UK versus US English
I'm interested as to how common it is for the differences in meaning of words in the two variants of English to form a trap for the unwary and mean something unrelated - I was caught with "ticked off"...
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Some issues:ordering biscuits with breakfast (and many other foods which we have discussed in many times)finding the first floor of a buildingasking for a fagasking the hotel desk clerk to knock you...
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Pronouning Beauchamp, Taliaferro, Strachan and St. John and Bexar have gotten me slantendicular stares. My response has been that I am hooked on phonics. Mencken has more comment on names.
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Ok, myridon, you've got me there; if suspenders in the US are braces in the UK, then what are UK "suspenders" in the US, or for that matter, US "braces" in the UK?Harry, thanks for teaching me the...
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bayard. I was born in San Antonio, Texas. Mom was just passing through. I thought that being born there made me a native Texan. The first time I told someone that I was born in "San Ann-tony-o, Bex-er...
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My understanding of the braces and suspenders difference is that in old American films where you'd see the nattily dressed hero, he'd have elastic contraptions keeping his socks up under his trousers....
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Quote:Real Texans pronounce it "Bah-har".Following up this led me to this fascinating entry on Local Pronunciation, with a wealth of comments, from language hat's blog.
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Quote:I don't think British nattily dressed men in films wore anything to keep their socks up - though I am open to correction on that oneGarters, I believe. Not sure what they're called in the...
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I just heard former (Reagan and Clinton) White House counsel, David Gergen, say on CNN, "The vast majority of the country are so angry with this president for bolloxing up this war." Would that word...
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Quote:Not sure what they're called in the States, or if they exist there.They're garters in the States too. I recall seeing actors such as William Powell in 30s movies in spruce garters.This American...
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I can probably claim to be the only shapely young thing on this board to have worn English suspenders* as mentioned by Mo. (Or maybe not. You never know these days). They're an all-in-one undergarment...
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Well now, I've always thought that suspenders were a female item of clothing, attached to a suspender belt. The male version is referred to as a "sock - suspender" - see "The Diplomatic Platypus" by...
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More of a US / US question - but then there might be UK pronounciations as well (wikipedia turns up a Houston in Scotland) ?Houstonas in:1. Houston, Whitney2. Houston, Texas3. Houston Street, NY4....
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What exactly are you asking? I don't know how the name of the Scottish town is pronounced, as it's quite obscure, but some cursory googling seems to indicate that people think it might be pronounced...
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The NY street is named after William Houstoun, a delegate to the US Constitutional Convention. It was originally spelled "Houstoun Street," but the second U was dropped sometime in the 19th...
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There is a Houston, Missouri. My Dad was the mayor for 10 years. When I'd tell people that my Dad was the mayor of Houston they ask, "Houston Texas?" I'd respond, "Yes." Houston is the county seat for...
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Houston, Minnesota (down in the southeast corner of the state) is pronounced locally "hoo-sten"Scandinavian influence, I think.
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(Things click into place) Ah! In the film "Superman II", General Zod refers to Earth as "planet Hooston", after hearing lunar astronauts talking to "Houston". Since the film was largely a British...
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That sounds awfully convoluted. I don't know the film, but if it was a British production, isn't it more likely it was a simple mistake? If the BBC can't get the pronunciation of Houston, as in Texas,...
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