Why? Because I can! And this group is an appropriate place to do it. Not because what I'm going to blog is daft, but because so many people I've met are so seriously uptight about it all, I reckon they must be daft.
This blog has been inspired by the fact that I have to be careful what I say now because my bf had his sense of humour stripped from him about this in a cruel and nasty way by someone who needs a smack around the head to knock some sense into her, and it has given me yet another thing to hate about her because she's spoiled my ability to have a joke with him about it. I dedicate this blog to him.
Why do people still have such an issue with simple differing terminology?
I've already done an advice about Talking A Different Language and the alternate meanings of rude (offensive, boorish, curt, coarse, uncouth, impertinent) words (terminology, vocabulary). I've ranted (raved) in a comment under an advice of mine about the use (utilisation) or words (terms) to describe (characterise, express, portray, relate, specify) the difference between artificial v's formula feeding and WTF does it matter, why the hell does anyone have to get all offended (upset, disturbed, annoyed, vexed) about it???
And now I'm going to go off about it yet again because it really does annoy (p!ss off, upset, irritate, vex, cheese) me when people think they have to take it so seriously. But this time I'm going to specifically target (aim at, direct, point to) cultural language differences (diversities, variations, distinctions).
English. Spoken by the English, Americans, Canadians, Australians, and many other countries. We all love to stir each other about our little differences. Australians and Americans claim each other drive on the wrong side of the road. Americans drive on the right side of the road. Australians drive on the left side of the road. What is wrong with that? It's not like we have to worry about changing lanes when we cross the border and risk crashing into each other!!!
What Australians call a g-string American's call a thong, Australians wear thongs on their feet. Hmmm. Makes for some interesting laughs that does. So laugh about it for craps sake! Australians call jello jelly, Americans call jam jelly. Makes a peanut butter and jelly sandwich potentially strange if you get them mixed up. Laugh about it! Fries or chips, oh FFS! Should we all just start calling them deep fried potato sticks? Dinner, tea, or supper? It's an evening meal, shut up and eat it. Tomato sauce or ketchup - now here's one for you, they are actually slightly different! But Australians call tomato sauce dead horse anyway, so like we should really care! Garage or shed? Oh, guess what, there's a difference again. Garage is by definition a building to house cars or a repair centre for cars. A shed is defined as an enclosed shelter (aka a building) used as a store or workshop. Now, if I store my car and work on my car in my shed, like most people do, does that make it a garage as well? Yes! OMG it can be exactly the same thing! What if I use my garage as a store room or workshop for things other than my car? Does that make it a shed? Yes! That being said, what's the difference, really? There may as well not be one. So why do people argue about it? Why do people correct each other over it? Because they are too DAFT to get a grip and realise that there's this thing called a thesaurus and most nouns, verbs, and adjectives that you can think of in English have another word that can be used in it's place with the same meaning. I showed this in the paragraphs above. Cultural differences, slang terms, and colloquilisms just increase the variety of words that can be used. It's a good thing!
Australia, America, the UK and Canada all claim to be multi-cultural, so why do people gripe about the different ways people speak? I just don't get it.
Next time I say I'm going to buy some fries, smother them in ketchup and have them for supper, anyone can try to seriously correct me and tell me I'm living in Australia and so I should be saying I'm going to buy some chips, smother them in dead horse and have them for tea, and I will laugh and say j'en ai rien à foutre! If I "correct" someone else, I'm either asking for clarification or I'm JOKING around about it.
Buffalos don't have wings and fish don't have fingers. Laugh and prove me wrong and I will laugh with you!
end rant