Page 4 | Disrespectful to make fun of another poster because they speak and write differently because they are from the US

StopThinkBeforeYouJudge · 2023-03-13T00:48:48+00:00

Just that really. I saw a post and within it another poster decided it was annoying the way another poster had written the word "y'all".Plenty of Southerners,not just Texans used this word daily.It was really strange how she kept on about it and even said we "y'all " sayers shouldn't even write it out here on mumsnet. Personally I'm from the state that has lots of tornadoes fyi. But I've never seen anyone nor would I ever dare tell another poster how to spell words or how to put them on paper,EVER. It's not a UK,US thing at all. I just think we need to respect each other more. I'm aware there will be some that come for me on here,but I will still continue to encourage us all to respect each other more.

Moonicorn · 13/03/2023 10:00

Deliberately plummy voices annoy me. Mums putting on silly high pitched cutesy voices to talk to their kids annoys me. Men ‘man screaming’ on their phones in public annoys me. The Southern accent is just lovely and charming in my opinion.

JenniferBarkley · 13/03/2023 10:03

ScentOfAMemory · 13/03/2023 06:11

There is an actual linguistic study that has drawn the (amusing) conclusion that people who correct other people's use of language know far less about language than they think. I'll try and find a link later.

Wrt RP, actual RP, there are probably less than 100 people in the world who still use it in its original form. Not even the one who died on 8th September did if you listen to audio recordings of how she spoke 50 years ago, and how she spoke in recent years.

When people say they have an RP accent (it's only spoken, so people saying they "write" RP also don't know what they're talking about) what they mean is standard English. There are many standard Englishes, some of which are American, Australian etc. All British standard English is, is a correct use of grammar and pronunciation. It's usually limited to south east standard, for obvious reasons, but there are others.

Anybody correcting anyone's English on Mumsnet is generally suffering from a hefty and mistaken bout of superiority and it never takes long for Muphry to come along and prove it.

Love this.

The regularity of sneering posts about people using perfectly correct English is just despressing.

BlessYourHeartHoney · 13/03/2023 10:07

But Brits using American words (gotten, diaper, bangs, sidewalk) is really bloody annoying. It's done to be cool, and I think it's really sad that people think American English is preferable to our own version.

This is your interpretation and perception. You should do something about it and don't project it on others.

Some people are influenced by different things and don't use it to make others feel small (because that's really what people who say these things feel and it's their problem). Why should they? They're just words/language.

JenniferBarkley · 13/03/2023 10:08

WomanStanleyWoman2 · 13/03/2023 09:57

This is how I feel about it. I see people on MN writing “wanna” and “gonna” and it just jars. I know a lot of people pronounce it like that in informal speech, but to actually type it like that… it seems like more effort to do that than to actually just get it right in the first place.

It’s the same with “like”. An annoying number of people punctuate with it in conversations, but I see that as a sort of verbal tic. When they actually write “She claims we’re best friends but I haven’t seen her in like six months”, it seems deliberately affected. I get how “like” can slip out while you’re talking, but surely it actually takes a conscious effort to add it in where it doesn’t need to be?

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When posting on MN people are using their informal English, and typing that creates tone. Adding terms like "like" or using "gonna" can also soften the language and add extra depth and meaning (or nuance per a poster above).

"I haven't seen her in six months" = very exact, sounds like the person has been counting.

"I haven't seen her in like six months" = more woolly, I'm not counting but it must be quite a while.

BlessYourHeartHoney · 13/03/2023 10:11

Personally, I hate seeing "y'all" coming from a British person. It's affected. And observation has shown me that people who use it tend to be steeped in American culture etc and don't really grasp that their culture isn't ours in the UK. Different places, different histories.

So? Y'all are tripping!

They do grasp it, they just don't care as much as y'all obviously do. Y'all should take a leaf out of these people's books and chill out about the way people choose to speak/live. It's so controlling and insular.

