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[Frumple]

... I've seen gaol used by Americans, too. It's generally just used as a fancier word for jail.

[Owlbread]

Gaol is the word Oscar Wilde would use, and did I believe.

That said, I challenge anyone here to listen to this and try to make out what dis mannie is saying here. I've lived in this country all of my life and I can only make out 60% - 70%.

[Imp]

Gosh, there's all sorts of differences between US and British language.  I went to Portsmouth, England (not a tiny village, but a decently sized city) from California for a school semester about 25 years ago, some of the linguistic and cultural wtfs that I recall are:

The front of your hairline: Fringe/Bangs.
Fuel for a car: Petrol/Gas.
The rear storage space of a car: Boot/Trunk
Where you go to relieve yourself: Watercloset/Bathroom
School examination time:  Sit a paper/Take a test
Tool used to remove accidental pencil marks:  Rubber/Eraser (rubber was/is slang for condom... I was not amused on my third day there to be asked by a 9 year old if a) Was I am American? and b) could she borrow my rubber).
Playing cards, the act of discarding a card:  .../dropping  (No idea what the British term would be.  The teenagers I was trying to teach a game to had hysteric fits over my use of the word 'dropping'... it was apparently astonishing profanity)


I was so culture shocked.  Dishes were washed with hot water, but without soap; foods like fish and chips were literally wrapped in newspapers taken from a stack of papers for sale - i.e. not sanitary at all (that's what the vinegar is for, apparently).  Many two story houses lacked running hot water to any upstairs fixtures.  Unchilled, Unpasturized, and non-homogenized milk was delivered by the bottle to stand outside front doors.  There was almost no sex education or drug education in the schools, compared to what I'd already had at that age.  Drinking was legal for any age, without any concerns about what alcohol did to developing brains.

On the upside, I'd been severely bullied in most of my American schooling, and the culture of the school I was placed into in Britain was almost utterly non-violent, especially physically.  The idea of hitting, pushing, spitting, or any other form of assault seemed utterly over the top to most of my classmates, and even the verbal abuses that only a few students ever seemed to use on anyone were much more restrained than the average I'd seen in the US.

... I've seen gaol used by Americans, too. It's generally just used as a fancier word for jail.

Ahh, from what I've seen (and used) when gaol is used here, we're talking about really poorly run prisons.  Almost oubliette level of lack of care, cleanliness, and with a high likelihood of prisoners being beaten and stuff.  Our fancier word for jail would be penitentiary.

[Graknorke]

I was so culture shocked.  Dishes were washed with hot water, but without soap; foods like fish and chips were literally wrapped in newspapers taken from a stack of papers for sale - i.e. not sanitary at all (that's what the vinegar is for, apparently).  Many two story houses lacked running hot water to any upstairs fixtures.  Unchilled, Unpasturized, and non-homogenized milk was delivered by the bottle to stand outside front doors.  There was almost no sex education or drug education in the schools, compared to what I'd already had at that age.  Drinking was legal for any age, without any concerns about what alcohol did to developing brains.

Are you sure you didn't travel over in a time machine?

[SealyStar]

What is it about Britain and compulsively shortening every syllable in the names of cities in particular?

Gloucester > Gloster
Cheltenham > Cheltnum
Portsmouth > Portsmuth

I was so culture shocked.  Dishes were washed with hot water, but without soap; foods like fish and chips were literally wrapped in newspapers taken from a stack of papers for sale - i.e. not sanitary at all (that's what the vinegar is for, apparently).  Many two story houses lacked running hot water to any upstairs fixtures.  Unchilled, Unpasturized, and non-homogenized milk was delivered by the bottle to stand outside front doors.  There was almost no sex education or drug education in the schools, compared to what I'd already had at that age.  Drinking was legal for any age, without any concerns about what alcohol did to developing brains.

Are you sure you didn't travel over in a time machine?

I was gonna ask the same thing, but he did say that this was 25 years ago. It's certainly bound to be more modernized now.

[Graknorke]

What is it about Britain and compulsively shortening every syllable in the names of cities in particular?

Gloucester > Gloster
Cheltenham > Cheltnum
Portsmouth > Portsmuth

What about Worcestershire?

[SealyStar]

What is it about Britain and compulsively shortening every syllable in the names of cities in particular?

Gloucester > Gloster
Cheltenham > Cheltnum
Portsmouth > Portsmuth

What about Worcestershire?

Forgot about it. Woostersher.

[lue]

What is it about Britain and compulsively shortening every syllable in the names of cities in particular?

Gloucester > Gloster
Cheltenham > Cheltnum
Portsmouth > Portsmuth

What about Worcestershire?

Forgot about it. Woostersher.

It's war, Chester Shire.

