English Translation To Er..Um...US English? (page 3)

Mulan

don't forget subway and underground. I was always mixing those up over there.

SpannerintheWorks, no, the WTBTS has never translated any of their publications into European English (I prefer to use that term rather than British English ) apart from the Kingdom Ministry. It's odd that they have never done this to the Watchtower and Awake as they have always printed them here; they even used to have "London, England" on the top of each page.

Matty

don't forget subway and underground.

Marilyn, I see Americans trying to get a train and see the word "Subway" and end up nowhere other than the other side of the road, ahh bless!

larc

Thank you for that most interesting list of U.S. versus UK terms. I do have a couple of questions. Jelly versus jam. We use both terms. Jelly has no seeds and jam or preserves do. Preserves also has some thick fruit in it. Do you make this distinction? Parade versus Carnival. To us a carnival means the same as a festival. Do use festival or a different word? Commercial versus Advertisement. We use advertisement for newspaper and magaizines "ads." Flat is used for apartments, but I think it is mostly used only in New York City, but I am not sure about that. Jan told me that slip road is used in Kentucky to apply to country roads. Yard versus garden. We use garden to apply to were we plant lots of flowers or vegetables. Do you have a separate name for these? Cooky versus biscuit. Do you have a word for what we call a biscuit? We also use the words trousers and dungarees, but not as often. They seem to be out of fashion in recent years. Sorry of all the questions, but Inquiring minds want to know.

ozziepost

You guys think YOU have problems??????!!

Here in the Great South Land we have not two, but THREE versions of English! English English, American English and Strine.

Things were OK until the last one or two generations (No, not "THAT" generation!!!!) but the flood of American shows, mostly pap, on our screens has fostered a whole generation of migrant kids who believe that it's the correct way to speak. A tragedy.

First we had the rapid change to the use of the word "gay". Now we have another one. I'm forever telling kids there's no such thing as the use of the word "verse" as a verb in a sentence. They're forever talking of being "verse" this and "verse" that. It comes from reading in football programs Dragons v Saints i.e. "versus".

Eman, you and I are just getting too old for this world!!!

Cheers, Ozzie

Edited by - ozziepost on 18 November 2002 18:15:13

Englishman

Eman, you and I are just getting too old for this world!!!

Tell me about it!

I'm just off to bed, and you're just about to read the Ozzie Express with your mornin' coffee!

Night night,

Englishman.

xenawarrior

WHY ENGLISH IS SO HARD TO LEARN

1. The bandage was wound around the wound.
2. The farm was used to produce produce.
3. The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4. We must polish the Polish furniture.
5. He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6. The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7. Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8. A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9. When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10. I did not object to the object.
11. The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12. There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13. They were too close to the door to close it.
14. The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15. A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16. To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17. The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18. Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
19. I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
20. How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Let's face it -

English is a crazy language. There is no egg in an eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. Sweetmeats are candies, while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat. And if we explore it's paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. You park in the driveway but you drive on the parkway. You ship by truck and send cargo by ship. How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which an alarm goes off by going on. When the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, the are invisible. And finally, how about when you want to shut down your computer you have to hit "START"?!

Have a good day!!!

XW

Mulan

Ozzie, what do you mean, "they BELIEVE that's the correct way to speak." It IS the correct way. As you said, it's on television and the movies. Isn't that our barometer for correctness? Hehehehe.

By the way, I absolutely LOVE the Australian accent. I don't have one, you know. An accent, that is. I sound like the people on TV.

Hollywood Marilyn here

Edited by - mulan on 18 November 2002 19:4:16

Mary

Trailor	Caravan
Trash	Rubbish

So, someone over here that we call "Trailor Trash", is actually "Caravan Rubbish" in jolly ol' England!

Thanks for clearing that up

Crazy151drinker

I prefer the California esq Basura Blanca

English Translation To Er..Um...US English?

Share this