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Discussion Groups / English Usage / May 2008English.
Visit to view a few differences between British English and American English. http://learnspeakingenglish.blogspot.com > Visit to view a few differences between British English and American > English. > > http://learnspeakingenglish.blogspot.com Actually, the list is not too bad, apart from the spelling mistakes. But there must surely be other, more complete sites on the t'Internet thingy. We will now pause while the assembled readers indulge in the annual 30-day argument about whether "biscuit" means "cookie".  SignatureDavid the wrote on Wed, 28 May 2008 16:41:39 GMT: >> Visit to view a few differences between British English and >> American English. >> >> http://learnspeakingenglish.blogspot.com > Actually, the list is not too bad, apart from the spelling > mistakes. But there must surely be other, more complete sites > on the t'Internet thingy. > We will now pause while the assembled readers indulge in the > annual 30-day argument about whether "biscuit" means "cookie". No, I will not contribute to the tradition but there at least two pairs of names in the UK---US list that struck me as a little strange : housewife---housemaker, influenza---grippe. I don't think I've ever seen "housemaker" used, perhaps "homemaker" is intended. I can't remember ever hearing anyone use the word "grippe"; perhaps it's a New England usage. Even tho' people around here know what "grippe" means they'd most likely use "flu". SignatureJames Silverton Potomac, Maryland E-mail, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not > the wrote on Wed, 28 May 2008 16:41:39 GMT: > [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > tho' people around here know what "grippe" means they'd most > likely use "flu". For those that might not know, "Grippe" is German for flu. SignatureLes [...] >> No, I will not contribute to the tradition but there at least >> two pairs of names in the UK---US list that struck me as a [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >> > For those that might not know, "Grippe" is German for flu. ...and the extra "the's" in this (copied from the just above the list): "Initially to start with let us see a few differences between The British English and The American English." also sounds a bit Germanic. Who are these guys? SignatureLes On 28 May 2008, Leslie Danks wrote > [...] > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] >>> >> For those that might not know, "Grippe" is German for flu. It's also French for flu. SignatureCheers, Harvey CanEng and BrEng, indiscriminately mixed > Leslie Danks wrote >> Leslie Danks wrote: >>>> No, I will not contribute to the tradition but there at least >>>> two pairs of names in the UK---US list that struck me as a [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > It's also French for flu. In Latvian it is "gripa" (adapted from German, I'm sure). SignatureSkitt (AmE) >> the wrote on Wed, 28 May 2008 16:41:39 GMT: >> [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] >> > For those that might not know, "Grippe" is German for flu. And French, from where I suspect the Germans got the word. It's more native to AmE than BrE, I think, where it's simply seen as a foreign word, rather than a posh alternative. Miss Adelaide weaves it into her song in Guys and Dolls. SignatureDavid >>> the wrote on Wed, 28 May 2008 16:41:39 GMT: >>> [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > word, rather than a posh alternative. Miss Adelaide weaves it into her > song in Guys and Dolls. It's not posh in AmE. Old-fashioned, maybe. Well, definitely. But not posh. Possibly even working-class (the alternative "flu" being from "influenza", a learned[1] word). [1] Disyllabic[2]. [2] Which my spellchecker wants to correct to "bisyllabic". SignatureRoland Hutchinson Will play viola da gamba for food. NB mail to my.spamtrap [at] verizon.net is heavily filtered to remove spam. If your message looks like spam I may not see it. >>>> the wrote on Wed, 28 May 2008 16:41:39 GMT: >>>> [quoted text clipped - 27 lines] > > [1] Disyllabic[2]. Conventionally written "learnèd" in BrE, as we all learnèd in our hymn books. SignatureDavid >>>>> the wrote on Wed, 28 May 2008 16:41:39 GMT: >>>>> [quoted text clipped - 30 lines] > Conventionally written "learnèd" in BrE, as we all learnèd in our hymn > books. We know that convention here, but as far as I know it is not used outside of special contexts, such as hymnals, some student editions of Shakespeare that eschew the "-'d" spelling when the <e> isn't pronounced, etc. Actually, it wouldn't be used in American hymnals, which normally print the text of all verses between the staves of the music. If leaving off the accent mark is good enough for the American Council of Learned Socities, then, by gum, it's