chop that cactus down. bad genetics. i think it's cancer.
-ben
Bad News for Wolves
Moderator: Scott Waters
- muskiemagnet
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- PhoenixBird
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Re: Bad News for Wolves
Oh, no Ben! He can't be destroyed. He's the Michelin Man cactus!
- mrichardson
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Re: Bad News for Wolves
You've got me there Andy.Andy Avram wrote:Sorry Michael, your people forfeited their rights to say Grey Wolf on FHF when you extirpated wolves 513 years ago from your islands. Now our Canadian friends on the other hand...mrichardson wrote:What about us British members of FHF. Surely we're allowed to use the proper spelling of the colour grey?gbin wrote:
Hey, I just realized that I want to offer a big THANK YOU! to everyone for referring to these animals as gray wolves rather than grey wolves throughout this thread. The relatively recent but widespread American adoption of the British spelling of the color gray bugs me considerably!
Gerry
- mrichardson
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Re: Bad News for Wolves
Certainly in popular culture American English is gaining ground. For example what you call potato chips we call crisps. Your French Fries are what we traditionally called chips. Now young people in the UK are as likely to use the words French Fries and potato chips in the same context as you do. I guess the world has become much smaller over the last couple of decades with the internet, music, movies etc. Language has become more universal, and more often than not, the American words are used.gbin wrote:Well done, both Michael and Andy!
Seriously, as long as we're on this (very tenuously) peripheral topic, anyway, let me ask you, Michael: Do you find any American English gaining ground over British English over there, too, as British English is doing to American English here? I've always wondered...
Gerry
I don’t think we’ll ever adopt American spellings (apart from in brand names) although I’ve got to admit, your way of spelling things (missing out useless letters) often makes more sense.
Re: Bad News for Wolves
So American terms are being adopted there, and British spelling is being adopted here. I guess it's a compromise, anyway...
When I was very young some folks referred to French as the international language, then as I got a bit older I stopped hearing that and noticed that people occasionally spoke of German as the language of science; that disappeared somewhere in my youth, too. And I suppose Spanish or Chinese (Cantonese, specifically?) has been for some time/is currently the fastest-growing language. But one thing I've never heard anyone bother to mention despite how overwhelmingly influential it is: English is apparently the language of commerce. That's why everyone learns it at least as a second language. Be we Americans or British (or relatives thereof), I guess that means we win.
(Before anyone gets on me about being some kind of language bigot, let me add that I enjoy learning languages, at this point speak at least a bit of several and reasonably well in a few, and would like to learn much better the ones I already know somewhat. I've always especially wanted to learn an American Indian language, preferably Navajo as I believe it has the largest remaining speaker base, but I've never yet had an opportunity. I'm not sure how well I'd do at it, though, as I understand that it's a tonal language and I had a tough time learning even a smidgen of Chinese because it's another such.)
"We now return you to your regularly scheduled program, already in progress..."
Gerry
When I was very young some folks referred to French as the international language, then as I got a bit older I stopped hearing that and noticed that people occasionally spoke of German as the language of science; that disappeared somewhere in my youth, too. And I suppose Spanish or Chinese (Cantonese, specifically?) has been for some time/is currently the fastest-growing language. But one thing I've never heard anyone bother to mention despite how overwhelmingly influential it is: English is apparently the language of commerce. That's why everyone learns it at least as a second language. Be we Americans or British (or relatives thereof), I guess that means we win.
(Before anyone gets on me about being some kind of language bigot, let me add that I enjoy learning languages, at this point speak at least a bit of several and reasonably well in a few, and would like to learn much better the ones I already know somewhat. I've always especially wanted to learn an American Indian language, preferably Navajo as I believe it has the largest remaining speaker base, but I've never yet had an opportunity. I'm not sure how well I'd do at it, though, as I understand that it's a tonal language and I had a tough time learning even a smidgen of Chinese because it's another such.)
"We now return you to your regularly scheduled program, already in progress..."
Gerry