Innit, lnnit?

[Charles Bishop]

In a just now written post, I used "innit" as a replacement for "don't
we?". I like the phrase and have been hearing it used a lot since I've
been watching some English TV programs. When I first started using it,
usually making up sentences in my head, I used it for "isn't it?" which
I assume is what innit came from.

However the use I've heard is broader, used for "doesn't it" and (well
drat, now that I have to think of them, I can't think of the other
meanings I've heard where it's a substitute).

So, could it be used for "don't we?". Is it a general usage word to tack
on the end of questions, or does it have specific usages?

--
charles

[Katy Jennison]

Ain't that so.

--
Katy Jennison

[Don Phillipson]

"Charles Bishop" <ctbi...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:ctbishop-D6B28E...@news.individual.net...

> In a just now written post, I used "innit" as a replacement for "don't
> we?". I like the phrase and have been hearing it used a lot since I've
> been watching some English TV programs.

Beware: unless it is obviously comic, many listeners think "innit" an
indicator of "estuary English" (eastern London) and membership in
what used to be called Lumpenproletariat.
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

[James Silverton]

On 9/19/2014 5:21 PM, Don Phillipson wrote:
> "Charles Bishop" <ctbi...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
> news:ctbishop-D6B28E...@news.individual.net...
>
>> In a just now written post, I used "innit" as a replacement for "don't
>> we?". I like the phrase and have been hearing it used a lot since I've
>> been watching some English TV programs.
>
> Beware: unless it is obviously comic, many listeners think "innit" an
> indicator of "estuary English" (eastern London) and membership in
> what used to be called Lumpenproletariat.
>

Or the recently discussed "great unwashed".

--
Jim Silverton (Potomac, MD)

Extraneous "not." in Reply To.

[FromTheRafters]

Charles Bishop formulated on Friday :

I noticed it, but I have only recently been made aware of it from
overseas Usenet posters and from UK TV shows airing on US public TV.
(PBS). I just figured it was a very shortened form of "That's how it is
isn't it?"

[Charles Bishop]

In article <lvi78i$d78$1...@news.albasani.net>,

"Don Phillipson" <e9...@SPAMBLOCK.ncf.ca> wrote:

> "Charles Bishop" <ctbi...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
> news:ctbishop-D6B28E...@news.individual.net...
>
> > In a just now written post, I used "innit" as a replacement for "don't
> > we?". I like the phrase and have been hearing it used a lot since I've
> > been watching some English TV programs.
>
> Beware: unless it is obviously comic, many listeners think "innit" an
> indicator of "estuary English" (eastern London) and membership in
> what used to be called Lumpenproletariat.

You are Biyna and I claim my 5 bob.

Who are those that think it's lower class? I wouldn't call the people
I've heard say it very well off but some (Lee Mack) call others (David
Mitchell) posh. Though at this point, I don't remember if either Lee or
David has said "innit". However, others on that and similar shows do say
it and are not lumpenproletariat, as far as I can see.

--
c

[Charles Bishop]

In article <lvi5ro$akr$1...@news.albasani.net>,

But that's just a reworded isn't it, yes? I do thank you for the other
use, but I had thought that I had heard it used not a a quick saying of
a regular phrase, but also for phrases with different meanings, which a
took from the context.

I'll listen better and report back.

--
charlee

[Steve Hayes]

On Fri, 19 Sep 2014 20:17:42 -0400, FromTheRafters <err...@nomail.afraid.org>
wrote:

It was discussed here a few years ago. I had always taken it to be a
contraction of "isn't it" but apparently in EstuaryE it is now also a
contraction for "doesn't it".


--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

[Robert Bannister]

Now I'm trying to remember whether south-east Asians say "isn't it?" or
"is it?" as an all-purpose sentence tag. "You like Asian food, isn't it?".
--
Robert Bannister - 1940-71 SE England
1972-now W Australia

[Katy Jennison]

Yabbut, "ain't that so" is also the equivalent of "doesn't it", "weren't
you", "shouldn't we", and any number of other questions which are simply
seeking corroboration or reinforcement of a preceding statement, all of
which can be expressed as "Is that not the case?"

