jJ

"josoap"

01/05/2005 5:20 PM

Help, I don't understand!!!!

Hi Woodworkers, I have a little problem, I find it difficult to understand
English USA you see I live in England. Would anybody have a Dictionary to
translate English USA to English UK.

Jo

The impossible I can achieve
miracles take a little longer


This topic has 28 replies

PC

Patrick Conroy

in reply to "josoap" on 01/05/2005 5:20 PM

03/05/2005 4:29 PM

"josoap" <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

>
>
> Hi Woodworkers, I have a little problem, I find it difficult to
> understand English USA you see I live in England. Would anybody have

My jointer is your planer.
My planer is your thicknesser.
My toilet is your 'loo / WC.
My flashlight is your torch.
Elevator -> Lift.
Customize -> Bespoke.
Wrench -> Spanner.
Hood -> Bonnet.
Truck -> Lorry.

ad naseum.
Just post specifics and we'll translate for you.

f

in reply to "josoap" on 01/05/2005 5:20 PM

03/05/2005 4:26 PM


Guess who wrote:
> On Tue, 03 May 2005 16:53:29 GMT, B a r r y
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >Patrick Conroy wrote:
> >
> >> My jointer is your planer.
> >> My planer is your thicknesser.
> >> My toilet is your 'loo / WC.
> >> My flashlight is your torch.
> >> Elevator -> Lift.
> >> Customize -> Bespoke.
> >> Wrench -> Spanner.
> >> Hood -> Bonnet.
> >> Truck -> Lorry.
> >
> >Cigarette -> Fag
>
> Toma[y]to --> Toma[h]to

To you, a pastie is a stew cooked in dough,
to us it is a covering for a snack,
two snacks, actually.

--

FF

s

in reply to "josoap" on 01/05/2005 5:20 PM

04/05/2005 9:00 AM


josoap wrote:
> Hi Woodworkers, I have a little problem, I find it difficult to
understand
> English USA you see I live in England. Would anybody have a
Dictionary to
> translate English USA to English UK.
>
> Jo
>
> The impossible I can achieve
> miracles take a little longer


Jo - The English and the Americans are two peoples separated by a
common language.

s

in reply to "josoap" on 01/05/2005 5:20 PM

04/05/2005 9:00 AM


josoap wrote:
> Hi Woodworkers, I have a little problem, I find it difficult to
understand
> English USA you see I live in England. Would anybody have a
Dictionary to
> translate English USA to English UK.
>
> Jo
>
> The impossible I can achieve
> miracles take a little longer


Jo - The English and the Americans are two peoples separated by a
common language.

Od

"Olebiker"

in reply to "josoap" on 01/05/2005 5:20 PM

04/05/2005 9:20 AM

"Plural is the same."

Ah that brings up a major difference between Americans and our British
cousins. The Brits don't seem to get subject-verb agreement. I cringe
every time I hear a BBC reporter tell me that "Manchester United are at
Arsenal for a friendly this Saturday." A collective noun is still
singular.

Dick Durbin

bR

[email protected] (Robert Bonomi)

in reply to "josoap" on 01/05/2005 5:20 PM

04/05/2005 11:59 PM

In article <[email protected]>,
Olebiker <[email protected]> wrote:
>"Plural is the same."
>
>Ah that brings up a major difference between Americans and our British
>cousins. The Brits don't seem to get subject-verb agreement. I cringe
>every time I hear a BBC reporter tell me that "Manchester United are at
>Arsenal for a friendly this Saturday." A collective noun is still
>singular.

So the U.S. sportscasters should be saying "The 'Philadelphia Eagles' _is_
at Miami Sunday " ?

Or "'The Doors' *is* at Madison Square Garden Wednesday"?

Yes, collective nouns are singular. None of "Manchester United", "Arsenal",
"Philadelphia Eagles", or "The Doors" are collective nouns, however. They
are proper names.

Singularity/plurality of proper names, especially names of _groups_, is a
*tricky* subject.

The name can refer to the group, as a single entity,
*OR* it can refer to the individuals that make up the group, _collectively_.

The former is singular, the latter is plural. REGARDLESS of the 'apparent'
single-ness or plural-ness of the name itself.

e.g.:
"The Beatles is a British musical group."
"The Beatles are British musicians."

"The Chicago Fire is a soccer team."
"The Chicago Fire are leading New York by 2."

BOTH are grammatically correct.


"Manchester United are at Arsenal..."

is no more wrong than

"The Chicago Fire are at Detroit for the first-round play-offs on Thursday."
or
"The Browns are at Mile High Stadium for their pre-season game, on Monday."

