Different Kinds of English

[callmecaito.livejournal.com]

I know I've only just recently joined the community, but already I'm ready to jump headlong into discussion and, more likely than not, make a complete and total fool of myself.

More importantly, though, I feel the need to stop other people making fools of themselves first. I'm not sure about the demographic breakdown of this community, but already I'm suspecting that many if not most people here live in America. More likely than not, most if not all of us here speak good to fluent English, and so should usually have to problem understanding one another.

The fact of the matter is, though, that English is different wherever it is spoken. A doughnut may be called a cymbal, an olycrook, a cruller, a friedcake, a belly sinker, a dunker, a fatcake, a fasnacht, or a bismark, depending what part of America you're in. If you've ever heard someone use "but" or "only" as an intensifier ("It was she only who cooked this rice") they may have been speaking Indian English (in which case my example sentence is completely acceptable). There are phrases and idioms in certain areas of the world that don't exist in other places. English also borrows many words from other languages, so while you may talk about "adobe" and "tortillas" in the American Southwest, someone from Edinburgh may just as well have no idea what you're talking about.

There are more differences in English in different places than just the accents.

"Fug", which many people are believing to be a typo, is informal British for smelly atmosphere (or fog, whatever). When Ron talks about taking a shufti, he means to take a quick look around - the word originated as slang in the British military and it crept into widespread use sometime after World War II, if I'm not mistaken.

So.

If anyone else has a word or grammatical phrase they think may be a typo, I propose you post it here before you blab to all your friends that JKR doesn't know how to use spell-check. I highly doubt there are any true typos in Half-Blood Prince; such a highly anticipated book would have been gone over with a fine-tooth comb by various editors as well as the author herself. If you see an unfamiliar word, I will go out of my way to find you the etymology and prove that it is a real word, just as I will do a headstand if that's what it takes to defend any grammatical constructs in the book.

I almost wish I were a prefect or other such officer, because then I might make this a challenge and give out points for it. But hey, I certainly wouldn't mind if any current officers did decide to make some sort of game out of this (just give me credit, 'kay? I'm new and I'm trying to get well-known).

I - well, I guess that's all I had to say.

Comments

[unwoundfantasy.livejournal.com]

I don't think that members being ignorant concerning dialect constitutes as someone looking like a fool. :) Let's keep this friendly. I, personally, have no problems with someone thinking a word of my own dialect is misspelled, a typo, or not a word at all -- I'm always happy to explain it.

And I get it a lot. Southern US. O_O

And if our members are highly interested in the differences, they should check out hp_britglish.

[callmecaito.livejournal.com]

Oh no, I meant that jokingly, teasingly. I was making as much fun of myself as I was anyone else. I meant absolutely no offense whatsoever. That's one of the problems with the Internet - reading only the text of what people has to say makes it very hard to communicate, seeing as more than two-thirds of communication is actually non-verbal (eye contact, gestures, posture, etc.).

I had just noticed quite a few instances (not only here, but across the big big Internet) where people repeated "OMG I leik found 10 typoes!!!!!!eleventy-ten". (Does anyone else see the gaping irony of someone, speaking netspeak, nitpicking on another's "typos"?)

I take it that people here are intelligent and more than up to learning a bit and stretching their own personal lexicon horizons (which I why I joined up with this comm to begin with). I just wasn't sure whether people knew about certain subtle differences. I can't tell you how confused I was initially when, a few years ago, I read Harry was wearing a "jumper", when all my life I had thought of a jumper as a particular type of girl's dress.

Hope I haven't made a bad first impression. My apologies.

[amarettolime.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen anyone in this community complaining about the English used in the books yet, but perhaps I wasn't looking hard enough?

Anyway, there's been a few slang words used that I wasn't sure about but I've found that this page (http://www.effingpot.com/slang.shtml) typically helps. ;]

[unwoundfantasy.livejournal.com]

I don't think it was complaining about the English, but misunderstanding a bit of it as typos. :) I.E., my post below.

[pink-polka.livejournal.com]

Your post reminded me I actually do have a question. What in the world is a shufti? I tried to work it out within the context while reading, but it baffled me and I moved on.

[callmecaito.livejournal.com]

[n] (British) a quick look around (originally military slang); "take a shufti while you're out there"

[ciara-belle.livejournal.com]

I highly doubt there are any true typos in Half-Blood Prince

There's at least one. At least, it's in the American edition. My dad pointed it out to me today.

"The site, therefore, of Fudge stepping out of the fire once more..."

p.10, American edition. Should be "sight"

But thanks for the other info, I didn't know any of that. ^^

[my-kateling.livejournal.com]

I CAUGHT THAT ONE TOO.
I knew that it wasn't just Brrrrritish thing cause that's just bad grammar.

I like very much how the American editions have been including more and more of the Brrrrrritish words because it is *such* a Brit book, boarding school and terms and whatnot, it just feels better.

