Quote:
Originally Posted by mogui
Ha! Americans, specifically those from the United States, say, "could care less" for the same reason they, and their TV announcers refer to "events" as "incidences". I have lived there so I have fluency in that variant of English. Businesses are often promising "free gifts" for listening to a sales pitch. Maybe they wish to sell you some jew-ler-ee (jewelry), or maybe it is a re-leh-tor (realtor) hoping to interest you in some property. If you can tolerate the former president making nuke-you-lar (nuclear) policy, maybe you can also prolly (probably) accommodate a per-fession-al (one who has years and years of schooling) far-tog-ra-fur (one who makes fartographs). I actually got comf-ter-bull (comfortable) with those neologisms, though not to the point of using them in my own speech.
Languages change because usage changes. Remember that half the American population has an IQ of less than 100. Some linguistic shifts come from the shallow end of the gene pool too!
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Welcome back, I haven't seen you in the forums for months. Of course one-half of the US population is below 100, it will always be so. I am just glad that the current 100 would have been a higher number a generation or two ago as the tests are revised at intervals to keep them normalized around 100.
Every country has their own unique statements and way of saying things. I am sure that you could (and I wish you would) share some from your experiences in China -- either from the translators of from the ex-pat community there.
I wish I could share some phrases I remember from the US community in eastern Saudi Arabia in the early 1980s or San Jose, Costa Rica in the mid 1980s; but, this is a family-friendly web site and such language has no place here. (Call if "self censorship.")