It 'sounds funny' to _your_ ear, because "Manchester United" is not an
obvious plural form. But, neither is "Red Sox", and you wouldn't say
"The Red Sox _is_ leading 5-2 in the bottom of the seventh", would you?


bR

[email protected] (Robert Bonomi)

in reply to "josoap" on 01/05/2005 5:20 PM

05/05/2005 12:08 AM

In article <[email protected]>,
J. Clarke <[email protected]> wrote:
>B a r r y wrote:
>
>> Patrick Conroy wrote:
>>
>>> My jointer is your planer.
>>> My planer is your thicknesser.
>>> My toilet is your 'loo / WC.
>>> My flashlight is your torch.
>>> Elevator -> Lift.
>>> Customize -> Bespoke.
>>> Wrench -> Spanner.
>>> Hood -> Bonnet.
>>> Truck -> Lorry.
>>
>> Cigarette -> Fag
>
>Used to work in a place where most of the male staff was gay. We had one
>non-gay Englishman on the staff, who, whenever he went outside for a
>cigarette break, announced that he was going to go suck a fag. That was
>always good for a reaction from the new hires.
>

There was a young lady of my acquaintance, who spent some time, post-college,
in England. One day, she, and a group of Brit friends were planning an outing
for the next day. She didn't have her own vehicle, and was getting a ride
with one of the others. She was _greatly_ taken aback when the elected
driver asked, in front of the entire group: "So, when shall I knock you up?"

meaning "rattle the door-knocker" -- _functionally_ equivalent to the USAn
"ring the door-bell".


oG

[email protected] (George G)

in reply to "josoap" on 01/05/2005 5:20 PM

01/05/2005 9:52 AM


--WebTV-Mail-28428-2363
Content-Type: Text/Plain; Charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7Bit

Just read your dictionary upside down or backwards-------George


--WebTV-Mail-28428-2363
Content-Description: signature
Content-Disposition: Inline
Content-Type: Text/HTML; Charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7Bit

<html><body bgcolor="#000000" text="#CCFFFF"
background="http://www.wtv-zone.com/valinpa/backs/blackstarrysky.gif"
WIDTH="320" HEIGHT="200"><center><img
src="http://www.wtv-zone.com/valinpa/gifs/geeseflyin.gif" WIDTH="112"
HEIGHT="77"></center><br><center><a
href="http://www.wtv-zone.com/valinpa/index.html"><font
size=3></font></a></center></body></html>


--WebTV-Mail-28428-2363--

PK

Paul Kierstead

in reply to "josoap" on 01/05/2005 5:20 PM

01/05/2005 2:11 PM

josoap wrote:
> Hi Woodworkers, I have a little problem, I find it difficult to understand
> English USA you see I live in England.

I get that funny feeling that this will be followed up by another pitch
for "free.uk.woodworking", which in my reader then shows up as
"f.u.woodworking" which I have to admit I find pretty amusing.

PK

Gg

"George"

in reply to "josoap" on 01/05/2005 5:20 PM

04/05/2005 6:56 AM


<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>

>
> To you, a pastie is a stew cooked in dough,
> to us it is a covering for a snack,
> two snacks, actually.
>

A pasty's made from pastry. A pastie is normally tasseled.

Plural is the same.

Aroma differs.

Gg

"George"

in reply to "josoap" on 01/05/2005 5:20 PM

04/05/2005 2:54 PM


"David" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Or I could make the argument that the British usage is merely
> old-fashioned. :)
>

"Living language" versus "strict constructionist?"

Gg

"George"

in reply to "josoap" on 01/05/2005 5:20 PM

05/05/2005 6:47 AM


"Robert Bonomi" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>>
> It 'sounds funny' to _your_ ear, because "Manchester United" is not an
> obvious plural form. But, neither is "Red Sox", and you wouldn't say
> "The Red Sox _is_ leading 5-2 in the bottom of the seventh", would you?
>
>
>
That's because Sox is the homophone/homonym for the plural of "sock."

iF

[email protected] (Fenrir Enterprises)

in reply to "josoap" on 01/05/2005 5:20 PM

05/05/2005 2:55 PM

On Tue, 03 May 2005 16:29:53 GMT, Patrick Conroy
<[email protected]> wrote:

>
>My jointer is your planer.
>My planer is your thicknesser.
>My toilet is your 'loo / WC.
>My flashlight is your torch.
>Elevator -> Lift.
>Customize -> Bespoke.
>Wrench -> Spanner.
>Hood -> Bonnet.
>Truck -> Lorry.

