be the only person carrying an umbrella in London when it rains. Especially bankers seem to prefer getting soaked.

If you're a banker in London you're inundated with free umbrellas, as they're the gift de-facto on attending any kind of event. Nice, big, very big, very good quality, umbrellas (with said host company's logo).

You're also probably wearing a decent wool suit, and decent wool suits, Super-100s and above, not that expensive, and by design of nature, are completely shower-proof. Not rain-proof, but shower-proof. When getting to the destination, they just need a bash to bounce off any droplets that have stuck to the exterior (don't wipe, doing so will force the droplets into the fabric).

Re: The Public Shaming of England’s First Umbrella User

#37

Post by icebraining »

mattmanser wrote: post #31
BjoernKW wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no letter-to-sound correspondence in English. English probably - at least compared with other European language - is one of the most irregular languages in terms of pronunciation: http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/english1.html This is simply due to the language having been heavily influenced by a host of other - quite different - languages over the centuries, Old Norse and French in particular. There's also the…

There's pidgin English in Nigeria. When you first hear it you think it's a different language.

Which kind talk be dat?

Na craze talk be dat

Re: The Public Shaming of England’s First Umbrella User

#38

Post by k-mcgrady »

f_allwein wrote: post #8

"In the minds of many Brits, umbrella usage was symptomatic of a weakness of character, particularly among men. Few people ever dared to be seen with such a detestable, effeminate contraption. To carry an umbrella when it rained was to incur public ridicule." This sentiment is very much alive today. I'm always surprised how I seem to be the only person carrying an umbrella in London when it rains. Especially bankers…

>> "I'm always surprised how I seem to be the only person carrying an umbrella in London when it rains."

Weird, I'm always surprised at how almost every seems to have an umbrella ready to use in London.

Re: The Public Shaming of England’s First Umbrella User

#39

Post by raverbashing »

BjoernKW wrote: post #29
oblio wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> At least the English tolerate all kinds of foreign mangling pretty well. That's because they mangle their own language awfully enough. I'm not a native English speaker but I've heard quite a few native Englishmen and their accents are horrible. Received Pronunciation is obviously nice to hear and quite clear, but those local accents... oh my! I'm not saying that my accent is any better, but at least I try to make m…

There's no letter-to-sound correspondence in English. English probably - at least compared with other European language - is one of the most irregular languages in terms of pronunciation: http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/english1.html This is simply due to the language having been heavily influenced by a host of other - quite different - languages over the centuries, Old Norse and French in particular. There's also the…

English was not "influenced" by Old Norse, rather, they are siblings

Re: The Public Shaming of England’s First Umbrella User

#40

Post by lorenzhs »

BjoernKW wrote: post #29
oblio wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> At least the English tolerate all kinds of foreign mangling pretty well. That's because they mangle their own language awfully enough. I'm not a native English speaker but I've heard quite a few native Englishmen and their accents are horrible. Received Pronunciation is obviously nice to hear and quite clear, but those local accents... oh my! I'm not saying that my accent is any better, but at least I try to make m…

There's no letter-to-sound correspondence in English. English probably - at least compared with other European language - is one of the most irregular languages in terms of pronunciation: http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/english1.html This is simply due to the language having been heavily influenced by a host of other - quite different - languages over the centuries, Old Norse and French in particular. There's also the…

See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift
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