--
Katy Jennison

[James Hogg]

James Silverton wrote:
> On 9/19/2014 5:21 PM, Don Phillipson wrote:
>> "Charles Bishop" <ctbi...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
>> news:ctbishop-D6B28E...@news.individual.net...
>>
>>> In a just now written post, I used "innit" as a replacement for "don't
>>> we?". I like the phrase and have been hearing it used a lot since I've
>>> been watching some English TV programs.
>>
>> Beware: unless it is obviously comic, many listeners think "innit" an
>> indicator of "estuary English" (eastern London) and membership in
>> what used to be called Lumpenproletariat.
>>
> Or the recently discussed "great unwashed".

Don't forget hoi recently discussed polloi.

--
James

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

South Africans do that as well. At least the particular South Africans
I know (who are Afrikaans speakers when among other Afrikaans speakers)
do.


--
athel

[Pablo]

Charles Bishop wrote:

> In a just now written post, I used "innit" as a replacement for "don't
> we?". I like the phrase and have been hearing it used a lot since I've
> been watching some English TV programs. When I first started using it,
> usually making up sentences in my head, I used it for "isn't it?" which
> I assume is what innit came from.
>

It's from Asian English. It doesn't mean anything. I suppose the nearest
equivalent in casual SE English would be "naah a meen?" (do you know what I
mean?).

When civilized non-Asian people use it it's in jest.

--

Pablo

http://www.ipernity.com/home/313627
http://paulc.es/

[the Omrud]

On 19/09/2014 22:01, Charles Bishop wrote:

I don't know Asian languages, but all of these confirmation questions
(isn't it, don't you, won't they, shouldn't you, etc, etc) translate to
a single phrase in French: "n'est-ce pas", which can be rendered as "Is
this not the case?". I understand that the same is true in Welsh, which
is why native Welsh speakers in my childhood often used "isn't it" where
a native English speaker would have used one of the other forms.

- I'm going to see my mother, isn't it.

--
David

[Mike Barnes]

Steve Hayes wrote:
> On Fri, 19 Sep 2014 20:17:42 -0400, FromTheRafters <err...@nomail.afraid.org>
> wrote:
>
>> Charles Bishop formulated on Friday :
>>> In a just now written post, I used "innit" as a replacement for "don't
>>> we?". I like the phrase and have been hearing it used a lot since I've
>>> been watching some English TV programs. When I first started using it,
>>> usually making up sentences in my head, I used it for "isn't it?" which
>>> I assume is what innit came from.
>>>
>>> However the use I've heard is broader, used for "doesn't it" and (well
>>> drat, now that I have to think of them, I can't think of the other
>>> meanings I've heard where it's a substitute).
>>>
>>> So, could it be used for "don't we?". Is it a general usage word to tack
>>> on the end of questions, or does it have specific usages?
>>
>> I noticed it, but I have only recently been made aware of it from
>> overseas Usenet posters and from UK TV shows airing on US public TV.
>> (PBS). I just figured it was a very shortened form of "That's how it is
>> isn't it?"
>
> It was discussed here a few years ago. I had always taken it to be a
> contraction of "isn't it" but apparently in EstuaryE it is now also a
> contraction for "doesn't it".

I imagine less precision than that: it's something that's added to a
sentence for stylistic reasons with no clear meaning. LOL

--
Mike Barnes
Cheshire, England

[Guy Barry]

"Pablo" wrote in message news:c84vof...@mid.individual.net...

>
>Charles Bishop wrote:
>
>> In a just now written post, I used "innit" as a replacement for "don't
>> we?". I like the phrase and have been hearing it used a lot since I've
>> been watching some English TV programs. When I first started using it,
>> usually making up sentences in my head, I used it for "isn't it?" which
>> I assume is what innit came from.

"Innit" meaning "isn't it" is pretty common in colloquial speech in the
London area, but it's not an expression I'd use myself unless I were
deliberately trying to imitate that type of speech. "Innit" meaning
"doesn't it" or as a more general tag question is a more recent development.

>It's from Asian English. It doesn't mean anything. I suppose the nearest
>equivalent in casual SE English would be "naah a meen?" (do you know what I
>mean?).

Thanks for confirming what I thought. I think I first heard it on the
comedy programme "Goodness Gracious Me", which is written and performed by
British Asians. Could it be a direct translation from one of the Indian
languages? I'm reminded of the way that Welsh speakers of English often use
"isn't it?" as an all-purpose tag question.