I've heard enough jokes and watched enough Monty Python to understand
most US/UK translations. The only one I really don't get, is
Wrench/Spanner. Most of the other ones are just a different (older?)
term for the same thing. Hood/Bonnet makes sense. An Elevator elevates
you, a lift lifts you. Wrenches wrench things. Span is something that
connects or encompasses two things. I would think this would be a
better term for a screw, or maybe a ruler.

sD

[email protected] (Doug Miller)

in reply to "josoap" on 01/05/2005 5:20 PM

05/05/2005 12:11 AM

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] (Robert Bonomi) wrote:

>It 'sounds funny' to _your_ ear, because "Manchester United" is not an
>obvious plural form. But, neither is "Red Sox", and you wouldn't say
>"The Red Sox _is_ leading 5-2 in the bottom of the seventh", would you?

Well, last year we might have. This year, they ain't doing quite as well...
<g>

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

DD

David

in reply to "josoap" on 01/05/2005 5:20 PM

03/05/2005 1:47 PM

American - a LOOM a num

English - AL you MIN E yum

Dave

josoap wrote:

> Hi Woodworkers, I have a little problem, I find it difficult to understand
> English USA you see I live in England. Would anybody have a Dictionary to
> translate English USA to English UK.
>
> Jo
>
> The impossible I can achieve
> miracles take a little longer
>
>

WB

"Wood Butcher"

in reply to "josoap" on 01/05/2005 5:20 PM

01/05/2005 1:12 PM

Try this one.
http://cgi.peak.org/~jeremy/retort.cgi
Click on "American" at the top to go from Yank to Brit.

Art


"josoap" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
Hi Woodworkers, I have a little problem, I find it difficult to understand
English USA you see I live in England. Would anybody have a Dictionary to
translate English USA to English UK.

Jo

The impossible I can achieve
miracles take a little longer


GE

"George E. Cawthon"

in reply to "josoap" on 01/05/2005 5:20 PM

05/05/2005 12:53 AM

Doug Miller wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>, "Olebiker" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>"Plural is the same."
>>
>>Ah that brings up a major difference between Americans and our British
>>cousins. The Brits don't seem to get subject-verb agreement. I cringe
>>every time I hear a BBC reporter tell me that "Manchester United are at
>>Arsenal for a friendly this Saturday." A collective noun is still
>>singular.
>
>
> OTOH, the name of the language *is* "English". On that basis, I think one
> could make the argument that the British usage is _by_definition_ the correct
> one.
By that definition we should speak Old English.
>
> --
> Regards,
> Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)
>
> Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
> And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

Ba

B a r r y

in reply to "josoap" on 01/05/2005 5:20 PM

03/05/2005 4:53 PM

Patrick Conroy wrote:

> My jointer is your planer.
> My planer is your thicknesser.
> My toilet is your 'loo / WC.
> My flashlight is your torch.
> Elevator -> Lift.
> Customize -> Bespoke.
> Wrench -> Spanner.
> Hood -> Bonnet.
> Truck -> Lorry.

Cigarette -> Fag

Barry

JC

"J. Clarke"

in reply to "josoap" on 01/05/2005 5:20 PM

03/05/2005 4:19 PM

B a r r y wrote:

> Patrick Conroy wrote:
>
>> My jointer is your planer.
>> My planer is your thicknesser.
>> My toilet is your 'loo / WC.
>> My flashlight is your torch.
>> Elevator -> Lift.
>> Customize -> Bespoke.
>> Wrench -> Spanner.
>> Hood -> Bonnet.
>> Truck -> Lorry.
>
> Cigarette -> Fag

Used to work in a place where most of the male staff was gay. We had one
non-gay Englishman on the staff, who, whenever he went outside for a
cigarette break, announced that he was going to go suck a fag. That was
always good for a reaction from the new hires.

> Barry

--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

Sk

"Swingman"

in reply to "josoap" on 01/05/2005 5:20 PM

05/05/2005 10:55 AM


"Fenrir Enterprises" wrote in message

> >Wrench -> Spanner.

> I've heard enough jokes and watched enough Monty Python to understand
> most US/UK translations. The only one I really don't get, is
> Wrench/Spanner. Most of the other ones are just a different (older?)
> term for the same thing. Hood/Bonnet makes sense. An Elevator elevates
> you, a lift lifts you. Wrenches wrench things. Span is something that
> connects or encompasses two things. I would think this would be a
> better term for a screw, or maybe a ruler.

Make perfect sense ... a "spanner" works by precisely 'spanning' two
parallel surfaces of a nut. A "shifting spanner" is adjustable in its span.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 5/01/05


Sk

"Swingman"

in reply to "josoap" on 01/05/2005 5:20 PM

03/05/2005 2:43 PM

"Patrick Conroy" wrote in message

> My jointer is your planer.
> My planer is your thicknesser.
> My toilet is your 'loo / WC.
> My flashlight is your torch.
> Elevator -> Lift.
> Customize -> Bespoke.
> Wrench -> Spanner.
> Hood -> Bonnet.
> Truck -> Lorry.
Trunk -> Boot
Crescent Wrench -> Shifting Spanner

... and then there's Cockney slang, which could take up a whole thread for
months.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 5/01/05

nn

nospambob

in reply to "josoap" on 01/05/2005 5:20 PM

04/05/2005 12:23 PM

Term paper in English class was the differences in the British and USA
spelling to emphasize rebellion. Brought an A.

On 4 May 2005 09:00:10 -0700, [email protected] wrote:

>
>josoap wrote:
>> Hi Woodworkers, I have a little problem, I find it difficult to
>understand
>> English USA you see I live in England. Would anybody have a
>Dictionary to
>> translate English USA to English UK.
>>
>> Jo
>>
>> The impossible I can achieve
>> miracles take a little longer
>
>
>Jo - The English and the Americans are two peoples separated by a
>common language.

sD

[email protected] (Doug Miller)

in reply to "josoap" on 01/05/2005 5:20 PM

04/05/2005 4:23 PM

In article <[email protected]>, "Olebiker" <[email protected]> wrote:
>"Plural is the same."
>
>Ah that brings up a major difference between Americans and our British
>cousins. The Brits don't seem to get subject-verb agreement. I cringe
>every time I hear a BBC reporter tell me that "Manchester United are at
>Arsenal for a friendly this Saturday." A collective noun is still
>singular.

OTOH, the name of the language *is* "English". On that basis, I think one
could make the argument that the British usage is _by_definition_ the correct
one.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

Gw

Guess who

in reply to "josoap" on 01/05/2005 5:20 PM

03/05/2005 3:43 PM

On Tue, 03 May 2005 16:53:29 GMT, B a r r y
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Patrick Conroy wrote:
>
>> My jointer is your planer.
>> My planer is your thicknesser.
>> My toilet is your 'loo / WC.
>> My flashlight is your torch.
>> Elevator -> Lift.
>> Customize -> Bespoke.
>> Wrench -> Spanner.
>> Hood -> Bonnet.
>> Truck -> Lorry.
>
>Cigarette -> Fag

Toma[y]to --> Toma[h]to

md

mac davis

in reply to "josoap" on 01/05/2005 5:20 PM

02/05/2005 8:41 AM

On Sun, 1 May 2005 17:20:04 +0100, "josoap" <[email protected]> wrote:

>Hi Woodworkers, I have a little problem, I find it difficult to understand
>English USA you see I live in England. Would anybody have a Dictionary to
>translate English USA to English UK.
>
I think there is one.. they call it some funny sounding name, like the
Declaration of Independence, I think..


mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

jJ

"josoap"

in reply to "josoap" on 01/05/2005 5:20 PM

01/05/2005 9:21 PM


"Wood Butcher" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Try this one.
> http://cgi.peak.org/~jeremy/retort.cgi
> Click on "American" at the top to go from Yank to Brit.
>
> Art
>
>
> "josoap" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> Hi Woodworkers, I have a little problem, I find it difficult to understand
> English USA you see I live in England. Would anybody have a Dictionary to
> translate English USA to English UK.
>
> Jo
>
> The impossible I can achieve
> miracles take a little longer

I thank you for that, now I can cope with this news group,
Cheers Wood Butcher.

BM

Bob Martin

in reply to "josoap" on 01/05/2005 5:20 PM

05/05/2005 7:52 AM

in 1203267 20050505 005959 [email protected] (Robert Bonomi) wrote:

>"The Beatles are British musicians."

Steady on, old chap !

DD

David

in reply to "josoap" on 01/05/2005 5:20 PM

04/05/2005 9:36 AM

Or I could make the argument that the British usage is merely
old-fashioned. :)

Dave

Doug Miller wrote:

> In article <[email protected]>, "Olebiker" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>"Plural is the same."
>>
>>Ah that brings up a major difference between Americans and our British
>>cousins. The Brits don't seem to get subject-verb agreement. I cringe
>>every time I hear a BBC reporter tell me that "Manchester United are at
>>Arsenal for a friendly this Saturday." A collective noun is still
>>singular.
>
>
> OTOH, the name of the language *is* "English". On that basis, I think one
> could make the argument that the British usage is _by_definition_ the correct
> one.
>
> --
> Regards,
> Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)
>
> Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
> And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?


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