Ok, ok I may have a solution that will make everyone happy: let’s all speak Esperanto! One flag for all!
Speak American
Submitted 10 months ago by gedaliyah@lemmy.world to [deleted]
https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/e3af9d91-c0b8-45e0-a275-ebd0d4b62a60.webp
Comments
redwattlebird@lemmings.world 10 months ago
Sibshops@lemm.ee 10 months ago
Percentage wise, more percent of the population in England speaks English than in the US.
ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 10 months ago
The British, when they have to click the American flag for English, and then they see “color” without the “u”:
NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 10 months ago
Col-or what, that’s what I want to know.
Raxiel@lemmy.world 10 months ago
We save it for u wot M8?
jsomae@lemmy.ml 10 months ago
I don’t like using country flags for languages. For one thing, not every language has a country of its own – there are 700+ languages in use today, but <200 countries. Many languages don’t even have any obvious insignia to use with them.
If you’re making a piece of software and you want it ported to many languages, just use text to represent the language.
anachrohack@lemmy.world 10 months ago
America has one of the largest Spanish speaking populations in the world, so in future web applications I will use the American flag to indicate Spanish, for the lulza
Dicska@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Bonus points from TTS users.
Enzy@lemm.ee 10 months ago
Speak native american!!
Etterra@discuss.online 10 months ago
The US has more native English speakers than the next 3 countries combined. England is 5th on the list. By volume alone, our way is the correct one.
SouthEndSunset@lemm.ee 10 months ago
There’s several people that have commented this, and it doesn’t make any sense. It’s called English cause it was invented in England, a country which still exists. There’s also a few claims we changed our language, we didn’t (Posh people created Received Pronunciation. American exceptionalism at its finest.
FourWaveforms@lemm.ee 10 months ago
“hmm… this isn’t the right country but let’s roll the dice and see what happens”
ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net 10 months ago
I did that with a game I installed and couldn’t figure out how to fix it. So I just uninstalled the game and tried again…
captainlezbian@lemmy.world 10 months ago
The unnecessary "u"s haunt us
umbraroze@slrpnk.net 10 months ago
At this point point, people who speak English as second language usually go “awww, how cute, the native speakers really think this is the biggest controversy of English orthography.”
(Instead of, you know, everything.)
captainlezbian@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Its more just the easily memable one.
Rooty@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Sobs quietly
I just want a consistent spelling system.
wewbull@feddit.uk 10 months ago
Or in American …
The nnecessary ""s hant s.
BodilessGaze@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
I woke up screaming last night because I dreamed I went to grab my colored pencils and they said “colour” on the box
epicstove@lemmy.ca 10 months ago
When I was visiting Paris, a tour bus we got on had a audio guide, the languages were all labeled with national flags.
English -> UK flag French -> flag of France Spanish -> Flag of Spain Portuguese -> Flag of Brazil
Even in Europe Portugal plays second fiddle for it’s own language
LanguageIsCool@lemmy.world 10 months ago
[deleted]justme@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 months ago
Yes, but the guys who made the guide (I mean the developers who assigned each audio track a flag, not the ones recording the audio) might not. I guess that might not even been developed in France and nobody cared enough to fix the bug.
skisnow@lemmy.ca 10 months ago
I wish there were some internationally recognized symbols to represent languages as distinct entities from their countries of origin, but the idea of trying to make some seems really unpopular for some reason.
There’s other languages that have far more politically contentious flags representing them - at least all the English-speaking countries are broadly allies. Spare a thought for the Taiwanese who have to select a People’s Republic of China flag, even though the language is as much theirs as it is the PRC’s, or the large number of Russian-speaking native Ukrainians who have to select the flag of the country who’s bombing them and their families.
The notion of a country owning a language is fraught with toxicity (indeed, Russia’s claim to vast swathes of Ukraine leans heavily on it), and if languages had their own flags we could sidestep the whole issue.
epicstove@lemmy.ca 10 months ago
French has the fleur De lies which, although it was a symbol of French royalty is still used on the flag of Quebec and some places in Canada identify the French language option with the flag of Quebec.
Realistically, the best option would just be a shorted abbreviation of the language in that language. Ex. Eng for English and deu for German
skisnow@lemmy.ca 10 months ago
There is a set of ISO codes for each language, but it’s not catchy used as an icon, and are also implicitly Western-centric by virtue of using the Latin alphabet.
Biyoo@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 months ago
I replaced the US flag with a UK one on my website for this reason x)
ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net 10 months ago
As an American who does web development, “You guys have multiple languages on your websites?”
javiwhite@feddit.uk 10 months ago
As a Brit I feel like I’m going to have a cardiac arrest from cholesterol buildup every time I have to click the cheeseburger flag; so I can appreciate where they’re coming from.
moopet@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
Languages and nationalities are not a one-to-one match anyway. What would you expect from a Canadian flag? French, or English? The USA has NO official language, so that makes even less sense.
I wish people would stop trying to replace words with cute little images.
Robotsandstuff@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Brit here it’s our laugauge don’t like it? Get your own instead of spelling ours wrong
DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 10 months ago
350 million Americans, 70 million British.
Your minority opinion is noted but outvoted, micronation.
redwattlebird@lemmings.world 10 months ago
Hmmmm yes but the average American reads at a grade 6 level, so I daresay UK beats USA there.
Grazed@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Canadian here. Choosing between UK English and US English feels like choosing between an abusive father and abusive husband.
nthavoc@lemmy.today 10 months ago
What’s all that aboot?
