Blackjacks

[koganbot]

In the Philippines, the fans of 2NE1 call themselves blackjacks. It took me two hours of Web surfing to find out why ('cause I'm stupid):

21 is the high number in Blackjack.

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Dara had moved to the Philippines at age 8 or so, and was already an established figure there - finished 2nd on a TV talent show and acted and sang, though if what's said at Celebrity Info is correct, her career was sputtering - when she moved back to Korea to join 2NE1. Here's her Star Circle Quest audition:

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Comments

[koganbot]

"More accented." Of course, my English and yours and everyone's is accented. But mine's closer to one of the established North American English accents than would be that of someone who learns English after age ten or so (though of course that person's accent would depend in part on the accent of the English he or she learned, but it would also depend on the native language(s) he or she already speaks).

Maybe there are some neighborhoods in the U.S. where "old country" pronunciations become part of that "native language," maybe some Yiddish pronunciations and intonations and sentence structure in parts of New York City in the early 20th century, and Mexican and Puerto Rican Spanish in parts of the U.S.; and German and Scandinavian in parts of the U.S. Don't really know much about it, but, e.g., in Brooklyn in 1900 I'd think the crucial factor wouldn't be whether a kid's parents speak Yiddish but whether the kid's friends speak Yiddish-influenced English (and the kid could be of Italian or Irish ancestry and still pick it up).

Curious if whether, in parts of India and the Philippines, there's a difference between official English and street English.

So, also curious if there's a difference between business English spoken in Korea by Koreans and street English spoken in Korea by Koreans. And I'm fascinated by the fact that the second rapper on a Huckleberry P live freestyle says "I don' know man, gotta go" in English when he gets up and leaves.

[askbask.livejournal.com]

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Wonder Girls continue to do 'activities' in the US without actually releasing anything (it's getting a silly now). Their English level varies quite a lot from member to member.