What dialect do we speak?

[Maksym Hadjimehmetov]

I'faith, Scotte, methinks yourgoodself has quite a poynte 'pon this matter most vexingye.
Let us with all good haste returne to th'original matter of thys threde electronique.
God bi'wi you

[Jonas]

English-English (even the so-caled Queen's English) is a patois at heart. We thank England for cobbling the thing together out of Anglo-Saxon, (Jonas , are there any Frisians left?) Norman French (itself a patois of Old French and Norse), Danish, the odd Celtic contribution, and mixing it liberally with classic (and otherwise) Greek and Latin. We still adopt foreign words we like(and mangle) and invent things out of the clear blue sky.

Ofcourse there are any Frisians left... in Frisia... they speak a weard language that noboddy can translate to Dutch

[Liam conToketi]

Most Japanese people I meet just screw it and say all Rs then...

[Scott of Hyperborea]

Most Japanese people I meet just screw it and say all Rs then...

I was talking about writing. In speech, yeah, it's all just Rs.

[Maksym Hadjimehmetov]

If any of you have time you should read the book by Nicolaus Ostler- Empires of the World, about the spread of languages and the forming of new ones from the dialects spread as a result. There's an interesting bit about how Quebecois developed from French, as well as Pitcairn Island English

[Prodigy Almighty]

Most Japanese people I meet just screw it and say all Rs then...

When they're speaking, it's kind of a weird mix between L and R, like "lrice" or "lrice" (rice and lice)...

[Jacobus Loki]

they speak a weard language that noboddy can translate to Dutch

I ask, because I read a article once that Frisian is the closest living language to Anglo-Saxon, sharing many of the hearth-and-home kind of words.

BTW-
I heard a Dutch-speaker (a musician, Andreas W-----?) talking to an audience in the Netherlands , and when I let my brain wander just a bit, I started understanding what he was saying.

[Maksym Hadjimehmetov]

Yeah, I watched the film Soldier of Orange recently. If you can understand basic German and speak English, Dutch doesn't seem that taxing to understand.

[HIH Hesam Jahandar]

I'faith, Scotte, methinks yourgoodself has quite a poynte 'pon this matter most vexingye.
Let us with all good haste returne to th'original matter of thys threde electronique.
God bi'wi you

That, was the single greatest post I've ever read in this forum.

It's just a shame we can't use the special script 'f' which was used in place of 's'.

[Maksym Hadjimehmetov]

Prithee, O Jahandar of the Orient?
Lo! Have I not fyve minytes hence retrieved thyse lettre of thyne.
Now go, and use it with haSte 'pon thyse electrical utility for th'parlance 'twixt those who deign themselves of Sheireithan stock.

'tis true it doth give me great pleasure to wryte it: S

[Jacobus Loki]

Impressive.

[hypatias mom]

Mayhap we should endeavor to emulate this fair fellow?

[HIH Hesam Jahandar]

Maksym Hadjimehmetov You have impressed me. I have only a short time remaining as Grand Vizier of Babkha but I will ensure that you are properly recognized for this.

Gawd Save The Kaiser,
Gawd Save The Shah!

[Ari Rahikkala]

Yeah, I watched the film Soldier of Orange recently. If you can understand basic German and speak English, Dutch doesn't seem that taxing to understand.

I don't know about spoken Dutch, but there was this one Dutch forum I followed maybe about five years ago or so, and most of the time it was fairly easy to figure out what was going on...

[Maksym Hadjimehmetov]

ThankS , O ShahanShah!

I do love Middle English, though. Especially being able to use pompous phrases such as 'Twas 'twixt

[andelarion]

You'd probably like Arminian then.

Johanns (now the emperor of Attera) made it... and he even made anpic in it, though I can't find it. It was very entertaining though.

[HIH Hesam Jahandar]

The arrangement and structure of the sentences are just great to read. Where the entire sentence is built around the most important noun and then followed with a descriptive.

Francis, That he was known as Drake, did sail hither and dither. For Honour due, of which we speak so reverently.

That did not do your post justice, but it illustrates the rhythm.

[Jonas]

Dutch isn't difficult to understand (Frisian is something else), but the most difficult is to speak and write Dutch without dictionary (if Dutch isn't your native language ofcourse).

And with the verbs there are a lot of difficulties.

[Maksym Hadjimehmetov]

Of course- because the spelling in Dutch is so different. English is also most hideously unphoenetic. Plus there are so many contractions of gentives, leading to why we need so many apostrophes and why so many people bastardise our language by misspelling them.
Another thing is when people write 'a historical event'. It's an!
I am truly teh spelling n4zi.

[hypatias mom]

But here in America, we pronounce the 'h' in historic, so 'a' is the correct article here.

[Maksym Hadjimehmetov]

So do we in the UK. Unless you're a Cockney. But it's just a spelling rule we're taught over here- any words starting with an 'h' of French origin must use the article 'an'.
Maybe it's different in America. I shall proudly relish my 'historical events' with an 'an', however

[hypatias mom]

We have simplified a lot of those old conventions, and also (something that saddens me) some of the spellings as well, such as buses rather than busses, and many other abominations. However, since we do not pronounce lieutenant and aluminum as you Brits do, we have changed the spellings to match the American pronunciations. I do wonder, though, when schedule will come to be spelled skedule, to match its pronunciation.

[Maksym Hadjimehmetov]

Well, whilst I can see a reason for many American spellings that differ from British ones, I personally feel that English simply isn't phonetic enough to bother applying such rules to.

[hypatias mom]

Maksym--

While we debate the American/British conflict, I am reminded of an old quote: "England and America are two peoples divided by a common language."

[andelarion]

Oscar Wilde once said: "We have really everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language"

I love that :P

[hypatias mom]

I hadn't heard that one. I'll have to memorize that one as well.

[Maksym Hadjimehmetov]

Oscar Wilde. Wonderful. I love A Woman of No Importance. As well as Stephen Fry's portrayal of him in the film Wilde.
Another great quote of his is- give a man a mask and he'll tell you the truth. Explains why we all get on so well here, I suppose!

[hypatias mom]

I suppose so. Also, we know this is a simulated world, not a real one. I wonder how things would go face to face. I think for the most part well, but when do the masks come off?

[Maksym Hadjimehmetov]

I don't know... but in micronationalism people get on well with the kind of chaps they wouldn't be seen dead with face to face. Not that I'm being specific about anyone here of course, it's just a truth that in a small hobby like mns, people have got to be civil to one another.
Maybe we should organise another Shirefest?

[hypatias mom]

I would like that, but I wish first to see if Shirekeep survives your bombing of the Elwnn Sluice.