Early Risers.

[polybear]

1 hour ago, grandadbob said:

I can remember the dents in the wall at the back of some of our classrooms.  I can also remember one lad getting hit in the head with much claret resulting.  Don't think much came of it as the master involved was still at the school when I left but the consequences now don't bear thinking about.

 

Let's see now...assault with an offensive weapon, banned from teaching.....

Bear's fun today involved sugar soaping the kitchen ceiling (jeez that was hard work), changing the bed, doing the washing.  Oh deep joy.  Tomorrow I have a wander to the Co-op to look forward to, then more kitchen work.  Anyone fancy a swap?

[Dave Hunt]

45 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

The letter Y used to be used as typesetters shorthand for 'th' hence "Ye Old Curiosity Shop".

 

The root of ye goes back further than that. In old English there was a letter similar looking to a Y with a vertical-ish line through it that was called a thorn and indicated the th sound. Hence what is usually said to have been pronounced ye old was, in fact, the old. Thus what the typesetters were doing was using Y to represent the thorn.

 

I think I may have told the story before but when I first went to work in San Diego in the 80s at a happy hour I shouted over to my American mate who was a few yards away along the bar, "Can I bum a fag?" meaning could I scrounge a cigarette. The meaning in California being something very different, the place went quiet until  my mate said, "He's a Brit; it means something different there," but there were still some people who continued to give me funny looks.

 

Dave

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[Coombe Barton]

... and according to Amazon, Christmas is near ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2020/12/09/sounds-of-the-season-11/

[jamie92208]

10 hours ago, tigerburnie said:

In the early 1970's I was working for Imperial Typewriters and they were taken over by an American Company that sent a plane load of folk over to the factory. I smoked back then and thought I'd be friendly and asked if any one wanted a fag.............................................you should have seen their faces until I explained it was slang for a ciggy.

A friend of mine was with a party of American friends in London and they asked him what he was doing the folliwing week, his reply of "I'm off for a week on The Broads" got rather a strange reaction.

 

Jamie

Edited December 10, 2020 by jamie92208

[monkeysarefun]

2 hours ago, BokStein said:

Where the two (forbidden to mention) pieces of parallel metal diverge to a different root (spelt 'route') is called a 'point' in the UK, so it may turnout that, for commonality, one side of the pond may have to switch to an alternative name!

 

On second thoughts, make that three nations and let's include our antipodean friends. I'm pondering the generic name used in the UK for a type of transparent adhesive tape!

 

The sticky tape thing is less of an issue here than our other meaning for the word root.  

 

The unix operating systems admin user is called 'root'. We used to have much hilarity here when a visiting US guy would come into our computer lab and call out "Can anyone give me a root session?" 

 

Additionally we had to convince a Canadian exchange student that walking around the city in a sloppy joe with the word "Roots" ( apparently a sportswear brand over there) across her chest might have unexpected consequences.

[Erichill16]

I dont think this ship had stabilisers.

[Erichill16]

Not all water is in the form of waves.

[tigerburnie]

G'night all

[Barry O]

Goodnight all!

Baz

[The Stationmaster]

3 hours ago, BokStein said:

 

Where the two (forbidden to mention) pieces of parallel metal diverge to a different root (spelt 'route') is called a 'point' in the UK, so it may turnout that, for commonality, one side of the pond may have to switch to an alternative name!

 

 

Well not exactly.  On the biy t of the railway where I spent the major chunk of my career our civikl engineering colleagues referred to something called 'S&C work' - which translated meant 'switch & crossing  work' -or what us ignorant operating folks called points.  But in a number of situations we specifically referred to 'switchs' - which meant exactly the same as the things our CE colleagues called switchs. (i.e switch and stock rails).

 

Other bits of teh railway probably called them something else but they could never manage to get their track gauge right although their ideas won out in the end.

[Erichill16]

 Evening All,

MY team won so a better day.

Goodnight,

Robert

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

I didn’t get as much stuff moved as I’d have liked to, as moving the larger items was making a bit too much noise. So instead, I did something quiet, namely building a few circuit boards. These circuit boards will delay the power going to the servos when power is applied to the main control boards, thus reducing the twitch that can sometimes (almost always) happens. 

 

Goodnight all 

[Ozexpatriate]

2 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

Who was it who stated "Two great allies separated by a common language."?

These adages are difficult to source accurately - there are so many internet references that are misattributed.

 

This one is interesting:

Quote

British vs. American English

• It is a misfortune for Anglo-American friendship that the two countries are supposed to have a common language. A Frenchman in America is not expected to talk like an American, but an Englishman speaking his mother tongue is thought to be affected and giving himself airs. Or else he is taken for a German or a Dutchman, and is complimented on his grammatical mastery of the language of another nation.
  • Bertrand Russell, "Can Americans and Britons Be Friends?", Saturday Evening Post, 3 June 1944.
• The United States and Great Britain are two countries separated by a common language.
  • George Bernard Shaw, widely attributed beginning in the 1940s, e.g. Reader’s Digest (November 1942). Not found in his published works.
  • Variant: The English and the Americans are two peoples divided by a common language.
• We have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language.
  • Oscar Wilde, The Canterville Ghost (1887).

 

Perhaps because in my formative years Australian television programming was approximately equal parts British, American and Australian the different words for the same thing like:

"dustbin" / "rubbish bin" / "trash can"

were all familiar.

Ernie drove the biggest dustcart, we put rubbish in the bin and Oscar the Grouch lived in a trash can.

 

Where I saw successive Australians stumble was at what are called "family style" restaurants, meaning essentially diners with table service.

