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

'America's popularly spoken language is sometimes called 'American', because the difference between English English (that is, English spoken in England and the United Kingdom) and American English is vast. The differences in pronunciation and vocabulary between the various American dialects is small compared to the divide between the Americans and the British.'

I think would be better if you referred to British English:

'...the difference between British English (that is, English spoken in the United Kingdom) and American English is vast...'

I did spot the '...difference ... vastly different...' but I guessed you'd change that bit when I mentioned it anyway

Distant always means 'a long distance away'. So when you say 'areas of the United States that used to be (or seem) very distant from each other', you're implying that the country has shrunk. I know you qualify it with (or seem), but to me it doesn't quite cover it.

'Remote' is different, because it also refers to accessibility. If you build a new road up to a mountain village, it is still just as distant but it becomes less remote. So if we use 'remote' that covers it, and we don't need the (or seem). Does that make sense?

Should the last one say 'Throughout most of the Midwest, from Western Pennsylvania to Oregon, ...' then?

British English is fine

Remote is fine as well. Your reasoning is sound.

How about-
"'Throughout most of the Midwest, from Western Pennsylvania, through the Great Plains, to Oregon."

That work?

Lovely! I knew there was a reason why I hadn't gone to bed yet. That must've been it

I'll try to get some more done tomorrow. Sorry it's going a little slowly, but Bob's project is taking a while. I think I might prioritise yours, because if I try to work on one of each project before moving on I'll start to get bogged down. My own project is almost complete now, though, so I should have more time soon anyway.

Hey, no problem at all. I'm not impatient. Get Bob's and yours done first, you guys have been working on yours longer. I don't really care when this is completed - makes no difference to me.

For the second para of the Philly/Pitt entry, how's this (taking into account Jimi's point)

Caught up in the middle of this, central Pennsylvania is influenced by the two dialects to varying degrees based on geographical proximity. German settlers known as the 'Pennsylvania Dutch' settled large portions of Pennsylvania and have been linguistically influential especially in the middle part of the state. Areas in the middle of Pennsylvania are known to use odd Dutchie words and an unusual syntax formulation.

Brilliant.

There are a few changes I'd like to make to the Southern Dialect entry, and I'll be working on it this weekend (it's Martin Luther King Day next Monday, so hopefully it will be a productive 3-day weekend )

Also, I'd like to take you up on your previous offer to join in on the AViator fun. For one reason, the Dialects project, but I'd be interested in producing video content for other entries if there's a topic that I can conveniently cover. I'd like to try it out, anyhow.

There's a link to a the Yahoo group on A13264670 - ask to be invited and I'll let you in!

I've fixed up the Southern Drawl entry a bit - it's in plain text here A1303390 (I tested the GuideML, it still works fine)

I'm also going to ask Count Zero if he wants a co-author credit, because his comments were very useful.

I should have Bob's project in by end of the weekend, so I'll be able to give this my full attention then. I think it's good that people are having their say in your journal, because if that had all happened in PR it could've got a little messy...

Right, a quick update - Bob's project will be going in very shortly. I'll work on this in the coming week, and then submit it before I go on holiday. When I get back, I'll sort out the PR thread; there's no point in me accessing the Internet in The Gambia, as power cuts are sudden and regular and the connections are slow.

I've got a few things to change in the Non-Accent entry, so I'll get to that soon and post the GML in a plain text entry (like I did with the Southern Dialect entry). It's nothing too major - just stuff from my journal thread.

That's great - I might need you to do something similar if the PR thread goes mad, but we'll cross that if we come to it.

Yeah, let's hope not. I think quite a few Americans popped up in my journal thread, including some of the ones I expected to lend a critical eye to it. Hopefully the Peers will be relatively happy with it.

I'm working on the Non-Accent one tonight... will back post in a half hour or so, hopefully.

By the way, I don't know how you stay up so late regularly Sometimes, I'm yawning five hours behind when I see the eyes next to your name!

Okay - A1296885 It was less work than I thought it would be.

Ah, I have odd sleeping habits thanks to my shift work. It's impossible to go to bed for at least two hours after I finish, so if I finish at 11 I'm guaranteed to be up at 1am, and probably later. If I follow that with an early, I need an afternoon nap, so rather than being tired at a normal time I'm still fresh at midnight. And so it goes on...

Noo Yawk A30501703:

'Midwesterners pronounce the 'r' sound in words, but the British rarely do so.' - I'm a bit confused by this, because we certainly do! Do you mean that we emphasise it less, or am I misreading the idea completely?

Again, the rest was just minor tweaks, and even better on the second read

That's poorly phrased, it's true. I was referring to the end of words, but didn't think to mention that. While I hate to tell you about your own accent, which I am certainly no expert of, I believe the British are much more likely to deemphasize or drop the 'r' sound at the *end* of words... so that 'master' sounds closer to 'mast-uh' (though a bit softer, I think).

Glad you saw that though. I agree that it's incorrect as it stands.

You're right there. How about:

'Midwesterners always pronounce the 'r' sound in words, but the British have a tendency to drop the occasional 'r', particularly at the end of words.'

We do drop/deemphasise the odd 'r' mid-word as well, thinking about it - in a word such as 'sorted' it's often almost silent, depending on your dialect. Cockneys would hardly pronounce it at all, but here in the south-west it gets a bit of a burr