Quote: Marc P @ April 26 2010, 10:29 PM BSTWhy?
Why what ?
The all-in-one Consolidated Grammar Thread Page 5
Quote: Oldrocker @ April 26 2010, 9:01 PM BSTHear, hear actually.
Well, yes, didn't I...? I mean, wasn't it...?
Quote: Oldrocker @ April 26 2010, 9:01 PM BSTNot grammar I know but I have come close to striking someone in the sandwich queue at work (Wolverhampton remember!) who says 'Hi, can I get a ham sandwich?'
I feel like saying 'Yes, of course you can. Do you want to get it here or somewhere else?'
They probably wanted to get it in the sandwich shop you were in. That's why they asked.
Quote: Scatterbrained Floozy @ April 26 2010, 7:09 PM BST*sigh* Poor example then. However, it's not mimicry! It's just how language works. I say "ew", and I think I read more English books, and certainly study the language, more than I watch American TV shows. Besides, how else would you express "ew"? "Oh my! I do believe that that is vile!"?
'Ew' is not an English expression. It doesn't really matter how you came to use it, the point is that it is an example of an Americanism that has become part of vernacular speech amongst younger people in the UK. It most likely came from a show like Buffy or Friends originally, something very widely consumed and considered culturally neutral. Dolly Dagger gave another example in the use creeping Americanism in 'Mom' instead of 'mum'.
Britain has become increasingly culturally dominated by America since WWII and part of that domination is now in language and speech forms. If you study literature you must have noticed this. The 'have' and 'got' usage for example. Even before the war Americanism and the faux adoption of American speech or customs was widespread in Europe and seen as sophisticated. It isn't really surprising that English schoolgirls should model themselves on the sun-tanned 'Valley Girls' than pock-marked slags from Croydon.
The English equivalent of 'ew' is 'urgh'.
Quote: Oldrocker @ April 26 2010, 9:01 PM BSTHear, hear actually.
Not grammar I know but I have come close to striking someone in the sandwich queue at work (Wolverhampton remember!) who says 'Hi, can I get a ham sandwich?'
I feel like saying 'Yes, of course you can. Do you want to get it here or somewhere else?'
I used to live in Wolverhampton, OldRocker - Whitmore Reans!
I've never, ever heard anybody English in the flesh say 'mom'.
I've seen one person on here write it (chip) and I've heard one person say it on TV (who has a silly accent anyway).
It's certainly not something remotely widespread, like 'ew'!
Quote: zooo @ April 27 2010, 12:45 AM BSTIt's certainly not something remotely widespread, like 'ew'!
I've never heard anyone say "ew". I don't even know how it's pronounced.
Quote: zooo @ April 27 2010, 12:45 AM BSTI've never, ever heard anybody English in the flesh say 'mom'.
I've seen one person on here write it (chip) and I've heard one person say it on TV (who has a silly accent anyway).It's certainly not something remotely widespread, like 'ew'!
Well it's been the only way I have ever known to refer to Mater.
And I'm 63 y'know so you'll have to speak up! Speak up, I say!
And when she could (Dementia now has a firm hold, 93 bless her) she always wrote Mom in cards etc.
Quote: Godot Taxis @ April 27 2010, 12:28 AM BSTI used to live in Wolverhampton, OldRocker - Whitmore Reans!
Great area ! The Newhampton is my 'local' although I have to drive there !
I bet you're in Penn. I used to drink in the Newhampton, but I preferred the feathers. Or the varsity if I had coin.
Quote: deckard @ April 26 2010, 7:42 PM BSTThe only reason I capitalize on this board is because back when I was a lurker I remember Aaron chastising (maybe 'chastising' is too harsh a word) someone for not capitalizing in their posts. I have been too scared to not capitalize since.
Same... but I do think it's helped me be a lot more aware about what I'm writing.
Quote: zooo @ April 27 2010, 12:45 AM BSTI've never, ever heard anybody English in the flesh say 'mom'.
I've seen one person on here write it (chip) and I've heard one person say it on TV (who has a silly accent anyway).
I'm sure I've seen at least one other person (who wasn't American or Canadian) use it on here and seen Brits use it on facebook, etc.
Quote: Oldrocker @ April 27 2010, 1:14 AM BSTWell it's been the only way I have ever known to refer to Mater.
And I'm 63 y'know so you'll have to speak up! Speak up, I say!
And when she could (Dementia now has a firm hold, 93 bless her) she always wrote Mom in cards etc.
Well at least it's because you pronounce it as such. You're just spelling it phonetically.
'Mum' and 'mummy' are amongst the first words school age children learn to read and write, so there is a deliberate choice at some point, by some people, to adopt 'mom'.
I must be one of the few people who doesn't use a spell checker when I post.
Quote: Godot Taxis @ April 27 2010, 12:28 AM BST'Mom' instead of 'mum'.
We say Mam where I'm from. I do feel a bit funny saying it now I'm in London though.
My Welsh step family say mam too. I like that. 
Quote: EllieJP @ April 27 2010, 9:31 AM BSTMy Welsh step family say mam too. I like that.
At work the other day, I said I was going to call 'me Mam', and the whole office laughed at me for several minutes as though I was backwards. 
The prejudice we Northerners have to endure! 
Quote: Godot Taxis @ April 27 2010, 1:18 AM BSTI bet you're in Penn. I used to drink in the Newhampton, but I preferred the feathers. Or the varsity if I had coin.
Castlecroft actually Old Boy.
Quote: Godot Taxis @ April 27 2010, 12:28 AM BST'Ew' is not an English expression. It doesn't really matter how you came to use it, the point is that it is an example of an Americanism that has become part of vernacular speech amongst younger people in the UK. It most likely came from a show like Buffy or Friends originally, something very widely consumed and considered culturally neutral. ...
The English equivalent of 'ew' is 'urgh'.
Darn straight. Though I personally transcribe said exclamation as 'ugh'. Correct spelling and pronunciation of 'ugh' are exemplified in Chumbawamba's great song Ugh! Your Ugly Houses, which they wrote in 1995 as an expression of their disgust with the palatial mansions of Sting and Rod Stewart.
From the sleeve notes:
Sting lives in a £2 million Elizabethan mansion. Its 41 rooms are panelled with Queen Anne oak; in its 54 acres of lawn and woodland there are two cottages, stables, a tennis court and a boathouse. A quick glance between the covers of Hello! magazine will reveal that, despite its decadent grandeur, Sting's shebang is decorated with a style befitting a sad old rocker millionaire who, like so many other rich twerps, imagines himself lord of a tudor manor. Friezes along some of the walls depict likenesses of Sting and his family dressed as Elizabethan minstrels... Ugh
Quote: Matthew Stott @ April 27 2010, 9:40 AM BSTAt work the other day, I said I was going to call 'me Mam', and the whole office laughed at me for several minutes as though I was backwards.
Haha!