Bee Bee Sea

[hey_its_jandrew]

I understand that our language originates in England, so most British pronunciations should be closer to their origins than American variations. I can pretty much understand how "re" can make an "er" sound in a word spelled like "theatre". What I don't understand is how "dater" is an acceptable pronunciation of the word "data". I think we may be

Comments

data was always my favorite goonies character.

[hobo_with_ipod]

didnt mean to create such chaos with my ignorant theatre question.

Re: data was always my favorite goonies character.

[hey_its_jandrew]

No, I was listening to the BBC today while delivering pizzas and this entry popped in my head when some Brit was talking about computer dater. It was only fitting that your recent post was related.

I never know how to spell that damn word either. Andrew put "24hr theater" in his last post - which is the spelling I'd learned growing up. But all of the cultured people I know seem to prefer "theatre" - which LiveJournal doesn't even recognize as a word in it's spellchecking program. (Or should I say programme?)

But then, LiveJournal doesn't even recognize "livejournal" as a word.

-Jan

Re: data was always my favorite goonies character.

[ludo_lun]

I use "theater" to describe a building for performance and "theatre" to descibe the performance. For example, UICA's film theater and UICA's 24 Hour Theatre. I picked this up from some other source or reference and I've used it since. If nothing else, it makes me very snobby.

addendum to theater/theatre

[ludo_lun]

But I just checked www.onelook.com and it appears that one way is not (technically) better than the other; both have the same meanings. Thanks for helping me to educate myself.

[amberpants]

I lived in a place where nobody wore shirts to the grocery store. They referred to tomatoes as "maters" and banannas as "nannas." It took me a while to catch on.

. . . and then there is that situation.

[hey_its_jandrew]

Yes. I am by no means making the claim that all U.S. variations are more intelligent.

-Jan

[jeniriffic]

it's funny that you mention that. i've always thought it was funny that british people (some of them at least) pronounce words that end with 'er' like they end with 'a' and words that end with 'a' like they end with 'er.' i wonder if its a regional or class thing.

[talyn]

Wow. You guys get a lot of replies to your posts.

[hey_its_jandrew]

That's because we created a bunch of fake LiveJournal accounts and friended them all with this one and we leave comments with the fake accounts and update them to make it appear as if they are real people so that you think we have a lot of friends.

Ha ha! Fooled you! All that work finally paid off.

-Jan

[talyn]

Gee, and here I was trying to MAKE friends.. Who cares if they're real as long as everyone believes they are?? That is an ingenious strategy. You must teach me the ways.

[itshipstertime]

Actually, there's a linguistic model called the isolationist theory. When a small group (the early American colonists) splits off from a large group (Britain proper), the language of the larger group changes at a faster rate than that of the small group. This would be particularly true in this case, where the English had greater contact with other cultures, causing their dialects to change at an even greater rate.

Modern Americans in a dialect that is closer to that of Elizabethan England than do modern Brits.

[hey_its_jandrew]

Nuh uh, because one time I saw a movie that was set back then and the English were speaking with the same British accents they use today.

So you're wrong.

-Jan