American English versus the Real McCoy

[Fandango 1,440]

I shudder every time I see the word 'whilst' posted in these forums. It's something we dont use in American English...I guess we us 'meanwhile'.

"Whilst" and "while" mean the same. I don't think they are exactly equivalent with "meanwhile."

Meanwhile, the least said about "irregardless", the better...

don't get me started on 'conversate!'

PS - the 'whilst' thing is annoying. I do it all the time Dunno exactly when that happened, but I've become quite aware of it! I would say 'whilst' = 'while'

Edited December 18, 2007 by LisaD

[Jo1973 0]

I have also noticed a lot of people in the US say "anywho" whereas I tend to say either "anyhow" or "anyway". I always thought it was bad spelling but I see lots of people using it. lol

[Alhamdulillah 0]

I have also noticed a lot of people in the US say "anywho" whereas I tend to say either "anyhow" or "anyway". I always thought it was bad spelling but I see lots of people using it. lol

Themz thoz people who didn't get no edumacayshun when theyz was kids! Theyz just wasn't learned properly.

[Jo1973 0]

I have even heard people pronounce it "anywho". Bizarre. lol

[athena_ny 1]

Neither one is "real" - languages evolve, and both evolved from a language very different from either one. (Try reading Chaucer un-translated.)

[AnewKINDofFEELIN 0]

Neither one is "real" - languages evolve, and both evolved from a language very different from either one. (Try reading Chaucer un-translated.)

Or Beowulf

[Dr. Obvious 49]

LOL this is funny. It's not only that we use different words but the way we pronounce them is quite different as well in some instances. I can't think of any specific examples right now but this comes up with me and my husband all the time. He learned "proper" English (British English) and he's fluent but sometimes he gets annoyed at my English because I'll "correct" something he says and he'll say "that's not how the British say it" to which I reply "Well, they're wrong" and I get a raised eyebrow accompanied by "it's THEIR language woman! "

My husband had trouble understanding me because he learned British book English. It took awhile before he became comfortable with my dialect. He wanted to throw himself off a cliff when he first visited me here because all of everyone spoke just like me: Confusing and incredibly hard to understand compared with what he thought he knew! Now he understands it the best of all English dialects. Took a lot of beating. He didn't put up any real resistance though. I think we would have been divorced by now, if that were the case. On rare occasion, he will also presume to know more about speaking my language than I do.