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English vs English


deanb
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Yogourt is silly. Could be Canadian French yeah? EDIT: I reckon the removal of the 'h' in 'yoghurt' was probably a conscious decision in america, the removal of superfluous or unnecessary letters in words. The favour/favor, color/colour paradigm, etc.

 

I love verbing nouns (just like I just did), but GIF is a bit of an obscure one to use. Especially when other more commonly used words like 'animate' or whatever suffice. Never heard that. Weird. Probably tumblr, yep.

Edited by kenshi_ryden
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  • 3 weeks later...

I always thought that the whole "whole 9 yards" thing was a Football reference, I know a first down is 10 yards, but many idioms like that are sports references, wondered if maybe a first down was 9 yards in the way back when. A bomber's guns feels like an unlikely source for the saying imuo.

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Twee is a british term? But I've always called a sub-genre of indie-pop "twee pop." Never seemed related to any region. Also, what about book? "Book 'em" is exactly what I think of when I think of cops from the 50s and 60s. In America.

 

Anyways, didn't we already discuss a very similar article?

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Yeah, we did.

 

And I agree, "book 'em" just sounds old fashioned, not foreign.

 

*Edit* - And "book" as in "book a flight" is the only term I've ever heard for that. I can't imagine what else you would say instead. Got a flight? Not distinctly British.

Edited by TheMightyEthan
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Yeah, I've heard that before I guess, and also "hop a flight", but both of those have implications of it being on short notice. You book a flight to go to Hawaii in 6 months, you catch a flight to go see your brother tomorrow.

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Oh, do Americans (or even, younger British people) know the word 'ponce' or 'poncy'?

 

Was thinking about how people describe things as 'gay' (e.g. "that hairstyle's so gay"), whereas before they might have said 'poncy'. Obviously, I'm not advocating the use of either, but I found it an interesting linguistic thing.

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I use it the same way I use "faffing". If someone is dawdling and it annoys me I will tell them to "stop poncing about." If they are not annoying me I will replace poncing with faffing. I never use it as a derisory term for homosexuals, though I suppose the etymological roots are there.

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I use it the same way I use "faffing". If someone is dawdling and it annoys me I will tell them to "stop poncing about." If they are not annoying me I will replace poncing with faffing. I never use it as a derisory term for homosexuals, though I suppose the etymological roots are there.

 

Etymologically it can be sexist and/or homophobic. :P

 

And I forgot 'poncing about', I've heard that one, too.

 

Surely in america they use it as a term for jumping upon your prey?

 

No, that's 'pancing'. ;)

Edited by Hot Heart
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