American/english

[MaryMary]

@zigs, that common language causes trouble.

My mother was an elementary school teacher, and as a result, I learned to read early, and read voraciously. Mom was great. If you wanted a treat while shopping, you picked a book. Toys and candy would mostly get a firm "no," but that woman could never refuse her kids a book. (We were not allowed to get bad grades. )

An early favorite was Roald Dahl.

By now I can't remember if it was second or third grade, but we had a spelling test, and my teacher marked mine wrong when I wrote "neighbour," and "favourite." (Even now, the spell-checker is marking them in red!)

I took whatever book I was reading at the time, leafed through it briefly, then, armed with my proof and the spelling test, I marched up to her desk and told her I thought she was wrong. I had spelled those words correctly, look here...

She briefly looked where I was pointing, flipped my book closed, looked at the author, and brusquely said, "Well, yes, but he's English."

She was not amused when I, in my innocence, said, "I thought we were learning English."





I got a bad grade that day.

 

[zigs]

She should have taken that on the chin, can't call it an English lesson if you're actually learning US English

We've got lots of local accents in the UK, but as far as I know, all the official words are spelt the same.

I grew up with an American dictionary so knew some of the differences. I can spell theatre without the spell checker coming on but not theater as I've got it set to English and not English US

 

[MaryMary]

It's my understanding of the evolution of American English, that the letter U was only removed as a way of thumbing "our" nose at "you." (Or... U. )

240 years later, it seems a bit petty and childish to me. I just am truly thankful I do not have to write the word "langwage."

The teacher was a mean old biddy who only took the job because she didn't like children, and could be mean to them from her position of authority. Teaching in the same school system, my mother knew this. She took my bad grade in stride, even laughed and ruffled my hair!!

 

[zigs]

I thoght it was

I read yesterday that teaching is one of the preferred professions of psychopaths

 

[MaryMary]

I thoght it was

I see what yo did there!


But seriously, can you imagine that conversation?

(England...grumble, grumble...taxes...grumble, grumble...)

* John, I've got a great idea!!
* What's that, William?
* We'll take all the unnecessary Us out of the language!
* Heck yeah! Our country, our language!
* That'll teach 'em!

(And the crowd goes wild...RAH, RAH, RAH!!!)

 

[zigs]

Tee Hee

They went one further, changed the letter Zed to Zee

You wouldn't believe the waves of shock and indignation that sent rippling thru 18th Century England

Incidentally, in The Crysalids, a post nuclear war sci fi novel, the Z is missing from the alphabet all together

 

[MaryMary]

They went one further, changed the letter Zed to Zee

I knew that that had been done, but I just made the connection between your "zeh-bra" and our "zee-bra." (Not that either one of us has zebras!) Incidentally, my spell-checker is fine with "Zed," but is telling me the "Zee" is wrong.

You wouldn't believe the waves of shock and indignation that sent rippling thru 18th Century England

Oh, I'm sure it did. Probably made headlines.

Incidentally, in The Crysalids, a post nuclear war sci fi novel, the Z is missing from the alphabet all together

So that would make you "igs" ? Nah, I don't like it. That'll never catch on.

 

[zigs]

We do have Zebra Crossings, there's one on The Beatles Abbey Road album cover

We have a special day where we smoke tea leaves and drink Mayflower wine to remember it

Been called worse

 

[marlingardener]

We have pliers, but for the life of me I can't remember what they are called in true English. Help?

 

[zigs]

We have pliers, but for the life of me I can't remember what they are called in true English. Help?

Pliers

Oddly enough, when I ordered Grozing pliers for glass cutting from Amazon, they turned up labled American Pliers

 

[MaryMary]

We have pliers, but for the life of me I can't remember what they are called in true English. Help?

Maybe you are thinking of: grippers? forceps? pincers?

 

[marlingardener]

I just had a moment! The American word for pliers=spanners in British English! Now at 2 a.m. I can turn over and go back to sleep without trying to think what "pliers" are in the UK.

 

[Becky]

This is what we call a spanner (or a wrench):

Do you call this pliers?! This is what we call pliers:

 

[zigs]

This is what came labled as American Pliers, but what we'd call Grozing Pliers

One bit is flat and the other curved.

 

[marlingardener]

Back to lying awake at 2 a.m. trying to figure out an alternative word for "pliers".
Becky, you are right--that two ended thing is a wrench (spanner) and the other tool is a pair of pliers. I was seriously confused.
Next question--why is a "pair" of pliers? Pliers wouldn't be very helpful as a singleton. Must be a yin and yang thing.
Zigs, I've never seen grozing pliers, but then I don't work glass. Interesting concept, and look a bit like fencing pliers, which are designed to hold barbed wire tight so it can be pulled to the next fence post without a sag. A good fencer can make wire sing in the wind.