Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2014/05/11

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Subject: [Leica] Languages/dialects
From: kanner at acm.org (Herbert Kanner)
Date: Sun, 11 May 2014 13:14:25 -0700
References: <4613C31C-4AD5-4364-97CA-C3B0D660EBD6@frozenlight.eu> <F9D4F153-A9DE-448A-9D47-020B4F299298@bex.net> <7D972AB0-FC59-4944-8950-79868BCD2D4F@frozenlight.eu> <DD2CB0D3-C2A2-4192-BAC4-596AE5AFA39C@bex.net> <2A5AF1EE-52A0-4240-8B7D-722E8AA47071@frozenlight.eu>

When I lived in England for eight years circa 1970, I was fascinated by the 
linguistic similarities and differences. In particular, I enjoyed learning 
the English equivalents for common sayings: ?A dime a dozen? -> ?ten a 
penny?, ?I wouldn?t touch it with a six-foot pole? -> ?I wouldn?t touch it 
with a bargepole,? and a favorite: ?..and that?s easily done? -> ?..and 
Bob?s your uncle?. Never got an explanation for that last one. There was one 
U.S. expression for which I never found an equivalent: ?He?s all wet?. That, 
in my understanding is not a global description of a person, but rather his 
savvy in some particular context, like ?He?s all wet about the importance of 
global warning?. 

I?ll omit all the obscene equivalences other to say that they concentrate on 
the female ones rather than the male ones.

Herbert Kanner
kanner at acm.org
650-326-8204

Question authority and the authorities will question you.




On May 11, 2014, at 7:54 AM, Nathan Wajsman <photo at frozenlight.eu> wrote:

> While it is true that the US has English and Spanish as the two main 
> languages, the variations in the way English is spoken is huge as well, 
> even if they are not formally recognized as different dialects. When I 
> lived in Buffalo, I was 100% fluent in English, meaning the British and NE 
> US variety; but I could not understand people in South Carolina when we 
> stopped at a rest area on our way to Florida.
> 
> Also keep in mind that Spain was unified only in the 15th century; prior 
> to that it was a bunch of separate kingdoms, and so the regional 
> identities have remained. And I suspect that until the 20th century most 
> people never left the town or the province they lived in.
> 
> Cheers,
> Nathan
> 
> Nathan Wajsman
> Alicante, Spain
> http://www.frozenlight.eu
> http://www.greatpix.eu
> PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws
> Blog: http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/
> 
> YNWA
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On May 11, 2014, at 3:42 PM, Howard Ritter wrote:
> 
>> Thanks, Nathan. I'm always intrigued and fascinated by the existence of 
>> dialectical differences and linguistic regions within European countries 
>> that nominally have a single official or characteristic language, a 
>> phenomenon so unfamiliar to us USians.
>> 
>> ?howard
>> 
>> On May 11, 2014, at 1:21 AM, Nathan Wajsman <photo at frozenlight.eu> 
>> wrote:
>> 
>>> Thanks Howard. All the signs in Busot are in Valenciano, a local dialect 
>>> of Catalan and the official language in the Comunitat Valenciana, to 
>>> which Alicante belongs. In the bigger towns like Alicante, signs are in 
>>> both Spanish and Valenciano; but in small places like Busot, especially 
>>> inland, they are in Valenciano only.
>>> 
>>> Cheers,
>>> Nathan
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
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>> 
> 
> 
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> 



Replies: Reply from hopsternew at gmail.com (Geoff Hopkinson) ([Leica] Languages/dialects)
In reply to: Message from photo at frozenlight.eu (Nathan Wajsman) ([Leica] IMG: Busot)
Message from hlritter at bex.net (Howard Ritter) ([Leica] IMG: Busot)
Message from photo at frozenlight.eu (Nathan Wajsman) ([Leica] IMG: Busot)
Message from hlritter at bex.net (Howard Ritter) ([Leica] IMG: Busot)
Message from photo at frozenlight.eu (Nathan Wajsman) ([Leica] Languages/dialects)