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

I think in France, you have to know someone _very_ well before you can use 'tu' instead of 'vous' without causing offence. The nearest equivalent in English I can think of is to call someone by their spouse's/partner's pet name for them, and you are not that spouse/partner.

not really - but that is what is taught in schools.
A waiter will call you "vous", a subordinate should call you "vous" but a colleague should be able to "tutoyer" if you are in the kind of business which would use first names...
I "tu" my French users, and they back to me.

Incidentally, "irregardless" is a word and has been since 1927 at least. Its an Americanism, but that don't mean it aint a word. See websters at:http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary for more

What does 'irregardless' mean, though? Is it the same as 'regardless'?

How about 'alternate' in the US, used in the sense that we would use 'alternative'? What word is used when they mean the same as when we say 'alternate'?

HUH?

I'm all for 'irregardless' if it's an English word. The Yanks have invented far too many 'new' words of late.

Dear nerdy language boy, why did you say, "sorry to bother?" Is it because of all the anger that's been popping up all over h2g2? I don't for the life of me understand why folks can't just accept eachother's differences and leave it at that! Freedom of speech rules here! However, the anger needs to go! Are we all not Hikers? I'm not foolish enough to believe that we can ALL get along...but it sure wouldn't hurt to be less rude and more tactful. *Pandora awaits a bitter response from (?) somebody*...go ahead, take your best shot.
Is anyone able to tell me what 'dissonant' means? I have the spelling correct, but am unable to find it's meaning. Thank you.

Hi Pandora
Dissonance is jarring clashing or discordant as in the late Kurt Cobain's woeful guitar playing.Dissonant chords are often used in music to create the vibe of fear or unease(check out the violins in the shower scene from the original Psycho)

Hi Pandora. An answer to your question 'HUH?'.

The word 'alternate' in the UK is not used in the sense of 'different' or 'replacement', e.g. we would not talk of an alternate route, but an alternative route. We use the word 'alternate' to mean 'taking turns', as in 'a day of alternate sunshine and showers', meaning the day started off sunny, then there was a rain shower, then it was sunny again, etc. Another example is to say that an event occurs on alternate Mondays, meaning every second Monday. So, I suppose my question is, do you have a word over there that means this?

Another word that gets used in two diferent ways on either side of the Atlantic is 'momentarily', which in the US means 'in a moment', as in 'I'll be with you momentarily', but in the UK means 'for a moment', as in 'I was with you momentarily'.

Int English brilliant?

Thank you VERY much for the meaning of my bothersome word! What a relief. I am usually able to figure out the meaning, but this time it was used out of content. The one thing I love an & dislike about our langugae is that so many words are interchangeable! If you can't spell one, just stick another in it's place! There are many words that are lazily spoken here that do mean the same as i.e., alternate & alternative. My sister has always accused me of trying to prove "that I'm smarter than everyone else because I use 'big' words," etc.! My point of view is, just because it's exceptable to use a 'lazy' word dosen't make me feel the need to do so, just so I'll sound the same as everyone around me. So, quietly I sit and try NOT to correct ANYone, EVER, about their choice of words. I grew up read classic writtings, thusly
my vocabulary is a bit different from my peers. But I digress. Yes there ARE words we use as you've asked, but at the moment I'll be hanged if I can think of an example! Perhaps one will come to me momentarily

It means, "answer this" ; but RSVP has a certain, " Je ne sais quois", non? Je ne parle pas francais, and I am Canadian, where it's legislated!
Papillon D'amour! < In English, 'the butterflies of love'; also known colloquially as either 'crotch crickets' or
' I shouldn't have gotten that drunk'......>

PLT, (seriously), Mick.

Said, " PAP-YON DA MOOR " (probably misspelled la francais anyhow...)
PLT, Mick.

Irregardless clearly isn't a word, but that doesn't stop it having a meaning... (like smilies )

Generally I've seen it used to mean "that was a completely pointless digression with no relevance to anything - let me get back to the point".

I'd group it in the same category as the "anyhow" variants - words like "anywhich", "anywhat", "anywho", etc. It has the same undertones of "I know I'm breaking the rules here, but I don't care".

I feel they also have slight insinuations of boredom - "I want to make a slight change of subject, and normally I'd use regardless or anyhow, but they get a bit boring after a while, so I've decided to branch out, if thats ok with you?"

This is what keeps a language living isn't it. English is a mongrel mix of Saxon, Angle, Jute, Latin, French, Danish ...
And we complain about what the Americans do to it!

Good point Wazungu! To quote Eric Hoffer:"When people are free to do as they please, they often imitate eachother!" I beleive that's how we've gotten to the verbal point where we now find ourselves.
Are you aware that "ungu" means 'freedom' in Swaheli (could use some help with the spelling there-pardon) It's way past my bed time or I would have looked up the spelling. As we Yanks say: I'm too pooped to pucker

More accurately, in the United States we put RSVP on invites and things just because we have an idea in our collective conciousness that that's how it's done. We don't need REASONS for things, we just do them because:

1. everybody else does
2. it's always been done that way (who cares if it's in French? WE say it here; where it came from is immaterial. We do it, so it's cool.)
3. It makes us feel better about looking down on our neighbors.
4. It makes us feel better about looking down on the rest of the world. Who cares how screwed up this country is? We have STYLE.

But then again, the same people who hold to this philosophy believe that Disneyworld is the most exciting place to go EVER and that everything anyone popular (read:RICH) says is true.

I was always told: "The only thing you get from 'rubbing elbows' the a rich man is: worn sleeves!"
We Americans are are so worried about 'keeping up with the Jone's' that many let their entire life go by without enjoying what they have!
You're not happy when you HAVE everything you want...you're happy when you WANT everthing you have.

You can't keep up with the Joneses, as we're a lap ahead

I think this has been the best forum question so far. Ye Gods! Do we squabble or what?

Question. Is there an easy way to tell where someone is in the cyber world? Is there some code in the email address that will indicate this?

TTFN

Freddie. From the UK.

Fraid not - we're pretty much as anonymous as we choose to be (to other users). My PC is in Dublin (Ireland) but my mail server is in Paris and the internet traffic is all routed through a corporate firewall in the states so it'd be some effort to work that out ....

Wazungu is Swahili. It's how I heard myself and my brother being referred to on holiday in Kenya. But I've got the grammer wrong, Wazungu is more than one person. I didn't intend to have a nickname indicating multiple personalities.

Swahili is an interesting language to bring in. It has a limited vocabulary. For example the word for good is the same whether its just OK or absolutely fantastic. You can indicate where in that range by your expression and repeating the word. Not ideal in written form, although you could use 's and 's. I don't think it's anyone's first language and maybe thats why it doesn't grow.