BlessYourHeartHoney · 13/03/2023 10:14

I've read things by young Brits implying we used to have racially segregated public loos (never had those), that racially mixed marriage was illegal here (no, it wasn't), that we have an active & powerful 'religious right' (we realy don't), and then all the George Floyd & 'taking the knee' stuff, as though Floyd was killed by cops in Tonbridge Wells or somewhere. Yes, we have our own problems but they are different from American ones.

You've managed to weave race into this rant.

Bingo time:
Already seen "virtue-signalling".

Waiting for "woke", "snowflakes", BLM, etc

NotAnotherBathBomb · 13/03/2023 10:14

I always find it ironic amusing when a British person takes major offence at the way an American speaks, and when Americanisms are used in the UK, when much of the work speaks English due tor the British empire.

WomanStanleyWoman2 · 13/03/2023 10:25

JenniferBarkley · 13/03/2023 10:08

When posting on MN people are using their informal English, and typing that creates tone. Adding terms like "like" or using "gonna" can also soften the language and add extra depth and meaning (or nuance per a poster above).

"I haven't seen her in six months" = very exact, sounds like the person has been counting.

"I haven't seen her in like six months" = more woolly, I'm not counting but it must be quite a while.

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“Gonna” and “wanna” really don’t add extra depth, meaning or nuance (most overused word on this thread).

JenniferBarkley · 13/03/2023 10:26

WomanStanleyWoman2 · 13/03/2023 10:25

“Gonna” and “wanna” really don’t add extra depth, meaning or nuance (most overused word on this thread).

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I think they can do actually, by contributing to an overall casual tone.

gogohmm · 13/03/2023 10:28

Spoken language is different to written, I have many American friends including two from the south and they wouldn't dream of writing such an expression unless in speech marks.

watcherintherye · 13/03/2023 10:31

Isn’t ‘bless your heart’ the equivalent of the MN ‘sympathetic’ <head tilt>?

whumpthereitis · 13/03/2023 10:33

Rightsraptor · 13/03/2023 09:37

Others may have raised this too, not read everything here, but lots of US words are words commonly used in Britain a long time ago. Words such as diaper & closet spring to mind, both can be found in novels from Jane Austen's era. Why we stopped using them would be interesting to know.

I’m massively simplifying but I think the biggest changes were vowel shift, and rhotic shift. American English, outside of east coast port cities that retained closer ties to Britain, retained rhoticity whilst British English became predominantly non rhotic.

You’ve got significant shift from Middle English to Early Modern English, and from Early Modern to Modern. New words superseded old words, and grammatical change rendered many obsolete.

I remember reading that one theory is that it’s, at least in part, the result of greater migration following the Black Death. You’ve also got an influx of words loaned from France, which, as a result of war with France, was then counteracted by a deliberate shift away from continental influence apparently as a result of war (some of the grammar in Jane Austen follows the same rules as those of the German and French languages). Interestingly, many words derived from France such as serviette, toilet, perfume, preserve are considered non-u, whereas ‘u’ words are Germanic in origin (I believe).

dreamingbohemian · 13/03/2023 10:44

People need to get over 'like'. Plenty of linguistics experts have argued it's not just a verbal tic, it changes the meaning of the words that follow, usually indicating 'approximately'

YouSoundLovely · 13/03/2023 10:47

JenniferBarkley · 13/03/2023 10:08

When posting on MN people are using their informal English, and typing that creates tone. Adding terms like "like" or using "gonna" can also soften the language and add extra depth and meaning (or nuance per a poster above).

"I haven't seen her in six months" = very exact, sounds like the person has been counting.

"I haven't seen her in like six months" = more woolly, I'm not counting but it must be quite a while.

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yes, this - and I also think in this example 'like' serves as a sort of intensifier - emphasising 'a really, unusually (for us) long time'.

TracyBeakerSoYeah · 13/03/2023 10:52

Mom is the spoken version of Mum in the West Midlands & friends from WMids who now live elsewhere still pronounce Mum as Mom.

Folks or folk tends to be used in the more rural or northern areas of England

I've heard 'bless your heart' all over the UK

So youse cannot say that this is down to folk sounding like they're using American terms as an affectation of speech.

