| Author |
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Harvey Van Sickle
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2004 12:25 am
Post subject: Re: Lost/displaced Briticisms |
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On 09 Jul 2004, John Hall wrote
| Quote: | In article <2ad9e934.0407090112.36402974@posting.google.com>,
David Picton <djpicton@bigmailbox.net> writes:
Thought I'd start a new thread on Briticisms which have been
(mostly) displaced by Americanisms. Can you think of any more?
snip
Lorry: truck
|
I've not noticed any major switch to "truck"; I'll have to listen out
for that one.
--
Cheers, Harvey
Ottawa/Toronto/Edmonton for 30 years;
Southern England for the past 21 years.
(for e-mail, change harvey to harvey.van)
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Brian {Hamilton Kelly}
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2004 12:29 am
Post subject: Re: Lost/displaced Briticisms |
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On 9 Jul, in article
<2ad9e934.0407090112.36402974@posting.google.com>
djpicton@bigmailbox.net "David Picton" wrote:
| Quote: | Thought I'd start a new thread on Briticisms which have been (mostly)
displaced by Americanisms. Can you think of any more? Or point to
questionable items?
Accumulator: car battery
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Hmm; an accumulator was never a car battery. It was a lead-acid
secondary cell (or collection thereof, in a battery) for providing low
tension current for the filaments of valves in early radios. I have a
copy of "Motor Car Electrical Systems" published in the mid-1950s, which
makes consistent mention of "battery". (However, I have a feeling that
some motorcycles may have used a single-cell accumulator.)
| Quote: | Billion: originally 'large' (10^12), now 'small' (10^9)
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Why can't all nations (particularly that curious subset of their
inhabitants known as "journalists") refer to, e.g. gigapounds or
teradollars? (Come to that, a strict interpretation of "50m dollars"
implies five cents; but journalists are too ignorant to understand that.)
| Quote: | Fount: as typeface, now usually 'font'
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The late PGS who was once a prolific poster to uk.telecom always used to
uphold this usage. As too, IIRC, did Prof Peter Felgate of Reading
University.
| Quote: | Gangway: as a passage between seats in a theatre etc., now
largely displaced by 'aisle'
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Still in use, SFAIK.
| Quote: | Quitted: past of 'quit' is now usually 'quit'
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Please provide contextual examples. I cannot recall ever having heard
"quitted". (Not that "quit" is exactly common in BrEnglish, at least,
not before the appearance of that option on the File menu of an
application. Except, of course, in the expression "double or quits".)
| Quote: | Sparking plug: spark plug
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Are you sure of this one? ISTR Terry Wogan making fun of the lyrics of
"Matchstick Men and Matchstick Cats and Dogs" (by Brian & Michael, 1978)
in which he [deliberately?] misheard "Children at the corner of the
street in their sparking clogs" as "sparking plugs".
I was first taught about car [automobile] engines by my grandfather,
ca.1953 or so, and he definitely only called them "spark plugs";
however...
....he (and my grandmother) always "switched on the wireless" and found my
adoption of this term "radio" alien. (Said grandfather also involved me
in a "project" of building a two-valve radio using components from his
den in the garden, which dated back to the 1920s. We had a hell of a job
finding anyone who could recharge our accumulator; the HT batteries were
much easier. I doubt that one could find a 90Vdc battery nowadays!)
--
fix (vb.): 1. to paper over, obscure, hide from public view; 2. to
work around, in a way that produces unintended consequences that are
worse than the original problem. Usage: "Windows ME fixes many of the
shortcomings of Windows 98 SE". |
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Tony Cooper
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2004 12:38 am
Post subject: Re: Lost/displaced Briticisms |
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On Fri, 9 Jul 2004 11:38:08 -0500, "Don A. Gilmore"
<eromlignodNOSPM@kc.rr.com> wrote:
| Quote: | "David Picton" <djpicton@bigmailbox.net> wrote in message
news:2ad9e934.0407090815.7ffe2069@posting.google.com...
'Gangway' is still in use in the stated sense, having been only partly
displaced by 'aisle'.
Interestingly, "gangway!" is often used as an interjection in AmE. It's
meaning is equivalent to "Get out of the way!"
