Comments on: Dudes and dudettes, it’s American-English month!

By: Kati

Kati — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 07:46:21 +0000

Hi Amy! Laine’s on holiday this week so I’m responding on her behalf. Thanks very much for the correction – I think Laine was referring back to her Russian post from a month or so ago in this post title (I’ve made the correction so as not to confuse…)

By: Amy

Amy — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 21:04:41 +0000

um…Am I the only one who’s going to comment on the fact that in AmE, women are “dudettes” not “dudettas”? I’m from New York City by the way.

By: Laine

Laine — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 10:41:04 +0000

Well, I hope y’all had a great 4th of July!
Vicki, I really relate to your machine conversations. As a throwback to my American-English teaching days, when I am talking to my children and am trying to enunciate clearly in order to teach them a new word or to make myself understood, I tend to do the rolling rrrrs and the American-accented vowels. As a result my children have truly bizarre accents that involve the flat South African ‘o’, the English dropped ‘t’ and the rolling American r.
Gill, I’m aware that there must be differing dialects (lots of them) but am not familiar enough with American people/culture/English to write about them … would be a great post to have though. Anybody?

By: Gill (Hard G)

Gill (Hard G) — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 22:42:30 +0000

Please don’t ignore the differing dialects we Americans speak. Born in the Northeast near New York, now living in the deep South near Atlanta, I sometimes wonder if we speak the same language that was once the “Mother Tongue.”

By: What is pragmatics? | Learning to speak 'merican

What is pragmatics? | Learning to speak 'merican — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 03:38:10 +0000

[...] So anyway, I chuckled when I read Laine Cole’s anecdote over at the Macmillan Dictionary Blog (where they have just started running an American English month – very exciting!) She has illustrated it perfectly. Laine grew up in South Africa and her story goes thus: I once shared an office with two Britons and an American. We all started work at more or less the sa… [...]

By: Vicki Hollett

Vicki Hollett — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 19:13:58 +0000

Not only is the 4th of July coming up but it’s American English month as well. Can’t wait!.
I loved your Taiwan teaching story, and as for the one about your British and American colleagues – well – you have described my world. Ha!
I’m a Brit and it’s unmistakable in my accent. After more than a decade living in the US, my attempts at a ‘merican accent still sound woefully phoney. To avoid embarrassment, I don’t try it too often, but there are times when my back is up against a wall. For example:
1. In class
Sometimes one of those pesky words comes up that sounds very different.
(can’t, advertisement, aluminum/aluminium etc.) So I’ll give it a whirl, providing the classroom door is closed so none of my American colleagues can hear me of course- don’t want to encourage too much hilarity.
2. Machines
There’s no getting round it when you’re talking to a machine. If I call Sears and the automated answering service asks ‘Which department do you want?’, ‘fridges’ just won’t get me there. It’s time to disengage British brain, engage ‘merican and roll out ‘rrefrigerrratorrrs’.
Here’s a lady I’d love to have classes from.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7509572.stm

By: Laine

Laine — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 14:01:07 +0000

Ah, touché, dudetta, touché

By: lynneguist

lynneguist — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 13:40:30 +0000

What about spelling words in AmE for American English month? I point you to ‘practise’!

By: Tweets that mention Dudes and dudettas, it’s American-English month! | Macmillan -- Topsy.com

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 10:04:04 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Roel Thijssen. Roel Thijssen said: Dudes and dudettas, it’s American-English month! http://bit.ly/bnbMrg [...]