--
Guy Barry

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Saturday, September 20, 2014 6:11:29 AM UTC-4, Guy Barry wrote:

> Thanks for confirming what I thought. I think I first heard it on the
> comedy programme "Goodness Gracious Me", which is written and performed by
> British Asians. Could it be a direct translation from one of the Indian
> languages? I'm reminded of the way that Welsh speakers of English often use
> "isn't it?" as an all-purpose tag question.

Once again youse guys were misling me with "Asian" -- I wondered whether
it might relate somehow to Singapore-Chinese "la," which serves a
similar function. I must have learned "innit" from British TV, not
involving South Asians, as a general tag question derived from "isn't
it" but applicable to all tenses and persons.

[Peter Duncanson [BrE]]

The "Canadian 'Eh'" is similar to the BrE "innit", innit?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eh#Canada

--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)

[Jerry Friedman]

I know, right?

Cf. standard Spanish "�verdad?" and NM Spanish and Spanglish "�que no?".

--
Jerry Friedman

[Charles Bishop]

In article <2YbTv.458230$ZX5....@fx32.am4>,

That's the sort of construction I think I've been hearing. I've started
keeping a list and was going to give examples I've found in a week or
so, but here's the first one I found (It's from another newsgroups, but
one where sentences aren't necessarily logical):


> Cucumbers are extinct on Planet 4, innit ?

While somewhat surreal, it has one of the uses I was thinking of.

--
charles

[Charles Bishop]

In article <lvj7lc$j64$1...@dont-email.me>,

Not /the/ polloi! Well, I'm dashed!

--
charles

[the Omrud]

On 20/09/2014 14:26, Peter Duncanson [BrE] wrote:

> The "Canadian 'Eh'" is similar to the BrE "innit", innit?
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eh#Canada

"Eh?" was the sole built-in error message on a PDP11 we had at university.

--
David

[Steve Hayes]

And on a database program called Superfile that I once had. It ran under CP/M.

[Pablo]

I think I've already said this recently, but on the peninsular they say
"¿sabe?". I almost never hear "¿verdad?" unless they really mean to say
"Really?".

[Tom P]

On 20.09.2014 11:29, Pablo wrote:
> Charles Bishop wrote:
>
>> In a just now written post, I used "innit" as a replacement for "don't
>> we?". I like the phrase and have been hearing it used a lot since I've
>> been watching some English TV programs. When I first started using it,
>> usually making up sentences in my head, I used it for "isn't it?" which
>> I assume is what innit came from.
>>
>
> It's from Asian English. It doesn't mean anything.

Being born and bred in London I have to disagree. It's English, innit.

[R H Draney]

Mike Barnes filted:

>
>Steve Hayes wrote:
>>On Fri, 19 Sep 2014 20:17:42 -0400, FromTheRafters <err...@nomail.afraid.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Charles Bishop formulated on Friday :
>>>> In a just now written post, I used "innit" as a replacement for "don't
>>>> we?". I like the phrase and have been hearing it used a lot since I've
>>>> been watching some English TV programs. When I first started using it,
>>>> usually making up sentences in my head, I used it for "isn't it?" which
>>>> I assume is what innit came from.
>>>

>>> I noticed it, but I have only recently been made aware of it from
>>> overseas Usenet posters and from UK TV shows airing on US public TV.
>>> (PBS). I just figured it was a very shortened form of "That's how it is
>>> isn't it?"
>>
>> It was discussed here a few years ago. I had always taken it to be a
>> contraction of "isn't it" but apparently in EstuaryE it is now also a
>> contraction for "doesn't it".
>
>I imagine less precision than that: it's something that's added to a
>sentence for stylistic reasons with no clear meaning. LOL

It's the closest English counterpart to Japanese "ne", German "nicht wahr", or
Spanish "verdad"....r


--
Me? Sarcastic?
Yeah, right.

[Charles Bishop]

In article <r9gr1a99sodgclmbm...@4ax.com>,

Steve Hayes <haye...@telkomsa.net> wrote:

> On Sat, 20 Sep 2014 17:39:51 +0100, the Omrud <usenet...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >On 20/09/2014 14:26, Peter Duncanson [BrE] wrote:
> >
> >> The "Canadian 'Eh'" is similar to the BrE "innit", innit?
> >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eh#Canada
> >
> >"Eh?" was the sole built-in error message on a PDP11 we had at university.
>
> And on a database program called Superfile that I once had. It ran under CP/M.

