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Phil C.
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2004 4:49 pm
Post subject: Re: Pronouncing "semi" |
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On Tue, 13 Jul 2004 14:33:53 -0500, "Don A. Gilmore"
<eromlignodNOSPM@kc.rr.com> wrote:
| Quote: | Liszt and Paganini were said to have performed feats that
would actually make members of the audience faint.
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Personally, I think they should have kept their relationship private.
--
Phil C.
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Phil C.
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2004 4:49 pm
Post subject: Re: Lost/displaced Briticisms |
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On 14 Jul 2004 09:39:05 GMT, Matthew Huntbach <mmh@dcs.qmw.ac.uk>
wrote:
| Quote: | The appearance of charity shops in a British high street is generally a mark
of a high street in trouble, probably being out-competed by a nearby
shopping mall or by a large shopping centre which all but those who are
unable to travel far would prefer. Generally a shop is let out on a short
term lease to a charity only when it has no tbeen possible to find anyone
else to take it on.
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A small-time property developer told me recently that he actually
favours renting to charity shops because they're reliable. In my area
the charity shops have been in the same places for years while many
commercial operations have come and gone. Some charities have now
professionalised the whole operation - employing full-time shop
managers and selling a wider range of goods. They seem to be a
permanent feature of the high street. Perhaps in expensive city
centres, though, the short-term lease still rules.
--
Phil C. |
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Dr Robin Bignall
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2004 5:47 pm
Post subject: Re: Lost/displaced Briticisms |
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On Wed, 14 Jul 2004 11:49:33 +0100, Phil C. <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:
| Quote: | On Tue, 13 Jul 2004 22:46:08 +0100, Dr Robin Bignall
docrobin@ntlworld.com> wrote:
That width of garage door does not seem to have changed over the years. If
you go back to the days of the A30 or Triumph Herald, you could only fit
two adults comfortably in the rear seat, maybe with a small child between
them. Most family saloons these days will seat three adults across. I am
always struck by how narrow these older cars look when I'm driving behind
them. I've seen double garages built with two standard-sized openings
separated by about six inches, rather than one wide up-and-over door, so
it's still difficult to get cars through the doors, and with two cars
inside it's still impossible to open the car doors more than a foot or so.
Strangely, the number of persons per car has declined as the width has
increased. Perhaps the growing obesity problem is the explanation.
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It's partially due to increasing affluence. Up to about ten years ago, the
wife and kids used the family car and the husband commuted to the office by
train. Britain, traditionally famous for two-seater sports cars at
reasonable prices, had virtually stopped making them for the previous
couple of decades, except for the expensive Jags and the like. Then, I
started noticing more and more two-seaters, particularly after BMW produced
one, and now every third or fourth car is a two-seater with a suit inside.
This coincided with the decline in our rail services, which have, for
commuters in the London area, become almost insufferable. I think people
would rather sit alone in comfort in a traffic jam, listening to music or
the news, than be squashed up like sardines on a smelly train. If they have
the choice.
--
wrmst rgrds
Robin Bignall
Hertfordshire
England
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Dr Robin Bignall
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2004 6:19 pm
Post subject: Re: Lost/displaced Briticisms |
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On Tue, 13 Jul 2004 23:15:13 GMT, "John Briggs" <john.briggs4@ntlworld.com>
wrote:
| Quote: | Dr Robin Bignall wrote:
On Tue, 13 Jul 2004 08:56:48 +0100 (BST), bhk@dsl.co.uk (Brian {Hamilton
Kelly}) wrote:
Never; moreover, we don't have coupes (some manufacturers' models have
been designated as coupés, but the name never seems to catch on with the
British Public).
The British Public that I know use coupe to describe a two-seater which is
not a convertible.
http://www.automotive.com/jaguar/05/coupe/
for example.
I think you've chosen a bad example - Jaguar always did drop-head coupés as
well as fixed-head coupés.
|
A lot of manufacturers have used the word 'coupe' to describe two-seater
(or occasional four-seater) two-door, fixed-head cars with a bit of extra
oomph and go-faster stripes. IMO the coupe is a two-seater sports car with
a fixed roof.
Porsche, BMW, Mercedes and Volvo are among the many manufacturers who've
produced true coupes.
