Swear words for small town people

[Nazīr]

Missoureh!

Is that someplace in Iran?

Nope, it's an alternative pronunciation of Missouri. You can read more about it here.

[linguoboy]

Nope, it's an alternative pronunciation of Missouri. You can read more about it here.

Um, did you perhaps the part where I said I was from Missouri?

There are two common native pronunciations of my home state's name: /mɪ'zʌri/ and /mɪ'zʌrə/. The latter is sometimes informally rendered "Missourah" or (more rarely) "Missoura". I've never seen "Missoureh" before, doubtless because the eh spelling suggests to most English speakers [ɛ], not [ə]. This spelling of final [ɛ] is particularly characteristic of romanised Persian (e.g. Masouleh, Roudboneh, Houshmandzadeh), thus my question.

But if by "alternative" you means "used in an alternative universe", then, yes, you're absolutely right.

[KingHarvest]

I've always seen people spell the alternative pronunciation as "Missoureh," but, then again, Missouri doesn't come up in conversation all that commonly in Maine (mostly just when I found out the other day that it was legal in Missouri until 1980 to shoot Mormons on sight).

[linguoboy]

I've always seen people spell the alternative pronunciation as "Missoureh," but, then again, Missouri doesn't come up in conversation all that commonly in Maine

You can see how people spell their words when they're speaking?

For the record:
"Missoureh": 115 Ghits
"Missoura": 66,900 Ghits
"Missourah": 99,700 Ghits
"Missouri": 122,000,000 Ghits

Conclusion: Move out of Lovecraft country.

[KingHarvest]

?

Do you always make a point to prove to people that they're wrong when they've already admitted as much?

[linguoboy]

Do you always make a point to prove to people that they're wrong when they've already admitted as much?

Generally, I don't need to. Most people I talk to already know how to use Google.

[Nazīr]

Um, did you perhaps the part where I said I was from Missouri?

Sorry, I did miss that

I skipped to the last couple of posts in the thread and just assumed you were serious. Humor and sarcasm often don't translate well over the internet, which is why I usually use an emoticon.

There are two common native pronunciations of my home state's name: /mɪ'zʌri/ and /mɪ'zʌrə/. The latter is sometimes informally rendered "Missourah" or (more rarely) "Missoura". I've never seen "Missoureh" before, doubtless because the eh spelling suggests to most English speakers [ɛ], not [ə]. This spelling of final [ɛ] is particularly characteristic of romanised Persian (e.g. Masouleh, Roudboneh, Houshmandzadeh), thus my question.

Urdu has a lot of Persian loanwords. What ends in romanised Persian with -eh ends simply as -a in romanised Urdu, though these words are spelled the same in the Perso-Arabic script both languages share (e.g. afsaneh/afsana, zamaneh/zamana, setareh/sitara). I'm so used to this that I didn't make the distinction between "Missoureh" and "Missoura".

[KingHarvest]

Do you always make a point to prove to people that they're wrong when they've already admitted as much?

Generally, I don't need to. Most people I talk to already know how to use Google.

You're really deviating from your normal rational self right now.

[Gormur]

Americans who don't live in California are just non-Californians. I don't think people speculate too much about other parts of the country. We have enough stereotypes here to entertain feeble minds for a lifetime

Whenever i move to another part of the country, people always make a point to ask where i'm from, like it's something unique. In California you don't get this much, since half the population comes from another state or country

[Formiko]

Americans who don't live in California are just non-Californians. I don't think people speculate too much about other parts of the country. We have enough stereotypes here to entertain feeble minds for a lifetime

Whenever i move to another part of the country, people always make a point to ask where i'm from, like it's something unique. In California you don't get this much, since half the population comes from another state or country

Here in NY, people don't care.

[Gormur]

Americans who don't live in California are just non-Californians. I don't think people speculate too much about other parts of the country. We have enough stereotypes here to entertain feeble minds for a lifetime

Whenever i move to another part of the country, people always make a point to ask where i'm from, like it's something unique. In California you don't get this much, since half the population comes from another state or country

Here in NY, people don't care.

Exactly. There are exceptions everywhere, but in general, people here could care less where you're from

[loqu]

Exactly. There are exceptions everywhere, but in general, people here could care less where you're from

If they could care less, it means they care at least a little bit, don't they?

[linguoboy]

Exactly. There are exceptions everywhere, but in general, people here could care less where you're from

If they could care less, it means they care at least a little bit, don't they?

Only pedants would say so: http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001182.html

[Gormur]

Everyone cares a little but they can always care even less through conditioning

[loqu]

Linguoboy, I'm not trying to be a pedant, just a curious learner. I always heard it negated, so I just got puzzled with the unnegated sentence.

[Formiko]

Linguoboy, I'm not trying to be a pedant, just a curious learner. I always heard it negated, so I just got puzzled with the unnegated sentence.

I usually say it negated also, but I've heard both, and they mean the same thing
This is one of my favorites though
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuCN6CD8j_s

[Muisje]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbSSQe6vsSw

About 0:55. Although the rest is fun too (even if he's not always right )

[linguoboy]

As long as we're posting our favourite YouTube grammar rants, how about one actually relevant to the topic at hand? (Not to mention a cut above the rest.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om7O0MFkmpw

[Aleco]

To us, these are big cities rather than small towns, but I don't know about y'all's views

I live right between three quarreling cities.
Fredrikstad is a city to the south-east of me which lies where Glomma, the biggest river in Norway, runs into the ocean. This was the city where a lot of timber would end up when chopped down upstream, and thus the city itself is also known as "Plankebyen" (= The board/plank/slat city). Inhabitants are referred to by the two other cities as "plankär/plankær" (boards) or "plankähúur/plankähúer" (board heads).

Moss is a city a little further north, closer to Oslo. It so happens that they have a factory in there somewhere, whose smell is easy to recognize ... As it is further north, we, and the other two cities, don't get that smell too often because the wind usually blows west or north-west. However, then occasionally does get here, it is impossible not to comment on it. Additionally, they have a huge, very visible landfill, which not surprisingly also smell as you pass it on the freeway. Inhabitants are referred to as "kråker" (crows; from the city emblem/landfill) and "søppel(menn)" (waste (collectors)). The city itself is sometimes known as "(Mossä/æ)lukta" (The (Moss) smell).

Sarpsborg, locally known as Särp/Særp or Sarsborr/Rsarsborr/Sjarsborr. It lies to the east of me, and is one of the oldest cities in the country founded by our king Saint Olaf. It burned down about 500 years ago, after which a great deal of people moved south and founded Fredrikstad. Inhabitants known collectively as "Sørpa" (the very watery slush), and a common thing to say to a Sarping is "särp dä/særp dæ!" which is a pun on "skjärp dä/skjærp dæ" (get a grip! / get real! / pull yourself together!)

[johnH]

Their is also the joke… that, every house less than a hundred miles from dublin is suburbs.– which is apparently not that far of. the further suburbs of dublin are way north of tarra. which is actually in the countryside *serious face*