# What are some \*subtle\* differences among various dialects of English? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 12, 2017, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145 "2017-09-12T06:34:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2017, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/161 "2017-09-14T19:25:11Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > I like the name of the local brand of bottled water, “PGH[sub]2[/sub]O.” 🙂 Do they scoop it out of the Ohio River? ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2017, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/162 "2017-09-15T05:34:50Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > … > > Also, we don’t have any traffic light or signals here. But our intersections _are_ full of robots. Whereas in the U.K., we lack robots but we do have zebra crossings and pelican crossings. 😃 We probably stole them them from you. Sorry about that. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2017, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/163 "2017-09-15T06:29:49Z")
> [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > So there’s a construction that I’ve encountered a couple times that rather intrigues me. I assume it’s Irish because both of the songwriters in question are Irish. > > In American construction, the …you ever… implies a thing that is only theoretical - in the first example, the speaker would be asking if going to Czechoslovakia to marry his daughter is something that the listener would be morally opposed to or not, in general. In the second example, the speaker is implying that the listener NEVER comes home but, in theory if they did, x would happen. > > However, in the context of the songs, it seems to be more immediate - in the first example, the speaker is in fact trying to make a deal with the listener to go marry his daughter ASAP, and in the second she seems to mean it more like “if you should happen to” come home without the implication that, on their own, the listener never would do so. In Ireland, “would you do X?” is a request for information about your willingness or ability to do X, but “would you _ever_ do X?” is a request to do X. Depending on context or tone of voice, the “ever” suggests either that the person making the request is asking a favour, that the request is somewhat onerous, or alternatively that you are being asked to do something that you ought to have done long ago, without being asked. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2017, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/164 "2017-09-15T20:54:05Z")
I agree. It reminds me of the way in which “are you going to do XYZ or not?” in my childhood (Glasgow) carried a definite implication of “I have asked you several times to do it and am becoming rather annoyed”, so it was odd to hear the same form of words without (I _think_) the “get on with it and do it now” subtext in a workplace in Surrey. My friend/sister-in-law (originally from NYC) used to confuse me a little in that, if I 'phoned her, she would say “Hi. What’s up?”, whereas to me “What’s up?” carries the implication of “oh no, what is wrong/what is the matter?” Unconnected, but another of those slight differences is an old bloke (haha, old boy/old guy/elderly gent/whatever) in West Wales saying to me “Oh, you have lost your bus then?”, whereas I, having arrived too late at a bus stop, would say that I had “missed the bus”, rather than lost it. One of those tiny differences that are weirdly amusing at the time, because I then think “No, man, I did not even _find_ the bus such that I could later _lose_ it”. 😕 You may scoff, but that’s the kind of thing that one must find really amusing when considering a nine mile walk to get home from work. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2017, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/165 "2017-09-15T21:40:31Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > Brits seem much more likely to refer to their significant other as “my partner”, it seems to me. But for some reason, hearing “my partner” in the U.S. or Canada makes me think that the speaker is deliberately being cagey about the gender of their boyfriend/girlfriend/whatever. Prior to about 20 years ago, I would have assumed (as probably most Americans would) that “my partner” referred to your business partner or law partner. There was actually a scene in _American Beauty_ (1999) to this affect, where a gay man mentions his partner while introducing himself to his conservative neighbor, and the neighbor says “You mentioned your partner. What business are you two in?”. Even today, I would assume someone referring to a partner was either gay or in business together. It’s not something straight people use very often, in my experience. I would use it to _describe_ my wife or girlfriend: “My wife is my best friend, my partner, my lover…” but I wouldn’t say “my partner is my best friend…” I would also use the term in writing to refer to the generic case, like “spouse” but without the implication that they are married. “Everyone took their partner’s hand.” But I don’t think it’s common for straight people to refer to their spouse/boyfriend/girlfriend specifically as their “partner”. I did know one woman who did that, and it always struck me as odd. Am I off base here, other Americans? This seems like one where the usage is changing. I don’t know if it’s regional or I’m behind the times or what. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2017, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/166 "2017-09-15T21:52:54Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > Am I off base here, other Americans? This seems like one where the usage is changing. I don’t know if it’s regional or I’m behind the times or what. My experience is pretty much the same. I think I’ve only encountered it once. A woman I used to work with always used “my partner” to mean the man she was living with. They weren’t married. I assume she just liked “partner” better than “boyfriend”. I think boyfriend/girlfriend does sound a little silly when you’re an adult, but “partner” also sounds a little off to me. I associate it with business partners first. Although I vastly prefer it to the clunky “significant other”, so I guess if it’s gathering steam as a catchall term for “person you love romantically”, that’s probably an improvement overall. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2017, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/167 "2017-09-16T00:35:49Z")
