81
TIL that the only part of the UK that officially speaks English is Northern Ireland.
(populationdata.org.uk)
this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2023
81 points (93.5% liked)
Today I Learned
17770 readers
551 users here now
What did you learn today? Share it with us!
We learn something new every day. This is a community dedicated to informing each other and helping to spread knowledge.
The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:
Rules (interactive)
Rule 1- All posts must begin with TIL. Linking to a source of info is optional, but highly recommended as it helps to spark discussion.
** Posts must be about an actual fact that you have learned, but it doesn't matter if you learned it today. See Rule 6 for all exceptions.**
Rule 2- Your post subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material.
Your post subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material. You will be warned first, banned second.
Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.
Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.
Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.
That's it.
Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.
Posts and comments which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.
Rule 6- Regarding non-TIL posts.
Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-TIL posts using the [META] tag on your post title.
Rule 7- You can't harass or disturb other members.
If you vocally harass or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.
Likewise, if you are a member, sympathiser or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.
For further explanation, clarification and feedback about this rule, you may follow this link.
Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.
Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.
Let everyone have their own content.
Rule 10- Majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here.
Unless included in our Whitelist for Bots, your bot will not be allowed to participate in this community. To have your bot whitelisted, please contact the moderators for a short review.
Partnered Communities
You can view our partnered communities list by following this link. To partner with our community and be included, you are free to message the moderators or comment on a pinned post.
Community Moderation
For inquiry on becoming a moderator of this community, you may comment on the pinned post of the time, or simply shoot a message to the current moderators.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I'd known that about the US, but always assumed that England had English as the official language.
Mind you, the aristocracy and royalty spoke French for 200 years so I'm wondering whether English, or French come to that, was ever the official language.
It's set by custom, rather than law. Languages drift and change. The church used to only use the Latin Bible. This left it inaccessible to most people.
Which version of English should have been locked in, by law? Latin? Old English? Middle English? International English?
The closest we came was "Queen's English". This was a semi standardised language and accent. It was mostly done to allow rich governors etc to not have issues talking to their staff. For reference, the BBC news was mostly done in Queen's English for a long time. It was designed to be clear and distinct, and so excellent for radio news (as well as talking in the court, or ordering your native servants around). While it sounds formal and stilted, it's very understandable for everyone. If you've tried to have a conversation with someone with a strong UK accent, you'll understand the importance.
FYI, 'pirate talk' is actually mostly a Cornish accent. Add to that Scottish, Scouse, and London Cockney and you'll understand why a common reference is useful.
Thank-you. Well put.