Probably too early for "Say What?!"


charles, should that be "!?"?

[FromTheRafters]

Charles Bishop submitted this idea :

The first computer I worked with typed "WHAT?" on the teletype if it
didn't recognize a command.

[the Omrud]

One of my fellow students created a file with those three characters in
it and nothing else, and then challenged others to list the file to the
teletype to see what text it contained. With hilarious results.

--
David

[Robert Bannister]

I agree. Long before it became so wide-spread and well before I left
England, when I was feeling particularly Londonish, my tag phrase was
something like "innuh?" (must be a glottal stop or two in there
somewhere). Come to think of it, under the influence of my Berlin
friends when I was in Germany in the 60s, my "nicht wahr" rapidly became
"nich?", finally degenerating into something like "ne?".

Youth eschews long words.

[Peter Moylan]

My wife recently bought a smartphone. (Until now, we've both been
satisfied with dumbphones.) It turned out that she was unable to install
any apps. The process would reach a certain point, and then there'd be a
message "Unable to get information from server", followed by "Error RPC
S-3". The fellow she called in India was unable to offer any solution
other than the Microsoft one: power off and power on again. Of course it
didn't help.

So I did an internet search, and it turned out that people all over the
planet were wanting help with this RPC S-3. However, they all had
different problems. It seems that RPC S-3 is a universal message, the
Samsung equivalent of "Eh?"

(Eventually it turned out that it was because she hadn't created a
Samsung user account. The help centre hadn't thought of that
possibility, possibly because they already knew that RPC S-3 carried no
information about the error.)

--
Peter Moylan http://www.pmoylan.org

[aquachimp]

On Friday, September 19, 2014 11:01:56 PM UTC+2, Charles Bishop wrote:
> In a just now written post, I used "innit" as a replacement for "don't
>
> we?". I like the phrase and have been hearing it used a lot since I've
>
> been watching some English TV programs. When I first started using it,
>
> usually making up sentences in my head, I used it for "isn't it?" which
>
> I assume is what innit came from.
>
>
>

> However the use I've heard is broader, used for "doesn't it" and (well
>
> drat, now that I have to think of them, I can't think of the other
>
> meanings I've heard where it's a substitute).
>
>
>
> So, could it be used for "don't we?". Is it a general usage word to tack
>
> on the end of questions, or does it have specific usages?
>
>
>

> --
>
> charles

The Dutch sometimes ad the word "toch" to the end of a sentence. It too can be difficult to give a precise translation in English.
equally, the word "like" is sometimes like scattered within English speech like.
For example,

So, there I woz, like jus standin there, yeah, right, and like innit, when this geezer like, yo bro rumpleshukins like just like walks right up to me like innit and just says "Charlie". I'm like, waaaay cool bro innit, but I jus tell'im like "no way man" and he kept going kike. Crazy man innit.

That bloke on the telly wot hosts the BBC QI programme, what's his name... Springer?... no, but anyway, he once explained the use of "like" in that fashion. I think he even had a term for it. "Innit" seems to fit into the same category.

[Harrison Hill]

On Friday, 19 September 2014 22:01:56 UTC+1, Charles Bishop wrote:
> In a just now written post, I used "innit" as a replacement for "don't
> we?". I like the phrase and have been hearing it used a lot since I've
>
> been watching some English TV programs. When I first started using it,
> usually making up sentences in my head, I used it for "isn't it?" which
> I assume is what innit came from.
>
> However the use I've heard is broader, used for "doesn't it" and (well
> drat, now that I have to think of them, I can't think of the other
> meanings I've heard where it's a substitute).
>
> So, could it be used for "don't we?". Is it a general usage word to tack
> on the end of questions, or does it have specific usages?

I first heard this from the local Epsom Hong Kong Chinese population in 1982, and the only meaning it *can't* have is "isn't it".

So: "It is nice day innit" NO, "We are having a nice day innit" YES.

It is appended to every sentence - and has extended itself into general working class and immigrant-speak English innit.

[Pablo]

Are your parents Asians? Or are you very young?