--
wrmst rgrds
Robin Bignall
Hertfordshire
England |
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Richard R. Hershberger
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2004 8:36 pm
Post subject: Re: Pronouncing "semi" |
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"Don A. Gilmore" <eromlignodNOSPM@kc.rr.com> wrote in message news:<2li95tFcu1f0U1@uni-berlin.de>...
| Quote: | "Sean O'Leathlobhair" <jwlawler@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:d1835a57.0407130115.5ff2ee94@posting.google.com...
I don't think that I have ever heard "hemi" as a stand alone word but
if I did then I would expect ['hEmi].
In the US we refer to a type of automobile engine from the 1960's, with a
hemispherical combustion chamber in its head, as a "hemi" (pronounced like
"hemmy"). At the time, it was an improvement in the performance and power
of the engine. Recently the hemi has been resurrected. I'm not sure why,
since it is a forty-year leap backward in technology. I suspect it was
reintroduced to appeal to middle-aged American men who remember when saying
that your car "had a hemi" was considered impressive.
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Is this a reversion to older technology? I had assumed that they were
making them all along, but the marketing department only recently
latched onto it. In any case I am amused at how they carefully don't
actually say what a hemi is, merely that they have it and, we are
assured, it is a Very Good Thing for any Manly Man.
Richard R. Hershberger |
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Peter Duncanson
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2004 10:09 pm
Post subject: Re: Lost/displaced Briticisms |
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On Wed, 14 Jul 2004 12:47:09 +0100, Dr Robin Bignall <docrobin@ntlworld.com>
wrote:
| Quote: | I think people
would rather sit alone in comfort in a traffic jam, listening to music or
the news, than be squashed up like sardines on a smelly train. If they have
the choice.
|
Not everyone likes sitting in a traffic jam listening to music.
My son told me about an incident on a main road in Northern Ireland (out in
the sticks). Something had caused a stoppage and tailback of traffic. A posh
woman took offence to the sound of the radio in the car alongside hers. She
imperiously demanded that the driver switch it off or, at least, wind up his
window. The driver naturally responded by turning up the volume.
A police car approached on the hard shoulder, on its way to sort out the
cause of the traffic jam. The woman attracted the attention of the police.
One officer got out, walked over to her - "Yes Madam?". "The radio", said
the woman, point to the offending car. "Nice tune" quoth the peeler, who
then headed back to his car and continued on his way along the hard
shoulder.
Following this favourable music review, the drivers of other cars nearby
pressed buttons, twiddled knobs, wound down windows, and surrounded the
woman with the music.
--
Peter Duncanson
UK
(posting from a.e.u) |
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Evan Kirshenbaum
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2004 10:48 pm
Post subject: Re: Pronouncing "semi" |
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rrhersh@acme.com (Richard R. Hershberger) writes:
| Quote: | Is this a reversion to older technology? I had assumed that they were
making them all along, but the marketing department only recently
latched onto it. In any case I am amused at how they carefully don't
actually say what a hemi is, merely that they have it and, we are
assured, it is a Very Good Thing for any Manly Man.
|
The theory, I believe, is that the less sure you are what it is, the
more you'll be afraid to admit this ignorance, the more you'll be
willing to pay to get one, and the more you'll brag about it to your
friends (who also won't know what it is, but will be afraid to ask,
lest they reveal their own ignorance).
Personally, I have no clue what it means other than that it probably
means that some component is hemispherical rather than some other
shape. I also have no idea under what conditions this would be a
desirable or undesirable feature.
--
Evan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------
HP Laboratories |This case--and I must be careful
1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |not to fall into Spooner's trap
Palo Alto, CA 94304 |here--concerns a group of warring
|bankers.
kirshenbaum@hpl.hp.com
(650)857-7572
http://www.kirshenbaum.net/ |
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nemo
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2004 11:39 pm
Post subject: Re: Pronouncing "semi" (was Re: Lost/displaced Briticisms) |
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Don A. Gilmore <eromlignodNOSPM@kc.rr.com> wrote in message
news:2lio55Fd271qU1@uni-berlin.de...
| Quote: | "nemo" <nemo@naughtylass.wet> wrote in message
news:lOVIc.42281$I%1.38110@fe1.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
Semi is pronounced "Sem" to rhyme with them, and "mi" to rhyme with me.
See-My is the US pronunciation...
No it isn't.
Yes it is - in the same vein as Hee-Low as the abbreviated form of |
helicopter. I have *never* heard anyone in the UK use See-My - not even on
the BBC. |
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paul
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2004 11:39 pm
Post subject: Re: Lost/displaced Briticisms |
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On Fri, 09 Jul 2004 23:29 bhk@dsl.co.uk (Brian {Hamilton Kelly}) wrote:
| Quote: | On 9 Jul, djpicton@bigmailbox.net "David Picton" wrote:
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?