Yes, to me “partner” sounds odd for an intimate relationship. I see no reason why girlfriend or boyfriend should be considered deprecating. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2017, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/168 "2017-09-16T01:49:25Z")
To this American, up until very recently “my partner” meant, and has meant for about 20 years now, “my homosexual lover”. Which may or may not be a cohabiting LTR, but usually was. The other completely unrelated meaning is “my business co-owner”. Context will usually clarify which version is meant. I’ve written before here about when I took these definitions with me on a business trip to New Zealand a few years ago, where “partner” means legal spouse, common law spouse, LTR BF/GF, main squeeze, roommate with benefits, or anything in that general flavor. With zero hetero or homo connotation. So just based on the odds, when a NZ man says “my partner” he almost certainly means his “female wife” Or vice versa. Oops. :o. I agree that in the last couple of years here in the US “partner” has begun to be used by the hetero crowd too for LTRs of no particular legal status. This has risen more or less in tandem with the spreading legality and acceptance of gay marriage. With the result that it’s no longer a sure-fire flag word for the homo interpretation. I expect that US usage will converge with NZ usage in a few more years. At least in the non-reactionary parts of our sadly benighted country. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2017, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/169 "2017-09-16T02:17:18Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > My daughter mocks me whenever I tell her to put something up. She holds it over her head. According to her New England dialect, the correct term is to put it **away**. The two terms mean the same thing in my Southern dialect but I tend to use the former. If you didn’t literally want it put up somewhere high, I wouldn’t know what were asking. The only other (non-figurative) use of “put up” I’m familiar with involves farmers canning food in preparation for the winter. A US vs UK difference I find interesting is the British use of the word chemist. If I’m not acutely conscious that I’m reading something by a Brit, I get thrown when it pops up. In the US a chemist would either be a scientist, or someone who concocts illegal drugs, not a pharmacist. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2017, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/170 "2017-09-16T10:24:38Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Similarly, I’ve heard that in some Indian dialects, if you ask someone a question and they say “yes”, that doesn’t mean that the answer is “yes”. It just means that they heard and understood your question. I’m from Spain, we consider it polite to make “ahum” noises when someone speaks, to indicate we’re paying attention. Currently working in Belgium, which appears to be juuuust to the south of the border between the ahum and not-ahum peoples of Europe. My Italo-Belgian boss asked me if my “ahums” and “mmmks” meant “I think I follow; I haven’t fallen asleep yet” or “I agree”, because one of the things that surprised him when he started working with the Americans was the lack of that ahum stream. Our Americans are from Tennessee, or at least work there. Usually they don’t go “ahum” while someone is talking, but when you finish, they may start their response with “OK, well, yeah, actually I disagree…” which is kind of like they’re piling up their ahums together: the “OK, well, yeah” means “I heard you” and is actually the introduction to the rest of the response. It wouldn’t be so much of a problem except that non-ahum people tend to find ahummers rude and ahummers tend to find non-ahummers disorienting. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2017, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/171 "2017-09-16T11:26:00Z")
I’ve encountered “ahuh” folks in America and I find it off-putting, especially on the telephone because then I’m sure whether they heard what I said during the ahuh. That’s especially true now that we all use shitty mobile connections and especially if I’m giving them a string of numbers or spelling something. And the ahum can also throw me off my line of thought. So I prefer that ahums get saved for when I’m not actually talking. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2017, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/172 "2017-09-16T11:30:13Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Yes, to me “partner” sounds odd for an intimate relationship. > > I see no reason why girlfriend or boyfriend should be considered deprecating. I’m 59, my gf is 58. We’ve been together a long time. I sold my home and invested much of the proceeds in remodeling her home, where I live. There is no good term for us. Partner, significant other, fuckbuddy, gf, etc are all stupid. We introduce each other as husband/wife when it simplifies things. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2017, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/173 "2017-09-16T12:11:45Z")