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Dunno about that. I think of the term as "Gang way!" and not one
word. I can't remember ever writing it (before this post), but I'd
write it as two words.
I suppose Google will prove me to be the only person in the world that
thinks of it as two words, but that's the way it is.
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Brian {Hamilton Kelly}
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2004 12:52 am
Post subject: Re: Lost/displaced Briticisms |
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On Friday, in article <2l7sdiF9s818U1@uni-berlin.de>
michael.stevens@which.net "Mike Stevens" wrote:
| Quote: | Wireless: radio
"Radio" certainly wasn't solely US in origin. It was the recognised name of
the system from its very beginning, with "wireless" as a popular alternative
that fell out of use (well, largely, it's still used a bit).
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Particularly as "wireless network".
--
fix (vb.): 1. to paper over, obscure, hide from public view; 2. to
work around, in a way that produces unintended consequences that are
worse than the original problem. Usage: "Windows ME fixes many of the
shortcomings of Windows 98 SE". |
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Brian {Hamilton Kelly}
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2004 12:54 am
Post subject: Re: Lost/displaced Briticisms |
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On Friday, in article <2l7vrqF9750mU1@uni-berlin.de>
eromlignodNOSPM@kc.rr.com "Don A. Gilmore" wrote:
| Quote: | "David Picton" <djpicton@bigmailbox.net> wrote in message
news:2ad9e934.0407090815.7ffe2069@posting.google.com...
'Gangway' is still in use in the stated sense, having been only partly
displaced by 'aisle'.
Interestingly, "gangway!" is often used as an interjection in AmE. It's
meaning is equivalent to "Get out of the way!"
|
My great-grandfather (who died in 1962, aged 86) had been in the Royal
Navy from ca.1894, retiring as a Lt Cdr after WWI (he then remained on
half-pay up until his death). Although by no means a tall man, he had
great "physical presence", and I can remember many occasions on which a
crowd had parted like the Red Sea upon his shouting "GANGway for a Naval
Officer!"
--
fix (vb.): 1. to paper over, obscure, hide from public view; 2. to
work around, in a way that produces unintended consequences that are
worse than the original problem. Usage: "Windows ME fixes many of the
shortcomings of Windows 98 SE". |
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Tony Cooper
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2004 12:57 am
Post subject: Re: Lost/displaced Briticisms |
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On Fri, 9 Jul 2004 13:46:47 -0500, "Don A. Gilmore"
<eromlignodNOSPM@kc.rr.com> wrote:
| Quote: | "Tony Cooper" <tony_cooper213@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:scpte0dcf58nk90i4mhefv9i78gtdn2e74@4ax.com...
Interestingly, "gangway!" is often used as an interjection in AmE. It's
meaning is equivalent to "Get out of the way!"
Dunno about that. I think of the term as "Gang way!" and not one
word. I can't remember ever writing it (before this post), but I'd
write it as two words.
I suppose Google will prove me to be the only person in the world that
thinks of it as two words, but that's the way it is.
Merriam-Webster definition:
Main Entry: gang·way
Pronunciation: 'ga[ng]-"wA
Function: noun
1 : PASSAGEWAY; especially : a temporary way of planks
2 a : either of the sides of the upper deck of a ship b : the opening by
which a ship is boarded c : GANGPLANK
3 British : AISLE
4 a : a cross aisle dividing the front benches from the backbenches in the
British House of Commons b : an aisle in the British House of Commons that
separates government and opposition benches
5 : a clear passage through a crowd -- often used as an interjection
Sorry, I wasn't clear. I agree with "gangway" for the passage or |
boarding facility. What I think of as "gang way!" is the term meaning
"move out of the way" as in the interjection part of #5. |
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Brian {Hamilton Kelly}
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2004 1:04 am
Post subject: Re: Lost/displaced Briticisms |
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On Friday, in article
<Xns9521BB9E84459whhvans@62.253.162.203>
harvey.news@ntlworld.com "Harvey Van Sickle" wrote:
| Quote: | On 09 Jul 2004, John Hall wrote
In article <2ad9e934.0407090112.36402974@posting.google.com>,
David Picton <djpicton@bigmailbox.net> writes:
Thought I'd start a new thread on Briticisms which have been
(mostly) displaced by Americanisms. Can you think of any more?
snip
Lorry: truck
I've not noticed any major switch to "truck"; I'll have to listen out
for that one.
|
Indeed; if anything is used as an alternative to "lorry", it's probably
"wagon" (or, of course, "artic" [~= "semi" in AmEng]).