 

When confronted by a waitress* asking whether they wanted the soup or salad, Australians fresh off the 'plane would hear "do you want the super salad?", resulting in "umm, yes?".

 

* You can imagine someone (smiling if in California) with a notepad and apron, chewing gum if you like.

 

Woe betide those who chose the salad. They were then presented with another question, "what dressing?"

 

I have witnessed this exact exchange many times with multiple family members and verified it with other expats. These days choosing a salad dressing is perhaps less daunting for Aussies abroad but 30 years ago it was culture shock.

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, monkeysarefun said:

The sticky tape thing is less of an issue here than our other meaning for the word root.  

I'm not even sure I get the Sellotape, sticky tape, Scotch tape* reference?

 

* A 3M brand name.

 

Long before I ever heard of Lynn Truss and her grammar book "Eats, shoots and leaves" there was an old joke about the difference between a wombat and a one night stand. A wombat of course, eats roots and leaves. 

[pH]

26 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I'm not even sure I get the Sellotape, sticky tape, Scotch tape* reference?

 

* A 3M brand name.

 

 

I was given to understand that there is a brand of adhesive tape sold in Australia which goes by the name of 'Durex'. A prim young Australian lady I worked with in the UK was quite embarrassed when she asked for tape by that name in a UK shop soon after arriving in the country.

[J. S. Bach]

2 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

 ...snip... Perhaps because in my formative years Australian television programming was approximately equal parts British, American and Australian the different words for the same thing like:

"dustbin" / "rubbish bin" / "trash can"

were all familiar.

 ...snip...

You left out the USN version: "s***can"!    Experientia docet.

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, pH said:

 

I was given to understand that there is a brand of adhesive tape sold in Australia which goes by the name of 'Durex'. A prim young Australian lady I worked with in the UK was quite embarrassed when she asked for tape by that name in a UK shop soon after arriving in the country.

 

Yeah it was at some point but I can't remember when I last saw it.

 

The other Durex is a lot more common here and would be the first thing people here think of when hearing the word but we don't use it as a generic term, its just a brand name.

 

In the case of condoms the most usual Australian term for them is.....  frangers.

[iL Dottore]

7 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

Actually, that one deserves a great GROAN!

Thank you, kind sir!
 

C’mon Andy Y, get rid of the thick plonker that screwed things up and GIVE US BACK OUR GROAN BUTTON.

 

Or at least put it back for early risers, where you know it will be used responsibly.

 

iD

p.s. Surely it can’t be beyond the wit and ingenuity of the mod team to come down like a ton of the proverbials on anyone abusing the groan button. After all attention was paid to what was going on before the groan button was removed.

 

[J. S. Bach]

15 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

 ...snip... Or at least put it back for early risers, where you know it will be used responsibly.

iD

p.s. Surely it can’t be beyond the wit and ingenuity of the mod team to come down like a ton of the proverbials on anyone abusing the groan button. After all attention was paid to what was going on before the groan button was removed.

 

I second that, but with a different emoticon. The old one looked more like a "SAD/GRIEVING ( or TEARS)" button; which might be useful when someone on the Cats or Dogs fora reports the passing of their pet. And the same for a loved one (person) . Just a thought.

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[iL Dottore]

Having grown up in the UK and also having spent 10 years living in the US, I am very familiar with the differences between the two languages. Of course, you get incoherent, ungrammatical dunderheads in both countries but equally both countries are rich in many useful expressions used effectively by literate individuals.

 

The Americans have come up with some really great expressions, things like “wrapped too tight“, “nickelled and dimed“ “One trick pony“. Those are the “clean” expressions, many of the really great American expressions use variations on the word “sh1t”, as “I don’t give a_______“, “no _____ Sherlock”, “____faced” and “a real _____hole” to cite but a few. The late, great, American comedian George Carlin had a hilarious monologue entitled “a place for my sh1t“ in which he explored the many very different ways that particular vulgarism for excrement is used in America. I suppose you could get at least half a dozen PhD dissertations out of why the Americans are so enamoured of this particular vulgarity. And it probably has to do with religion and how the Americans regard bodily functions and the human body in general (want to spot the Americans or British in a German, Swiss or Finnish sauna? They are the ones wearing a bathing costume, everyone else is stark bollock naked).

 

To further muddy the linguistic waters, if you speak one or more languages in addition to English, you’ll find yourself using words (if not expressions) from the other languages you speak, as such words and expressions are much better in expressing or conveying a set of ideas or emotions than the English counterparts. For example: I speak 3 1/2 languages (English, Italian and German and I can mangle French and Spanish), my father spoke seven languages and when we were having one of our regular “in-depth” discussions of various hot topics of contemporary interest we would often throw in Italian, German, French and Swiss words and phrases - not because we were showing off, but simply because the “foreign“ word or phrase was better in conveying a certain idea or meaning (take the Italian phrase “mi arrangio” it literally translates to “I get by” but means so, so, much more. And let’s not get started on the various, pithy, Swiss words and phrases used by Mrs iD to express her disdain, disapproval and disagreement...)

 

And on that linguistic note: enjoy your Thursday!

 

iD

Edited December 10, 2020 by iL Dottore
Spelling

[J. S. Bach]

2 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

 ...snip... The Americans have come up with some really great expressions, things like “wrapped too tight“, “nickelled and dimed“ “One trick pony“. Those are the “clean” expressions,  ...snip...

iD

I was just ready to pull the plug on my confuser when I saw and read your post; my favorite American expression is "drop a dime" meaning make/making a phone call. For many years here, payphones cost a dime (10¢) to make a call.