I’m really curious if people can tell whether the poster is American or Canadian or from the UK or whatever without looking at the location. For instance, anytime I see a word that I end in -or and I see -our I know it’s probably somebody from the UK. (And everytime I see it I say it different in my head, like flavour ends up flay-vow-er in my inside voice) And when somebody is bitching about the US, I know it’s a Canadian. (kidding, of course )
Can you tell where people are from, especially Americans, by phrases or spelling?
Words with (what feel to me like) too many suffixes point out an American. Burglarisation.
Someone typing “yis” or “yiz” etc for you-plural is invariably from Dublin.
Even Scandinavians who speak and write excellent english can give themselves away by their nouns and verbs not agreeing “the river runs through the forest” (Scandies often put “river run” and “rivers runs”). Also if Vs and Ws are mixed it is a dead giveaway.
Obviously not all XXX do YYY, but chances are if you see YYY it was an XXX that did it
And, I often spell words with -our; I think its from having been reading Tolkien since I was 7 years old. A lot of my spellings fluctuate between American and British versions.
That said, whenever I see anyone use “bloody” as garius just did, and a few other select words/phrases that I can’t think of right now, it’s often a give-away. I mean, Bruce_Daddy, I can tell just by reading this one post of yours that you’re from Greenville, SC, USA.
Perhaps the most obvious giveaway is the use of metric measurements where we USA folks would likely use the old English units.
I used to think “bloody” was a pretty good indication that someone is from the UK. However, I see many US posters using this word as well.
People who use “whilst” instead of “while” tend to be from Australia. Words that we Americans end in -ed are sometimes ended with a t in the UK (learnt, burnt, etc.)
Other words that tell me someone is from outside the USA:
flat = apartment
lift = elevator
telly = television, TV
programme - program/TV show
petrol = gas/gasoline
bonnet = hood (as in a car)
boot = trunk (also, as in a car)
tyre = tire
pyjamas = pajamas
trousers = pants (we sometimes say trousers here, but it’s not as common)
I could add to that a little. It becomes more difficult I think in choosing between someone from say, The UK and someone from here in Australia or New Zealand. Our spelling of words tends to be the same, as does the usage of various terms such as that noted above by dwc1970. I think the same may apply to a few other places as well…any South African posters out there?
Well, after a recent post, I discovered that not many people seem to know what “you’re grand” means outside of Ireland and the UK.
“Thanks a million” is Irish too, as is any reference to the “Auld Fella”.
minor whinge alert
In any medical/biology post American spellings of Greek words set my teeth on edge.
Oestrogen/Estrogen
Foetus/Fetus
Anaemia/Anemia
Haemoglobin/Hemoglobin
etc.
Foetus does not rhyme with “let us”, don’t spell it like that!
“Loike, Oi couldn’t agree more, roight.
I met these people at a porty in Rathmoines, and they were SO Northsoide.
Anyone coming to Annabels? Should be a roight laff!”
Wha? I’ve heard that phrase hundreds of times in non-Ireland places.
Canadians spell some things the British way too. Only Americans spell the American way. Since most posters on the SDMB are from the US, that doesn’t narrow things down all that much.
I find it difficult to really tell where native English speakers are from without looking at their location, as people like up odd slang from friends and suchlike. For instance, the farthest south in the US I’ve ever been is Missouri, but I say “y’all” all the time - I picked it up from a good friend in high school who was from Texas. Probably place names and units of measurement are the only real true giveaways.
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