good enough for me! SignatureRoland Hutchinson Will play viola da gamba for food. NB mail to my.spamtrap [at] verizon.net is heavily filtered to remove spam. If your message looks like spam I may not see it. >Roland Hutchinson wrote: >>>> For those that might not know, "Grippe" is German for flu. >>> And French, from where I suspect the Germans got the word. It's more >>> native to AmE than BrE, I think, where it's simply seen as a foreign >>> word, rather than a posh alternative. Miss Adelaide weaves it into her >>> song in Guys and Dolls. >> It's not posh in AmE. Old-fashioned, maybe. Well, definitely. But >>not [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >Conventionally written "learnèd" in BrE, as we all learnèd in our hymn >books. Whence the hornèd moon doth shine by night, 'mid her spangled sisters bright. Not spanglèd, nohow. I remain impressed by Learned Hand, and amused by his cousin Noble. Can anyone enlighten me as to the syllables in the name Learned? Traditionally there are two in the British lawyers' in-speak of their learned friends. SignaturePaul Paul Wolff filted: >>Conventionally written "learnèd" in BrE, as we all learnèd in our hymn >>books. [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] >Traditionally there are two in the British lawyers' in-speak of their >learned friends. If it helps at all, the actress Michael Learned pronounced it with two syllables.... "Preserved Fish (1766-1846) was a prominent New York City shipping merchant in the early 1800s. In 1822, he founded the shipping company Fish, Grinnell & Co., which later grew into Grinnell, Minturn & Co., a California clipper ship company. "Preserved" (pronounced with three syllables) was a fairly common Quaker name, meaning "preserved from sin" or "preserved in grace," and the Fish family was prominent in New York politics, producing Hamilton Fish, the secretary of state after whom Hamilton Fish Park in the Lower East Side is named. Preserved Fish is buried in the Marble Cemetery." ....r SignatureWhat good is being an executive if you never get to execute anyone? > Preserved Fish is buried in the Marble Cemetery. All together now: P. U. ! SignatureRoland Hutchinson Will play viola da gamba for food. NB mail to my.spamtrap [at] verizon.net is heavily filtered to remove spam. If your message looks like spam I may not see it. > the wrote on Wed, 28 May 2008 16:41:39 GMT: > [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] >tho' people around here know what "grippe" means they'd most >likely use "flu". "Grippe" (or just "the grip") does occur in American English. In the Broadway musical "Guys and Dolls" Adelaide sings "Adelaide's Lament" about the psychosomatic symptoms she suffers because Nathan won't marry her. It contains the lines: "And furthur more, just from stalling, and stalling, And stalling the wedding trip A person can develop la grippe." and "A person can develop la grippe, La grippe. La post nasal drip." Signature************* DAVE HATUNEN (hatunen@cox.net) ************* * Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow * * My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps * Hatunen wrote on Wed, 28 May 2008 20:08:17 -0700: > "Grippe" (or just "the grip") does occur in American English. > In the Broadway musical "Guys and Dolls" Adelaide sings > "Adelaide's Lament" about the psychosomatic symptoms she > suffers because Nathan won't marry her. It contains the lines: > "And furthur more, just from stalling, and stalling, > And stalling the wedding trip > A person can develop la grippe." > and > "A person can develop la grippe, > La grippe. > La post nasal drip." How often have you heard "grippe" being used in contemporary speech? SignatureJames Silverton Potomac, Maryland E-mail, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not > Hatunen quoted > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > How often have you heard "grippe" being used in contemporary speech? Only as a retro joke-word. Like a "headache powder," or "the vapors." I will ask my wife if she has "the la-grippe." But note this, from _The Catcher in the Rye_ (J.D.Salinger, 1951. The milieu is New York City): "So it was a good picture, huh?" I said. "Swell, except Alice had a cold, and her mother kept asking her all the time if she felt grippy. Right in the middle of the picture. Always in the middle of something important, her mother'd lean all over me and everything and ask Alice if she felt grippy. It got on my nerves." On May 29, 10:56 am, "The Grammer Genious" <waupec...@yahoo.com> wrote: > > Hatunen quoted > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > middle of something important, her mother'd lean all over me and everything > and ask Alice if she felt grippy. It got on my nerves." I remember my first encounter with the word: in one of the books of The Little Colonel series, written right after 1900, about a wealthy family in Kentucky. It may have been the common term until 1918. > On May 29, 10:56 am, "The Grammer Genious" <waupec...