Hmm, what do leftpondians call a pantechnicon? Whilst this word is not
exactly common in BrEnglish, I reckon many people would recognize and
understand it. (Hm, do Brits move house too frequently?)
--
fix (vb.): 1. to paper over, obscure, hide from public view; 2. to
work around, in a way that produces unintended consequences that are
worse than the original problem. Usage: "Windows ME fixes many of the
shortcomings of Windows 98 SE". |
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Don A. Gilmore
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2004 1:13 am
Post subject: Re: Lost/displaced Briticisms |
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"Tony Cooper" <tony_cooper213@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:cgqte05cpb4uldj546s4mmoo21olr49ivg@4ax.com...
| Quote: | Sorry, I wasn't clear. I agree with "gangway" for the passage or
boarding facility. What I think of as "gang way!" is the term meaning
"move out of the way" as in the interjection part of #5.
|
I do see what you mean though. It would seem that way to me too, because
it's pronounced differently (despite no such indication in the dictionary).
When used as the interjection there are accents on both syllables (rather
than only on the first syllable as in the "passage" sense), as if it were
indeed two words.
Google hits:
gangway: 101,000
gang way: 2,250
Aw, hell. I don't know.
Don
Kansas City |
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Skitt
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2004 1:20 am
Post subject: Re: Lost/displaced Briticisms |
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Tony Cooper wrote:
| Quote: | "Don A. Gilmore" wrote:
"Tony Cooper" wrote:
Interestingly, "gangway!" is often used as an interjection in AmE.
It's meaning is equivalent to "Get out of the way!"
Dunno about that. I think of the term as "Gang way!" and not one
word. I can't remember ever writing it (before this post), but I'd
write it as two words.
I suppose Google will prove me to be the only person in the world
that thinks of it as two words, but that's the way it is.
Merriam-Webster definition:
Main Entry: gang·way
Pronunciation: 'ga[ng]-"wA
Function: noun
1 : PASSAGEWAY; especially : a temporary way of planks
2 a : either of the sides of the upper deck of a ship b : the
opening by which a ship is boarded c : GANGPLANK
3 British : AISLE
4 a : a cross aisle dividing the front benches from the backbenches
in the British House of Commons b : an aisle in the British House of
Commons that separates government and opposition benches
5 : a clear passage through a crowd -- often used as an interjection
Sorry, I wasn't clear. I agree with "gangway" for the passage or
boarding facility. What I think of as "gang way!" is the term meaning
"move out of the way" as in the interjection part of #5.
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See the last five words of the M-W definition.
--
Skitt (in Hayward, California)
www.geocities.com/opus731/ |
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Steve Hayes
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2004 1:28 am
Post subject: Re: Lost/displaced Briticisms |
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On Fri, 9 Jul 2004 16:37:28 +0100, "Mike Stevens" <michael.stevens@which.net>
wrote:
| Quote: | Accumulator: car battery
When I was kid, accumulators were common. They weren't much like car
batteries (physically - I guess they were chemically indentical). Their
most common use was to power wireless sets in houses (in rural areas) that
didn't have mains electricity.
|
An accumulator is a rechargeable battery, whether in a car a wireless set, a
laptop computer or anywhere else.
| Quote: | Billion: originally 'large' (10^12), now 'small' (10^9)
Many UK people distinguish between "US billion" and "UK billion" as
different numbers. Some of us refuse to use the word with such distinction,
in order to avoid confusion.
Fount: as typeface, now usually 'font'
I'm not convinced that "fount" was ever used in this sense outside the
printing industry, where (I'm told by people who know more than I about such
matters) its use was not identical to the present-day computer-based use of
the word "font". I don't know whether the few surviving moveable-print
printers still use the word "fount".
