Obviously. Those of us up north know that the proper second person plural is "you guys", regardless of the gender of the people involved.
(The possessive is "you guys's", but "your guys's" is also acceptable.)
(Disclosure: I try to avoid saying "you guys" as much as possible, but I've been known to slip up.)
That's crossed the Atlantic, too, as these things tend to. Don't say it personally, as I always associate guys with things you burn on November the 5th. 'You chaps' is a workable alternative, but most people here wouldn't use that unless they were talking to their collection of cowboy's trousers. And if you do collect cowboy's pants, and if you do talk to them (whether or not they're still attached to the cowboy), then good for you.
Telling someone in Sweden they forgot the phone is easy: Ursäkta mig, jag tror du glömde mobilen. (Excuse me, I think you forgot the phone)
Ah, a new meaning of "easy" with which I was previously unfamiliar. There are at least seven words in that sentence that are entirely novel to me. With luck, I'll remember the first one from the phrase book at the back of the Lonely Planet Guide to Stockholm.....
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Meh, Swedish is really easy - the two-year-old next door to me manages it. ;p
Meh, Swedish is really easy - the two-year-old next door to me manages it. ;p
Don't believe them!
I mean, they call ice cream glass! How sadistic and weird is that?!?| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Meh, Swedish is really easy
I suppose this might be true.... when you're reading street signs in Helsinki.
Meh, Swedish is really easy - the two-year-old next door to me manages it. ;p
Sure, after 17,520 hours of language training.
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Is there any way I can flag this whole thread and everyone in it?
My favorite part so far is where someone told a large part of their customer base that the customers were unprofessional due to their culturally different use of an objectively non-offensive word.
Good point re: boy.I figured you would appreciate that, given what I recalled of prior discussions. Besides, several someones who think 'our lot' see offense and malice on the part of 'the Man' everywhere probably wouldn't read this thread, let alone give credence to the idea that others might take umbrage at any number of perceived slights in such a manner.
It bothers me more coming out of a cop's mouth than any other situation. They are supposed to be better trained than such as public servants. The worst of the offenders are the ones who tend to be responsible for Officer being on par with several choice four-letter words.
I got pulled over in Alabama in a small town once and was called "boy." I didn't like it at all, and I'm white. I can't even imagine the kind of creepy feeling for you two with the history laden behind that word....
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Y'all is most definitely a southern thing.
Not necessarily. I grew up in rural New York State, up near the borders of Canada and Vermont, and "y'all" is used pretty frequently. Also home to one of the most ridiculous accents in the continental US.
Is there any way I can flag this whole thread and everyone in it?
Stiggy!!!
Meh, Swedish is really easy - the two-year-old next door to me manages it. ;pDon't believe them!
I mean, they call ice cream glass! How sadistic and weird is that?!?
You missed our prick (sea marker), infart (where you drive into a parking house), and slutrea (final sale)?
Agreed on finnish. A language that has "pitkävaikutäinen suoja" (excuse my spelling, of course) is... Pretty extreme.
Living in a border state, but with a Yankee parent, I alternate between "y'all" and "you guys." Despite my time spent in Pittsburgh, I never picked up "yinz" (though I do occasionally declare my "hair needs cut" or my "car needs washed").
With this conversation, I'm tempted to pick up Quaker Plain Speech (largely defunct save perhaps amongst some Conservative sects) and just call everyone "thee" (but not "thou," despite that being the nominative case in Early Modern English). IIRC in that one, "you" is still plural, however.
Don't forget "yous guys," heard frequently in Italian neighborhoods.
I got pulled over in Alabama in a small town once and was called "boy." I didn't like it at all, and I'm white. I can't even imagine the kind of creepy feeling for you two with the history laden behind that word....Good point re: boy.I figured you would appreciate that, given what I recalled of prior discussions. Besides, several someones who think 'our lot' see offense and malice on the part of 'the Man' everywhere probably wouldn't read this thread, let alone give credence to the idea that others might take umbrage at any number of perceived slights in such a manner.
It bothers me more coming out of a cop's mouth than any other situation. They are supposed to be better trained than such as public servants. The worst of the offenders are the ones who tend to be responsible for Officer being on par with several choice four-letter words.
I think the closest analog I can think of that isn't from the Boondocks is a bit of a mental math equation.
I go by my middle name, over in the Meatspace Place, and dislike when people who are not family refer to me by first name after giving them what I prefer to be called. I had a teacher who, until the roster info was updated, would refer to people by their first names, regardless of how he was informed otherwise. Take that contempt/laziness, multiply it times a bullying archetype, and then multiply that by Antagonistic Authority Figure, and you get a rough approximation.
