english or american?

[WolfSpring]

I've always hated the way english uses the term on holiday, it always drove me crazy to here that in the middle of summer I'd be like, what holiday is going on?

 

[kundalini]

I know this is a topic of language, but can I add my two cents worth. Working in the field of engineering and architecture, the one thing that really winds me up is the lie I was told in primary school. We (America) are going metric (circa 1970's).

Drawings, to me, is a language. That was how I was taught and that is how I proceed to communicate with my clients. WTF happened? I do not accept that any length, volume, mass or area can be as easily comprehensible as that with a base of 10.

 

[Meysha]

I do not accept that any length, volume, mass or area can be as easily comprehensible as that with a base of 10.

Huh???

 

[kundalini]

Huh???

Okay, for example. I work for a global company that is based in Germany. The factory Planning Guides we recieve for the equipment is in metric. In order to provide our American market with layout drawings, we have to convert all metric dimensions from the Planning Guide to Imperial equivalents.

Since the metric system is based on the base unit of 10, it just doesn't get much easier than this. This is the same for all measurements. Whether you are measuring a straight line (linear), the amount a container holds (volume), the weight of an object (mass) or the amount of carpet needed for your lounge (area), the Metric is a base 10.

If your Aussie lounge was a rectangle sized 6.5M x 4.25M (lucky you), we Yanks would have to convert that to roughly 21'-4 7/8" x 13'-11 1/4". To carpet that area would be 27.6M SQ or 298FT SQ. If you had a ceiling height of 2.5M the the total square area to paint would be (6.5 x 2) + (4.25 x 2) x 2.5 = 55M SQ. Where as we would have to plug in all the feet / inches and fractions to come up with the same equivalent. It's just a waste of resources in my opinion. Base 10 rocks.

 

[Christina]

its interesting how language changes from place to place, but it also changes from state to state..

florida coke is coca-cola
in west virgina its Pop.

 

[kundalini]

I heard they call it tonic in the Northeast.

 

[JohnMF]

too many spell checkers on computers still have "American-English" dictionaries.

and that's my two cents worth...

...sorry, i mean two bob's worth

 

[ZedU54]

The "U" in colour is Canadian from "couleur" in French.

... you're partly right...the Canadian spelling of words like 'colour' is a holdover from Canada's being a British possession for some 200 years...but it actually goes back much further than that...it's a result of the French influence on the English language following the Norman Conquest...

We also don't speak the same French as those in France either. Our French is older and better.

skieur

...in France, those would be fightin' words!!...

 

[ZedU54]

I heard they call it tonic in the Northeast.

...depends on what part of the Northeast...here in New England, we call it 'soda'...

 

[ZedU54]

Wat fettle the day ma?*

Fortnight. What is it? Many Americans look at me blankly, because I forget that it is not a common word here.

Marmite. Why do we like it so? How come we are allowed to buy it in New York? Shouldn't it be banned by the FDA, like Solpadeine is?

First Christmas here. I was sent to buy two gallons of cider. I could only find tiny little bottles of weak fizzy stuff in the alcohol section, so that's what I came home with. Then I discovered that the commonly available 'cider' is unfermented in the USA. Not the 11% stuff we got mortalious on in Kent.

Why can't you get any decent beer in the whole of North America? Why is it all so unnatural and fizzy? Why don't they sell Tanglefoot?

(Converse: Why do the British drink warm flat beer?)

They sing the Red Flag with different words. When I sing the Red Flag with the words I know they think it's a song I made up (this really happened - I have performed it, albeit in the manner of a Burlesque comedy singer). Oh that I could write such stirring stuff. To begin with I did wonder why they played the Red Flag so much at Christmas.

Speaking of stirring stuff, the USA National Anthem is rather good though. Makes me proud to have been from the very naughty nation responsible for that little disagreement of 1812, and hence the inspiration for such a fine song.

Notes to Americans: Please stop referring to the Royal Army, and please start sending the Red Cross parcels again. Why did you stop?

Best,
Helen

*How are you today, my friend?

...well, we Americans are not all completely ignorant...(of course, it helps if you've spent a little time on the other side of The Pond)...some of us know that a 'fortnight' is two weeks (contraction of 'fourteen nights', perhaps?)...but I don't remember ever seeing or hearing of anything called 'Solpadeine' when I was over there...
...now, what kind of 'weak, fizzy stuff' did you find when you were looking for cider?...I've been able to find some Strongbow over here (although I had to travel to Massachusetts, and I'm in Maine...couple hours' drive), which I developed quite a fondness for...of course, Strongbow isn't 11%, but I think it's still awfully good...and don't EVEN get me started about the beer!...suffice it to say that I feel your pain, and seek out imported beer whenever I can...
...and by the way, the melody of our national anthem is, ironically enough, based on an old song from England...in fact, according to some accounts, it was originally a drinking song...I can't remember the name of it, although it contains the name 'Acheron'...

...but here are a couple of amusing anecdotes from our own experience living in England, with some humo(u)rous examples of the language difference...we were living in the village of Risby, right outside of Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, and my wife volunteered to help out with the local playgroup (we had two small children of our own)...well, one day the playgroup were going on a trip (I forget where), and they asked everyone to 'bring a lunch and a squash'...well, my wife was extremely puzzled when she read that; she wondered what she was going to do with a squash (not knowing that in the UK, a 'squash' is a type of soft drink...in the US, a 'squash' is one of several types of gourd, which was all she knew)...she was picturing herself showing up with a little bag and a Blue Hubbard (a particularly large variety of the gourd), and how 'daft' that would look...
...and then there was the time when one of the neighbo(u)rhood women came to the door, and after some conversation, said that she would 'knock us up' later (innocent enough in the UK, but in the US, 'knock up' means to get someone pregnant)...the look on my wife's face after that was priceless...
...oh, to have those days back again!...

 

[skieur]

... you're partly right...the Canadian spelling of words like 'colour' is a holdover from Canada's being a British possession for some 200 years...but it actually goes back much further than that...it's a result of the French influence on the English language following the Norman Conquest...


...in France, those would be fightin' words!!...

Your history is correct. Both were slightly tongue in cheek comments. I am somewhat surprised that I did not get a comeback from someone with a France/French background.

skieur

 

[ZedU54]

Your history is correct. Both were slightly tongue in cheek comments. I am somewhat surprised that I did not get a comeback from someone with a France/French background.

skieur

...you might not have liked it if you did...in all seriousness, I have seen it before, where a Québecois(e) posted a message talking about their kinship with the French...someone from France responded, highly offended at this, and the response was quite rude...

 

[skieur]

...you might not have liked it if you did...in all seriousness, I have seen it before, where a Québecois(e) posted a message talking about their kinship with the French...someone from France responded, highly offended at this, and the response was quite rude...

Probably not. I remember shocking a French professor from France with an essay demonstrating that Medieval French and the development of French was heavily influenced by the Norse language. A no, no, or rather more like a "Sacre bleu!" but I still got my degree. Chanceux, peut-être!

skieur

 

[hawkeye]

...in France, those would be fightin' words!!...

I wouldn't expect too big of a fight

 

[ZedU54]

I wouldn't expect too big of a fight

...d'OH!...