You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
I still find it interesting that American English tend to refer to a location as being "on" a street, while British English (and probably other Commonwealth English, though I haven't encountered it enough to know) tends to refer to locations as "in" a street.
"I live on Chamberlain Street", "He lives in Oxford Street", etc.
i would say 'He lives on Oxford Street', and i'd be surprised to hear a Brit say 'He lives in Oxford Street'. 'In Oxford', sure, but not 'In Oxford Street'.
that might be a dialectal thing, not sure, but i always assumed it was standard for the UK
So, yeah, in some versions of the 1,001 Arabian Nights, you really just have to feel for Ja'far ibn Yahya, the vizier. Harun al-Rashid is always all like "Do this, or I'll take your fingernail" and then "Do this, or I'll take your finger" and then "Do this, or I'll take your hand" and then "do this, or I'll take your head" and then "do this, or I'll kill you and your entire family". And Ja'far is always, always responding with "yes, to hear is to obey" and then he does what he is told.
I mean, in the tale of the three apples, poor Ja'far has to run all around baghdad trying to solve a mystery knowing that his whole family could be killed at any time; and he fails. Just before he is to be killed, the culprit comes and explains the mystery, and Ja'far is okay in the end.
But, I mean, poor guy.
Can you imagine if that was your everyday life?
"Hey, Sam, open the door for me or I'll kill your entire family".
The really sad thing is how Ja'far and his entire family were killed by Harun al-Rashid in real life.
Yeah, the guy gives you years of loyal service and then you kill his entire family.
One of the most distinctive grammatical features of this dialect is the use of the particle "with" for verbs of motion, without any object, as in "Do you want to come with?" for standard "Do you want to come with us?". This is from a Germanic substrate, due to immigrants whose native languages were German, Norwegian, Swedish, or Dutch. All of these languages have a form of this construction, like Swedish kom med, and these were adopted in English.
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that might be a dialectal thing, not sure, but i always assumed it was standard for the UK
i have never used 'old chap' except facetiously
i don't think i'm sufficiently familiar with upper-class American English, if such a thing exists
I mean, in the tale of the three apples, poor Ja'far has to run all around baghdad trying to solve a mystery knowing that his whole family could be killed at any time; and he fails. Just before he is to be killed, the culprit comes and explains the mystery, and Ja'far is okay in the end.
But, I mean, poor guy.
Can you imagine if that was your everyday life?
"Hey, Sam, open the door for me or I'll kill your entire family".
The really sad thing is how Ja'far and his entire family were killed by Harun al-Rashid in real life.
Yeah, the guy gives you years of loyal service and then you kill his entire family.
perfect
why is he climbing a mountain