Dear America (US v UK English)

[arenean]

Very funny rant from David Mitchell (from 'That Michell and Webb Look') over on 'The Guardian' website!

Dear America


Well, what do you think? "Hold the fort", or "Hold down the fort" ????

[proteus_lives]

1. I say hold down the fort,

I remember saying to someone at work the other day. "Hold down" means keep things under control.

The other applies as well but I think they both work.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

2. I couldn't care less -

as I hold down the fort.

[Redstone]

3. Oh, that guy's hilarious. Thanks for the link.

Redstone

[pink-o]

4. Oh, Mr Posh, toffee-nose!

Listen, I spent 5 years in England, and that Merchant class accent of his is hardly indicative of the majority! As it goes Brits murder their own language equally, if not more than we Yanks do. Has he ever been to Petticoat Lane on a Sunday Morning, listening to all the schleppers in the flea market call out to each other? Or go into a Tesco or Woolie's and have a conversation with the shop girls. Ouch!

I knew foreign students studying English in London, who begged me to help them out because they couldn't understand the native Brits' pronunciation. Hah! And yes, I'm not completely "series" and I know how many "morans" live here who wouldn't know how to find the verb in the sentence "I am", but it just kills me that you can destroy the language beyond repair and all is forgiven as long as you have a British Accent.

Bloody hell and cor blimey, Mate :beer: