2. so many of those little things above certain letters - like in deja vu or fiance. Is this a French thing?
Indeed it is. And in French the accent can go in either direction depending on the word.
I've noticed that in older texts I've read, the English language used a lot of umlauts for words that had double Os. So coordinate had an umlaut on the second O.
Also, I've been wondering about if elite (referring to the ruling classes) is used most properly as a singular word or if elite can be plural. In older texts they appear to use elite as plural with an accent on the last e. My ex once asked me to spell elite and I had to ask which era and language he was writing it in, because usage varies. He got annoyed and said "as in today, in English, in Texas."
It always astonishes me how native speakers NEED to check pronunciation on stuff (you'll see Maro getting this asked all the time, most of the time getting it wrong or americanized) like if you didnt had rules for it like most other languages do.
The English language doesn't have a universal or key pronunciation guide like Spain has. (They have an institute set up by the King to preserve and maintain the Spanish language.) Oxford is considered an authority, but they're not the only authority in the English language. English is a language that spread so quickly across the globe that no matter where you are, there will be different pronunciations of things. Just within America there are different ways to pronounce things. I was in the Piedmont area of Virginia and I think they say something like "yernses" instead of "you all" (or where I'm from, "y'all"). I had so much trouble understanding them and we were speaking a language that we share in the same country.
And don't try to start an argument with an English major over whether "irregardless" is considered a real English word. I witnessed the fallout from this one. The non English major said it was so colloquial that it was a word and the English major vehemently disagreed.
I've heard people refer to American Indians as brown but historically they've been called red. Not quite sure why, my Alabama-Coushatta relatives are definitely olive colored and my Cherokee grandfather was very dark brown with jet black hair until the day he died. People say I'm brown but I'm more olive colored, part Cherokee, Swedish/German, and Mexican. So people don't know what I am. I've gotten Arab, Indian, Persian, Italian, Greek, Salvadorean, probably some more I haven't thought of.
I don't know why people refer to Latinos as "brown." Even Latinos refer to other Latinos as "brown." I think it has to do with minority status more than anything else. I have Latino relatives that look Swedish minus the tall height and there are black Latinos and Japanese Latinos. It excludes a whole bunch of Latinos to call them "brown."
I have a friend who is of the landed Dallas gentry and he thinks it's stupid that people use the term "white" to refer to people of European descent in the US. Dude is of mostly English descent and he said his ancestors that moved to Texas were horse thieves. He went to Spain for a foreign exchange program and they all commented on how dark he was. They actually called him African. The thing is, anyone who has been in the sun in Texas or Louisiana for a moderate amount of time isn't going to look white to some Europeans...
Indeed it is. And in French the accent can go in either direction depending on the word.
I've noticed that in older texts I've read, the English language used a lot of umlauts for words that had double Os. So coordinate had an umlaut on the second O.
Also, I've been wondering about if elite (referring to the ruling classes) is used most properly as a singular word or if elite can be plural. In older texts they appear to use elite as plural with an accent on the last e. My ex once asked me to spell elite and I had to ask which era and language he was writing it in, because usage varies. He got annoyed and said "as in today, in English, in Texas."
The English language doesn't have a universal or key pronunciation guide like Spain has. (They have an institute set up by the King to preserve and maintain the Spanish language.) Oxford is considered an authority, but they're not the only authority in the English language. English is a language that spread so quickly across the globe that no matter where you are, there will be different pronunciations of things. Just within America there are different ways to pronounce things. I was in the Piedmont area of Virginia and I think they say something like "yernses" instead of "you all" (or where I'm from, "y'all"). I had so much trouble understanding them and we were speaking a language that we share in the same country.
And don't try to start an argument with an English major over whether "irregardless" is considered a real English word. I witnessed the fallout from this one. The non English major said it was so colloquial that it was a word and the English major vehemently disagreed.
I don't know why people refer to Latinos as "brown." Even Latinos refer to other Latinos as "brown." I think it has to do with minority status more than anything else. I have Latino relatives that look Swedish minus the tall height and there are black Latinos and Japanese Latinos. It excludes a whole bunch of Latinos to call them "brown."
I have a friend who is of the landed Dallas gentry and he thinks it's stupid that people use the term "white" to refer to people of European descent in the US. Dude is of mostly English descent and he said his ancestors that moved to Texas were horse thieves. He went to Spain for a foreign exchange program and they all commented on how dark he was. They actually called him African. The thing is, anyone who has been in the sun in Texas or Louisiana for a moderate amount of time isn't going to look white to some Europeans...