Why do British people talk like idiots?

[RealSNR]

Yes, I know standard American English isn't perfect. And by "talk like idiots" I'm not talking about stupid people who speak English. I'm talking about how normally intelligent British people CHOOSE to talk like idiots.

For example, here's what one of my Facebook friends from London said in a status: "Gods, tonight's 'Doctor Who' was patchy twaddle."

Patchy twaddle, eh? I'm pretty sure you just made that crap up, as if there aren't hundreds of words you could use to mean "bad." It's the words they choose, as well. They seem to fancy themselves as a literary culture, so they choose words that sound fun. All the baby talk crap we use in Standard American English like "wibbly-wobbly" and "bibbity-boppity" had to have come from the brains of these ****ing weirdos.

And yes, I'm aware that Shakespeare invented hundreds of words used by all speakers of English to this very day. But I don't think he went around using all the new words he invented on the street. They were adapted into the daily use over time.

They didn't zoomy-woomy so quackadilly that before they could say "Bob's your uncle!" that people couldn't bloody cochleante a blimey word they was articulating!

[Marcellus]

Originally Posted by splatbass

You don't deal with foreign countries much I take it? For business it would be much better if the entire world used the same units of measurement. And the metric system is much easier to use than our system, believe it or not.

The only argument against going to the metric system is the usual American "We are America, we're not letting no furriners tell us what to do, plus we don't want to learn anything new" BS.

I deal with engineers regularly and most of them are from India.

The Celsius vs Fahrenheit is the usually the biggest gap.

We already use ml and L at work as well as MM but not meters or centimeters.

We also use grams with weights less than 1lb so mixing and matching metric and US standard isn't a huge deal really.

[TLO]

Originally Posted by Discuss Thrower

WTF is this shit?

[TLO]

WE NEED MORE THREADS ABOUT LONDON/EUROPE/DONGER

[NinerDoug]

Originally Posted by SNR

Yes, I know standard American English isn't perfect. And by "talk like idiots" I'm not talking about stupid people who speak English. I'm talking about how normally intelligent British people CHOOSE to talk like idiots.

For example, here's what one of my Facebook friends from London said in a status: "Gods, tonight's 'Doctor Who' was patchy twaddle."

Patchy twaddle, eh? I'm pretty sure you just made that crap up, as if there aren't hundreds of words you could use to mean "bad." It's the words they choose, as well. They seem to fancy themselves as a literary culture, so they choose words that sound fun. All the baby talk crap we use in Standard American English like "wibbly-wobbly" and "bibbity-boppity" had to have come from the brains of these ****ing weirdos.

And yes, I'm aware that Shakespeare invented hundreds of words used by all speakers of English to this very day. But I don't think he went around using all the new words he invented on the street. They were adapted into the daily use over time.

They didn't zoomy-woomy so quackadilly that before they could say "Bob's your uncle!" that people couldn't bloody cochleante a blimey word they was articulating!

Geographic separation of groups of people has a tendency to result in divergence of language.

No doubt they have trouble with a lot of our lingo as well. "Dude, that was sick," as a complement, for example. "Bitchin'" from my own younger days.

Someone a couple hundred years ago or so predicted that, by this time, Brits, Americans, and Australians would not be able to understand each other. He was wrong, but only because of the increase in literacy among the general population, which he did not foresee.

[Dayze]

Fun fact. I've never hear a Brit use the phrase "Fo' Shizzle"

[Donger]

American: "Yep, I'm just a Yank with the gift for the gab. You know, sure, we come from different sides of the pond, but we still speak the same language. So, what the hell."

Brit: "Yes, but some of us torture it less than others..."

[J Diddy]

Originally Posted by Donger

American: "Yep, I'm just a Yank with the gift for the gab. You know, sure, we come from different sides of the pond, but we still speak the same language. So, what the hell."

Brit: "Yes, but some of us torture it less than others..."

If they were so worried about the future of the English language then they should have won.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by J Diddy

If they were so worried about the future of the English language then they should have won.

Brit: The decline of Western civilization began when we abandoned the American colonies and permitted them home-rule.

[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by Donger

Brit: The decline of Western civilization began when we abandoned the American colonies and permitted them home-rule.

That's bullshit. You abandoned India and they're doing just fine.

[TimBone]

Originally Posted by Dayze

Fun fact. I've never hear a Brit use the phrase "Fo' Shizzle"

Here are some Asian Brits saying it:

[TimBone]

And here's a German Brit saying it:

[RealSNR]

Donger, can you say "muggle" for us? It sounds more authentic when your people do it.

[Sorter]

Originally Posted by Donger

Brit: The decline of Western civilization began when we abandoned the American colonies and permitted them home-rule.

There's a difference between abandoning and getting your ass kicked.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by SNR

That's bullshit. You abandoned India and they're doing just fine.

They aren't Western.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by SNR

Donger, can you say "muggle" for us? It sounds more authentic when your people do it.

I just did. Did you like it?