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Pronounced "font".
The "font" selling belongs to computers and includes screen display as well as
printing; "fount" is strictly typesetters' terminology.
--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/stevesig.htm
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk |
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Django Cat
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2004 3:23 am
Post subject: Re: Lost/displaced Briticisms |
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On Fri, 9 Jul 2004 11:38:08 -0500, Don A. Gilmore
<eromlignodNOSPM@kc.rr.com> wrote:
| Quote: | "David Picton" <djpicton@bigmailbox.net> wrote in message
news:2ad9e934.0407090815.7ffe2069@posting.google.com...
'Gangway' is still in use in the stated sense, having been only partly
displaced by 'aisle'.
Interestingly, "gangway!" is often used as an interjection in AmE. It's
meaning is equivalent to "Get out of the way!"
Don
Kansas City
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And in BrE.
DC |
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Dave Clarke
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2004 4:50 am
Post subject: Re: Lost/displaced Briticisms |
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On Friday 09 July 2004 10:12 David Picton wrote:
| Quote: | Thought I'd start a new thread on Briticisms which have been (mostly)
displaced by Americanisms. Can you think of any more?
|
'Film' is becoming rare, being replaced by 'Movie'.
--
Dave Clarke |
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meirman
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2004 5:09 am
Post subject: Re: Lost/displaced Briticisms |
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In alt.english.usage on 9 Jul 2004 09:15:49 -0700
djpicton@bigmailbox.net (David Picton) posted:
| Quote: |
Accumulator: I think this was common in the 1940s but had gone out of
use by the 1960s. (My father worked for a company which manufactured
car batteries and they were never referred to as accumulators.)
|
Interestingly, in the US, C cells and D cells, AA and AAA are called
batteries even though they only have one cell in each.
Only car batteries and 9 volt batteries are actually batteries.
s/ meirman If you are emailing me please
say if you are posting the same response.
Born west of Pittsburgh Pa. 10 years
Indianapolis, 7 years
Chicago, 6 years
Brooklyn NY 12 years
Baltimore 20 years |
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meirman
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2004 5:09 am
Post subject: Re: Lost/displaced Briticisms |
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In alt.english.usage on Fri, 09 Jul 2004 14:38:10 -0400 Tony Cooper
<tony_cooper213@earthlink.net> posted:
| Quote: | On Fri, 9 Jul 2004 11:38:08 -0500, "Don A. Gilmore"
eromlignodNOSPM@kc.rr.com> wrote:
"David Picton" <djpicton@bigmailbox.net> wrote in message
news:2ad9e934.0407090815.7ffe2069@posting.google.com...
'Gangway' is still in use in the stated sense, having been only partly
displaced by 'aisle'.
Interestingly, "gangway!" is often used as an interjection in AmE. It's
meaning is equivalent to "Get out of the way!"
Dunno about that. I think of the term as "Gang way!" and not one
word. I can't remember ever writing it (before this post), but I'd
write it as two words.
I suppose Google will prove me to be the only person in the world that
thinks of it as two words, but that's the way it is.
|
I thought it was Scottish for "Going down the way". Like a Robert
Burns usage, the best laid plans of mice and men...
s/ meirman If you are emailing me please
say if you are posting the same response.
Born west of Pittsburgh Pa. 10 years
Indianapolis, 7 years
Chicago, 6 years
Brooklyn NY 12 years
Baltimore 20 years |
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John Dean
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2004 5:12 am
Post subject: Re: Lost/displaced Briticisms |
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Harvey Van Sickle wrote:
| Quote: | On 09 Jul 2004, John Hall wrote
In article <2ad9e934.0407090112.36402974@posting.google.com>,
David Picton <djpicton@bigmailbox.net> writes:
Thought I'd start a new thread on Briticisms which have been
(mostly) displaced by Americanisms. Can you think of any more?
snip
Lorry: truck
I've not noticed any major switch to "truck"; I'll have to listen out
for that one.
|
I propose to have no truck with that. Though John Godber might.
--
John 'A red lorry and a yellow lorry' Dean
Oxford |
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