h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Oh dear.. Well there you go, you need look no farther(further). Seems I chose to spell choose incorrectly. Guess that simply means that All Americans are Complete Morons, and Illiterate as well. Well, I'll be!

'Nonnie

The 'semi' (or semi-truck) comes from it being two different parts, the tractor and the trailor. Then you have a 'straight truck' which is not to be confused with the 'van' (not mini-van), the dump truck, the flatbed, the box.. Which all doesn't really matter when you're bob-tailing home for the weekend.

Erm.. utoh.. giving away my heritage here.

'Nonnie

Are you paranoid or something? I ask a question out of curiosity and you interpret it as an attempt at 'Yank-bashing'.

I'm British, born and bred. I studied Latin at school between the ages of 11 and 15. It gave me a fascination with language, its origins and development. I am interested in the differences between America and Britain generally, not just the way our languages differ. If you look at the questions I have submitted to h2g2 you will find that they are all directed at Americans (the other two are 'How big is a block?' and 'Why are the US and UK pints different?' I don't think there are any others.) Are these questions 'Yank-bashing'?

George Bernard Shaw described Britain and America as 'two countries separated by a common language'. I'm just trying to explore one of the differences.

Do me a big favour. Get a life or see a shrink. But don't go looking for trouble that ain't there!!!!

As for the ETYMOLOGY of 'fall' (entymology is the study of insects), the Oxford English Dictionary defines it as the American word for autumn. It does not define it as slang. I would be surprised if it did because, as I stated in another response, Robert Louis Stevenson used the word in one of his works (a short story called 'Thrawn Janet', I think) and he didn't write slang.

Hi Nonnie

I reckon you just managed a record post for this two peoples separated by a common language thread.

Lets see if I can get this Right (ish) US -UK

Truck = Lorry (but we also use truck just to add to the confusion)

Semi truck = Articulated lorry

Van = Not quite sure probably just lorry / box van?

Mini Van = Van (Ford Transit or similar)

A mini van in the UK would refer to the Van derivitive of the (Austin/Morris/BMC/Leyland/Rover/BMW) Mini Designed by Alec Issigonis (sp?)in the late 1950's which is still in production (just)and very much design classic.

Arn't living languages a great thing!

In the Merriam-Websters dictionary, through all the definitions of 'fall' only one short mention of Autumn exists, and that is simply a single-word pointer to the word Autumn. The definition for Autumn is just 'the season between summer and winter' with no mention whatsoever of the word 'fall'.

As for my need of a life and looking for trouble, I am not, and I apologize if it seems that way, but I have simply come to notice, in my travels around h2g2, that whenever your name appears it always seems (to me, at least) that some snide remark about Americans inevitably follows. Now, I don't have to be a flag-waving, bible-thumping, card-carrying member of the NRA to feel part of the group you so casually lump together (or, again, so it feels to me).

I've read other posts here that give evidence to the fact that I'm not alone in that sentiment.

(And as for my etemology/entemology blooper, personally I just use the term semantics, since it's easier to remember and more people understand what I'm talking about that way -- it's all a matter of semantics.)

'Wherever your name appears it always seems ... that some snide remark about Americans inevitably follows'. Take a look at the list of forums I have contributed to. The ones involving America / Americans are in the minority. I can only think of about 6 or 7, off the top of my head.

And please point out to me my 'snide remarks about Americans'. I'm not aware of having made any. They certainly weren't intentional. O.K., I've said the Americans confuse the British. That's a fact, not a snide remark. They certainly confuse me, but that's not 'Yank-bashing'. The only other 'snide remark' I can think of was when I 'criticised' the Americans' knowledge of geography, but that was in association with some snippets from AMERICAN travel agents, so the Americans obviously find their countrymen's ignorance of geography amusing.

And I don't regard all Americans as 'flag-waving, bible-thumping, card-carrying members of the NRA'. Americans are a very diverse bunch and I certainly don't recall anywhere in any of my responses where I give the impression that I 'lump them together'. I've re-read the responses to my question and I don't see any that give the impression that other researchers feel that I do. Again, please point them out.

In future, whenever I make a remark about Americans I'll put a smiley after it, so that you know I don't hate your collective guts!

Hmmm, just about enough heat here to make it worthwhile for me to go & get some marshmallows for toasting

;^)#
<wanders off wondering how anyone can say they have linguistic differences in their use of English when they haven't had to fold, rumple & fetish it enough to cope with place names like Woolloomooloo, Wheelyabarrowbak & Kikatinalong>

Thanks for that! Things were getting a bit heated. I was on the verge of totting up all the forums I have contributed to over the past 10 months or so, counting the ones with any association with the States, setting up links to those forums and letting the entire H2G2 population decide whether or not I'm a 'Yank-basher'. Which, IMHO, I'm not.

I guess it's best to leave this exchange where it is. Once again, thanks for de-fusing things!

