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Lingthusiasm Episode 20: Speaking Canadian and Australian English in a British-American binary

Australian and Canadian English don’t sound much alike, but they have one big similarity: they’re both national varieties that tend to get overshadowed by their more famous siblings. 

In this episode of Lingthusiasm, your hosts Lauren Gawne and Gretchen McCulloch use Lynne Murphy’s new book The Prodigal Tongue as a guide to the sometimes prickly relationship between the globally dominant British and American varieties of English, give a mini history of English in our own countries, and discuss our national quests to find space between and around US and UK nationlects. 

On the way, we ask the big, country-dividing questions like, is soup more likely to be brothy or puréed? Does “please” make a request ruder or more polite? What’s a prototypical bacon? Where on your face is a frown?

This month’s bonus episode on Patreon is about what you should know if you’re considering linguistics grad school: whether to apply, tips on applying and choosing a school, and some of the differences between the North American and UK/Australian systems.

We also announced that our Patron goal bonus art will by done by Lucy, who is not only a great artist but also an English language teacher with a Masters in Applied Linguistics. We’ll be sharing updates on the Patreon.

Here are the links mentioned in this episode:

Lynne’s book The Prodigal Tongue (site includes fun quizzes!)

Lynne’s blog Separated by a Common Language

Gretchen’s live-tweeting while reading the book

Chop, Lauren’s favourite Singaporean word

Lingthusiasm Episode 17: Vowel Gymnastics (includes NZ vowel shift)

Australian English and Australian accents

Languages of Canada

Australian variation maps (Linguistics Road Show)

Frown (Separated by a Common Language)

Frown (Superlinguo)

NYT USA interactive dialect quiz

Original US dialect quiz from Bert Vaux

New dialect quiz from Bert Vaux (has been expanded from just US English speakers to all English native speakers whose parents were also native speakers)

Lynne on the Allusionist talking about please

You can listen to this episode via Lingthusiasm.com, Soundcloud, RSS, iTunes, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also download an mp3 via the Soundcloud page for offline listening, and stay tuned for a transcript of this episode on the Lingthusiasm website. To received an email whenever a new episode drops, sign up for the Lingthusiasm mailing list.

You can help keep Lingthusiasm advertising-free by supporting our Patreon. Being a patron gives you access to bonus content and lets you help decide on Lingthusiasm topics.

Lingthusiasm is on Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, and Twitter. Email us at contact [at] lingthusiasm [dot] com

Gretchen is on Twitter as @GretchenAMcC and blogs at All Things Linguistic. Lauren is on Twitter as @superlinguo and blogs at Superlinguo.

Lingthusiasm is created by Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne. Our audio producer is Claire Gawne, our editorial producer is Emily Gref, our production assistant is Celine Yoon, and our music is ‘Ancient City’ by The Triangles.

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Psychedelic mermaid illustration on the cover of a Aquarena Springs brochure, 1968

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Today is World Goth Day!

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Today is International Museum Day! What is your favourite museum?

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Delicious!

Getting your Friday off to a great “start.” :)

When collecting starters, [sourdough librarian Karl]  De Smedt prioritizes renown, unusual origins, and often, their estimated age.

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Alkek has a facsimile copy of the second to last book on the page.  You can find all four parts of The secrets of the reverend Maister Alexis of Piedmont on the 6th floor.

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Check out this interesting podcast on American Innovations.  Innovation is the theme for this upcoming year’s Common Experience.

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Peronism, Children’s Literature and Political Propaganda

Privilegiados : libro de lectura inicial

Las hadas buenas : libro de lectura para primer grado inferior

Niños felices : libro de lectura para primer grado superior

El hada buena : libro de lectura para segundo grado

Buenos Aires: 1953-1955

Following the emblematic motto “the only privileged people are the children,” constantly repeated by Perón and Evita, a number of methods were developed to indoctrinate children in the ideology of the Peronist movement.  One of these methods was the publication of school textbooks that offered children a simplified and didactic version of the government’s program and tenets of “national doctrine.”

From a graphic point of view, these manuals are excellent examples of what could be termed “Peronist aesthetic,” in which the omnipresent images of Evita and Perón were displayed throughout the texts.

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Take a tour of the galaxy with this fun site.