[Peter Duncanson [BrE]]

That would be Stephen Fry.

The OED has for "like":

7. dial. and vulgar. Used parenthetically to qualify a preceding
statement: = ‘as it were’, ‘so to speak’. Also, colloq. (orig.
U.S.), as a meaningless interjection or expletive.

1778 F. Burney Evelina II. xxiii. 222 Father grew quite uneasy,
like, for fear of his Lordship's taking offence.
1801 ‘Gabrielli’ Mysterious Husband III. 252 Of a sudden like.
1815 Scott Guy Mannering I. vi. 96 The lady, on ilka Christmas
night..gae twelve siller pennies to ilka puir body about, in
honour of the twelve apostles like.
1826 J. Wilson Noctes Ambrosianae xxvii, in Blackwood's Edinb.
Mag. July 91 In an ordinar way like.
....
1929 ‘H. Green’ Living vi. 57 'E went to the side like and
looked.
...
1966 Lancet 17 Sept. 635/2 As we say pragmatically in
Huddersfield, ‘C'est la vie, like!’
....

[aquachimp]

On Sunday, September 21, 2014 3:21:55 PM UTC+2, PeterWD wrote:
> On Sun, 21 Sep 2014 00:11:19 -0700 (PDT), aquachimp
>
> <aqua...@fsmail.net> wrote:
>
>
>
> >On Friday, September 19, 2014 11:01:56 PM UTC+2, Charles Bishop wrote:
>
> >> In a just now written post, I used "innit" as a replacement for "don't
>
> >>
>
> >> we?". I like the phrase and have been hearing it used a lot since I've
>
> >>
>
> >> been watching some English TV programs. When I first started using it,
>
> >>
>
> >> usually making up sentences in my head, I used it for "isn't it?" which
>
> >>
>
> >> I assume is what innit came from.
>
> >>
>
> >>
>
> >>
>
> >> However the use I've heard is broader, used for "doesn't it" and (well
>
> >>
>
> >> drat, now that I have to think of them, I can't think of the other
>
> >>
>
> >> meanings I've heard where it's a substitute).
>
> >>
>
> >>
>
> >>
>
> >> So, could it be used for "don't we?". Is it a general usage word to tack
>
> >>
>
> >> on the end of questions, or does it have specific usages?
>
> >>
>
> >>
>
> >>
>
> >> --
>
> >>
>
> >> charles
>
> >
>
> >The Dutch sometimes ad the word "toch" to the end of a sentence. It too can be difficult to give a precise translation in English.
>
> >equally, the word "like" is sometimes like scattered within English speech like.
>
> >For example,
>
> >
>
> >So, there I woz, like jus standin there, yeah, right, and like innit, when this geezer like, yo bro rumpleshukins like just like walks right up to me like innit and just says "Charlie". I'm like, waaaay cool bro innit, but I jus tell'im like "no way man" and he kept going kike. Crazy man innit.
>
> >
>
> >That bloke on the telly wot hosts the BBC QI programme, what's his name... Springer?... no, but anyway, he once explained the use of "like" in that fashion. I think he even had a term for it. "Innit" seems to fit into the same category.
>
>
>
> That would be Stephen Fry.
>

Yes, I know.
The error was an intentional means to inject a greater sum than its parts.

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Sunday, September 21, 2014 9:21:55 AM UTC-4, PeterWD wrote:

> The OED has for "like":
> 7. dial. and vulgar. Used parenthetically to qualify a preceding
> statement: = 'as it were', 'so to speak'. Also, colloq. (orig.
> U.S.), as a meaningless interjection or expletive.

Someone isn't up on their discourse analysis studies. It isn't
meaningless, and it's as "rule-governed," as they say, as any
other discourse particle. Every so often a university puts out
a press release about what their linguistics department is up
to, and radio stations interview the people who actually collect
data about the use of "like" and analyze it. (I don't have any
references, but clever use of Google Scholar should discover
them.)

[Jerry Friedman]

On 9/20/14 1:10 PM, Pablo wrote:
> Jerry Friedman wrote:
>
>> On 9/20/14 7:26 AM, Peter Duncanson [BrE] wrote:

...