Robotsandstuff@lemmy.world 10 months ago
We are a reformed crazy dad we are trying to be part of your life but we’re still drama
Event_Horizon@lemmy.world 10 months ago
As an Aussie it really grinds my gears that office defaults to American spelling. And even after I change the dictionary to Australian or UK english it still continues to insert ‘z’ into words. It’s colonise, not colonize!
FourWaveforms@lemm.ee 10 months ago
How do you pronounce that word
Ziglin@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Haben Sie schonmal von germanischen Sprachen gehört, wo ein ‘S’ duraus so wie englisches ‘Z’ klingen kann?
milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee 10 months ago
I thought in Aus and other international areas the Z was considered correct spelling, even though most of the rest follows British convention?
Event_Horizon@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Australia follows British conventions. However both spellings are correct and there has been a rise in ‘z’ over the past few years with American influence.
All government websites etc use British spelling.
redwattlebird@lemmings.world 10 months ago
The way ‘herbs’ or ‘erbs’ (as some pronounce it) drives me absolutely nuts.
Also, ‘mirror’ where it sounds like ‘meer’ drives me nuts.
I definitely prefer British English. Love reading the old Agatha Christie books. E.g. “My word!” The colonel ejaculated, “I do believe that she’s dead!”
SLVRDRGN@lemmy.world 10 months ago
That “meer” thing has to do with where you are in America. Same with words like “roof” or “pecan”.
redwattlebird@lemmings.world 10 months ago
Yep, I’m not doubting that.
I have to say, though, my most favourite American accent is the Minnesota one. Fargo helped make it all sound very endearing. Unsure how they pronounce mirror. Perhaps it’s ‘meer’.
milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee 10 months ago
In the Black Panther they talk about the “heart-shaped 'erb,” and it sounds so strange to me, I always think it should then be “'art-shaped 'erb!”
NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 10 months ago
Wakanda is a high-tech nation hidden in the jungles of the East Riding.
stebo02@sopuli.xyz 10 months ago
it’s worse when it’s an American flag because I’m always looking for the British one
Scrollone@feddit.it 10 months ago
British English is the OG English. They should always use that flag.
Squirrelanna@lemmynsfw.com 10 months ago
Well if we want get technical it’s roots are in Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands.
Squirrelanna@lemmynsfw.com 10 months ago
Old English would like to have a word.
stebo02@sopuli.xyz 10 months ago
yeah otherwise you might as well use the Australian flag or whatever
kamen@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Traditional English vs Simplified English. I won’t tell you which is which.
milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee 10 months ago
Ah, one more way in which post-colonial America and Mao’s China are similar.
DmMacniel@feddit.org 10 months ago
Traditional English vs Yankee English.
Tungsten5@lemm.ee 10 months ago
I just hit the back button. You won’t catch me disrespecting the motherland like that
AtariDump@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Ok, it’s driving me crazy.
Who is that? The actor, not the character they’re playing.
owsei@programming.dev 10 months ago
Lin-Manual Miranda
AtariDump@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I thought so, thanks!
nthavoc@lemmy.today 10 months ago
There’s no U in color. FIGHT ME!
milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee 10 months ago
We did. Famously we lost and you got to go your own way and stop paying us taxes.
Honytawk@feddit.nl 10 months ago
There isn’t an I either.
bampop@lemmy.world 10 months ago
There’s no I in denial
Zip2@feddit.uk 10 months ago
Yes there is. And American English had it too before it was removed because the population needed it simplified.
scheep@lemmy.world 10 months ago
phonetically it should really be “colur”, so I think “colour” is a decent compromise
milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee 10 months ago
‘kulla’, or ‘kullar’ for the Americans
smeenz@lemmy.nz 10 months ago
What flavour of English do you and your colourful neighbours prefer ?
Taleya@aussie.zone 10 months ago
As opposed to everyone else when they have to click the US flag to get English language options
TranslateErr0rs@lemmy.world 10 months ago
There is no U in “Boston Tea Party” either.
milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee 10 months ago
Bouston Teua Puarty
NateNate60@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Scottish people having to click on a British flag knowing it will display English (there is a perfectly good flag for England that people refuse to use 🏴)
SassyRamen@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Ami: isn’t that the red cross flag?
RandoMcRanderton@lemmy.world 10 months ago
We alsou have to start adding randoum U’s in places that nourmally only have O’s.
Siegfried@lemmy.world 10 months ago
English (simplified) or spanglish? I’ll let americans decide which is better
Freshparsnip@lemm.ee 10 months ago
One of these days Trump is gonna sue the UK for speaking the American language
Thorry84@feddit.nl 10 months ago
The whole concept of multilingual websites is foreign to Americans. There is only one language in their mind.
WanderingThoughts@europe.pub 10 months ago
A tourist wanted since directions so he asked: "Sorry, do you speak American.’
My buddy who can be a purist: “I understand American but I speak English.”
Lemmyoutofhere@lemmy.ca 10 months ago
Why use many word when few word do.
BlackSheep@lemmy.ca 10 months ago
Seeing recipes from everywhere but the US, and Americans asking to have the recipe ingredients converted “for them”. Sheesh…
lengau@midwest.social 10 months ago
I saw a New York Times recipe once that called for ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons of all purpose flour.
They meant 125g.
NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 10 months ago
Yeah, but it’s not obvious how many galoshes of diced onion I need when it says 100g.
chiliedogg@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I had a roommate in college royally fuckup a bunch of very expensive ribs we’d bought because the online recipe called for 2 cloves of garlic abbreviated as “garlic 2c” and he pit in 2 cups of garlic powder.
ebolapie@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Honestly at that point just use the whole onion