Help me improve my English!

[Zulehan]

Okay so I have a question that isn't related to grammar or vocabulary but has something to do with the American culture (if I may say so).

See, I want to start writing this scenario that I have been working on for the past couple years (big deal big deal) but I'm still unsure how to name one of the protagonists. I just want him to have a very common, not original, typical American name.

I first thought of James or William but it sounds too British. I don't really like Kevin and John (sorry to every Kevin and John reading this lol), so yeah. Apart from that, I can only think of Peter or Jack.

Any ideas? I already asked my friend Google but figured it would be nice to have the opinions of American people.

Speaking as an American and a Californian, here are names that come most readily to mind and which I have recently come across: Clementine, Effie, Jeffrey, Pashmina, Ryan, Laura, Stephen, Robin, Rowan, Sabrina, Peyton, Ashima, Betty, Francine, Oliver, Victor, Carlos, Rebecca, Kat, George, Hilary, Lamar.

 

[Delphine]

Speaking as an American and a Californian, here are names that come most readily to mind and which I have recently come across: Clementine, Effie, Jeffrey, Pashmina, Ryan, Laura, Stephen, Robin, Rowan, Sabrina, Peyton, Ashima, Betty, Francine, Oliver, Victor, Carlos, Rebecca, Kat, George, Hilary, Lamar.

Ah, thank you! I never would have guessed that Pashmina, Ashmina, Rowan, Peyton and Francine were common names. To be honest when I saw the villager 'Pashmina' (the Uchi goat), I thought her name was meant to refer to the cashmere scarfs, lol
Happy to have learned that

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Question!

I know that this is called bold.
I don't know how to call a text that is like this.
This one is underlined, right
But what about that one?

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Oh no, post merge

 

[Delphine]

Question!

I know that this is called bold.
I don't know how to call a text that is like this.
This one is underlined, right
But what about that one?

Attempt at bumping so someone can answer this question...

 

[Saylor]

This is called italics.
This is underlined.
And that last one is called strikethrough, can't do it cause I'm on mobile heh

 

[Zulehan]

Ah, thank you! I never would have guessed that Pashmina, Ashmina, Rowan, Peyton and Francine were common names. To be honest when I saw the villager 'Pashmina' (the Uchi goat), I thought her name was meant to refer to the cashmere scarfs, lol
Happy to have learned that

If taking the population of the whole United States into account, probably only Peyton and Francine, but in California the other names are certainly not that unusual (and the name I mentioned starting with a was Ashima, a name I have seen several times for Bengali-Americans).

Question!

I know that this is called bold.
I don't know how to call a text that is like this.
This one is underlined, right
But what about that one?

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Oh no, post merge

Yeah, as pointed out above, that is italicized text.

 

[Delphine]

This is called italics.
This is underlined.
And that last one is called strikethrough, can't do it cause I'm on mobile heh.

If taking the population of the whole United States into account, probably only Peyton and Francine, but in California the other names are certainly not that unusual (and the name I mentioned starting with a was Ashima, a name I have seen several times for Bengali-Americans).


Yeah, as pointed out above, that is italicized text.

I feel so dumb, it's 'italique' in my language :'D Didn't know the adjective was 'italicized' though.
What would the adjective for 'strikethrough' be then? Can a text be strikedthrough?

Thanks you two! n_n

 

[starlark]

struck through is the adjective you're looking for :3

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au moins je pense que oui xD
(Did I get that right?)

 

[Zulehan]

I feel so dumb, it's 'italique' in my language :'D Didn't know the adjective was 'italicized' though.

Not sure if that is 'official;' that is just what I call it. I might start calling it italique, now, as that sounds more bourgeois.

What would the adjective for 'strikethrough' be then? Can a text be strikedthrough?

Go for it.

 

[Delphine]

struck through is the adjective you're looking for :3

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au moins je pense que oui xD
(Did I get that right?)

Oh yes right, forgot striked doesn't exist :'D

Yup except that for some odd reason we say 'du moins', or 'enfin'. Don't ask me why though XD
But I totally understood what you meant so no big deal c:

We may sometimes say 'au moins' when we mean to say 'it could have been worse, you at least have that'. That's when we talk about something that already happened.
Here, 'du moins' would have the same signification as 'enfin'. That's when we suppose something.

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Not sure if that is 'official;' that is just what I call it. I might start calling it italique, now, as that sounds more bourgeois.

Haha!

