[Heccubus]

Mum is spelt with a 'u' also - not Mom, which does not phonetically sound even close to the correct pronunciation.

I disagree on that. "Mom" is pronounced with an "o" sound, not a "u" sound, whereas "mum" has that "u" sound instead. They're both incorrect terms, really, since they're just slang for "mother" that caught on and got added to the dictionary. If you absolutely must get nitpicky about it, then I suggest you forego the "mum/mom" bit altogether and use "mother".

And to Jen:
It's sort of like how many North Americans have trouble telling the difference between English and Australian accents, then.

[Melissa]

I usually call my mother mum, but sometimes she can be known as mom (after watching too many american sitcoms) or mummy (when i really want something).
Another very irish word is ma. Which thankfully i never got used to, although my father sometimes known as da.....

[Heccubus]

Going back to the covers issue briefly, how could anyone forget "Black Betty" by Ram Jam? It not only does the original (by blues legend Leadbelly) justice, but actually makes a chilled out blues track rock!

[Just your average movie goer]

I always used 'plow' to represent the noun, and 'plough' to for the verb.

So, if I had one, I would plough my field with my plow. But I will bow to your superior wisdom on this one.

Sorry, Sime. I think you're right. I was only thinking about the verb there....
but if I had to plough a field, I'd use a tractor.

All of this is to say, JYAMG, that at least in the US, it's spelled "Mom" because it's pronounced "Mom" -- I still call my mother "Mum," but there you go.

In all the American movies and television shows, they say it the same way as we do in Australia. I guess television really is misleading.

Sorry about the rant - I have to use American English at school and it feels degrading to me that these institutions believe that one country's slightly perverted dialect of the language is more important than the International English language, which is spoken all around the world. Writing colour like color, is one of the most painful things I have to do. Because it goes against all my teaching principles.

Going back to the covers issue briefly, how could anyone forget "Black Betty" by Ram Jam? It not only does the original (by blues legend Leadbelly) justice, but actually makes a chilled out blues track rock!

Yeah, that was alright, Heccubus. Well in.

[barend]

1. 'black betty' was best covered by spiderbait!!!

2. Mom: Mother = Mom... Mum=WTF?
(that and i grew up on sesame street)...

I call my mother 'mother' and my father 'hey you'

3. Sunny Boy!!! is the foil cover trapezoid ice block without a stick...

4. 볣蠪岮뮣༯쭻堪୨议쥰屪業襼夫嬠训尻 some intersting english from my regularly recieved junk mail....

This post has been edited by barend: 16 August 2004 - 09:47 PM

[Heccubus]

I call my mother and father...WITH A PHONE! AHA! HO HO HO!! TEE HEE! ETC!

[Just your average movie goer]

Aye, that's a good one.

4. 볣蠪岮뮣༯쭻堪୨议쥰屪業襼夫嬠训尻 some intersting english from my regularly recieved junk mail....

Can't speak for the majority of those symbols as they are those cursed Chinese characters (the sworn enemies of obtaining literacy)...

but the first symbol is a Korean one. 볣

This syllable, made up of four letters (the last one not pronounced as it will be pronounced at the start of the next syllable) sounds like "Bael". But don't ask me what it means because I don't know.

* Additional note: Although depending on what your internet encoding is set to, the whole line could be a series of squiggles and dashes.

[Madam Corvax]

Sorry about the rant - I have to use American English at school and it feels degrading to me that these institutions believe that one country's slightly perverted dialect of the language is more important than the International English language, which is spoken all around the world.

Do you really have to use AmE ar school? I am surprised.
I've heard from an American living in Belgium, that his children attending school there are forced to speak with Received Pronunciation, and of course since they have a perfect Luisiana drawl after his father it must be hard for them. See, it's quite an opposite approach.

I am doing BA in English right now (or the Polish equivalent of it, anyway) and we had two years of Phonetics, where we had to learn all thet RP way of speaking, including transcriptions not only individual words, but also whole sentences. So you can forget about American spelling and pronunciation. As a result, the only sort of spoken English that I understand perfectly is BBC News. I tried watching Eastenders once, and I understood only every fifth or sixth word.

In our entrance examination papers it said that "American spelling is acceptable if used consistently", but of course nobody is able to use it consistently over here.

We also have a couple of native speakers as teachers, and thanks to one of them I never use words "cute" and "movie". He claimed they were horrible Americanism. He made us say "quaint" and "film" instead. But I suppose it is carrying it to far.

And I've checked mum/mom. Mom has short o in BrE, like in "pot", and long a in AmE, like in calm: mum is spoken with short a, like in cut. Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.

And I do not know much about Canadian/American accent (I only met someone from Canada once), but I can sure as hell tell when a guy is from Texas - they always call me "ma'am". I find it quite endearing.

[Little princess]

I find that an American will cheerfully correct you if you take them for Canadian.
But a Canadian will get quite indignant if you call them an American.
So I wait until they say out or about.
As we all know Canadians say 'oot'.

Americans pronounce mum as mom, like they pronounce god as gud,
or even gard and marm. Am I right.

My most loathed Americanism is 'dove' when the mean 'dived'.

Sets my teeth on edge.

[SimeSublime]

I remember trying to help my host sister with her english homework whilst in Japan. I kept using Australian english, and she couldn't understand my spelling.

Personally, I hate people saying cookie instead of biscuit. Its allright if Americans say it, but Australians saying it annoys me.

[reiner]

What would possess a normal sized man to ride a motorcycle the size of a small dog, especially when the bike sounds exactly like a push lawn mower? I saw this personall,y about a month ago. I was in Shock and Awe™

[jyd]

I find that an American will cheerfully correct you if you take them for Canadian.
But a Canadian will get quite indignant if you call them an American.

ive seen people called canadian and seem offended, but it's usually a joke. (not a funny one really canada rules)


and biscuit for cookie? ive never even heard that one. Chocolate chip biscuit? Oatmeal raisin biscuit? A biscuit to us is more like a scone to you guys

[Despondent]

" I was in Shock and Awe™"

___

Which phonetically sounds like "shekinah" (sp) a word that has powerful meaning as well.

Here in the south we say "Ma'am." and me? I have a Mom.

Last weekend I heard "Black Betty" on the radio, in Tennessee.
Alabama is still so racially tense I don't think anyone would broadcast that song around here.

there's a minor leage baseball team in Montgomery called "the biscuit."

This post has been edited by Despondent: 17 August 2004 - 08:54 AM

[Jen]

Just about the only time I hear the word "biscuit" is if I'm watching playoff hockey with my dad, when his youth spent on the frozen rivers and lakes of Eastern Canada comes rushing back to him and he starts yelling, "Shoot the biscuit!" at the television.

[Heccubus]

So I wait until they say out or about.
As we all know Canadians say 'oot'.

Hurrah for being completely ignorant.