Americanisms

[stevechesh]

Originally Posted by Lazlo

Blumin 'ell. All that just so you know what apostrophes are for!



EDIT: When I did a Computer Science degree they forced a "Use Of English" course on us. Something to do with documenting our code I think (the fools )... The only thing I can remember about it was being taught what a gerund was.

No, I still don't know what it is.

Well, i had to look up gerund in the dictionary!

back on topic though. . . Why the hell do they call a bum bag a fanny pack!! It's just wrong!

[Buoyant Babe]

Originally Posted by purple vonny

It doesn't really matter what you call things or how you pronounce them but the correct past tense of to dive is dived. Same as the past tense of to live is lived not love.

I agree, but why then is the past tense of 'drive' pronounced as 'drove' instead of 'drived'?

[nickb]

Originally Posted by Mal Bridgeman

As Paul says, some Americanisms are catching on .... doubles, rather than twins...

I've never been on a boat with anyone who has referred to their twinset as 'doubles'. The ONLY place in the UK where this happens AFAIK is the DIR Explorers website (is that still a UK site?).

[Mal Bridgeman]

Originally Posted by stevechesh

Why the hell do they call a bum bag a fanny pack!! It's just wrong!

From

and prolly NSFW
Mal

[A. Berk]

Originally Posted by purple vonny

... the correct past tense of to dive is dived. Same as the past tense of to live is lived not love.

Ah yes, but to have lived and not loved Vonny... is that a life - or lofe?

roBek

[Foggy]

Is it Hanged or Hung?

[Kirstie]

Originally Posted by Foggy

Is it Hanged or Hung?

Isn't it hanged when it refers to an execution and hung when referring to the action of hanging something ie meat, coats on hooks?

[BJ]

Actually...


When aluminum was invented (sorry, I should have said 'discovered'), that is what it was called. We changed it to aluminium to fit in with all the other iums we already had.

"L. alumen: alum) The ancient Greeks and Romans used alum as an astringent and as a mordant in dyeing. In 1761 de Morveau proposed the name alumine for the base in alum, and Lavoisier, in 1787, thought this to be the oxide of a still undiscovered metal.

Wohler is generally credited with having isolated the metal in 1827, although an impure form was prepared by Oersted two years earlier. In 1807, Davy proposed the name aluminum for the metal, undiscovered at that time, and later agreed to change it to aluminum. Shortly thereafter, the name aluminum was adopted to conform with the "ium" ending of most elements, and this spelling is now in use elsewhere in the world.

Aluminium was also the accepted spelling in the U.S. until 1925, at which time the American Chemical Society officially decided to use the name aluminum thereafter in their publications."


That said...

I wrote a book (about diving) last year for a British book-packager commissioned on behalf of an American publisher. So it was sub-editted in English, translated into American, and then it was translated back to English for the British published edition. Some of the translations made my hair stand on end!

There was more work involved in re-reading the text and correcting the edited-in mistakes than there was in writing it. (eg. Liveaboard got changed to cabin-cruiser!)


Plus there were questions like: Surely no-one would want to dive near wrecks sunk by an atomic bomb?
and:
Surely no-one in their right mind would want to get in the water that was infested with sharks?


...and I’ve given up writing 'gaol' (English) and put up with 'jail' (American).

[Far_X]

Aluminium was invented? How many other elements were invented also?

As I am the editor of our club's newsletter I get to influence American thinking and slowly but surely they are being to change. My spellchecker is in proper English (pity there isn't a Geordie spellchecker) so that insures, sorry, ensures, I get the correct spelling. I'l make sure I say "twins" but as I went through Fundies should I not continue to day "doubles"?

Also, if you want a bit of fun with your local American, or if you ever come over for a jolly, ask them to say the word "whilst". Give them it written otherwise it will spoil the fun.

But thanks for all the contributions.

Now are there any Xmas parties to go to when I come over in December? I went to the one in Leeds a couple of years ago which was super. I'll be down Souf for a couple of weeks before heading North.

[Rob Dobson]

Originally Posted by Mal Bridgeman

aluminum ... it's aluminium, ok ?

Don't remind me - I have 4 days of that shit coming up at DEMA

'How's your *English*?'