Here's Your Debates

[Londo Mollari]

every country has its fair share of idiots, as well as very intelligent individuals and all levels in between.

however, America is responsible for an alarming degredation in the English language

there is no language called American, just as there is no Scottish language, its a dialect

American spellings of color etc, and pronounciation of words such as Pittsburgh are technically wrong, however, they've been wrong for so long that they are now generally accepted

*waits for someone to point out a grammatical/spelling error in the above*

[Kit-Fox]

every country has its fair share of idiots, as well as very intelligent individuals and all levels in between.

however, America is responsible for an alarming degredation in the English language

there is no language called American, just as there is no Scottish language, its a dialect

American spellings of color etc, and pronounciation of words such as Pittsburgh are technically wrong, however, they've been wrong for so long that they are now generally accepted

*waits for someone to point out a grammatical/spelling error in the above*

Oh so very wrong, there is a Scottish language, however it has become largely underused in the modern world.

But even with it s underuse it doesnt mean it doesnt exist, oh and just in case you get cocky and try and say that scottish is just a dialect of gaelic, try it, go to Scotland and speak pure gaelic to someone who can speak Scottish. They wont understand you and you wont understand them, they are completely two different things (even though Scottish was created from gaelic, they have diverged so much they are now two seperate languages)

[Londo Mollari]

spelling of words means nothing, again I'll say it depends of which "version" of english you use, language changes with time, hast ye forgot, most whom do not speak as such like this, shant be ridiculed any more?

spelling of words means nothing

So, if i was to spell the word dog, C A T, that would be acceptable? The spelling of a word is very important, a slight mistake can change a words meaning completely. A commonly misspelt word which comes to mind is "there/their", very similar spellings, but grammatically very different.

As for a version of English, there is only one, its called English. What most Americans speak, is a garbled hashup of the language, which has degraded over the years due to poor education.

every country has its fair share of idiots, as well as very intelligent individuals and all levels in between.

however, America is responsible for an alarming degredation in the English language

there is no language called American, just as there is no Scottish language, its a dialect

American spellings of color etc, and pronounciation of words such as Pittsburgh are technically wrong, however, they've been wrong for so long that they are now generally accepted

*waits for someone to point out a grammatical/spelling error in the above*

Oh so very wrong, there is a Scottish language, however it has become largely underused in the modern world.

But even with it s underuse it doesnt mean it doesnt exist, oh and just in case you get cocky and try and say that scottish is just a dialect of gaelic, try it, go to Scotland and speak pure gaelic to someone who can speak Scottish. They wont understand you and you wont understand them, they are completely two different things (even though Scottish was created from gaelic, they have diverged so much they are now two seperate languages)

ah, my bad, i didn't make myself clear.

I am referring to the fact that there is no Scottish language as a sub-set of English

I know there is a Scots language, as well as Gaelic, it is the incistance of English speaking Scottish people that they speak "Scottish" that annoys me, when in reality they speak English with a Scottish dialect

although i DO live in Scotland, i don't speak gaelic, so even if i wanted to speak Scots/Gaelic to a person who knows only the other language, i cannot

that said, Gaelic is (last i heard at any rate) a dying language

[Londo Mollari]

well, i'll direct you to wikipedia on this one, not that I am implying that it is iron-clad#

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_English

"Modern English has a large number of dialects spoken in diverse countries throughout the world. Most of these, however, are mutually intelligible.[clarification needed] This includes American English, Australian English, British English, Canadian English, Caribbean English, Hiberno-English, Indo-Pakistani English, New Zealand English, Philippine English, Singaporean English, and South African English."

"real" English is that spoken in England, just as true French is spoken in France, I have no doubt that Canadian French will have slightly diverged from the French spoken in France.

As far as I am concerned, the English spoken in England is correct, by default, as England is the country of the languages origin.

You cannot argue that American English is not different, and that this is a result of the low level of education of the early american settlers.

i'm not saying that Americans are idiots because they don't speak/use proper English, only that they are let down by a centuries old systematic failure

also, just because we do not commonly speak using words such as prithee, thus, verily etc. that does not make them invalid, just out of use

[Londo Mollari]

yes there are, numerous dialects exist

but spelling of words is consistent (and correct) throughout

american spellings may be consistent, but they are inherently wrong

[[BoT] Jason]

Sigg has beeen removed....