Hi
I would like to know if Britishers use the word ‘create’ in the sense of becoming angry.
Tom
PS: What should I write, Britishers or the Britishers in my original sentence?
And what about the use of the comma in the above sentence? Is it correct?
:shock: :shock: :shock:
I won’t presume to answer that question about British usage, but I would be interested in knowing why you chose to write ‘Britishers’ rather than ‘Britons’, Tom.
As regards your comma question, why not just eliminate the word ‘what’ and the comma?
Sorry, Amy, but up until now I had never thought on this line! :shock:
What is the difference between
Britishers and Britons?
Tom
Hi Tom
Well, let’s just say it never crosses my mind to refer to people who live in Britain as “Britishers”. If I were to use that word, it would probably be for humorous effect.
Britons is the standard word. Even “Brits” is much more commonly used than “Britishers”, in my opinion.
Amy
Hi Tom,
‘Britishers’ sounds very colonial and Colonel Blimpish to me. Ugh! In all honesty we don’t know what to call ourselves! ‘Brits’ is now very popular but to me it sounds ultra modern and better describing a football team or something. ‘Britons’ to me are my ancestors running around painted in woad or when Julius Caesar sorted us out. So I’m sort of reduced to saying - People in Britain. Not very good really but there we are. I’d love to have a simple moniker like French/Italian/German/American and so on but the trouble is (sorry neighbours) we’ve got to include the Scottish, the Welsh and the northern Irish. What a muddle! and if I say ‘the English’, the others start jumping up and down.
I once taught English in a Berlitz School (I confess) in Germany and the locals didn’t believe that Welsh was a foreign language. Fortunately a mate of mine on the staff was Welsh and I would wheel him in to speak to the class in Welsh. You should have seen their faces!
A
Thanks a lot!
But what about “create”? :shock:
Tom
‘Create’ can be used to mean simply ‘make a fuss’. It’s a word often describing the way a fussy person reacts when they are irritated, usually over an unimportant matter.
A
I get a kick out of teaching my classes a few sentences in New Guinea Pidgin English. I also like to recite things for them in Old English. They think it’s Swedish or something.
Did your students believe you when you told them that Yorkshire English was also a foreign language?