Things that make you :)

[manna]

G'Day Folks

 

 

[The Johnster]

1 hour ago, 96701 said:

Is it possible that the English people who went to America continued to spell words as they were when they left, and it is us that have changed?

 
I’d say that, as a colonial society that lacked the sophistication of the UK and only began to match it economically about a 120 years ago, and were thus less subject to ‘progress’, it is highly likely!  

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, 96701 said:

Is it possible that the English people who went to America continued to spell words as they were when they left, and it is us that have changed

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, 96701 said:

Is it possible that the English people who went to America continued to spell words as they were when they left, and it is us that have changed?

Some spelling changes were introduced with Webster's Dictionary, first introduced in 1828. Examples are replacing "re" with "er" centre / center and removing the superfluous silent "u" in words like colour / color. Of course these spellings were widely used in England historically before there was any "standard" spelling.

 

I find they make absolutely no difference in terms of comprehension and communicating intent, which is the purpose of language.

 

These changes are quite separate from grammar, which, for the most part, is essentially the same. 

 

Where there is more diversion is in pronunciations. In many cases, American English is a time capsule of regional pronunciations that were present in 17th and 18th century Britain.

 

Edited April 18, 2021 by Ozexpatriate

[96701]

7 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Some spelling changes were introduced with Webster's Dictionary, first introduced in 1828. Examples are replacing "re" with "er" centre / center and removing the superfluous silent "u" in words like colour / color. Of course these spellings were widely used in England historically before there was any "standard" spelling.

 

I find they make absolutely no difference in terms of comprehension and communicating intent, which is the purpose of language.

 

These changes are quite separate from grammar, which, for the most part, is essentially the same. 

 

Where there is more diversion is in pronunciations. In many cases, American English is a time capsule of regional pronunciations that were present in 17th and 18th century Britain.

 

Agreed, except there might not have been much aluminum about in the 17th and 18th centuries. 

 

"The American Chemical Society (ACS) officially adopted aluminum in 1925, but in 1990 The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) accepted aluminium as the international standard. And so we land today: with aluminum used by the English speakers of North America, and aluminium used everywhere else."

 

And let's not forget soddering, and they still use the original imperial miles and gallons.

 

Wonderful differences, love it.

[pH]

20 minutes ago, 96701 said:

Agreed, except there might not have been much aluminum about in the 17th and 18th centuries. 

 

"The American Chemical Society (ACS) officially adopted aluminum in 1925, but in 1990 The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) accepted aluminium as the international standard. And so we land today: with aluminum used by the English speakers of North America, and aluminium used everywhere else."

The history of the aluminum/aluminium difference is fairly complicated. It appears to have been ‘aluminum’ in the UK before it was ‘aluminium’. And ‘aluminium’ was used as often as ‘aluminum’ in the US until late in the 19th century.

 

https://www.spectraaluminum.com/aluminum-vs-aluminium.html

[Ozexpatriate]

26 minutes ago, 96701 said:

... they still use the original imperial miles and gallons ...

Miles yes. Imperial gallons, no. The Imperial gallon is about 20% larger than the US gallon. Consequently pints and fluid ounces are different as well.

 

Then there's the US ton, which is 2,000 lb, unlike the Imperial ton (or long ton) which is 2,240 lb.

 

I live in hope for the day that foot-pound furlongs per fortnight can be consigned to history.

[96701]

1 minute ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Miles yes. Imperial gallons, no. The Imperial gallon is about 20% larger than the US gallon. Consequently pints and fluid ounces are different as well.

 

Then there's the US ton, which is 2,000 lb, unlike the Imperial ton (or long ton) which is 2,240 lb.

 

I live in hope for the day that foot-pound furlongs per fortnight can be consigned to history.

Along with rods, poles and perches. Long live the chain!

[Ozexpatriate]

31 minutes ago, 96701 said:

And let's not forget soddering

I presume you speak of the technique of attaching metals. It is spelled soldering in both British and American English.

[pH]

But not pronounced the same way!

[96701]

2 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I presume you speak of the technique of attaching metals. It is spelled soldering in both British and American English.

It would have lost all meaning had I spelled it correctly.

[Ozexpatriate]

3 minutes ago, pH said:

But not pronounced the same way!

Duly noted above.

51 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Where there is more diversion is in pronunciations.

 

[Ozexpatriate]

8 minutes ago, 96701 said:

Long live the chain!

