krog Diglot Senior Member Austria Joined 6049 days ago 146 posts - 152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Latin
| Message 17 of 22 18 June 2009 at 2:14pm | IP Logged |
I put the 'cheers' question to some of my friends when I was in England, but the
results weren't really that helpful. I guess it's just the sort of thing you don't pay
much attention to.
(All three friends live in Norfolk):
Friend W: uses 'cheers' rarely, to say thanks - really only uses it to fit in eg in
the pub or gym. Not quite comfortable with it.
Friend R: only one who could really remember when they started using it - in High
School - maybe around '97 or '98. He is definitely the one out of all of us who would
have the best chance of making it as a gangsta rapper, so maybe that's saying
something.
Friend A: uses 'cheers' and 'ta' in emails. Quite hard to get anything out of him. I
guess nobody likes being asked a lot of random questions - I certainly don't.
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legasp Newbie Ireland Joined 5673 days ago 23 posts - 21 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Greek, Ancient Greek
| Message 18 of 22 18 June 2009 at 2:37pm | IP Logged |
I've heard Cheers used in Dublin since I was a kid so it goes back at least to the 80's here. I'm pretty sure its an Irish drinking nod extended to daily life.
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krog Diglot Senior Member Austria Joined 6049 days ago 146 posts - 152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Latin
| Message 19 of 22 01 August 2009 at 3:22pm | IP Logged |
Latest sighting of 'cheers' - Rodney to Del Boy, on the occasion of Del Boy taking
Rodney's girlfriend out for him, Only Fools and Horses, 'A Slow Bus to Chingford', 6
October 1981.
Writer John Sullivan
grew in in South London.
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cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5838 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian
| Message 20 of 22 01 August 2009 at 5:29pm | IP Logged |
One hilarious thing is that my Indian colleagues in Bangalore have started using "cheers" and a few other similar colloquial expressions.
But they do it in a slightly "OFF" way which makes it sound a bit comical !
They mix extremely formal language (perhaps used by colonial civil servants in Victorian days...) with some random East London and other slang and interesting grammar...
One guy I exchange emails with quite a bit, will typically end an email like this:
(Cheers and the exclamation marks are actually part of his auto-signature)
--------------------------------------------
Blah, blah, blah.... Please note that I would kindly appreciate if you could organise this to be resolved soonest.
CHEERS!!!!!!
Anand Ramakrishnadldfdldfldfdf Murthysharma
Lead Developer Senior B.Sc blah, blah
Street, City
India
--------------------------------------------
He now goes under the nickname "Mr Cheers" or "Cheery" in the UK office. He's a very cheerful guy, luckily.
I hate to laugh at other speakers of English as a foreign language but sometimes I feel I live in the English "Wonderland" with all the crazy English I hear daily, from other Euroepans as well as Indians and others.
Edited by cordelia0507 on 01 August 2009 at 5:36pm
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mrhenrik Triglot Moderator Norway Joined 6079 days ago 482 posts - 658 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, French Personal Language Map
| Message 21 of 22 01 August 2009 at 5:40pm | IP Logged |
Haha cordelia, that's brilliant. ^^
Personally I love the word 'cheers'. I don't know why. Perhaps its because it's so.. cheerful. ;p
I always thought it had derived from some sort of 'cheers for that', beginning with people saying 'cheers for that' when people bought them a drink in a pub or something and evolving further to be used for instance when something good happens - accepted at uni - cheers for that. Eventually shortened to just 'cheers', and getting a quite broader usage with time. That's me doing wild guesswork though.
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cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5838 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian
| Message 22 of 22 01 August 2009 at 5:55pm | IP Logged |
Mr Henrik, really, when I leave this job I ought to bring the emails with me.
I have some absolutely CRACKING emails from India (and some from Italy, France and Germany, most notably)
They could be compiled into a book with a plot about a pan-European software development project, run from London and executed in India. The plot itself is boring but the communication between some of the parties involved is CLASS! The book would be a best seller (although I'd probably be sued for being insufficiently PC)
A recent "flame war" which I was copied on (between an Italian, a German and a couple of people in India) was so funny that I was reluctant to break it up because it made me burst out laughing aloud every 30 minutes or so, as the next rant in broken English landed in my Inbox.
(The topic was how to programmatically deal with translated words that are too long for a visual control that they are on, assuming there is insufficient space to extend the button or menu, and no other translation is "acceptable"......)
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