See, I thought we (Americans) used "quarter" just as much as "fourth". When we talk about time, a quarter is fifteen minutes, so we say "quarter past seven" and stuff like that. In fact, I bet I use "quarter" MORE than "fourth". What I don't understand is why the heck DON'T we use the metric system? Yes, I was raised on American Standard (or whatever) but metric seems so much easier. And I notice that the British, and Europeans in general, have a better sense of perspective than we do... Americans think of America as this box that we shouldn't/won't leave. Oh well... we are a big country though, maybe that has something to do with it.

Awww gee, I suppose I'll have to refund the money I got from that 'new today' person for the marshmallow concession for this thread

have fun
;^)#

Maybe you do use 'quarter' as much as 'fourth'. I'm not an expert on America - I've never even been there. It's just that whenever someone on an American TV program or film talks about a fourth part of something, they always seem to use the word 'fourth' instead of 'quarter'. Obviously time, money and Big Macs are exceptions - I've never heard anyone talk about a 'fourth-pounder'!

Thing is, in Britain we don't use the word at all, except in the sense of '4th of July', or 'He missed out on a medal by coming fourth.' I don't think the system of weights and measures has much to do with it. After all, you can still have a quarter (or fourth) of a kilo, litre, metre, whatever.

In Britain the government is gradually forcing us to use metric measures. Obvious exceptions are beer / cider (still sold in pints), milk (some places sell it in litres, but many still sell it in pints), distances on signs, and speeds. Wines and spirits are sold in litres, fabric and floor-coverings are sold in metres and anything weighed is sold in kilos. I still use Imperial when cooking, though, and think of clothes sizes in inches. (Must replace my kitchen scales before all the Imperial ones go!).

Did you say the 4th of July because it was the American Independence Day or was that just a weird coincidence? And I've never been to England, but I am fascinated with the culture (I have a British flag patch sewn to the back of the denim jacket I'm wearing now) and music (Beatles! Black Sabbath! Yes! Def Leppard!). But I also digress.

Are those English or American names, Bruce? Both countries have their share of unique placenames. In the states they tend to stem from the Europeanized spellings of Native American words.

I grew up on Madokawando Landing. And try spelling Massachusetts when you're 6! Heh.

Def Leppard was the greatest band of all time...until they sold out. Was there one worthwhile song on 'Slang'?

Metric has gotten so much resistance in the states because of the massive expense involved in converting. Street signs would have to be altered...the US probably has more paved roads than any other country in the world, and that adds up. Manufacturers would have to re-equip their factories to use metric bolts, and all repair types would be forced to purchase new tools. Gas pumps would have to be replaced.

Then you have the cultural influence, as well. People hate change, especially when they already know how long a mile is, but are uncertain about a kilometer. People already know how much they should pay for a gallon of milk, or gasoline, and how much gasoline would fit in their tanks. And while the 100 meter dash sounds interesting to track fans, the '50 meter line' in football just doesn't have the same ring to it.

Hey now, I've had to wrap my tongue around the word "Woolloomooloo' (obviously not forced to spell it right, though), as it was where my ship tied up the two times we visited Sydney!

Cool thing about growing up in the US is that you're forced to learn place names from all sorts of sources, Spanish, Indian, French, etc. Proper spelling of 'Mississippi' has confounded grade-schoolers enough that teachers developed a singsong mnemonic device to help them remember...I'm sure every American researcher here can still recite it. Since French names are just about as incomprehensible as Celtic, for every 'Illinois' we have here, you in England have a 'Gwynedd.'

LOL - neither turtle, GargleBlaster has it right - they're Australian - well some of them are, some of them might be joke names too

;^)#

Speaking of sports, I always think that one of the strangest quirks of English English is that if you go to a sports ground and want to stand up to watch the game, then you go and stand on the terraces (if there are any, of course). But if you want to sit, you go in the stand...
Which brings me to one American English word that facinates me: "bleachers". If I understand it correctly, "bleachers" means what we Brits would call a stand, or grandstand.
But how on Earth did that term "bleachers" originate?

I wanted to illustrate use of 'fourth' as a date, and '4th of July' is the most obvious one, even to a Briton.

And in answer to the question on 'bleachers', the Oxford English Dictionary (only one I've got) describes them as 'outdoor uncovered plank-seats for spectators at a sports ground'. Interestingly, it doesn't highlight the word with an *, which it does if the word is primarily American in origin or usage. As far as its etymology goes, the OED lumps it in with 'bleach', as in 'to whiten by exposure to sunlight or chemical process'. So maybe 'bleachers' got their name because the wood (or any paint applied to it) gradually faded with time.

This is a wild guess (I speak British English and I've never heard of a bleacher before) - I looked up 'bleacher' in my Chambers dictionary and it refers to the American sense as 'cheap, open-air seats at a baseball match'. My thinking then is that if you're outside, you're under the heat of the sun, which can bleach things in the sense of turning them a paler colour...
OK, it's not that plausible but I thought it worth a try.