25 Feb 16
Originally posted by FMFEH???? .....lol....
[quote]nappy anywhere autumn barrister bill biscuit flat dummy dustbin estate-agent flyover bonnet boot caravan chemist crossroads cupboard cutlery drawing-pin ground floor holiday jam jug lift petrol post torch motorway underpants vest postcode pub tap ring-road roundabout shop spanner sweet ...[text shortened]... has a somewhat bigger active vocabulary in spoken language than his or her American counterpart?
-VR
25 Feb 16
Originally posted by phil3000That was part of Jasper Carrots stand-up.
I bet you would be looked at a bit strange in America if you said " I'd like a fag after my breakfast " .
His first visit to US, his host met him at airport and asked how he was and he replied
"I'm dying for a fag!"
Of course that was back in the day when smoking was not a hanging offence.
26 Feb 16
Originally posted by FMFAll that crap in one sentence??
[quote]nappy anywhere autumn barrister bill biscuit flat dummy dustbin estate-agent flyover bonnet boot caravan chemist crossroads cupboard cutlery drawing-pin ground floor holiday jam jug lift petrol post torch motorway underpants vest postcode pub tap ring-road roundabout shop spanner sweet ...[text shortened]... has a somewhat bigger active vocabulary in spoken language than his or her American counterpart?
26 Feb 16
Originally posted by Great King RatThe "active vocabulary in spoken language" mentioned in the OP was a reference to English language.
...would it be fair to deduce that your average British person has a much smaller active vocabulary in spoken language than his or her non-British counterpart?
26 Feb 16
Originally posted by Great King RatWa??
With British people having the luxury of having a mother tongue that is spoken in almost the entire world, would it be fair to deduce that your average British person has a much smaller active vocabulary in spoken language than his or her non-British counterpart?
26 Feb 16
Originally posted by moonbusI think he was referring to someone who, say, speaks pretty good English, and is fluent in Javanese (a very rich language when it comes to vocabulary) as a mother tongue, and Indonesian as a second language, and can also boast a fair smattering of Chinese. I know numerous people who fit that description. They would clearly have a much bigger active vocabulary in spoken language (meaning all languages) than an average British person.
Wa??
26 Feb 16
Originally posted by Seitse'Chav'would suffice but having done a bit of research it seems the term has been expanded to include an identifiablle electoral group who must be wooed in marginal seats by promising to give other not very well off people a hard time, I think I'll just go with ignorant twot on or off the road as a definition.
I thought it was for working class chavs.
26 Feb 16
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Originally posted by Great King RatI grew up in California, was educated in UK. I thought I understood English, both sides of the Atlantic, until I heard 'slobspeak' in Milton Keynes. "Wa??" is slobspeak for "what?" "Wa-aa" is slobspeak for "water"--they drop both the "t" in the middle and the "r" at the end. I cringe to hear English spoken so poorly and it was my impression that the Brits who spoke that particular dialect were rather on the thin end of the bell-curve for mastery of vocabulary.
Is English not your first or second language?
EDIT: Not counting artificial programming languages, my second (natural) language is German, and I understand but do not speak Schwytzeditsch.
26 Feb 16
1 edit
Long time ago in a bayou far away, in Florida, up the panhandle, we were staying for a while at a hotel in Fort Walton Beach. So we, wife and I, she from Colorado, me from California, watching the water, when a young girl, 18 ish, comes running up saying 'Did you see the FLAAR?"
We said 'Flour?' No the FLAAR'. Flier? No NO THE FLAAR. the FLAAR, pointing up in the air excitedly. About that time a naval FLARE on a little parachute comes tumbling down on to the beach.....
26 Feb 16
Originally posted by FMFSurely vocabulary is the number of words you have not the number of different ways of saying it?
I think he was referring to someone who, say, speaks pretty good English, and is fluent in Javanese (a very rich language when it comes to vocabulary) as a mother tongue, and Indonesian as a second language, and can also boast a fair smattering of Chinese. I know numerous people who fit that description. They would clearly have a much bigger active vocabulary in spoken language (meaning all languages) than an average British person.
Someone with 500,000 words surely has a larger vocab than someone who can say the same 200,000 words in 3 languages?
27 Feb 16
Originally posted by wolfgang59Interesting suggestion ~ and I could perhaps be set straight on this ~ but I am inclined to disagree because person B's 200,000 words in 3 languages would allow communication with considerably more people - and if we strip away the communication function from vocabulary then its dissection is merely academic. I would count clé à molette, llave, Schraubenschlüssel as four vocabulary items and not one, just as I'd count spanner and wrench as two different vocabulary items.
Surely vocabulary is the number of words you have not the number of different ways of saying it?
Someone with 500,000 words surely has a larger vocab than someone who can say the same 200,000 words in 3 languages?