#285050 - 06/08/2006 17:15
Re: English vs American
[Re: mac]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 13/07/2000
Posts: 4180
Loc: Cambridge, England
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I believe that toodle-pip is related to toodle-oo which I was once told resulted from British Soldiers in the First World War being unable to say "Tout a l'heure, alors".
OED says "origin unknown" but the first citation is 1907 so that could be about right.
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The English "fillet" is such an old word (although originally from Latin via Old French according to wikipaedia) that I suspect that the French pronunciation in American restaurants was for effect and it stuck.
On this one OED says that the spelling "fillet" supplanted "filet" (except as a French affectation, as which it never went away) during the 1600s, which of course is roughly when US English was forked. It's possible that US English always spelt it "filet", but originally pronounced it fillet, with the French pronunciation filtering down from pretentious restaurants to supplant the phonetic reading.
I'd been to the US several times before I realised that the restaurant chain "Chick-Fil-A" was intended to refer to chicken fillets, and not to chickenfilla, which had always sounded unpleasantly close to Polyfilla.
Peter
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#285052 - 07/08/2006 05:14
Re: English vs American
[Re: peter]
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addict
Registered: 20/05/1999
Posts: 411
Loc: Cambridge, UK
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Quote:
On this one OED says that the spelling "fillet" supplanted "filet" (except as a French affectation, as which it never went away) during the 1600s, which of course is roughly when US English was forked. It's possible that US English always spelt it "filet", but originally pronounced it fillet, with the French pronunciation filtering down from pretentious restaurants to supplant the phonetic reading.
Fair enough. It never sounds genuinely French the way I've heard it pronounced in American restaurants - the final syllable gets too much emphasis and goes on for too long.
So, how does an American say filleting or filleted? Is it fill-utt-ing (like it is in the UK) or fill-ay-ting?
Mike.
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#285055 - 07/08/2006 11:04
Re: English vs American
[Re: gbeer]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 18/06/2001
Posts: 2504
Loc: Roma, Italy
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I'd guess the nearest US equivalent to "cheerio" is "ciao".
Peter
Which of course is really Italian for "See-Ya Later".
... and "hello" as well.
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#285056 - 07/08/2006 11:41
Re: English vs American
[Re: Dignan]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 10/06/1999
Posts: 5916
Loc: Wivenhoe, Essex, UK
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banger race = demolition derby or at least it is close, I think
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#285057 - 07/08/2006 11:48
Re: English vs American
[Re: andy]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 27/02/2004
Posts: 1913
Loc: London
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banger race = demolition derby
or at least it is close, I think
Thats the one, bugger me I'm going senile
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#285058 - 07/08/2006 12:30
Re: English vs American
[Re: Mataglap]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 16/04/2002
Posts: 2011
Loc: Yorkshire UK
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Whilst vs. while
This is a difficult one, especially in a thread started by an American who had been recently in West Yorkshire:
"While" to most of us means " during".
In West Yorkshire, and particularly centred around Leeds, it means "until" as in:
"He won't be back while 2'O'clock"
Therefore logically if you put up a sign saying: "Do not cross the road while the lights are red" half the Leeds populus would get run over.
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Politics and Ideology: Not my bag
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#285059 - 07/08/2006 13:14
Re: English vs American
[Re: peter]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Another shibboleth to do with missing words is missing prepositions in US English: I've mainly seen this in cnn.com headlines, but people do it in speech too: "Let's do this Tuesday" rather than "Let's do this on Tuesday".
How would you say "Let's do that this afternoon."? I can't think of any other way to say it that isn't terribly awkward, and surely both "this afternoon" and "Tuesday" are noun-phrases.
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#285060 - 07/08/2006 13:38
Re: English vs American
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 13/07/2000
Posts: 4180
Loc: Cambridge, England
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Quote:
How would you say "Let's do that this afternoon."? I can't think of any other way to say it that isn't terribly awkward, and surely both "this afternoon" and "Tuesday" are noun-phrases.
Hmm. You're right that there's an inconsistency there, but at least it's a consistent inconsistency: "We'll do it this month" / "We'll do it in September". And in "Let's do that today", "today" is just as much a noun as "Thursday". In US English, is using a preposition for "Tuesday" or "September" optional, or actually wrong?
