Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Specifically, American English. How far back in time could someone from today go and still effectively communicate? And how would they react to modern slang/curses?
Anytime between 1432 and 1996. Outside that time line, and it's all weird!
They would not know what they meant, or they would misunderstand by applying an interpretation which prevailed in their time but has subsequently evolved. You do not have to go very far back to get into differing meanings. For example most people take P.T. Barnum's "There's a sucker born every minute" to mean an exploitable rube is born every minute. That is not what Barnum meant because in the mid 19th Century, "sucker" simply meant patron or supporter..a fan. During elections folks identified themselves as suckers for Douglas or suckers for Fremont, someone might note that he or she was a sucker for Ma's apple fritters.
Barnum meant that there is a potential customer born every minute. The negative connotation came along much later.
LOL you made me recall this exchange, "It depends on what the definition of 'is' is".
Monica Lewinsky was a 'sucker' for President Clinton Or as President Clinton said later, " I didn't know Ms Lewinsky was Jewish I thought she was a Pentacostal Christian and was speaking in tongues."
To the OPs question, it would be like any language. There is 'cultural distance' in linguistics in direct relation to time distance. Simple example, 19th century many people happily expressed being 'gay' - but just not in the way it has been coopted linguistically.
So, I'd say about 12th century it would work with increasing levels of difficulty depending on the person's ability to express and communicate in multiple ways.
At 1st I struggled with English before the 19th century, though these were largely written by Brits but I'm sure American English would have also been unintelligible.
Well if you travel to Newcastle, Edinburgh or Newfoundland in 2014 you might already be facing problems communicating with some people...
After Doc Martin, which is set in Cornwall, they had a feature about the production. They interviewed the actors. They showed how they use an accent which is authentically Cornwall, but don't use the *full* local accent. They did a few lines in it and you'd have no idea what they said outside of Cornwall. This is why the bbc still subtitles its own dialects.
They might understand you but if they didn't want you to understand them, they could just speak the local language.
When Poldark, which is set in the 17 to 1800's Cornwall, they did use the full thing with the native cornish, and it was subtitled or you wouldn't have a clue what they said.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Or as President Clinton said later, " I didn't know Ms Lewinsky was Jewish I thought she was a Pentacostal Christian and was speaking in tongues."