I've tried to analogue it to someone from a nice 'burb on the east coast or in the midwest getting lost in downtown Gary, IN or Detroit, MI, wandering about with their Nice Things and wondering why they are being looked at like they are the devil, before some thug-tastic individual comes up and informs them that they've wandered into the Wrong Neighborhood...but that's not really accurate, and for me I've had that experience more in reverse by going into an affluent area to do tech work.
It's pretty difficult to fairly compare. And what's vexing is that I can generally tell when it's being used in the 'You're okay in my book' sense, and when it's being used in the 'I don't like you and I'm going to show it covertly' sense...but I've had one, maybe two encounters where it was hard to tell because the person was frustrated at outlying circumstances, and they were being unpleasant to me...but at the same time were being unpleasant to everyone else involved too. Those are situations that would have been more like calling everyone 'boy', calling all the women 'little missy', and overall being a dismissive arse to all and sundry, and in one case the offending individual apologized profusely for the behavior as he was both out of his environment and undergoing a minor crisis of his own. Surprisingly, said individual also generated a ton of business for me thereafter, and was always polite and well-mannered after that.
Also, that Boondocks example? Ed Wuncler (as voiced by Ed Asner) referring to Grandpa Freeman as "Freed Man" in that voice of his, making it sound like it's an amusing pun. And the character of Ed Wuncler isn't as much a cackling racist bad guy for sake of cackling evil, but his particular flavor of affable evil comes of a greed akin to Mister Burns from the Simpsons, coupled with an unexpected personability.
I've never been able to confirm this, but it was told to me by a dude I worked with at the airport who was realtively free of bullshiznit, so:
Allegedly, there is a region of Canada (I want to say one of the Atlantic seaboard provinces, maybe one of the islands) where, instead of uttering the stereotyped "aye" after every other sentence, they say "buh". Again allegedly, this causes problems when they deal with American blacks.
I've never been able to confirm this, but it was told to me by a dude I worked with at the airport who was realtively free of bullshiznit, so:
Allegedly, there is a region of Canada (I want to say one of the Atlantic seaboard provinces, maybe one of the islands) where, instead of uttering the stereotyped "aye" after every other sentence, they say "buh". Again allegedly, this causes problems when they deal with American blacks.
If I'm recalling my former roommate's Canadian then-fiance, that's Newfoundland. Which, honestly, wouldn't surprise me, as my experiences with the oft-maligned 'Newfies' have been pleasant but unusual. If TVTropes deemed them Socially Acceptable Targets, I think they'd be saddled with the Cuckoo CloudLander trope as a national quality.
Which is shamelessly stereotyping. The plural of anecdote is not data.
EDIT: Better memory than expected! And as mentioned, mine have been good, albeit highly surreal, interactions. Still doesn't mean I should stereotype, even in good-natured jest.
Huh.
I half expected it to be bullshiznit, but, nope:
Is the most eastern province in Canada. Joined confedertation in 1949 by a politician Joseph Smallwood. We are not the most naive, ignorant, "deformed" or retarded people, as some of you believe. Newfoundlanders do talk fast with an accent, it's because we live on an island and everybody else understands it, so why can't you? We have some of the best common sense in the world, we don't say "eh" like the rest of Canada, it's more oftenly said as "eh b'y".
F'thagn?
Which, for some reason, reminds me of another Canada story:
I was up in Toronto on commie business and was staying with some comrades and was watching Saturday morning television with their children. It was one of those "variety" shows, with cartoons and zaniness and people doing silly stuff. Anyway, one of the interstitial bits was a guy with a microphone going around asking Canadian children if they could sing "O Canada." They went through about a half dozen children who couldn't get past the first two lines until finally they interviewed two little (naturalized?) Asian girls who could at least belt out the whole first stanza.
As an internationalist, I found that pretty charming.
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Despite my time spent in Pittsburgh, I never picked up "yinz" (though I do occasionally declare my "hair needs cut" or my "car needs washed").
I used to live in Erie County, PA when I was a kid. I never picked up "yinz" either, but I did absorb the absent "to be" sentence constructions, along with some odd western Pennsylvania inflections like "aht" and "dahntahn."
I did absorb the absent "to be" sentence constructions
Ya know, I'm told that Russian in particular lacks "to be" construction. Western PA is full of people of Slavic and other Eastern European ancestry. I wonder if that's the reason for that particular Pittsburgh-ism?
Speaking of weird inflections, it drives me up the wall when people ask if I work in the Still Meal.
Well, this thread has been an interesting read. Lots of interesting linguistic differences. :)
I grew up in northern Michigan and even though my dad was in the navy never ever grew up hearing sir or ma'am used at all. Lots of please, thank you, and excuse me. But it sounds excessively weird to me if I try to use those words. On the other hand, I get tons of weird looks from waitstaff in restaurants because I thank them for everything. Refilling the water giving me a straw, taking the order, delivering the order, picking up the plates, etc. And I guess that's not normal? (I think it should be.) In fact that description of all the thank yous required at the check-out register in swedish culture sounds very familiar. Which I find very interesting considering the predominance of folks of scandinavian descent in northern Michigan.
