h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"Do you want a cup of tea?"

I've noticed in myself a tendancy to say 'Do you want...' rather than 'Would you like...' which I'm trying to counter.

'Do you want' sounds either a bit grudging or asking if someone is in need, whereas 'Would you like' is a more gracious invitation.

Well, that's quite true, Teasswill.

'Would you like' rather than ' do you want' *is* the more polite form.

I normally say - 'want some tea?' - which is both familiar and I think still quite polite.

az

So what i hear about you "grunting" rather than"legible saying" first thing in the morning .

logicus,

Was that meant for me? I am actually one of those totally annoying 'happy in the morning' people who wake up feeling just so happy and all that. When I used to have flatmates I'd always say - hey, want some coffee?

Whatever.

az

I usually say 'Would you put the kettle on? I'm gasping...'

Now Az would i say something like that about you no,
I am one of them as well ,used to love being wideawake, used to have flat mates Perhaps if your wearn't so one of those totally annoying 'happy in the morning' people who wake up feeling just so happy and all that.You would still have flatmates.

Oh thanks, logicus! That really was funny! But I did finally make a move so as to no longer have a need to have flatmates.

It's no joke though. 'Happy in the morning' people are often seen as VERY annoying. But I'm just too happy in the morning to worry about this.

az

I'm a morning mute. Quite happy making my own coffee & highly unlikely to offer to make it for anyone else. Though I will (silently) proffer the milk bottle to anyone who appears to need it.

Teasswill,

Nope, I am really annoyingly happy in the mornings and not only offer coffee but some toast or whatever. Which is why I am better off living with cats. All they want is for their food dishes to be filled in the morning and they don't mind at all if I appear a bit too chipper.

This *is* just a morning phenomenom, however. By midday I'm ready to murder most people who even remotely get between ME and HAVING MY DAY. (kidding . . . well, sort of . . . depends on the day . . .)



az

"He who blesses his neighbour early in the morning shall be counted as cursing"
A shiny penny to the first person to give me the source of this paraphrase.

Proverbs 12?

az

Close enough to Az. I was thinking of having it made into a plaque for bedroom doors.

Well, anyhow, Vestboy, I still think I'm quite nice to have around early in the morning - especially as I make the coffee and start making the toast!

az

I'm not too bad myself in the mornings. Tends to put me out on a limb with the family though. But I don't like people who shout while I'm still asleep!

I never shout. In fact, I have the tiniest voice ever. I'm just . . . happy. And I do a really fab breakfast when I'm in the mood. I think what mostly gets on people's nerves is that I'm not cranky in the morning and while I don't actually sing, I do hum a bit.

Can't help it! It's another day! I'm still alive! This always makes me feel good!

az

It's funny that in English we break our fast in the mornings while as far as I can tell (at least in French and Italian) they have little versions of a meal they would have later in the day.

no flatmates>I do hum a bit.
Try singing in the shower

In Spain people breakfast at various times during the morning, depending on their work schedule. But lunch is the main meal of the day and later in the evening they go out for tapas.

az

I've been discussing these things with my Indian colleague. He also is fascinated with language. Not sure where his english learning came from, may be cultural since he says in his part of India people actually prefer to speak english than any other language. He's from near Noida I think. Which is interesting because Noida is actually an English acronym. Anyway, I passed on the riddle which he also said 'I think it is 1/2 million each' but he thought it might be to do with the fact that the third line said 'The sons...' whereas more than two sons would be 'Each of the sons...'. Not sure where that came from, any ideas?

I find it very interesting finding the differences in language. For instance the respectful / familiar terms. He was saying about his local tongue which has one form of 'you' for those younger / more junior and one for those more senior (including parents/grandparents/ uncles etc. which was obvious to him). I replied that English used to have that, in the thee/you , thou/your and so forth but couldn't remember which way round it was. Was I mistaken in this?

He was also saying how relatives were all specific. So instead of a generic 'Uncle' or 'Brother-in-law' there were specifics for you fathers brother, your mothers sister, your sister's husband, your brother's husband and so forth. I got the impression these were also modified for seniority. IAnyone any pet ideas why english has lost these, along with gender? That was another one, where he was saying that a Bangladeshi would talk about rain(masculine) but he would talk about rain(feminine), but that he didn;t find it confusing learning english which has neither. I always assumed that learning english for those used to gender specific words would be awkward. But apparently not

I think we came to the conclusion that the english speakers were just lazy and couldn't be bothered with all these different forms! Mind you, inflection and body language does seem to have covered many of them..

What was the other one....Oh yes, apparently Bangladeshi (I think) for drinking water translates directly as 'eating water', I can see how this could be, after all, both are ingesting.

Must talk more on this with him!

p.s. sorry for the inaccuracies in my post, I am eating some wine at the moment!
p.p.s. no one has noticed the change to my name

hi Ictoan,

That's quite interesting stuff about your friend. Also interesting that in his part of India people still prefer to speak English.

I don't think (though could be wrong) English has ever had a formal/informal way of personal address. I think the thee/thou stuff was just about the terms used at that time for these pronouns. And I am quite sure there has never been any noun genders in English.

Sailors often refer to boats as female and there are other examples of this, but in fact we don't have gender specific articles.

In Spanish water is usually masculine 'el agua' except for sometimes when it is referred to as 'las aguas' 'the waters' and most Spanish people can't explain to me what the REAL difference is.

The most wonderful thing about language, I think, is that it always leaves one asking more and more questions about it.

az