[...]
Quitted: past of 'quit' is now usually 'quit'
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".)
|
This has been jangling around that which passes for a brain since the
weekend, and a brief bookcase detour now shows with certitude Jane
Austen's numerous use in at least three novels: Pride and Prejudice,
Ch.32: "How very suddenly you all quitted Netherfield last November";
in Persuasion in Ch.11: "Anne thought she left great happiness behind
her when they quitted the house" and Sense and Sensibility Ch.1: "she
would have quitted the house for ever". I'll confess to using it in
business for effect, sometimes to initial stares of incomprehension
prior to enlightenment.
--
paul (C) © 2004 is mine |
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Donna Richoux
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2004 11:47 pm
Post subject: Re: Pronouncing "semi" |
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nemo <nemo@naughtylass.wet> wrote:
| Quote: | Don A. Gilmore <eromlignodNOSPM@kc.rr.com> wrote in message
news:2lio55Fd271qU1@uni-berlin.de...
"nemo" <nemo@naughtylass.wet> wrote in message
news:lOVIc.42281$I%1.38110@fe1.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
Semi is pronounced "Sem" to rhyme with them, and "mi" to rhyme with me.
See-My is the US pronunciation...
No it isn't.
Yes it is - in the same vein as Hee-Low as the abbreviated form of
helicopter. I have *never* heard anyone in the UK use See-My - not even on
the BBC.
|
It's the first syllable we are doubting, whether anyone in the US says
"see." Americans say both "sem-mee" and "sem-miy" (as in the word "my")
but the first syllable is never "see". Unless you are aware of some
special regionalism or jargon term that the rest of us are not. Which
meaning does it have, in that case?
(Bart Simpson phone prank going through my mind -- "Seymour Butts.")
--
Best - Donna Richoux
An American living in the Netherlands |
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Michael DeBusk
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2004 11:55 pm
Post subject: Re: Pronouncing "semi" (was Re: Lost/displaced Briticisms) |
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On Wed, 14 Jul 2004 17:39:22 GMT, nemo <nemo@naughtylass.wet> wrote:
| Quote: | See-My is the US pronunciation...
No it isn't.
Yes it is
|
I have lived in the US all my life and have never heard it pronounced
"see-my". So, it isn't. I imagine someone, somewhere, could be saying
it that way, but I'd bet that person is pronouncing a lot of other
words incorrectly as well. ("Newkyeler", anyone? How about "bisketti"?)
For that matter, if you're using "the US pronunciation" to refer to the
Standard American English dialect, it's my understanding that someone
using that dialect would never willingly use the word "semi" anyway.
--
Michael DeBusk, Co-Conspirator to Make the World a Better Place
Did he update http://home.earthlink.net/~debu4335/ yet? |
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Areff
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2004 12:09 am
Post subject: Re: Pronouncing "semi" |
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Donna Richoux wrote:
| Quote: | nemo <nemo@naughtylass.wet> wrote:
Don A. Gilmore <eromlignodNOSPM@kc.rr.com> wrote in message
news:2lio55Fd271qU1@uni-berlin.de...
"nemo" <nemo@naughtylass.wet> wrote in message
news:lOVIc.42281$I%1.38110@fe1.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
Semi is pronounced "Sem" to rhyme with them, and "mi" to rhyme with me.
See-My is the US pronunciation...
No it isn't.
Yes it is - in the same vein as Hee-Low as the abbreviated form of
helicopter. I have *never* heard anyone in the UK use See-My - not even on
the BBC.
It's the first syllable we are doubting, whether anyone in the US says
"see." Americans say both "sem-mee" and "sem-miy" (as in the word "my")
but the first syllable is never "see". Unless you are aware of some
special regionalism or jargon term that the rest of us are not.
|
I wonder whether he's a BrE, say, who is hearing some particular American
accent's /E/ realization as an /i/. PIPs, for example, will say "semi" in
a way that might sound like "simmy" or "simm-eye" to PINPs.
