No we're not. We're one nation under Canada. Check a map.

Men in their late 20s do not refer to the vagina as "downtown". THIS is part of why everyone keeps suggesting that you need therapy. Your wires are crossed.

Spats, try actually talking about sex using the terminology grown adults use instead of the words pre-teen boys use. This just makes you look incredibly immature, stunted and ridiculous.

The only cocktail I drink (frankly the only alcohol I drink ever) is the Cosmopolitan.

My comments were directed toward what you said, not you personally. I at no time said YOU were insane or that YOU were out in left field.

Midwest, clearly.

I will say this discussion is incredibly fascinating. It's interesting to see what people have learned and how they use that describe things and discuss things with people.

Didn't say it did. If you tell me I can't read well, that is to me the same kind of insult as telling me I can't read at all. The words aren't the same, but that doesn't matter. And I never attacked you, never called you names, never did anything of the like. So thanks anyway.

As I explained in my addendum to my previous post, I was taught that accent and dialect could at times, be used interchangeably, unless you're being super-specific, as I made the example with New York and its various accents. I make the distinction of dialects between boroughs, as a sub-set of the over all New York accent. Any book, article or writing I've read talking about the regional accents of this country, have called them accents, not dialects. I've only heard dialect used to describe smaller parts of the overall accent. And I know that someone from France or another country wouldn't know what specific accent I was speaking. If it was a Southern accent, they'd probably know what that was, same with New York....maybe Boston. My accent isn't specifically obvious. We don't say anything pronounced, as opposed to other regions of the country.

I could scream right about now if I have to go through this one more time. I am aware of that. Really. I am. However, just like there is no such thing as one "English" accent, there is no such thing as one "American" accent. I don't speak with an American accent, I speak with a Midwestern accent. There are many accents in both countries. However, you don't hear anyone say "She has an American accent." They might say "She has a Southern accent" or "She has a New York accent". You are more likely to hear though, "She has an English accent" because unlike in England, MOST of our accents are easy to recognize, even by people not from this country. I e-mailed my linguistics professor after I posted last in this thread, and she said that she doesn't see a problem in saying accent/dialect when speaking about the same thing. So to me, it's 6 of one, half-dozen of the other. Regional accents/dialects are the same concept as I was taught. Both refer to a specific way of speaking a language. I've heard people even here where I live refer to it either as a Southern accent or a Southern dialect. I have even times interchanged the two. It depends on who you're speaking to; some people call it their accent, others call it their dialect. Where I do say dialect specifically is with the New York accents....as each borough has their own dialect that differs from the next. Someone from Brooklyn speaks slightly different than someone from Queens. And if you from either area, you can spot the difference right away.

If he can dish it out, he can take it. That's how it works. You don't come at me unprovoked and expect me to just to sit there and smile. And my country should be proud to have me as a citizen. I don't break the law, I pay my taxes, I vote and sit on juries (all my civic duties). I show pride in this country by not violating the laws and serving it to the best of my ability. That's more than most people can say. And if you don't know what the Island of Misfit Toys is, that's your problem. Watch the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Christmas special this year and maybe you'll figure out what I'm talking about. I'm frankly shocked more people haven't heard of it. I thought everyone knew what it was. And what's wrong with defending the United States? Do you think all Americans behave/think/feel/act one way? There are some real embarrassing sacks of shit from your neck of the woods roaming about the earth, you don't see me assuming that everyone from England acts like that do you? I'm not indicative of what an American is, anymore than someone else from the US on this board is.

Oh I can read, thank you very much. I think it's mildly ironic that you accuse me of "attacks" (on what, God only knows) and then turn around and basically say you think I'm illiterate. I'd laugh if it was worth one.

No one forced a crack pipe in her hand. She's clearly addicted to it, I'm not disputing that. I'm saying that she chose to start using drugs, and it was a road she went down willingly. We all have a choice whether or not we will consume illicit substances if they're ever offered to us. Some say no, others go whole-hog. She chose to go whole-hog, even at the risk of her own life. It's not like someone shoved crack in her face and said "take it or we'll kill you."

I do not speak with an English accent, am I not English. I am American, and I speak with a Midwestern accent. The only thing we have in common is the language. Accents do not traverse countries. People in Canada do not have the same accents that people in Australia do, even if both countries speak the same language. Our accents take the name of the region we're from. You just said that when speaking with your accent, it's just referred to as an "English accent". When speaking with my accent, it is NOT referred to as an "English accent" because that refers to a different country. I have given this topic far too much thought. I should email my linguistics professor and see what she has to say about all this. Maybe Mandy should weigh in, that's her field. My comment was not specifically aimed at YOU asking me. It was aimed at the person who, after being told I do not have an American accent, asked what accent I did have. See the difference there? Reading is fundamental. And what is the "incestual" valley? Some slam on the South or something? I'm not even Southern, so that was lamer than lame, dear. BTW, "incestual" is not a word. For someone lecturing me on English, you clearly don't have a decent command of it. Might want to work on that. And bitch-tits? Why, that's straight out of 3rd grade. How common.

Epic fail? I think so. I am not foreign to Britain. I haven't physically entered the country, but as I said in my previous post, I have many friends from England and I have heard them speak and none of them sound alike. That would tell me that there is in fact, more than one accent in that country. Either that or they're all great voice actors. And an upper Midwest/Ohio Valley accent is VERY distinguishable from other accents in this country. Like night and day. I would not presume to say that accents in England are indistinguishable, don't presume to do the same. I'd tell you you're wrong. If I was then asked what accent I DO have, I would tell them. Easy as pie. So stick that up your ass, fuckstick. To the Island of Misfit Toys you go.