Peter
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#285061 - 07/08/2006 14:13
Re: English vs American
[Re: peter]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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No, it's not wrong at all. Somehow without the preposition it seems more definite, almost as if "on Tuesday" implies "if we get around to it".
And no one would ever say "We'll do it September". You definitely need an "in" there.
Edited by wfaulk (07/08/2006 14:16)
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#285062 - 07/08/2006 16:54
Re: English vs American
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 13/07/2000
Posts: 4180
Loc: Cambridge, England
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And no one would ever say "We'll do it September". You definitely need an "in" there.
I'm sure I've heard people say "We'll release this January", or "We'll release this first quarter", but I guess they might be unintentionally adopting headline-speak.
Peter
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#285063 - 07/08/2006 18:49
Re: English vs American
[Re: peter]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 10/06/1999
Posts: 5916
Loc: Wivenhoe, Essex, UK
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I'm sure I've heard people say "We'll release this January", or "We'll release this first quarter", but I guess they might be unintentionally adopting headline-speak.
Plenty of the Americans on the development teams I have worked on use just those sorts of phrases all the time.
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#285064 - 08/08/2006 00:07
Re: English vs American
[Re: andy]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 20/01/2002
Posts: 2085
Loc: New Orleans, LA
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"We'll release this January" just sounds so wrong to me. "We'll release this first quarter" sounds perfectly fine. I have no idea why, that's just the way it is.
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#285065 - 08/08/2006 01:56
Re: English vs American
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 17/12/2000
Posts: 2665
Loc: Manteca, California
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Quote:
Quote:
Another shibboleth to do with missing words is missing prepositions in US English: I've mainly seen this in cnn.com headlines, but people do it in speech too: "Let's do this Tuesday" rather than "Let's do this on Tuesday".
How would you say "Let's do that this afternoon."? I can't think of any other way to say it that isn't terribly awkward, and surely both "this afternoon" and "Tuesday" are noun-phrases.
Typically "Lets do that after lunch." or "Can it wait till this afternoon." or "Lets save that for this afternoon."
till = until (didn't even think about that until rereading what was written)
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Glenn
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#285066 - 08/08/2006 09:36
Re: English vs American
[Re: boxer]
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addict
Registered: 23/12/2002
Posts: 652
Loc: Winston Salem, NC
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...half the Leeds populus would get run over.
And what would be wrong with that? 
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#285068 - 08/08/2006 12:30
Re: English vs American
[Re: Roger]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 16/04/2002
Posts: 2011
Loc: Yorkshire UK
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Quote:
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...half the Leeds populus would get run over.
And what would be wrong with that?
The other half wouldn't?
Speaking as a Kentish Man, as opposed to a Man of Kent, I've never had a problem with the folk of Leeds, not that I live in the immediate vicinity!
Just a minute though....an empegger from the other side of the pond and he didn't come for the traditional yorkshire hospitality from Cris (As much a Yorkshireman a I!) myself, Mrs. B and the Boxette, make sure you get in touch if you come again
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#285069 - 08/08/2006 12:50
Re: English vs American
[Re: boxer]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 18/01/2000
Posts: 5683
Loc: London, UK
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Speaking as a Kentish Man, as opposed to a Man of Kent, I've never had a problem with the folk of Leeds, not that I live in the immediate vicinity!
Nah, I was joking. And I'm a Man of Kent, so there 
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-- roger
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#285071 - 08/08/2006 18:47
Re: English vs American
[Re: Roger]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 16/04/2002
Posts: 2011
Loc: Yorkshire UK
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And I'm a Man of Kent, so there
Ah, I shall be that side of the river for the weekend in mid October, I'm sure that I'll get down more than a scoop or two of Shepherd Neame, the biggest thing that I miss about my youth!
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Politics and Ideology: Not my bag
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#285072 - 21/08/2006 03:54
Re: English vs American
[Re: Cybjorg]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 06/04/2005
Posts: 2026
Loc: Seattle transplant
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While watching The Secret Life of Machines, I stumbled multiple times across this one: Valves = Vacuum Tubes
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