Anyways, I've never been taken to task for failing to use sir or ma'am in regions where it would be appropriate, but maybe they're just taking pity on me because of my accent...they probably thought I was from Canada. ;)
Lyn brings up a good point: if you're courteous, people will either let exact forms of address slide, or correct you pleasantly in stead of going off in a huff. Also, on behalf of restaurant staff everywhere, thank you for treating us like human beings. :)
You're welcome and thank you for serving delicious food to those of us who hate to cook (and wash dishes...that's even worse than cooking.)^.^
For anyone who has waited: Why the sentence formation "How is everything tasting?" It's the most ridiculously contrived way of asking "how does everything taste?", it's not used by anyone except waiters, and it's nearly ubiquitously used by all waiters. WTF?
It's annoying, but not annoying enough to make me dock anyone's tip. Smirking at me, on the other hand... ugh. Your 20% just got nixed down to 15, punk. Then again, if you actually refill the water glass when it's empty, without me having to make a show of obnoxiously rattling the ice and sending up flares to get your attention? 25% for you! All that said, I always thank the waiter when they bring anything, even if it's not for me, or even when they just ask.
For anyone who has waited: Why the sentence formation "How is everything tasting?" It's the most ridiculously contrived way of asking "how does everything taste?", it's not used by anyone except waiters, and it's nearly ubiquitously used by all waiters. WTF?
It's annoying, but not annoying enough to make me dock anyone's tip. Smirking at me, on the other hand... ugh. Your 20% just got nixed down to 15, punk. Then again, if you actually refill the water glass when it's empty, without me having to make a show of obnoxiously rattling the ice and sending up flares to get your attention? 25% for you! All that said, I always thank the waiter when they bring anything, even if it's not for me, or even when they just ask.
I have never heard any waiter use that phrase that I can recall.
Y'know, I usually ask, "How is everything?" but leave off the "tasting". If something aside from the quality of the food is ruining your evening, I want to know about that, too. But, whatever, as long as 20% is your starting tip, you're one of the good ones.
I have never heard any waiter use that phrase that I can recall.
You are lucky. Start listening for it when you try new restaurants -- I think you'll be surprised.
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What always makes me sad is when a waiter is awesome right up until the point where I want to pay the bill and then they are nowhere to be found. It's like blowing it in the 9th inning...
Anyway, I am always courteous to wait staff and tip well because it strikes me as a very difficult job that I know I would suck at doing.
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No glass should ever get lower than 1/4 full without the staff at least checking about a refill; I say checking about, because apparently some people don't want bottomless beer/wine with dinner; I don't get it, but to each their own. :P
Y'know, I usually ask, "How is everything?" but leave off the "tasting". If something aside from the quality of the food is ruining your evening, I want to know about that, too. But, whatever, as long as 20% is your starting tip, you're one of the good ones.
Same here.
And I usually default to 20% -- I live in a college neighborhood, most of the servers working at the local restaurants are trying to put themselves through school (or at least pay rent/feed themselves while going to school). I work for the same university they are attending, and I _know_ it ain't cheap--not that my tips are going to pay their tuition, but I feel like it's the right thing to do. As long as they do a good job, I figure I can do a slightly more generous tip, and that's probably for the vast majority of meals I get out. If service was decent but not great, then probably 10-15%.
I've only NOT tipped two or three times in my whole life, when service (and I do mean service, not food or other aspects of the restaurant) was truly terrible.
Y'know, I usually ask, "How is everything?" but leave off the "tasting". If something aside from the quality of the food is ruining your evening, I want to know about that, too. But, whatever, as long as 20% is your starting tip, you're one of the good ones.Same here.
And I usually default to 20% -- I live in a college neighborhood, most of the servers working at the local restaurants are trying to put themselves through school (or at least pay rent/feed themselves while going to school). I work for the same university they are attending, and I _know_ it ain't cheap--not that my tips are going to pay their tuition, but I feel like it's the right thing to do. As long as they do a good job, I figure I can do a slightly more generous tip, and that's probably for the vast majority of meals I get out. If service was decent but not great, then probably 10-15%.
I've only NOT tipped two or three times in my whole life, when service (and I do mean service, not food or other aspects of the restaurant) was truly terrible.
One time I was out with my girlfriend and my mother, at a somewhat upscale place; it wasn't a formal event or anything, but I was trying to impress them both with how well I treated the other one, if you see what mean. Anyhow, we ordered but the meal was so late that I had to the hostess about it. Turns out that our waiter had gotten confused and eaten one of our orders because he thought it was his shift meal.
Speaking as a restaurant worker, no tip for that dude. Plus, I never went back there again.