@yahoo.com> > wrote: [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > The Little Colonel series, written right after 1900, about a wealthy > family in Kentucky. It may have been the common term until 1918. Another word that may have disappeared from the language is "smut", meaning pornography. How long has it been since anyone has seen it in the news? > Another word that may have disappeared from the language is > "smut", meaning pornography. How long has it been since > anyone has seen it in the news? I can't remember when last I saw "smut" or "smutty" in the newspapers. However, they're still used in conversation, from what I hear. "Dirt/dirty" and "filth/filthy" may be more common, though. Euphemisms for "feces" are also used for "pornography." SignatureMaria C. It is not a fragrant world. [Raymond Chandler] >> On May 29, 10:56 am, "The Grammer Genious" <waupec...@yahoo.com> >> wrote: [quoted text clipped - 26 lines] >"smut", meaning pornography. How long has it been since >anyone has seen it in the news? I haven't heard it for years, which I find odd since I associate the word with the old, who are on the increase, and the religious right, who are on the increase. SignatureRegards, Chuck Riggs Near Dublin, Ireland On 31 May 2008, Chuck Riggs wrote >> Another word that may have disappeared from the language is >> "smut", meaning pornography. How long has it been since [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > the word with the old, who are on the increase, and the > religious right, who are on the increase. I don't think I've heard it used with a straight face since about the time Tom Lehrer wrote his song on the subject. SignatureCheers, Harvey CanEng and BrEng, indiscriminately mixed As the judge remarked the day that he acquitted my Aunt Hortense To be smut it must be ut- Terly without redeeming social importance. >On 31 May 2008, Chuck Riggs wrote > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] >I don't think I've heard it used with a straight face since about the >time Tom Lehrer wrote his song on the subject. Smut and smutty are still used in some contexts. The words are useful for journalist because of their brevity. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/12/dvd_smut_malware_hits_army/ DVD smut malware blights US forces in Iraq A different kind of insurgency Malware infected bootleg DVDs bought from Iraqi souks are causing US troops all sorts of problems. .... The popularity of smutty videos among Iraqi troops, in particular, is a concern, according to US Army Reserve Capt. Michael Noonan. This item is based on a report in the Washington Post which does not use "smut" or "smutty". http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/03/google_groups_crud/ Smut peddlers and spammers invade Google Groups Published Monday 3rd March 2008 16:12 GMT Porn peddlers and spammers are upping their assault on Google Groups. Many links on the discussion group site link to porn aggregators, some of which redirect to malware sites pushing Trojan horse malware (such as VirusHeat) disguised as video codecs. .... Sunbelt has warned Google of the presence of the smutty links and of pointers towards spam blogs promoting anything from "female celebrity smoking" to air conditioners. .... http://www.theinquirer.net/en/inquirer/news/2007/04/18/half-of-our-email-server- is-smut or http://tinyurl.com/5dpul6 Half of our email server is smut Letters The rest is useless .... 50% of our email server is smut, for sure. No matter how many times you tell a user you're running out of space on the email server, they just don't remember that when they see a smutty memo... SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.usage.english) >> Visit to view a few differences between British English and American >> English. [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >We will now pause while the assembled readers indulge in the annual >30-day argument about whether "biscuit" means "cookie". So web sites put biscuits on a Brit's computer? Signature************* DAVE HATUNEN (hatunen@cox.net) ************* * Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow * * My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps * >>> Visit to view a few differences between British English and American >>> English. [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > So web sites put biscuits on a Brit's computer? No - it's one of those strange things where even though the metaphor doesn't work, the concept is still comprehensible. Where Brits and computers do have problems is when their text won't centre or isn't displayed in the right colour. |
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