>>> The "Canadian 'Eh'" is similar to the BrE "innit", innit?
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eh#Canada
>>
>> I know, right?
>>
>> Cf. standard Spanish "¿verdad?"
>
> I think I've already said this recently, but on the peninsular they say
> "¿sabe?". I almost never hear "¿verdad?" unless they really mean to say
> "Really?".

If so, I missed it, so thanks.

--
Jerry Friedman

[James Silverton]

Did no-one see my quotation from Shakespeare a little while ago?

Sonnet 60

Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore,
So do our minutes hasten to their end,

--
Jim Silverton (Potomac, MD)

Extraneous "not." in Reply To.

[Tom P]

Neither nor.

[Wayne Brown]

While I've seen it in print often in recent years I don't recall hearing
it used out loud (either during my visit to London ten years ago or
on British television shows). If it's that common then I probably
heard it but just discarded it mentally as rhetorical "fluff" like the
"Right?" or "Correct?" or "You know?" that many people in the US use
for the same purpose.

--
F. Wayne Brown <fwb...@bellsouth.net>

Þæs ofereode, ðisses swa mæg. ("That passed away, this also can.")
from "Deor," in the Exeter Book (folios 100r-100v)

[Richard Bollard]

On Sat, 20 Sep 2014 10:42:47 +0800, Robert Bannister
<rob...@clubtelco.com> wrote:

>On 20/09/2014 8:58 am, Charles Bishop wrote:
>> In article <lvi5ro$akr$1...@news.albasani.net>,
>> Katy Jennison <ka...@spamtrap.kjennison.com> wrote:

>>
>>> On 19/09/2014 22:01, Charles Bishop wrote:
>>>> In a just now written post, I used "innit" as a replacement for "don't
>>>> we?". I like the phrase and have been hearing it used a lot since I've
>>>> been watching some English TV programs. When I first started using it,
>>>> usually making up sentences in my head, I used it for "isn't it?" which
>>>> I assume is what innit came from.
>>>>

>>>> However the use I've heard is broader, used for "doesn't it" and (well
>>>> drat, now that I have to think of them, I can't think of the other
>>>> meanings I've heard where it's a substitute).
>>>>
>>>> So, could it be used for "don't we?". Is it a general usage word to tack
>>>> on the end of questions, or does it have specific usages?
>>>>
>>>

>>> Ain't that so.
>>
>> But that's just a reworded isn't it, yes? I do thank you for the other
>> use, but I had thought that I had heard it used not a a quick saying of
>> a regular phrase, but also for phrases with different meanings, which a
>> took from the context.
>
>Now I'm trying to remember whether south-east Asians say "isn't it?" or
>"is it?" as an all-purpose sentence tag. "You like Asian food, isn't it?".

I get that a lot with Indians/Sri Lankans. I have also noticed that
they always seem to start off a conversation with "actually". For
example, if I answer the phone at work, an Indian-accented caller will
typically say something like "Actually I am calling to request ...".
--
Richard Bollard
Canberra Australia

To email, I'm at AMT not spAMT.

[R H Draney]

Richard Bollard filted:

>
>I get that a lot with Indians/Sri Lankans. I have also noticed that
>they always seem to start off a conversation with "actually". For
>example, if I answer the phone at work, an Indian-accented caller will
>typically say something like "Actually I am calling to request ...".

I think I'd prefer that to the Western tendency to begin every conversation with
"So"....r

[Richard Bollard]

On 25 Sep 2014 02:47:39 -0700, R H Draney <dado...@spamcop.net>
wrote:

Actually, so would I (not that I ever get that one here).

[Mike L]

On Fri, 26 Sep 2014 11:39:21 +1000, Richard Bollard
<rich...@spamt.edu.au> wrote:

>On 25 Sep 2014 02:47:39 -0700, R H Draney <dado...@spamcop.net>
>wrote:
>
>>Richard Bollard filted:
>>>
>>>I get that a lot with Indians/Sri Lankans. I have also noticed that
>>>they always seem to start off a conversation with "actually". For
>>>example, if I answer the phone at work, an Indian-accented caller will
>>>typically say something like "Actually I am calling to request ...".
>>
>>I think I'd prefer that to the Western tendency to begin every conversation with
>>"So"....r
>
>Actually, so would I (not that I ever get that one here).

Well, I'm in three minds about this.

--
Mike.