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In Australia waiters are paid a wage they can live on and are only tipped for service. Australians in general are tighter than a frogs bum when it comes to tipping so that service had better be spectacular.
It must be annoying when you get a bus load of Aussie and Kiwi tourists. Who aren't being rude intentionally.
New England, Customer Service, and "All Set"
There seems to be some controversy around this issue and whether it really is a New England thing (Link 1, Link 2), but I have personally dined out with non-New Englanders who were confounded by this usage about a half-dozen times. Usually, the waiter asks "how are you doing?" or something and they respond something like "we're all set," thinking it'd be time to order, and then are bewildered when the waiter disappears for another five minutes.
That might an inflection issue, Doodlebug. One time I was in Ottawa, and told the waitress I was "All set." She heard "Alsiete" and asked me if I was Quebecois. (True story.)
I also knew a guy whose dream band was named "Wikkid Todd," (complete with umlauts) named after a Bostonian phrase for "Really Stupid."
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New England, Customer Service, and "All Set"
There seems to be some controversy around this issue and whether it really is a New England thing (Link 1, Link 2), but I have personally dined out with non-New Englanders who were confounded by this usage about a half-dozen times. Usually, the waiter asks "how are you doing?" or something and they respond something like "we're all set," thinking it'd be time to order, and then are bewildered when the waiter disappears for another five minutes.
This would be understood, in the context, in Old England too.
More common is 'all sorted'.
I once lived in a part of the UK where it was common to be called 'duck'.
"Could I have a ticket to the town centre, please."
"Of course, duck. That'll be £1.20."
Or
"Alright, duck, what can I do you for?"
"Two cod and chips, please."
In Australia you are asked "how are you going?". It's like the English "all right?"
The standard answer is "not bad".
It should be used like this:
"G'day Bazza how ya goin?"
"yeh not bad mate"
It can get creative...
"G'day Bazza how ya goin?"
"Like a busted crab mate, I stayed up late to watch the bloody Poms flog us in the Ashes, the sooner they sack Clarkie the better"
I know what a Pom is.
Would you say they urn'd those ashes?
Can we get an Australian - English phrase book?In Australia you are asked "how are you going?". It's like the English "all right?"
The standard answer is "not bad".
It should be used like this:
"G'day Bazza how ya goin?"
"yeh not bad mate"It can get creative...
"G'day Bazza how ya goin?"
"Like a busted crab mate, I stayed up late to watch the bloody Poms flog us in the Ashes, the sooner they sack Clarkie the better"
Dude, I'm still looking for an English - English phrase book; there are like five words for everything in English, and none of them are spelled the same. :P
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RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16
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For anyone who has waited: Why the sentence formation "How is everything tasting?" It's the most ridiculously contrived way of asking "how does everything taste?", it's not used by anyone except waiters, and it's nearly ubiquitously used by all waiters. WTF?
It's annoying, but not annoying enough to make me dock anyone's tip. Smirking at me, on the other hand... ugh. Your 20% just got nixed down to 15, punk. Then again, if you actually refill the water glass when it's empty, without me having to make a show of obnoxiously rattling the ice and sending up flares to get your attention? 25% for you! All that said, I always thank the waiter when they bring anything, even if it's not for me, or even when they just ask.
The one that gets me is, "I'll be taking care of you tonight." Makes me think about the scene in Pulp Fiction where Travolta tells Samuel L. that he's "taking care of" Mrs. Wallace... and it confuses Samuel because they're mobsters, and "taking care of" means something different to them.
So when a waiter says that to me I wonder if they're going to take me out back of the restaurant and "take care of" me with a 9mm to the back of the head....
That's why you should always tip well.
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Can we get an Australian - English phrase book?In Australia you are asked "how are you going?". It's like the English "all right?"
The standard answer is "not bad".
It should be used like this:
"G'day Bazza how ya goin?"
"yeh not bad mate"It can get creative...
"G'day Bazza how ya goin?"
"Like a busted crab mate, I stayed up late to watch the bloody Poms flog us in the Ashes, the sooner they sack Clarkie the better"
:-)
"Good Day Barry, and how are you"
" I feel like a crab that has been smashed with a hammer ( floppy, smelly, non responsive, and unpleasant) my friend, I stayed up late to watch the insidious English defeat us very easily in the Cricket Series known as the Ashes. The sooner they sack Michael Clarke (the captain of the unsuccessful Austrailian team) the better.
Every time I hear 'Bazza', I parse it in my head as Basil.
This is not helped in the slightest by the fact that I know a few Basils.
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New England, Customer Service, and "All Set"
There seems to be some controversy around this issue and whether it really is a New England thing (Link 1, Link 2), but I have personally dined out with non-New Englanders who were confounded by this usage about a half-dozen times.
I would argue against it being exclusively a New England thing. I use the phrase, which I picked up from my mother, who is a Wisconsin native.