tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post3907408575701740438..comments2024-03-16T00:21:43.240+00:00Comments on Separated by a Common Language: Word of the Year 2011: Nominations, please!lynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-20854881599466893442011-12-20T12:37:12.377+00:002011-12-20T12:37:12.377+00:00Dru
'Gob' normally means 'mouth' ...Dru<br /><br /><i>'Gob' normally means 'mouth' over here.</i><br /><br />What else can it mean?David Crosbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01858358459416955921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-17840068442926775202011-12-20T04:48:30.715+00:002011-12-20T04:48:30.715+00:00I nominate 'rather' as in 'I rather li...I nominate 'rather' as in 'I rather like X'. I've always thought of it as being very British, but suddenly its all over the place.Katiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16992453847267507679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-1887592089080528812011-12-19T18:53:23.829+00:002011-12-19T18:53:23.829+00:00'Gob' normally means 'mouth' over ...'Gob' normally means 'mouth' over here.Drunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-8574379119162568492011-12-17T11:23:54.509+00:002011-12-17T11:23:54.509+00:00It turns out that Ben Zimmer discussed the origins...It turns out that Ben Zimmer <a href="http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004633.html" rel="nofollow">discussed</a> the origins of `gobshite' and related terms on Language Log in 2007, with comments from Lynne Murphy. The older documented US Navy use may be descriptive of the spat tobacco wads associated with sailors. There's also discussion there of `shite' ("a jocular alternative to `shit'"), again with reference to this blog. <br /><br />As regards `FTW', is this supposed to be read out as the string of letters or as `for the win', since, when spoken, it is one of those abbreviations involving `W' that is longer than what it purportedly abbreviates.Ian Prestonhttp://www.ucl.ac.uk/~uctp100noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-89802320190282932172011-12-16T20:24:35.635+00:002011-12-16T20:24:35.635+00:00@Peter Mork: they're talking about 'for th...@Peter Mork: they're talking about 'for the win!'!lynneguisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-29099701152974724522011-12-16T19:47:34.697+00:002011-12-16T19:47:34.697+00:00Wait, are we talking about 'gobsmack' or &...Wait, are we talking about 'gobsmack' or 'gobshite? If the latter was ever spoken on Hollywood Squares, TV sets across America would've exploded.<br /><br />It occurred to me, 'gob' is an old US slang term for sailor. So does that mean being gobsmacked is akin to being punched by a swabbie?Peter Morknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-82648309081975854752011-12-16T15:18:24.474+00:002011-12-16T15:18:24.474+00:00@Anonymous: Several sites attribute the phrase to...@Anonymous: Several sites attribute the phrase to US gameshow Hollywood Squares. The UK had it's own version, Celebrity Squares, in the 1970s but I don't recall host Bob Monkhouse using the phrase (not that anything about the show is particularly prominent in my memory). Until recently, it was a phrase I'd come upon only, though frequently enough to have noticed it, on US blogs or US TV shows but, of course, that's just personal impression - you may be right.Ian Prestonhttp://www.ucl.ac.uk/~uctp100noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-45408300253217904932011-12-16T09:29:11.152+00:002011-12-16T09:29:11.152+00:00>The OED claims to trace its use to US Navy sla...>The OED claims to trace its use to US Navy slang, with earliest recorded use in 1910 almost 40 years before any attested use in the UK.<br /><br />If that's the case, I'm gobsmacked. But I wasn't in the US Navy in 1910, so anything's possible.Peter Morknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-14699943124631168252011-12-15T15:02:08.170+00:002011-12-15T15:02:08.170+00:00I (American) question FTW (as "for the win&qu...I (American) question FTW (as "for the win") as a AmE to BrE import. It's new to me too. I think it's just becoming more used, more visible, period.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-18742959877718251562011-12-15T14:42:58.614+00:002011-12-15T14:42:58.614+00:00its great post! I nominate kettling.
german tra...its great post! I nominate kettling. <br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.quicklingo.com/en/languages/german-translation" rel="nofollow">german translation services</a>german translation serviceshttp://www.quicklingo.com/en/languages/german-translationnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-82398933171972330482011-12-15T11:07:47.527+00:002011-12-15T11:07:47.527+00:00I just had reason to look up `gobshite', think...I just had reason to look up `gobshite', thinking it quintessentially a term from this side of the Atlantic, with a particularly Irish flavour. The OED claims to trace its use to US Navy slang, with earliest recorded use in 1910 almost 40 years before any attested use in the UK. Surprised me.Ian Prestonhttp://www.ucl.ac.uk/~uctp100noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-29822128432030826472011-12-14T19:38:18.593+00:002011-12-14T19:38:18.593+00:00I've started using it. I always thought it wa...I've started using it. I always thought it was something rather rude, and then a kind friend translated it for me!Mrs Redboots (Annabel Smyth)https://www.blogger.com/profile/11270027663691257254noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-63959794581709177152011-12-14T18:22:13.097+00:002011-12-14T18:22:13.097+00:00I nominate "FTW" for AmE to BrE import. ...I nominate "FTW" for AmE to BrE import. I have noticed a few British tweeters using it recently - a couple of examples from this week: https://twitter.com/#!/mjrobbins/status/145995563597443072, https://twitter.com/#!/edyong209/status/146414555646541825. I predict it will become more common.Ian Prestonhttp://www.ucl.ac.uk/~uctp100noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-67746415439096139132011-12-10T08:19:03.758+00:002011-12-10T08:19:03.758+00:00You mean, the grading from hell?
