Dannj

That’s a great story. There are situations that call for language to follow the rules and situations that call for just “getting it”. Sometimes the latter result in stronger connections among people. That’s what communication is all about.

Stephan G

And then there is the world of Idioms. (http://idiomic.com/what-the-hecks-an-idiom/}

Having immigrated to the USA with no English in my schoolbag, my worst area, idiomatic usage, took the longest to assimilate into my personal lexicon. I attended a bi-lingual school which was a great help in getting up to speed with American English. I found myself as interpreter whenever I went to my favorite German hang out. One day I had my buddy who was from Yugoslavia with me. We sat down at a table when a group of German sailors came in. As in any local pub, a bunch of us got into conversations. I had to translate from English to German to Yugoslav so that everyone had an idea as to what was being said. There were instances when I was using the wrong language to my target speaker. Fortunately, the people were accustomed in multi-lingual conversations.



One thing to keep in mind. Raising the voice level does not improve the level of comprehension.

rplain1 Loc: Dayton, Oh.

I don't understand the problem here. I would really enjoy giving she a bath!

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

I'm laughing at that last point. I've seen people try that approach before.

PhotogHobbyist Loc: Bradford, PA

In my town it was grade, jr high and high schools. grade was K - 6, jr high was 7 - 9' and high was 10 - 12. Around the time I graduated, it was elementary/grade schools.

bikinkawboy Loc: north central Missouri

A buddy of mine taught high school English and the debate team his entire career. He said he was more concerned with proper grammar than with spelling, as long as the spelling wasn’t so bad as to make the word unintelligible.

RS Loc: W Columbia, SC

Come on . . Look at what section of the posting this is in . . .
And you want to 'show us' how smart you are . . .

DickC Loc: NE Washington state

If I said Bill and I had a shot of whiskey would it sound better if I said Me and Bill had a shot of whiskey?? I think I'd like either one as long as WE had a shot of whiskey.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

No and yes.

It's always 'Bill and I,' not, 'Bill and me.' You can do something to or with me, or I can do something. But 'me' can't be a subject of a sentence.

All bets are off if intoxication is involved... It just leads to a grammar fight.

DickC Loc: NE Washington state

I think 'Me & Bill' is more manly, I wouldn't talk to a group of guys and say 'Bill & I' are drinking, that sounds tweety bird, and real men would'nt say that!!

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Your definition of real is different from mine.

Educated *people* generally use proper grammar. Good language skills open doors that are shut to many who don't make the effort to learn to speak well. One of the hardest things high school students have to do when they go to an upper tier college is to be precise with their writing and their speech. It's fundamental to success in academia, business, medicine, law, science, teaching... You're taught to abandon colloquialisms, regionalisms, slang, and thick accents. The goal is to be understood universally, not to be understood just within your region or neighborhood.

I have twins who went to two of the finest K-8 schools in NC. Those schools were "minority in the majority" magnet schools. So my kids learned to speak "Ebonics" (urban African American dialect). They can turn it on and off. But so can their Black friends from those schools. They all learned to speak neutral "broadcaster" English when they are in the minority. It's kind of hilarious to hear them switch gears. The twins and a couple of their friends did a skit in theatre once, where they kept shifting cultural accents and speech rules in mid-sentence, much to the comedic delight of the audience.

I grew up mostly in the South, but my parents were midwesterners from central Illinois. So I can speak the regional accent and dialect of my family (which is close to "network broadcaster" English), and I can speak several variations of native white North and South Carolinian, which is derived mostly from Scots-Irish and English roots (depending upon the region). Each has a little different colloquial grammar. Around rural NC and SC, you'll hear, "Me and he-um went to the stow-ur." or, "Once't a-pun a tahm, Diddy put me over his knee, and whupped me good." That's perfectly normal for the people who speak that way, but even though it follows well-established habitual patterns of consistent usage evolved over centuries, it won't fly in English class...

DickC Loc: NE Washington state

I supose culture has alot to do, I was born on a farm in the hills of Kentucky, G'pa couldn't read or write and dad worked in the coal mines, mom was a Cajun so my culture is Southern fo' sho! I did manage to pull myself out of there and work myself into a degree in Atmospheric Chemistry.

Stephan G

It could be worse. It could be a battle royal over the same jigger of whiskey!

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

LOL! Make mine single malt Scotch and I might argue over it.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Culture has an a effect on all of us. I spent years doing training on the road for a photography company. People are the same — and different — everywhere. I always went to local restaurants to get a sampling of the local flavors and moods, and to hear the speech patterns. It's fascinating. It can be cultural whiplash going from Philly to Seattle to Burbank to Tampa to Schenectady to Nashville. The foods usually good, though!