Where would cricket be without the chain? So devilishly difficult to measure a 20.1168m wicket.

[kevinlms]

1 hour ago, manna said:

G'Day Folks

 

 

Why is it always brand new or virtually so tyres get destroyed?

 

It's happened to me a couple of times in the first 5000 km.

[manna]

3 hours ago, kevinlms said:

Why is it always brand new or virtually so tyres get destroyed?

 

It's happened to me a couple of times in the first 5000 km.

I had that to, brand new tyre, no more than 2,000k's, lad drove it onto the grass, ripped out the side wall on a short stake and it was a big 4x4 tyre to.

 

manna

[great central]

While I find the, now almost, universal use of 'train station' annoying, although it's disputed whether it comes from America, the one I simply don't get is bathroom!

It's now creeping into regular usage here having read it several times in news reports on my phone, sometimes there's not much more to do at work, specially over the last year.

I've been asked on station and trains if there's a bathroom, FFS it's a toilet (alternatively a WC, lavatory or just plain BOG!) You can't take a bath in there. 

When asked for the bathroom on stations I'm very tempted to reply there's a shower room but it's for staff only!

[kevinlms]

12 minutes ago, manna said:

I had that to, brand new tyre, no more than 2,000k's, lad drove it onto the grass, ripped out the side wall on a short stake and it was a big 4x4 tyre to.

 

manna

My last one was a branch that was across the road on a windy & wet night. I hit it about 60kmh and ripped the tyre and buckled the rim.

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, great central said:

I've been asked on station and trains if there's a bathroom, FFS it's a toilet (alternatively a WC, lavatory or just plain BOG!) You can't take a bath in there. 

 

You forgot "loo"!

 

At least women don't want to "powder their noses" anymore...

[pH]

3 hours ago, great central said:

While I find the, now almost, universal use of 'train station' annoying, although it's disputed whether it comes from America, the one I simply don't get is bathroom! It's now creeping into regular usage here ...

I can remember ‘bathroom’ in use in Scotland 65 years ago. It referred to the room in a house that contained a toilet, a sink and a bath.  By extension, it was often used for a toilet elsewhere, perhaps as a polite term. 

[Steamport Southport]

It's a euphemism for a you know what....

 

When people talk about "Victorians" being prudish it's more likely they are taking about their American equivalent in the same era. There was a very puritanical movement in the USA at the time which ultimately led to there being a lot of censorship and eventually Prohibition.

 

There was a thing about covering up statues and not letting "the masses" see paintings of nudes. But that wasn't a British thing, it was more common in the USA.

 

The British have a long and proud history of toilet humour and it's probably why America doesn't really have farces or pantomimes.

[Jol Wilkinson]

10 hours ago, 96701 said:

Is it possible that the English people who went to America continued to spell words as they were when they left, and it is us that have changed?

My original point was more about recent/current UK language "changes, than what has happened in the US.

 

However, surely the large influx of people from other parts of the world, especially Europe, in the late 19th/early 20th centuries would have had a considerable impact on how English was spoken and changed in the US than it did in the UK, at least until the 1950's.

Edited April 18, 2021 by Jol Wilkinson
Amended text

[96701]

Indeed. I don't think it is possible to find the full answer, a bit of both perhaps?

[rocor]

3 hours ago, Hroth said:

 

You forgot "loo"!

 

At least women don't want to "powder their noses" anymore...

 

The removal of all horizontal flat surfaces within the facilities can at least make this more difficult.

[96701]

8 hours ago, rocor said:

 

The removal of all horizontal flat surfaces within the facilities can at least make this more difficult.

Are you not conflating this with "putting powder up one's nose"?

 

[simontaylor484]

6 minutes ago, 96701 said:

Are you not conflating this with "putting powder up one's nose"?

 

A liberal spray of WD40 on said surfaces prevents their use for that purpose allegedly

[Ozexpatriate]

9 hours ago, Jol Wilkinson said:

However, surely the large influx of people from other parts of the world, especially Europe, in the late 19th/early 20th centuries would have had a considerable impact on how English was spoken and changed in the US than it did in the UK, at least until the 1950's.

Colonialism made a big difference to the vocabulary of British English in the 18th and 19th centuries. Most obvious are words of Indian origin - like pajamas / pyjamas. (The word is Persian but introduced to Britain via India.) There are many examples. 

 

Edited April 18, 2021 by Ozexpatriate