English around the world/around Australia

[pengolodh_sc]

"Tabouli" wrote, on the subject of English:

[snip]

> South African English is something again.  [...] When I was
> there, my South African friends used all sorts of Germanic
> constructions which I'd never heard in English before, like
> "I'm going to the library.  Are you coming with?" (="kommst
> du mit" structure, presumably... ending with a preposition,
> no object required).  Then there was this weird use of "so
> long", which I've only ever known to mean "good-bye".  They'd
> say things like "While I'm at the library, will you go to the
> cafe so long?" Caused me a lot of confusion until I figured
> out that in South African English it means "in the meantime"...

[snip]

You just increased my interest in South African English greatly.  
Indeed, from what you're saying here, it sounds not dissimilar to 
what is sometimes termed "Norwenglish", a phenomenon where Norwegian 
English-speakers and -writers will make mistakes influenced by their 
native tongue.  Some experts on developments of cultures and 
languages maintain that Norwegian as a language is doomed.  If that 
be so, I wonder if South African English might be showing just where 
Norwegian language is headed.

"roleplayer_m_uk" wrote, on the subject of English, also in Frasier:

[snip]

> I'm British and living in London with my American girlfriend,
> so I have a pretty good understanding of the cultural divide.
> [...] And don't even get her started on Daphne's "Manchester"
> accent in Frasier! :)

Is THAT what it is supposed to be?  I always presumed it was a little 
known accent from some obscure place in the North-West US (Washington 
State or Oregon), or perhaps Canada.  It certainly didn't sound to me 
like it had anything to do with England.

Best regards
Christian Stubø
Listening to Tico-Tico and music from Titanic being performed by an 
orchestra of 21 French Horns.