Language Differences

My Unique use of Language

Gabriella Parker

1. I'm often told I use a lot of American words, pronunciations and spelling. (e.g using 'z' instead of 's' and saying phrases such as 'high school' instead of 'secondary school' - probably due to the terrible American TV shows I watch)

2. Like most people, the way I speak depends heavily upon whom I'm speaking to - my friends often tease me about how eloquent I tend to get around adults in comparison to when I'm speaking to them - the more comfortable I am, the more casual I tend to be.

3. I've noticed I tend to use more complex words in conversation after reading or writing for long periods of time.

4. Sometimes I accidentally refer to hands as 'donnies' because my mother comes from Birmingham.

5. My family use spoonerisms a lot because they find them amusing, so I sometimes do the same.

6. A lot of the jargon my friends and I use comes from the comics we read or the TV shows we watch.

7. I pronounce the word 'apparatus'  differently to my friends and family and they usually tease me for it (the way I pronounce it sounds like more of an obscure spell from Harry Potter than an actual word  but I find it difficult to pronounce it any other way).

8. I often get similar sounding words mixed up. (e.g terminology and termination, implies and implicates e.t.c)

9. I refer to my mother as 'Mama G' because my fathers friend spent some time in India and told us about it (how it is part of their culture to add 'Ji' to the end of someones name to convey respect), and I found it fitting simply because my name begins with 'G'. I also refer to my grandmother as 'Gram Gram' and my late grandfather as 'Pampi'.

10. I get personally offended when I see the wrong use of the words 'their', 'they're' and 'there' and 'you' and 'you're'  even though I'm sure I've made the same mistake many times before, and will continue to do again without realising.