-- |
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John Ings
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2004 12:25 am
Post subject: Re: Lost/displaced Briticisms |
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On Tue, 13 Jul 2004 08:56:48 +0100 (BST), bhk@dsl.co.uk (Brian
{Hamilton Kelly}) wrote:
| Quote: | Continuing to tease out the automotive appellations:
Scuttle: floorboards
Huh? IME, the scuttle in a car is that part of the passenger compartment
*above* the floorboards, underneath the dashboard.
|
Which, on my MG TD really did rather resemble a coal scuttle, when
viewed from the engine side of the firewall.
| Quote: | Pre-war cars
sometimes had flaps that would open (outwards) in the side of the
scuttle, to provide ventilation around the feet.
|
Both my XK-120s did too.
| Quote: | Naturally, in the
British climate, these were rarely opened.
|
They were opened often in my neck of the woods!
| Quote: | The floorboards have always been the floorboards (although nowadays more
likely just floor, since one needs to go back some way to find a car with
actual boards[1]).
|
My MG had plywood floorboards. The body frame was mostly wood too,
with sheet metal wrapped around it. DON'T slam that door! The door
latch retaining screws were wood screws...
| Quote: | Light: window
The word "light" still appears in the expression "quarter-light", as
others have mentioned. However, I cannot recall the actual windows being
called anything else (except if they were the celluloid type of
side-curtains found on soft-tops).
|
I remember being utterly mystified by an item in my MK VII's wiring
diagram: "Rear light heater". It took me while to figure out that it
was the rear window defroster.
| Quote: | 4 light: coupe
Never;
|
Probably a pre WW2 nomenclature. e.g.
http://www.minor.org.uk/Details/Cowley_1932.htm
| Quote: | moreover, we don't have coupes
|
Both my XKs were Drop head Coupes. It said so right in the owner's
manual.
| Quote: | (some manufacturers' models have
been designated as coupés, but the name never seems to catch on with the
British Public). Neither do we have sedans.
|
Saloons?
| Quote: | De-mister: defroster
Rear light heater: rear window defroster
Squab: seat cushion
Wing: fender
Fender: bumper
Covered by others.
YOU seem to have introduced a list of the different appelations in use in
right- and left-pondia.
|
Well whenever I list those right-pondian terms, everybody until now
has exclaimed "Oh we don't say that anymore!"
| Quote: | The original poster had a list of those words
that were supposedly being replaced in right-pondia by their left-pondian
equivalents.
|
That's what I presumed had happened.
| Quote: | [1] In the mid-1960s, I was the proud owner of a somewhat derelict 1952
Daimler Conquest; this had actual wooden floorboards. They caught fire
once, as I was driving up Countisbury Hill with a holey exhaust.
|
I never had a fire, but wood rot was a problem.
Now that there is more snow in the winters in Blighty,
is road salt a problem? |
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Eric Schwartz
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2004 12:35 am
Post subject: Re: Pronouncing "semi" |
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"nemo" <nemo@naughtylass.wet> writes:
| Quote: | Don A. Gilmore <eromlignodNOSPM@kc.rr.com> wrote:
"nemo" <nemo@naughtylass.wet> wrote:
See-My is the US pronunciation...
No it isn't.
Yes it is - in the same vein as Hee-Low as the abbreviated form of
helicopter.
|
Searching MWCD11 shows that pronunciation, but I can't say I've ever
heard anyone actually use it. When I've read it, I've always mentally
pronounced it /hEloU/.
| Quote: | I have *never* heard anyone in the UK use See-My - not even on
the BBC.
|
Nor have I ever heard it used in the US. In the Deep South, you'd
hear a lot of /semai/, in sports it's almost always /semi/, but never
is it /simai/.
-=Eric
--
Come to think of it, there are already a million monkeys on a million
typewriters, and Usenet is NOTHING like Shakespeare.
-- Blair Houghton. |
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Peter Duncanson
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2004 12:56 am
Post subject: Re: Lost/displaced Briticisms |
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On Wed, 14 Jul 2004 11:25:12 -0700, John Ings <nodamned@spam.org> wrote:
| Quote: |
Now that there is more snow in the winters in Blighty,
is road salt a problem?
|
Much less of a problem than it was three decades ago.
I think it was in the 1970s that there was a change in the thickness of the
sheet steel used in the construction of cars. The thinner metal rusted
through much more quickly than the thicker that was previously used.
For a few years car accessory dealers sold a lot of cans of Waxoyl (and
similar). This was a solution of wax in paraffin which car owners used for
spraying the under surfaces of a car, and injecting into any spaces that
water and salt could get into.
Car makers then set about making their cars corrosion-proof.
--
Peter Duncanson
UK
(posting from a.e.u) |
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