[ciorstaidh.livejournal.com]

That's correct in the UK edition (p15 "The sight, therefore...") Obviously some editor thought they were being helpful...

[soleil-luna.livejournal.com]

I've only ever heard of a donut being called a cruller and that was in the Wizard of Oz. :) Thank you for the definition of shufti. I had positively no clue what that meant.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_golden_shadow_/]

when u talk about Indian English, do u mean East Indian i.e, South-East Asian, or Aboriginal Indian?

just wondering.

[callmecaito.livejournal.com]

I mean Indian as in India, Southeast Asian India. Specifically I mean that which is spoken in Northern India. I'm pretty sure about that, at least.

I actually started learning more about Indian English because I watch Bollywood movies. Oftentimes, subtitles aren't necessarily very good, and I made fun of some movie or other for using the word "maths" (for which I, as an American, would have said "math") and I made fun of the obvious misunderstanding of plurality. I thought I was pretty clever until quite a few Indians, some Canadians, and an Australian corrected me. Apparently the use of "maths" is a lot more widespread than I had imagined.

[lonly-girl.livejournal.com]

I realised what Fug ment, but i was like WTF is Shufti? and i was gonna come here and ask~!
~*~RITA~*~Grfyindrojk

[theropicus.livejournal.com]

...I figured fug was probably a real word, as it isn't right next to the o on the keyboard (though I suppose it is close).

I have much sympathy for your misunderstanding of jumper, as I thought the same thing. It was even harder for the 7-year-old that I once was (oh yea, those many years ago) to understand how one of the kids in Prince Caspian could be carrying "torch" in his pocket. At the time, all I could think was, "Wouldn't it burn a hole through?" and "How does he keep it lit?" ^.^;; Seriously, I have total respect for unusual words/slang/etc. and alternate phrasings. I throw some of my friends off sometimes because I've adopted unusual words/phrases/sentence structures from books over the years.

Still there are some typos, as ciara_belle pointed out. I'm pretty sure I came across a "than" that should have been a "that"

[xxreed.livejournal.com]

[callmecaito.livejournal.com]

I like the use of the word "trainers" to identify the type of shoes one might wear to gym class. Having grown up on the West Coast, the East Coast, and in various locales in between, I was never sure what to call the darned things - sneakers? gym shoes? runners? running shoes? tennis shoes? (when I was a little kid I thought that was one word - tennashoes - which was even more confusing).

[riku-chan.livejournal.com]

I had to ask someone about "mouth organ". I was very confused, I knew Voldermort was evil, but stealing people's mouths? (Yes I did find out it was a harmonica.)

I have a dialect question for anyone in california, do you guys say pop or soda. I though pop was an entire west coast thing but someone told me they said soda in california.

[callmecaito.livejournal.com]

When I lived in California, I think we said "soda". The only places I've lived where we said "pop" were Wisconsin and Ohio. Then again, I haven't lived in California in ten years, so I may be rememberign wrong.

[unwoundfantasy.livejournal.com]

In the South, everything carbonated is just 'a coke'. ^^

[theropicus.livejournal.com]

...people still say pop? O.o Really? I've lived in the L.A.-area my entire life, and it's always been "soda" around here :) It may, however, differ between northern and southern California, since I know that there's something of a different "culture" going on in and around L.A. an other soCal locals.

It's okay you didn't know about mouth organ ::pats head:: "Torch" totally threw me off in Prince Caspian when I was younger - I thought for years that it was meant as a real torch (as in fire on the end of a stick), I didn't realize that it was a flashlight until I was older :) Still, it would be pretty awful if Voldy went around stealing mouths (and I'm sure it's possible to do that with magic), though wouldn't it be someone's tongue? As it's a "mouth organ", implying an organ that is in or involved with the mouth?

[hackergroupie.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the clarifications. Hadn't heard of "fug" or "Shufti" before. :)

[xxreed.livejournal.com]

[ciorstaidh.livejournal.com]

I've found one. Not sure if it's a typo or JKR mixing up her plural tenses (shame on her; she did Classics at Exeter!)

If the singular is inferius, then the plural is inferii with two "i"s, not one.

And I'm inclined to think it's a typo because JKR got the horcrux/horcruxes correct.

Sorry, I'm a real pedant when it comes to these things.

Kirsty x

[callmecaito.livejournal.com]

Are you also a student of Latin?! I love that language!

[billie-jean.livejournal.com]

what's a wotcher?

[callmecaito.livejournal.com]

"Wotcher" is just an informal exclamation, usually used as a greeting, like "Whassup?" or "Dude!"

[weemumlessmngrl.livejournal.com]

You know what always gets me? When they say "All right?". When I say "Alright?" I mean "Do you agree with me?". When they say it, I'm assuming it's more literal, like "Are you all right?".

Am I.. 'all right' in my take of what is being said?

[thespyglass.livejournal.com]

Huh, I'm not sure it's written like that in my copy, I think it would have stood out more. How strange! I'd be bugged as well.