[Helgoland]

Late to the party, and lacking a communism pun, but:

I only read the first few pages of this thread, so this might have been mentioned before. Still:
Rousseau (AFAIK) said that most animals have something that makes them especially apt to live where they live. This something could be shells, wings, gills etc.
Humans on the other hand are remarkably fragile: We do not have great strength, speed, or resistance to the environment, and our senses, well, suck. The only thing that is special about humans is our capacity to adapt to various environments and shape the surroundings to our advantage. Humans do not fit their environment, they fit the environment to themselves. This - if we're going to go with the race "clichées" (which is - in my opinion - perfecttly reasonable) could be reflected in the game as well If elves are the hippies and dwarves the smiths, humans should be the farmers and cattle-raisers, mechanics and inventors.
Subdue the earth!

I'd have thought it would be worse... though I detect a spelling mistake, unfixed for twenty-two and a half months. Live and let live...

[sjm9876]

What is it about Britain and compulsively shortening every syllable in the names of cities in particular?

Gloucester > Gloster
Cheltenham > Cheltnum
Portsmouth > Portsmuth

What about Worcestershire?

Forgot about it. Woostersher.

It's war, Chester Shire.

Ironically, in 'Northern' England, this is rather rare. And yet from my brief forays down south, they have little idea what 'Head shop ten?' means. English is a beautiful language.

[Imp]

I was so culture shocked.  Dishes were washed with hot water, but without soap; foods like fish and chips were literally wrapped in newspapers taken from a stack of papers for sale - i.e. not sanitary at all (that's what the vinegar is for, apparently).  Many two story houses lacked running hot water to any upstairs fixtures.  Unchilled, Unpasturized, and non-homogenized milk was delivered by the bottle to stand outside front doors.  There was almost no sex education or drug education in the schools, compared to what I'd already had at that age.  Drinking was legal for any age, without any concerns about what alcohol did to developing brains.

Are you sure you didn't travel over in a time machine?

I was gonna ask the same thing, but he did say that this was 25 years ago. It's certainly bound to be more modernized now.

Hehe.  At times I wondered if I had gone into a time warp or alternate reality or something.  Seriously culture shocked was I.

I lived in my aunt's house, and only visited a couple other houses.  I was 14 going on 15 at the time (was about 1988), and it's likely some of my perceptions were colored by my age and my personal experiences, which maybe were atypical (there's US houses without running water even today, just incredibly few of them and they're generally not legal structures).  It's possible that my aunt's home was not up to code or something - heck, maybe her house had a problem and I assumed it was working as intended as was.  Totally possible I assumed it was true for all British housing - But I very clearly recall having to carry hot water up the stairs if I wanted to not freeze when I bathed. 

I was placed in 5th form, with primarily 15-16 year olds who were preparing in many cases to finish their education that year.  Many that I talked to didn't expect to attend any higher education.  They claimed not to have ever had a class about what different drugs did to the body, nor to have had any classes about sex ed.  They could have been uncomfortable talking about it - but their perception of American teenagers by and large was that we were very sexual (and that Californians all spent a LOT of time at the beach) and I got asked about drug and sex stuff, which caused me to ask back about drug and sex ed - the group asking me might have been teasing for all I know when they claimed they'd never had any.

Looking up drinking age in Britain now, I see that it's (at least as of 2007) not illegal for 5 year olds to drink at home?  And apparently that was the limit when I was there too.  That seems so crazy to me that I expect not thinking much about it over the years since allowed 5+ limit to turn into 'no limit'.  Legal alcohol for 5 year olds is pretty wtf for me period ;p

[sjm9876]

-snip-

Drinking wise, you can drink from the age of 5 in a private area with permnission from a responsible adult.
Then, at the age of 16, you can have a drink with a meal if the establishment has the right license.
And at 18, you get free reign, and can even buy the stuff.

As for why drinking would have appeared legal, enforcement is rather lax unless you're actually causing trouble.

[LordSlowpoke]

That said, I challenge anyone here to listen to this and try to make out what dis mannie is saying here. I've lived in this country all of my life and I can only make out 60% - 70%.

huh.

the internet and its various accents must have taught me a lot. this guy isn't even close to not being intelligible.

[Helgoland]

-snip-

Drinking wise, you can drink from the age of 5 in a private area with permnission from a responsible adult.
Then, at the age of 16, you can have a drink with a meal if the establishment has the right license.
And at 18, you get free reign, and can even buy the stuff.

As for why drinking would have appeared legal, enforcement is rather lax unless you're actually causing trouble.

Good thing he didn't come to Germany - you can buy beer at sixteen, and only liquor is restricted to 18+.

[Owlbread]

What is it about Britain and compulsively shortening every syllable in the names of cities in particular?

Gloucester > Gloster
Cheltenham > Cheltnum
Portsmouth > Portsmuth

In Scotland we have some of those.

Moray - Murray
Hawick - Hoyck
Milngavie - Mulguy
Saltcoats - Salcoats
Culzean - Kullane
Findochty - Finechty
Anstruther - Ainster
Kirkcudbright - Kirkcoobury
Kilconquhar - Kinnuchar
Garioch - Geerie