You're not grasping that there is no such thing as an American accent. That concept does not exist. Your accent is based on what part of the country you are from. When I spoke of the term "English accent" that was using terminology I saw people on this board who are from England use to describe the way they speak. They used that term, because the term "British accent" as a whole, does not exist as Britain is not one country, but four. I know that there are more than one accent/dialect in England, I'm not illiterate. I have seen people on this very board talk about what kind of accent they have AND I have English friends from varying parts of the country and none of them talk alike. So again, I comprehend the idea that there are varying dialects in England. The difference between England and the United States is that while it's acceptable to say "English accent" in relation to the way people in England speak, it is NOT acceptable to say "American accent" in relation to the way people here speak. Is this clear now?

Ummmm, exactly what it said. Where in that bit that you quoted was there something you didn't get? There is no such thing as an American accent. That is fact. There is no one broad accent to cover the whole country. That is fact. So again, point out the "confusing" part. Wrong. I speak with an upper Midwest/Ohio Valley accent. I don't speak with an American accent because there is no such thing. Your accent is analogous to what region you're from/live in, not the country as a whole. That's how it works over here. If you're from South Carolina, you don't say you have an American accent. You have a Southern accent. If you're from Brooklyn, you don't say you have an American accent. You have a Brooklyn accent. So epic FAIL on your part, dude.

What does that have to do with the US Presidency? I cannot see any reasonable link between the two. None whatsoever. And I'm being dead serious. If you're going to make comments like this, can't you at least provide some empirical evidence or something? This is all bordering on the insane.

No. "English accent" is a descriptor of how people speak in England. "Boston accent" is a descriptor of how people speak in Boston. We're both speaking the English language, but not with the same accents, as it's two separate countries. Language/accent are not always one in the same.

I'm with wanna be here.....that's not what I was saying, thanks for assuming as much though. Women not having the right to vote was ludicrous. It was the same as black people not being able to vote. It made no sense. There were no decent reasons anyone could come up with as for why neither of those groups could vote. Change was necessary, and it happened. Please don't try to equate that with a woman not being elected President yet. There is no law anywhere, there is no forced pressure to deny women the right to be president, like there was to deny women and blacks the right to vote. That's actually an insult to those people. The fact we haven't had a woman president cannot be owed to legal pressure, bigotry/prejudice or any other kind of hateful behavior. There has been no active push to deny women the right to be President. There have been no groups formed to prevent women from running for President. That analogy was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out of left field.

I don't see how anything I said was confusing. I'm not talking about states. I'm talking about regions of the country. Which is not the same as states. States make up the regions, but the two words are not synonymous. The South has a distinct accent. The Northeast has two distinct accents; New York and Boston. And in New York, there are accents depending on if you're from Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Staten Island and Manhattan. This is the most confusing statement of all --> Well duh, no one is saying otherwise. I'm saying there's no such thing as an "American" accent. Because there isn't. No one here speaks "American". We speak English, with varying accents and dialects. The same as you speak English, with varying accents and dialects, depending on where you are. I brought up the example of someone saying I speak with an American accent. They would be wrong, as that concept doesn't exist. If someone were to ask me what accent I have, it would upper Midwest/Ohio Valley. The same as people where I live have Southern accents. And in various parts of the South, the accents are different. People in Virginia don't have the same accent as people in Florida. And they don't have the same accent as people in Louisiana. And so forth and so on. This is rather straightforward.

I don't expect some Joe Blow in Topeka to know the difference between a Liverpool accent and a London accent the same as I don't expect Joe Blow in London to know the difference between the way people speak in Chicago and the way they speak in Minnesota. Some accents are obvious; New York, Boston, Southern......the rest, ain't so obvious unless you're from here. If I say British accent, that means English. If I mean Welsh accent or Irish accent or Scots accent, I say that particular descriptor. I would think for most other people in the world, the same applies. If someone says I have an American accent, and they're obviously not from the US, I don't get hypersensitive and say "How dare you, I have a upper Midwestern/Ohio Valley accent!". They'd look at me like I wasn't speaking English. In the United States, each part of the country has a different way of speaking based on the people that predominately made up the settlers to that region. And it's passed on through the generations until you get to today. The Midwest was mostly Scandinavian. The Northeast, mostly English (from England) and Irish. The West, mostly Spanish, same goes for the Southwest. The South, mostly Black African and Creole and Native American. Some parts of West Virginia were founded by the Scots-Irish and they have their own way of talking. Amish country is Pennsylvania Dutch which is ITS own way of talking. The language is American English, the accent is something altogether different. Edit: BTW, I'm getting really annoyed at every time people want to complain about something, it's always "Americans this" and "Americans that". It's starting to get old. Really, really old.

If you love the ceremonial aspect of an Easter mass, then you must love Midnight Mass on Christmas. One of the few times I even attend church anymore is on Christmas and even as a kid, that was always my favorite one. There's something magesterial about it.

Oh, don't suggest the word "marriage". He absolutely does not want to get married. If he can't handle a live-in girlfriend wanting to spend an evening with him, how the hell do you think he's going to handle a wife and children? Please. I'd fear for the kids.

Worse than terrible.