We haven't had any just right for cocoa days yet, though the boys are impatient waiting! More like, just right for iced tea! Homemade popsicles. Fruit smoothies.

M

Fallish weather is here. A sure sign: I had to wrap in a blanket while sitting at my computer this morning.

LD

How frustrating the English language is! One of my favorite quotes (from one of my favorite musicals):

Quote:

---

"Oh, why can't the English learn to set
A good example to people whose
English is painful to your ears?
The Scotch and the Irish leave you close to tears.
There even are places where English completely
disappears. In America, they haven't used it for years!"

---

They're, there, their: do you know the proper word to use? How about these: lay, lie, lain, laid? Further, for good measure, when are these spellings appropriate: or, are, our?

meet, meat, mete

LynnDel;

You be the teach! here, hear ........over there, over their (heads),(when) over, they're (happy).

Shoot, by gum, what’s be wrong with over yonder, down the crick? What about the Newfoundlander that says "I goes to the store".

I be understandin' whats them’uns be meanin.

How was that for chalk on the board?

My Spanish friends tell me that English will be spoken in heaven because we English speaking Americans could never learn Spanish! I personally believe we will all speak the language of heaven, whatever that is.

Now Chrys;

Expound on that lay, lie, lye, laid stuff to me. Maybe our 3rd person plural person can explain it, but I would love for you to tell us.

Part of the problem is that in most North American accents it's impossible to distinguish by sound between 'our' and 'are', whereas with Aussies it's easy. Mind you, we have our own: When we say our friend 'Lorne' mows the 'lawn' it's almost indistinguishable in our accent. And Cassie gets some very odd looks when she tells people she's reading a book called 'Pawn of Prophecy'.

Similarly, for most North Americans there's no audible difference between 'due', 'do' and 'dew'. The Mountain Dew 'Do the Dew' slogan sounds completely different when Aussies say it: but at least I don't get students writing that they had to 'make due' with less than perfect conditions...

would you all start making a list of every American dialect there is cross-country? I would so like to know. That has been a question in my mind for decades.

I believe when we talk about one speaking with an accent they are those who have come to the country and are using the country's main lanugage as their second tongue.

I would like to know of born and bred Americans who talk differently the Americanise from other Americans.

It's the drawls, or twangs of the southern Americans that bring the most variations, I believe. I have wondered if the Black people in Alabama or Georgia pronounciations differs from the caucasian people in those States. And if there is a difference between North Carolina folk talking over against the South Carolina folk.

Also if there is more than one type of Texas drawl.

I would sure be interested in a list made of all the east coast dialects as well. I would do such a search on Google but don't know how to formulate an effective search modus using the right string of words.

Turmeric

One of my favorite names is from Wallace and Gromit, A Close Shave. The sheep goes through the machine that automatically sheers it and as he's standing there shivering, Wallace says, We'll name him Shawn. I roar every time I see that, because as an American, there is no rhyme, but in his lovely British accent, Shawn sounds much like shorn. Makes me laugh every time!

M

Dialects: Hard question. I grew up with not much dialect, in Colorado, though there is a Western dialect in Colorado/Wyoming/Utah/Montana/etc, kind of a western twang. A farrier I had once had a very definite twang, and was born and bred in Colorado. I used to wonder if it were affected, but I think it was natural--just not something you might hear too much outside of the movies.



My personal gripe about usage errors is when (adjective deleted) copyeditors substitute reign for rein when talking about horses' bridles. I've seen this several times in Pacific Press books and it drives me up a wall! Come on, folks, don't rely on your spellchecker to do the job for you!!!!!!

Hens lay eggs. You lay something on a chair. You lie down. Laid is past tense of lay (chicken laid an egg). Lain is past participle of lie (he has lain down).

They're--abbreviation for they are. Their is possessive pronoun (that is their dog). "there" is most commonly used as an adverb, though can function as other parts of speech, less commonly.

I teach this stuff and do copyediting on the side, but I've discovered that even if a person knows grammar/usage/mechanics very well, it is hard to explain succinctly to EFL learners!

M

I wish I hadn't drunk just before I ate, I usually don't and wait for at least an hour before I drink after food. But today I got it wrong