Commonwealth English
From Homestar Runner Wiki
Commonwealth English is English as it is spoken and spelled in the Commonwealth countries, a collection of former British territories. This form of English dialect is noticeably different from that which exists in the United States, and the two have been compared for many years. Throughout the Homestar Runner body of work, this form of English has been mocked or parodied in at least some form.
Examples
- Fan Stuff — The caption of one image asks if a new character is the viewer's "flavourite", a portmanteau of the Commonwealth spellings of "flavor" and "favorite".
- Email sb_email 22 — Strong Bad remarks that the sender, Mark, should "have an unnecessary vowel at the end" (he changes the name to "Marke"). This reflects spelling differences between American and British spellings of such words as "annex/annexe" and "ax/axe". Also mentioned is the substance "treacle", which is an archaic and Old English sounding name for "molasses".
- The email also features Strong Bad responding to his controversial email by saying "screw all y'all". In response to the gasps of the audience, a voice with a Liverpool accent remarks "I can't believe he said that.", reflecting a The Beatles controversy and especially mocking their accent (especially that of drummer Ringo Starr).
- The Old-Timey era mocks Commonwealth English to some extent by using old fashioned words and phrases. Such vocabulary often includes Commonwealth spellings and is typically viewed by Americans as "archaic".
- Email interview — Strong Bad provides a description of the Kerrek using an Old English font, commonly associated with Medieval and Gothic England, a parody of which is the setting for Peasant's Quest (where Trogdor, mentioned in the description, is a main character).
- The King of Town's Character Video — The King of Town says that he "lives in yon castle".
- 3 Times Halloween Funjob — Homestar Runner scolds The Poopsmith for giving him "bum candy". "Bum" as a synonym for "buttocks" is primarily Commonwealth.
- Thy Dungeonman series — The games are written in a mock form of Elizabethan English in an attempt to sound medieval, also relying upon the American view of such English vocabulary as "archaic".
- Email radio — Strong Bad tells Frasier not to bow and "giveth [him] instead $7.50". The -eth suffix was used in English during Elizabethan times as a form of the second person.
- Email long pants — Homestar wants "light globes", which is a common Australian name for light bulbs.
- Email do over — Coach Zed uses the Commonwealth name for the letter Z, pronounced Zee in the US.
- Email more armies — Strong Bad uses the Australian English words "bonzer" and "dinkum".
- Email environment — "Bum" is one of the mother-approved synonyms of "butt".
- Marzipan's Answering Machine Version 15.2 and SBCG4AP Advertisement — An announcer pronounces "advertisement" as "ad-VER-tiss-ment".
- Email love poems — Strong Bad uses Elizabethan English as an example of how to write a love poem. He also references how such English is highly regarded as poetic.
- The example of Elizabethan English mocks the -th suffix used in English for the second person at the time.
- Hooked on Decemberween — The TV Time Toons Menu's description uses the word "flavourite".