 

[starlark]

I don't trust this textbook, it's from 1999 xD
Oh well, thanks for the info! My teachers will no doubt be surprised. I'm annoyed that only a quarter of our class don't say the n and say jour like JOOR in Bonjour. Cripes, and we've been doing it for at least four years.
Am I right in saying that Jour is the spelling used when it's attached onto other words/ another word? The greeting means good day, right? But day on its own is jouer. Or is that when you're playing something?
Sorry, I'm just too confused right now -^- I have a ridiculous memory.

 

[Delphine]

I don't trust this textbook, it's from 1999 xD
Oh well, thanks for the info! My teachers will no doubt be surprised. I'm annoyed that only a quarter of our class don't say the n and say jour like JOOR in Bonjour. Cripes, and we've been doing it for at least four years.
Am I right in saying that Jour is the spelling used when it's attached onto other words/ another word? The greeting means good day, right? But day on its own is jouer. Or is that when you're playing something?
Sorry, I'm just too confused right now -^- I have a ridiculous memory.

Well 'Bonjour' litterally means 'Good day', so if you only want to say 'day' you can say 'jour'. Same for 'today', which is 'aujourd'hui'. When it comes to French, don't hesitate and just cut words: au jour d'hui (which meant many years ago 'at the day of now'), but now we contracted that word and changed a few things to get 'aujourd'hui'. French is a language which evolved a lot... So you can totally say 'Aujourd'hui est un jour nouveau !' ('Today is a new day!')

And 'jouer' means 'play' but it could also mean 'to fool someone'. 'Je me suis jou? de toi' means 'I fooled you'.
I hope I helped :3

 

[starlark]

Oh right! That's it. Thank you so much! I was so confused about it but now I know the differences better again, thanks!

 

[Delphine]

Oh right! That's it. Thank you so much! I was so confused about it but now I know the differences better again, thanks!

I'm so happy I helped n_n <3 You're most welcome!

 

[Jeff THE Best]

FRENCH IS MY FIRST LANGUAGE TOO!!! But, I go to an English school, so it's all good. (I know they say not to use "BUT" at the start of a sentence, you don't need to tell me...)

 

[Delphine]

FRENCH IS MY FIRST LANGUAGE TOO!!! But, I go to an English school, so it's all good. (I know they say not to use "BUT" at the start of a sentence, you don't need to tell me...)

Lucky you! Je commence plein de phrases par 'mais' donc bon... x)

 

[Jeff THE Best]

Lucky you! Je commence plein de phrases par 'mais' donc bon... x)

Oui, je sais. C'est comme ca qu'on parle... I probably lost how to correctly spell things, though. I don't practice writing at home...

 

[Delphine]

Oui, je sais. C'est comme ca qu'on parle... I probably lost how to correctly spell things, though. I don't practice writing at home...

Oh no, it's fine, you're doing good! n_n

Other question!

What do you call this letter in English: ?
?

 

[Jeff THE Best]

Mmmmh? I don't know... I don't think they ever use that letter in English - I don't think I ever saw it :/

 

[Zulehan]

What do you call this letter in English: ?
?

My guess from a Google search:

In English, that is not a letter separate from c; rather, we see that as a c with a modifying 'diacritic' (a mark attached that changes pronunciation) called the cedilla (mark placed under the consonant letter), or more specifically in this case the 'c-cedilla.' In other words, a c with a consonant 'accent,' or the c-cedilla.

However, we already pronounce the c as a consonant without the cedilla (e.g., 'cigarette' or 'cinch,' as opposed to 'cult' or 'capital'), so the cedilla is only used for 'loanwords,' or words borrowed directly from another language rather than 'naturalized' words.

Maybe an actual linguist will set me straight, though. I really feel stupid here, heh.

 

[Delphine]

My guess from a Google search:

In English, that is not a letter separate from c; rather, we see that as a c with a modifying 'diacritic' (a mark attached that changes pronunciation) called the cedilla (mark placed under the consonant letter), or more specifically in this case the 'c-cedilla.' In other words, a c with a consonant 'accent,' or the c-cedilla.

However, we already pronounce the c as a consonant without the cedilla (e.g., 'cigarette' or 'cinch,' as opposed to 'cult' or 'capital'), so the cedilla is only used for 'loanwords,' or words borrowed directly from another language rather than 'naturalized' words.

Maybe an actual linguist will set me straight, though. I really feel stupid here, heh.

c-cedilla would have been my guess, a simple translation of what I call it in my native language. It might seem useless because it is not used in English, but I figured I'd ask.
Thanks for searching, much appreciated! ^^