I've always called the lift the elevator & the top of the kitchen cupboard the counter yet I still call the pavement the pavement & a nappy a nappy.

This is just how I speak but then I've lived in various parts of the UK & some of my family & friends are from all over the world.

It doesn't bother me if you call your cob, a bun/roll/butty or batch or your alley, a jetty/ginnel/passage/snicket or cut through, as I usually know what you mean.
It does my swede in when folk get a bag on/mardy policing how one speaks.

Amoreena · 13/03/2023 10:53

Yanbu. There's a certain type of person who thinks that Americans (and English people) are fair game to he rude to in a way they'd never be to say a Nigerian person or an Irish person. It's the attitude that xenophobia is ok if it's aimed at certain nationalities but not others, which is missing the point of what xenophobia is.

Eyerollcentral · 13/03/2023 10:57

Amoreena · 13/03/2023 10:53

Yanbu. There's a certain type of person who thinks that Americans (and English people) are fair game to he rude to in a way they'd never be to say a Nigerian person or an Irish person. It's the attitude that xenophobia is ok if it's aimed at certain nationalities but not others, which is missing the point of what xenophobia is.

Delusional.

dreamingbohemian · 13/03/2023 10:59

NeverApologiseNeverExplain · 13/03/2023 09:47

"The plural of y'all is y'all"

I thought that y'all already was a plural, in that it meant "you plural"?

How does it have a singular?

I'm not originally from the South, so take this with lots of salt, but I lived for a long time in let's say a South-adjacent city, and my understanding would be:

y'all is plural but for sort of an indeterminate amount of people
all y'all means everyone I'm speaking to, the whole group

Or, you could say that y'all for a few people, but if you have a larger group you might use all y'all

I mostly used all y'all when I was working in dive bars. So for example, if some people started squaring up to each other, I might say very firmly: hey! all y'all need to settle down right now

In that case, all y'all also emphasises inclusivity, like I'm not picking one side over another, I'm telling both sides to calm down

Eyerollcentral · 13/03/2023 11:04

BlessYourHeartHoney · 13/03/2023 08:45

Its really cringe for British people to use US slang.

It really isn't. It's "cringe" only to people who like to "cringe" about everything. People are influenced by different things, including languages. Let them live, y'all.

Ha ha ha ha ‘let them live’, oh dear… listen say whatever you like, however you like, but if you are British and throwing y’all’s around people are either laughing in your face or behind your back. You must know this. It’s not stopping anyone from living to mock this affectation.

MrsCarson · 13/03/2023 11:20

Aquamarine1029 · 13/03/2023 02:21

Distain for Americans/America is rife on MN.

This with bells on.
Have a nice day y'all.

LadyWindermeresOnlyFans · 13/03/2023 11:30

@Goodread1 u wot

As any fule kno I'm with @LemonJuiceFromConcentrate and @singer15 . Vive la difference! (Said in the 'Allo 'Allo style)

Aquamarine1029 · 13/03/2023 11:31

furryfrontbottom · 13/03/2023 06:30

Disdain.

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Yes, it was a typo.

BlessYourHeartHoney · 13/03/2023 11:33

Eyerollcentral · 13/03/2023 11:04

Ha ha ha ha ‘let them live’, oh dear… listen say whatever you like, however you like, but if you are British and throwing y’all’s around people are either laughing in your face or behind your back. You must know this. It’s not stopping anyone from living to mock this affectation.

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That's fine and dandy. These people can do laugh infront or behind all they want, they just look stupid to others.

One group is busy living their lives and the other group is busy pointing and laughing at them like a bunch of unruly school kids at the playground.

purpledalmation · 13/03/2023 11:35

I just can't understand why writing it that way. I'm sure iPhone autocorrect it. Y'all No actually it doesn't 😂😂

LadyWindermeresOnlyFans · 13/03/2023 11:37

Anyone else now want to want to watch the episode of Alan Partridge with Peter Serafinowicz as Tex?