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Astronaut Journal Entry - Pre-Launch

Currently, six humans are living and working on the International Space Station, which orbits 250 miles above our planet at 17,500mph. Below you will find a real journal entry written by NASA astronaut Scott Tingle.

To read more entires from this series, visit our Space Blogs on Tumblr.

Our crew just finished the final training event before the launch. Tomorrow, at 13:20 local time (Baikonur), we will strap the Soyuz MS-07 spacecraft to our backs and fly it to low Earth orbit. We will spend 2.5 days in low Earth orbit before docking to the MRM-1 docking port on the International Space Station (ISS). There we will begin approximately 168 days of maintenance, service and science aboard one of the greatest engineering marvels that humans have ever created.

Today was bittersweet. Ending a 2-year process of intense training was welcomed by all of us. We are very tired. Seeing our families for the last time was difficult. I am pretty lucky, though. My wife, Raynette, and the kids have grown up around military service and are conditioned to endure the time spent apart during extended calls-to-duty. We are also very much anticipating the good times we will have upon my return in June. Sean and Amy showed me a few videos of them mucking it up at Red Square before flying out to Baikonur. Eric was impressed with the Russian guards marching in to relieve the watch at Red Square. Raynette was taking it all in stride and did not seem surprised by any of it. I think I might have a family of mutants who are comfortable anywhere. Nice! And, by the way, I am VERY proud of all of them!

Tomorrow’s schedule includes a wake-up at 04:00, followed by an immediate medical exam and light breakfast. Upon returning to our quarters, we will undergo a few simple medical procedures that should help make the 2.5-day journey to ISS a little more comfortable. I’ve begun prepping with motion sickness medication that should limit the nausea associated with the first phases of spaceflight. I will continue this effort through docking. This being my first flight, I’m not sure how my body will respond and am taking all precautions to maintain a good working capability. The commander will need my help operating the vehicle, and I need to not be puking into a bag during the busy times. We suit up at 09:30 and then report to the State Commission as “Готовы к Полёту”, or “Ready for Flight”. We’ll enter the bus, wave goodbye to our friends and family, and then head out to the launch pad. Approximately 2 kilometers from the launch pad, the bus will stop. 

The crew will get out, pee on the bus’s tire, and then complete the last part of the drive to the launch pad. This is a traditional event first done by Yuri Gagarin during his historic first flight and repeated in his honor to this day. We will then strap in and prepare the systems for launch. Next is a waiting game of approximately 2 hours. Ouch. The crew provided five songs each to help pass the time. My playlist included “Born to Run” (Springsteen), “Sweet Child O’ Mine” (Guns and Roses), “Cliffs of Dover” (Eric Johnson), “More than a Feeling” (Boston), and “Touch the Sky” (Rainbow Bridge, Russian). Launch will happen precisely at 13:20.

I think this sets the stage. It’s 21:30, only 6.5 hours until duty calls. Time to get some sleep. If I could only lower my level of excitement!

Find more ‘Captain’s Log’ entries HERE.

Follow NASA astronaut Scott Tingle on Instagram and Twitter.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.  

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A Very Short Fact: On this day in 1974, Public impeachment hearings against Richard Nixon were opened. Nixon, the 37th US President, became the first and only President to resign from office.

“Richard Nixon, a Republican, proved equally ineffectual amid ever-sobering challenges. The sixties protest movements continued generating a sense of social unrest and failure after such high hopes. The economy, which purred nicely in the 1960s, imploded; building a Great Society while fighting a war broke the bank. Under Nixon, America also endured escalating oil prices, producing a great inflation linked with rising unemployment called stagflation. And amid all these crises, Richard Nixon’s Watergate crimes destroyed his presidency, shattering Americans’ confidence in their leaders, their institutions, and themselves.

Richard Nixon’s tenure also disappointed conservatives. But the effect was paradoxical. Nixon’s acceptance of many Great Society initiatives the Democratic Congress advanced, from environmentalism to affirmative action, and his “détente,” accommodation, with the Soviet Union and Communist China, demoralized conservatives. Ultimately, however, Nixon’s “betrayal” emboldened conservatives to confront the Republican establishment. The Republican Party would soon stop welcoming everyone into its “big tent” and become more right wing.”

[P. 36-The Reagan Revolution: A Very Short Introduction by Gil Troy]

Like the Very Short Introductions on Facebook for more from the series.

Image credit: Richard M. Nixon, ca. 1935 - 1982 by U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.