That's one t...You mean, the <i>grading</i> from hell?<br /><br />That's one term I had to consciously remind myself to use when I moved to America for college.Vanessa C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/09236614278584074038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-11148410183419193412011-12-09T23:16:33.676+00:002011-12-09T23:16:33.676+00:00I will vote for quotative "all" for AmE-...I will vote for quotative "all" for AmE->BrE word. It has all but died in the States (replaced by quotative "like"), and from browsing at a British corpus for some research recently, seems vibrantly alive in the UK.<br />I agree that "shite" has entered the AmE lexicon with some ferocity.Blair Mastbaumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12680453436861111363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-85445684280234013692011-12-07T19:05:26.552+00:002011-12-07T19:05:26.552+00:00AmE to BrE "Entitled", as in the usage, ...AmE to BrE "Entitled", as in the usage, "Oh, she's so entitled!" meaning someone who is pushy and grabby and thinks she (or he, of course) deserves the best. Not a usage I'd come across until recently.Mrs Redboots (Annabel Smyth)https://www.blogger.com/profile/11270027663691257254noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-63702066792702692782011-12-07T18:16:47.460+00:002011-12-07T18:16:47.460+00:00"A usage that's seldom got right
Is when ..."A usage that's seldom got right<br />Is when to say shit and when shite;<br />And many a chap<br />Will fall back on crap,<br />Which is vulgar, evasive and trite."<br /><br />attributed to Philip Larkin and Robert Conquest; quoted in Kingsley Amis's autobiography. For more see the Language Log: http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004633.html.Grahamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10748485660099592412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-59958621201897726162011-12-07T17:47:28.508+00:002011-12-07T17:47:28.508+00:00AmE to BrE:
1. "Pleased to meet you" sa...AmE to BrE:<br /><br />1. "Pleased to meet you" said when speaking for the first time to someone on the telephone (who you have never met in person).<br /><br />2. "Reach out to X" meaning "contact X".Markhttp://www.ipdraughts.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-4150189521891543782011-12-05T20:19:58.238+00:002011-12-05T20:19:58.238+00:00I'd definitely vote against "occupy"...I'd definitely vote against "occupy" as an eastwards migration. It was an entirely normal UK word before and is understood here as the protesters using it with its normal meaning, not with some new meaning it didn't previously have. If it has some other meaning in AmE, that hasn't migrated with it.Drunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-9500989690194096212011-12-05T16:36:37.083+00:002011-12-05T16:36:37.083+00:00I always associate "shite" with one of P...I always associate "shite" with one of Posy Simmonds' cartoon characters in The Guardian in the 1980s.... I think he may have been Northern, or quasi-Northern, but I can't remember now.Mrs Redboots (Annabel Smyth)https://www.blogger.com/profile/11270027663691257254noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-80642518091398735642011-12-05T16:11:33.260+00:002011-12-05T16:11:33.260+00:00Interesting. I (US) never thought of "gobsmac...Interesting. I (US) never thought of "gobsmacked" (the adjectival form only, not the verb) as particularly British. Same with dodgy.Boris Zakharinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16560756640621720539noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-65228802766363623392011-12-05T13:49:16.808+00:002011-12-05T13:49:16.808+00:00"Hmm, to me adding the extra letter makes it ..."Hmm, to me adding the extra letter makes it more intense, sort of like when Woody Allen says (in Annie Hall) "Love is too weak a word for what I feel, I lurve you".<br /><br />How do they see it in Britain?"<br /><br />It's a regional variation, and I suspect mainly working class in the places where it is used. The person I would most associate its use with is Steve Coogan's comic character Paul Calf, who's from Manchester. That is however anecdote not data. If there hasn't been a survey of its use no doubt that's an opportunity for a student somewhere.Shaun Clarksonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16290670832534929741noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-10560005249728281582011-12-05T11:55:25.379+00:002011-12-05T11:55:25.379+00:00I'm noticing that the BrE "chatting up&qu...I'm noticing that the BrE "chatting up" is crossing the pond but losing its sexual overtone.<br /><br />Example: "Apple's Tim Cook Chats Up Fans" - http://www.mobiledia.com/news/118481.html<br /><br />Earlier in the year, I almost choked on my tea when I heard:<br />"Ann Curry Chats Up A Dog" - http://www.bestweekever.tv/2011-09-09/ann-curry-dogMarlowenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-36522685024898902332011-12-05T11:12:26.145+00:002011-12-05T11:12:26.145+00:00Joey Nordberg
Although we don't usually speak...Joey Nordberg<br /><br />Although we don't usually speak of <i>Englanders</i>, we do have the term <i>Little Englanders</i> for people with a mindset that excludes the rest of the world. We also speak of <i>Laplanders</i> and <i>New Zealanders</i>.<br /><br />The <i>-ish</i> forms are less geographical in meaning than the <i>-er</i> forms. The <i>Boston Irish</i> do not live in a place called <i>Boston Ireland</i>.David Crosbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01858358459416955921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-56239495231060719812011-12-05T01:58:38.394+00:002011-12-05T01:58:38.394+00:00I agree with the two suggestions above.
AmE>Br...I agree with the two suggestions above.<br /><br />AmE>BrE: Occupy<br />BrE>AmE: Kettling <br /><br />@Peter Mork: Yes, Boston is part of the U.S. I find it odd that a lot of people think of New England (The six states Northeast of New York) is part of Canada despite it being the place the revolution was started. <br /><br />On a tangent to that, why are we called "New Englanders" instead of "New English"? Is there a specific grammatical rule working here or does the former just sound better?Joey Nordberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18079820975184566151noreply@blogger.com