6 Nations Champions!

[decro435]

For all the rugby fans out there!

IRELAND are 6 Nations GRANDSLAM CHAMPIONS!!

WOOOO!

 

[dimitar_berbagod]

Fair play to the Irish.

I'm not really much of an egg-chasing fan but they deserved it!

 

[decro435]

Sure did after 61 years!

And I won €400 euro on it! , What a day!

 

[Bryan]

IRELAND are 6 Nations GRANDSLAM CHAMPIONS!!

What a very quaint way to say it! Sounds very very odd to American ears...

 

[ali777]

IRELAND are 6 Nations GRANDSLAM CHAMPIONS!!

What a very quaint way to say it! Sounds very very odd to American ears...

At least they don't call it the World Series :whistle:

 

[Bryan]

At least they don't call it the World Series :whistle:

I hope you know what I'm talking about. "Ireland ARE..." Here we would say "Ireland IS..."

 

[decro435]

Really?

Never knew Americans did that. Another thing that annoys me is when people (not just Americans) say Persons instead of People.

12 persons/12 people. I know it's correct in both terms , but it just doesn't sound right.

 

[Bryan]

Really?

Never knew Americans did that.

People in the UK seem to be accustomed to thinking of groups of people (like countries, governments, corporations, and sports teams) as being PLURAL entities, whereas we usually think of them as SINGULAR entities. It would sound peculiar to us to hear somebody say the following things:

Italy have won the World Cup.
France produce good wines.
Japan make good cars.
Ireland are the rugby champs.
Merck make good hairloss drugs.

Another thing that annoys me is when people (not just Americans) say Persons instead of People.

12 persons/12 people. I know it's correct in both terms , but it just doesn't sound right.

I agree with that. That bothers me, too!

 

[Slartibartfast]

The French do produce good wine, I'm with you on that one, Italy has won the World Cup (more than once), Ireland are (not is) Six Nations Grand Slam Champions (well done to them by the way), and, ah, I've read the other two so many times I can't work out what sounds right.

 

[decro435]

"People in the UK seem to be accustomed to thinking of groups of people (like countries, governments, corporations, and sports teams) as being PLURAL entities, whereas we usually think of them as SINGULAR entities. It would sound peculiar to us to hear somebody say the following things:

Italy have won the World Cup.
France produce good wines.
Japan make good cars.
Ireland are the rugby champs.
Merck make good hairloss drugs."

Ireland isn't in the UK just to make that clear.

That's crazy , all those sentences seem completely normal and correct to me.

 

[The Gardener]

What about the term "heats up" versus "hots up"?

When a game is getting intense, is the game "hotting up?"

 

[Bryan]

Ireland isn't in the UK just to make that clear.

Right. I also overlooked the fact that aussieavodart also speaks that way.

 

[Bryan]

...Italy has won the World Cup (more than once), Ireland are (not is) Six Nations Grand Slam Champions...

Why are you inconsistent in those usages? The part about Italy is written the same way we Americans would say it, but not the part about Ireland!

 

[Slartibartfast]

Because I wouldn't pair 'is' with 'champions'.

 

[Bryan]

Because I wouldn't pair 'is' with 'champions'.

But I didn't EXPECT you to do that. Obviously, I assumed that you would have changed it to my way: "Ireland is Six Nations Grand Slam Champion..."

 

[Slartibartfast]

I'd more likely go with: "Ireland is the Six Nations Grand Slam Champion..." I just fancied being ultra picky when you didn't specify dropping the 's', saying only that: "Here we would say 'Ireland IS...'"

 

[Bryan]

So nit-picking aside, do I assume correctly, Slarti, that judging by your comments earlier in this thread, your OWN speech patterns are rather more akin to the way an American would speak? The original poster seemed surprised to hear that we Americans would never EVER say "Italy have won the World Cup." What would you say is the relative proportion of Brits who _do_ say it that way, versus the other way?

 

[iwantperfection]

I dont know why an american would question how the ENGLISH make use of the ENGLISH language.. :whistle:

 

[Bryan]

I do it quite a lot!

 

[iwantperfection]

lol. Im not surprised quite frankly how its a hard language to learn. As shown here its a language that can be used quite loosely and differs between dialects. anyways..way off topic. Well done Ireland.