Who speaks English properly? - General

After watching a few shows from the UK, I got to thinking, who speaks English properly? I know that what we now call the English language originated in, you guessed it, England, but It seems to me (Although I could easily be wrong as I'm not a English major) that people from the UK don't speak proper English. Such as using "F" instead of "TH" and leaving out the "H" in words like "Head". I understand that there are dialects but still, there is always going to be a "Correct" way to speak English. I'm not trying to put down the British or start a debate on which countries are the best, just who speaks the closest to proper English. Another question, is the language taught in the UK like that or is it taught to be pronounced the correct way and just not followed? Now I know that there are parts of the US which also has it's share of language deviations (e.g. The deep south, New Jersey, etc.) but where I live it's pretty straightforward.

I wouldn't say there is any culture in the present day that actually gets it right.

British people tend to suck at their own language and spell everything wrong

I write English correctly, ninety percent of the time, but I wouldn't say I speak it properly all of the time (if by proper, I assume you mean "the Queen's English"). I say "bath" not "barth" and "garage" not "gararge".

[QUOTE=Penis Colada;19501541]British people tend to suck at their own language and spell everything wrong[/QUOTE] Spell everything wrong?

There is no real way to speak English properly. Theres the Queens English. Normal English for us British. And then Yankee English.

America. [editline]01:08AM[/editline] Agree.

[QUOTE=Penis Colada;19501541]British people tend to suck at their own language and spell everything wrong[/QUOTE] This is true. So few friends I have on Facebook actually ever bother with "you're" as opposed to "your" and other grammatical errors.

Also fuck off OP, you guys pronounce 'Herbs' without the fucking H, you can't talk shit. You also don't take into account different British accents pronounce differently, I pronounce heads with a H.

[QUOTE=Vasili;19501547]There is no real way to speak English properly. Theres the Queens English. Normal English for us British. And then Yankee English.[/QUOTE] Because Australians, Canadians, Scotts, Irish and others don't exist.

Australians.

I like to think that I use proper spelling and grammar, but I frequently make mistakes both in writing and in speech. I'm not prepared to dedicate the time required to actually make any improvement in that aspect of myself.

[QUOTE=Vasili;19501565]Also fuck off OP, you guys pronounce 'Herbs' without the fucking H, you can't talk shit.[/QUOTE] God damnit I hate it when people say "erbs" Also, what the fuck is it with you Americans saying "Aljee"? It's "AL-GEE". The singular is "alga", so the plural is fucking "algae", pronounced with a hard "g".

[QUOTE=Faren;19501566]Because Australians, Canadians, Scotts, Irish and others don't exist.[/QUOTE] Hey lets include the whole commonwealth while we are at it. You got the point, you felt like being Mr. Technical. Sit down.

[QUOTE=TheGuru;19501568]Australians.[/QUOTE] Australians might actually be the closest(I don't really know Canadian accents very well, so I can't really account for them). We don't do that bullshit with incredibly strong "r" sounds and we don't do that "erbs" shit. The Australian dialect generally just sounds more laid back.

[QUOTE=Faren;19501587]God damnit I hate it when people say "erbs" Also, what the fuck is it with you Americans saying "Aljee"? It's "AL-GEE". The singular is "alga", so the plural is fucking "algae", pronounced with a hard "g".[/QUOTE] This thread is just going to become a shitty flamewar about whether English or American-English is more "right" than the other if you post like that.

[QUOTE=Vasili;19501595]Hey lets include the whole commonwealth while we are at it. You got the point, you felt like being Mr. Technical. Sit down.[/QUOTE] You made it sound like there were only 3 ways to speak English. I was saying that you were wrong.

[QUOTE=Faren;19501607]You made it sound like there were only 3 ways to speak English. I was saying that you were wrong.[/QUOTE] I'll add etc next time if it ever comes up again.

[QUOTE=Vasili;19501565]Also fuck off OP, you guys pronounce 'Herbs' without the fucking H, you can't talk shit. You also don't take into account different British accents pronounce differently, I pronounce heads with a H.[/QUOTE] You must not have read where I clearly said " I know there are dialects" I know that not all British people say everything different, but there are some. Like the host on this video [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM86WR9sc3I[/media]

[QUOTE=ChestyMcGee;19501606]This thread is just going to become a shitty flamewar about whether English or American-English is more "right" than the other if you post like that.[/QUOTE] Without British English, there'd be no American English. End of.

[QUOTE=Ibutsu;19501631]Without British English, there'd be no American English. End of.[/QUOTE] Thank you for that, now if you'd say something that actually had something to do with the topic that'd be great, thanks.

[QUOTE=Vasili;19501624]I'll add etc next time if it ever comes up again.[/QUOTE] Good man.

[QUOTE=Ibutsu;19501631]Without British English, there'd be no American English. End of.[/QUOTE] And thus the war begins. Watch out gentlemen, I'll get the kettle on.

[QUOTE=Ibutsu;19501631]Without British English, there'd be no American English. End of.[/QUOTE] Without voice boxes, there'd be no British English. End of.

I speak with an Edinburgh accent, which I'd say is pretty close to the proper pronounciation.

Uh, people in England speak English 'properly' because the language is from England so you're using England to judge everybody elses' use of the language. Did I mention England ? Aha, nah, no one speaks it 'properly' because there isn't such a thing. But I do come from Oxford so I talk like the fucking goddamn Queen, I'd say if there was a proper way to speak the language, it'd be that.

[QUOTE=Vasili;19501565]Also fuck off OP, you guys pronounce 'Herbs' without the fucking H, you can't talk shit. You also don't take into account different British accents pronounce differently, I pronounce heads with a H.[/QUOTE] [quote]It's both much simpler and more confusing than any of you imagined. Herb is standard American English; a 1993 pronunciation survey, ~90% of Americans said herb without the 'h'. (The proper name, Herb, keeps it pronouced.) Herb is a fine example of a type of linguistic conservatism found in American English. Until the sixteenth century the word was usually spelled "erb"-- it was a French word, who didn't say the "h" either. Right up until to the nineteenth century, long after the 'h' had been added due to further icky French influence, that was also the way it was said. "erb." Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century colonists toward the Americas took their pronounciation with them. During the nineteenth century, the British people started to sound the first letter, in a "spelling pronunciation." So, the Americans are saying it the old fashioned way, and the Brits are playing around with their new-fangled words. So, Eddie Izzard wasn't off saying that "We say herb like that because there's a fuckin' 'H' in it." Now you know.[/quote] So there you go.

English is constantly changing, as it is not a dead language like Latin.

English = England, thus any dialects spoken outside are incorrect. That said, even in England there are a lot of incorrect pronunciations of various words, or even letters, people who say 'h' as 'haitch' rather than 'aitch' for instance.

There is no correct way to speak English, as there was no point at which English was ever perfected. It's an evolving language, and until it is dead it will always be spoken correctly (unless you don't understand the basic sounds associated with letters etc.)