Why do some English people get upset when people use the words "British" and "English" interchangeably?
British is a more general term; it's like referring to a Southerner and an American (of the United States) interchangeably. England is part of Great Britain (England+Scotland+Wales), so if you're calling something or someone "English" then you mean from England; "British" means from Britain. In other words, if you say someone has a British accent, that person could have an English accent (the stereotypical "British" accent), a Welsh accent, or a Scottish accent. Someone taking offense is probably offended because that person is Welsh or Scottish, and doesn't want to be called English; these countries (particularly Scotland) have, historically, been ill-treated by the English and people from those countries often wish to preserve their heritages. Someone from the United States might also take offense if another person, noting the American accent, later referred to this person as a New Yorker or a Georgian, when in fact that person was from Minnesota. It's just a matter of getting one's terminology in order. The offense also can stem from a frustration about foreigners' ignorance about the UK. Just remember: United Kingdom=Great Britain+Northern Ireland; Great Britain=England+Wales+Scotland.
I have a English lop rabbit why cant you use rubbing alcohol to clean them?
yes, you CAN use rubbing alcohol in pet's ears (it is a great drying agent and also cuts through wax quite well), but rabbit skin is quite delicate and thin. This may be the reason your source does not recommend it for bunny ears. There are many good cleansing products on the market for ears which are alcohol-free. Many have an oily base to them and work well (just wipe away excess after you use it). If your bunny has mites, there is a great product called Acarexx which should eliminate them with one dose, but you must get it at the vet's. If not, usually what is safe for cats is also safe for bunnies. amanda
Hello. I'm Japanese and I have a question about English. Is it correct to say "I'm 11th grade."? Do you use it in a daily conversation?
It is correct to say "I'm in the 11th grade" and also acceptable to say "I'm in 11th grade" or you could simply say that you are a junior. It can be used in daily conversation but for most people it isn't a daily topic. There generally isn't a reason to randomly insert it into a conversation. Instead, you would say it when someone asks or when discussing school with someone who doesn't know you're in the 11th grade.
Do languages other than English regularly use contractions?
Uhm... Norwegian does. But there it is not usually considered grammatically correct to contract. The contractions are also of different words. Take for example the English "I'm gonna tell him", contraction on "I'm" and a sort of contraction of "going to". An informal Norwegian would however say (but usually not write): "Jeg ska' fortell'n" (Jeg skal fortelle ham). Here a letter disappeared from "skal", and "fortelle" and "ham" were contracted. Directly translated to English it would sound like this: "I wi' tell'm". Although it looks rather foreign to us, you can still understand it if you read it out aloud. So contractions are used (although in a different way), but is not grammatically allowed, unlike "it's" is in English.
Can i use english mustard instead if the recipe says dijon?
Why not? That's what makes it your own!
Why do nearly ALL kpop songs have English in them?
Because english has been assimilated into many foreign languages and cultures. Korean itself has many "loan words" that are english words, spelled in korean, but considered korean words. Koreans are taught english as a mandatory class in school, as in many other countries. In some ways, english is now a part of the Korean language. English is sort of like this too, and is actually a bastardization of many languages, loosly Germanic in origin. English has a lot of loan words too. We just don't actually use or assimilate more than a few words. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_English_loanwords_by_country_or_language_of_origin I'm sure if we were all taught korean in school as a mandatory class, it would find it's way into our culture and music. But as it is now, I could ask you, why do english songs have so much german and french in them? :p EDIT: Yea, not nearly as much, because we don't understand nearly as much as they understand english. But you've never heard the word zeppelin, wanderlust, rottweiler...or you never heard the song 99 red balloons? Even if not, english is germanic so technically every english word is loosely german in origin. That's all i meant. English isnt related to korean, but kpop songs have so much because english because its a huge part of korean language and culture now. It's "hip". Also, the worlds most famous artists are english speakers, so some of it has to do with them trying to imitate them. When learning pop music, most popular songs will be in english. Easy to assimilate for them since they already know a little english, then imitate, etc.
Native English speakers, could you please help me with these issues:?
1. In this case, "play" would indeed mean games of a repetitive nature. Hide-and-seek isn't repetitive, so isn't a good example of a specific game that would help with "muscle memory." Jump rope or pat-a-cake might me more appropriate examples. 2. Either is correct, but "hide-and-seek" is so well known that "game" doesn't need to be mentioned at all. If you choose to include it, "the game hide-and-seek" is the more common usage. 3. There is a slight difference between "in hiding" and "in secret". "In hiding" indicates that something, usually a person, is being kept at a secret location. The political dissidents are "in hiding" because they heard the police are looking for them. By comparison, "in secret" and "on the sly" would more commonly indicate something more temporary, and often refers to an action rather than an object. The board members held the meeting "in secret." He didn't want his wife to know, so he went to the pub "on the sly."
We have two Old English Mastiffs, how do I properly clean the inside of the males ears?
I'm not sure why but the females ears seem to barely get dirty at all, on the flip side the male's could have a whole garden grow inside!...lol. All kidding aside...someone suggested I use baby or olive oil on cotton puffs, saturate them insert them into the ear and massage, keep changing the puffs until the come out clean, using less oil with each puff till its just a dry puff. Then I read on a mastiff site to avoid oil and to use diluted vinegar?? It seems to me that the oil actually is attracting the dirt! Can someone please advise, they are our babys and it bugs him, he's constantly shaking his head, even though I clean on a regular basis. Thanks everbody :)