Im originally from Germany but we moved to Florida around 2 years after I was born. Then as I grew older I figured I hated the heat so now we are in the wonderful state of Utah
These actually make sense! If I understand correctly, I believe they both refer to "water horse" or "flood horse" in your language. That makes WAY more sense than hippopotamus in English, which is ANCIENT GREEK for river horse.
I know you are from Spain. It was partially your post that inspired me to start this thread. However, up until now I had not had anyone from Spain actually respond. This is why Spain was on the known list, because of you my friend. List will be updated. Side note: I have a very good friend in Barcelona and I hosted a guy from Madrid who I've lost contact with.
Receive a posting here from Singapore. Though I am not Singaporean I moved here last year, and boy it is hot. Not even the strong tropical thunderstorms bring a relieve. Luckily lots of places are airconed. This week people all over east Asia celebrate Chinese new year. For the next 12 month we live in the year of the monkey. One custom which is specific for Singapore, I believe, is to serve a plate with coloured vermicelli then garnish it with crackers and sauce. Once prepared it is mixed by all people at the table by lifting it up with chop sticks at the same time and let it fall back on the plate. It is not a gourmet delicacy but fun to do the mixing part. Language is a thing here too. There are four primary languages. In order: 1. English, 2. Chinese, 3. Malay, and 4. Tamil. The English is kind of weird and it is called Singlish; really hard to understand for me from time to time. Most important in Singlish is to end your sentence with "la". For example, "Let's go la!". But I haven't figured out yet when it is the moment to add the la. I could tell more about Singapore from my expat point of view, but maybe the native Singaporeans here on the forums want to add to the above first.
Scousers do this too. A lot force it on (and I'm not in the percentage of people who do it because it sounds stupid and chavvy), but some people from Liverpool do it out of habit. I have no idea why. It's more a 'laaaa' than a 'la' though.
Lets see... I wrote this, hopefully there aren't many grammatical errors. Ancient Singapore: According to Malay history, Singapore was found in the early 13th century by a Malay prince named Seri Teri Buana. There, on the shore awaiting for him, was a vicious lion. The lion was captured, but not slain, instead was brought into the rainforest and let free. Prince Seri took this lion as an early sign and named the new island "Singapura", which is "Lion City" in Malay. However, later on, Singapore was invaded by the Indian Emperor Rajendra Chola 1 of the Chola Empire. -Blah Blah Blah Useless stuff.- Halfway-Modern Singapore: Modern Singapore was founded by Sir Stamford Raffles on 28th January, 1819. It lay on the Southern Part of the Malay Peninsula, near the Straits of Mallaca. Sir Stamford Raffles made Singapore into a trading post, for it possessed deep natural harbors and also fresh marine life. Here, people traded for many years until the Revolutionary Stage of Singapore. Modern Singapore: Today, Singapore has a population of over 5.5 million! It also has one of the world's top (non-college) schools, known as Singapore American School. Singapore today is also one of the world's most eco-friendly places, as Singapore has many trees and other plant life. More to be added when I get back home
Thank you all, I did not expect such a great response to this! I thought I'd tell you a bit more about myself & where I'm from. I live in Florida, USA. I'm very near to the space center (the bump sticking out on the East coast). I live 5 min from the hospital I was born in and both my children were born in. I have lived within 70 miles of here my whole life. I can remember watching the very first space shuttle launch. I remember the important ones, the tragedies & things like John Glenn's return to space. For me, rocket launches are a normal part of life. You hear a deep rumble like loud thunder, but it lasts for several minutes and you think "Oh, I didn't know they had a launch today" and then go about things as normal. People from other states think that Florida doesn't have seasons because the weather is usually mild & leaves on trees don't change color & fall off. We DO have seasons: Tourist Season, Hurricane Season, Snowbird Season (when retired people from up north migrate here to spend their winters), and Mosquito Season. The fact that I'm so deeply rooted here and truly love my home area does not mean that I'm globally nearsighted. As I said before, I love to travel. I have been to Canada, Mexico, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Saint Martin, Sint Maarten, Saint Lucia, Belize, Honduras, England, Whales, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, and France. Some of these I've visited multiple times, some I was only there for a day. So far, Ireland has been the favorite but there are so many more on my wish list!
I liked what Tim Wilson(a Country Comedian/Singer), RIP, said about Florida in his routine on Southern Accents, "You go south of Gainesville and you're back in Michigan..."
Yeah, we have a huge variety of accents here. Most of the locals have a bit of a southern accent, but not near as strong as elsewhere. When I travel in the states most people can't figure out where I'm from because Floridians typically have very little accent at all. I personally am a bit of a chameleon when it comes to accents. I can almost immediately pick up the accent of the people around me and sound like them. So for example, if I'm talking to Spanish people in English I sometimes talk in a Spanish accent without even realizing it. I have to be careful because sometimes strangers think I'm making fun of them. I not, it's just that I pick up accents easily & often without even realizing it.
Indeed, I did also realise this. My school had an exchange with a french school and I noticed that we picked up the french accent when we talked to each other. It's kind of weird