Speaking as another Clevelander with Pittsburgh roots, I understand “whenever the music starts”, but “when the music starts” sounds a lot more natural to me. I’m not sure whence Drew Carey picked that one up. And I remembered another one, that I learned from the Harry Potter books: In British English, “sick” can be a noun. You could say, for instance, “there’s a puddle of sick in the hallway just past the cafeteria”. I think I’ve also heard it as a verb: “I’m going to sick”. To an American, either of those might be “throw up”, or “vomit”, but “sick” is only ever an adjective. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2017, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/174 "2017-09-16T14:20:04Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Speaking as another Clevelander with Pittsburgh roots, I understand “whenever the music starts”, but “when the music starts” sounds a lot more natural to me. I’m not sure whence Drew Carey picked that one up. > > And I remembered another one, that I learned from the Harry Potter books: In British English, “sick” can be a noun. You could say, for instance, “there’s a puddle of sick in the hallway just past the cafeteria”. I think I’ve also heard it as a verb: “I’m going to sick”. To an American, either of those might be “throw up”, or “vomit”, but “sick” is only ever an adjective. I was going to say, no, that I was quite sure I’ve heard it used in American English, but consulting all the dictionaries, it is apparently only British. I must have been influenced by the Potter books. Sometimes it’s tricky remembering which words and phrases are part of my dialect and which aren’t. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2017, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/175 "2017-09-16T14:29:16Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > To this American, up until very recently “my partner” meant, and has meant for about 20 years now, “my homosexual lover”. That’s pretty much how this American, too, heard it up until maybe the last 5-10 years or so. I’m not sure it exclusively referred to same-sex relationships, but that is the context it was used in 95% of the time, I’d guess, in my experience. The other 5% might be for a long-term unmarried couple or something like that, where “girlfriend” and “boyfriend” sound too casual, and “wife” and “husband” sound undesirably for some reason. Maybe around more liberal/intellectual type circles. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2017, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/176 "2017-09-17T02:33:43Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > North American here, born in Pennsylvania, now living in Arizona. I’m probably more likely to say, “I was nearly hit by a car,” than to say, “I was almost hit by a car.” From Minnesota: nearly is for something done to you; almost is something you did. I was nearly hit by that car. I almost hit that idiot pedestrian. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2017, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/177 "2017-09-17T05:04:19Z")
Can the Rightponders clarify a usage I often hear on British television: the singular were. An example might be someone saying of a third person “He weren’t a bad bloke.” Is this a subjunctive nicety I should know, or merely a characteristic usage of a particular class or locale? ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2017, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/178 "2017-09-17T11:10:31Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > I finally figured out what **quite** means to me. > > If you just say, for example, “it’s chilly today,” that could mean a wide range of temperatures – let’s call it from “0% chilly” to “100% chilly.” > > If you say “it’s quite chilly today,” that restricts the range – at _both_ ends. For me, this puts it around the 60% to 80% range. So, yes, it is an “intensifier,” in that you’re saying it will be chillier than your average chilly day – BUT you’re also saying it WON’T be _horrendously_ chilly (and that’s why “quite” can sometimes be used to damn with faint praise.) I’m still not convinced, having read the various responses here, that there is a consistent regional difference in the usage of the word “quite”. For me, it is context dependent. If I say, “He speaks French quite well”, that is _less_ well than if I just say “He speaks French well”. However, if I say “I am quite sure”, than I am stating that I am _more_ sure (in fact, completely sure) than if I were to say “I am sure”. In other words, “quite” is functioning in one case as a de-intensifier (with the meaning of “somewhat”), and in another as an intensifier (with the meaning of “completely”). ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2017, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/179 "2017-09-17T11:16:15Z")
A subtle difference I’ve noted between US and European dialects is the use of the word “horrible”. My understanding is that when Americans say “he’s a horrible French teacher”, you mean that he is very bad at teaching French. Whereas if a British or Irish person says the same thing, they are making no comment on the person’s competence (he could be very good at teaching French) but rather saying that the teacher is nasty or intensely disagreeable in some way. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2017, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/180 "2017-09-17T14:15:59Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > My understanding is that when Americans say “he’s a horrible French teacher”, you mean that he is very bad at teaching French. Whereas if a British or Irish person says the same thing, they are making no comment on the person’s competence (he could be very good at teaching French) but rather saying that the teacher is nasty or intensely disagreeable in some way. As an American, there is ambiguity in the phrase, but I would say you are correct in assuming that without further context, it’s pretty much always assumed to mean they’re horrible at teaching French, not horrible as a human being, much in the way “he’s a fantastic French teacher” would be interpreted as meaning he is good at teaching French. I’m trying to figure out why. If you say “he’s a disagreeable French teacher” or “he’s a nice French teacher,” it’s clear that “disagreeable” and “nice” refers to his character. Maybe “horrible” is more often used in the US as a general synonym for “bad” than in Hiberno- and British-English? How would “terrible French teacher” and “awful French teacher” be parsed in your dialect? Refers to the teacher’s character as a human being, or teaching skills? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145.md?page=10)