tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-287879092024-03-16T18:52:37.738+00:00Separated by a Common LanguageObservations on British and American English by an American linguist in the UKlynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comBlogger629125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-74499132972848407432024-02-18T22:01:00.003+00:002024-02-18T22:02:59.739+00:00second-guess<p><br /></p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX4dz5xc83TSFjHGu0bZG0DbJLfA4O5MV_LTMAy55KKHW81WW9C9vEulXoGukzWXLLsG28KRXUIP9gjWx4KTyheHVIxz5XsTAhCOV83Np8s99kJp-EZ7y8awXcBHl_O8w1qE5DFIfSEgYNIdcjPKuuo9qgLvNu-twyG7xwjMwteK69H5FL4iRi/s810/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-18%20at%2021.57.07.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="young woman head & shoulders, hand on chin, surrounded by question marks; Text: The Confidence Catalyst Podcast, How to stop second-guessing yourself" border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="776" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX4dz5xc83TSFjHGu0bZG0DbJLfA4O5MV_LTMAy55KKHW81WW9C9vEulXoGukzWXLLsG28KRXUIP9gjWx4KTyheHVIxz5XsTAhCOV83Np8s99kJp-EZ7y8awXcBHl_O8w1qE5DFIfSEgYNIdcjPKuuo9qgLvNu-twyG7xwjMwteK69H5FL4iRi/w307-h320/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-18%20at%2021.57.07.png" width="307" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from <a href="https://thecatalystcoaching.com/2020/10/07/episode-66-how-to-stop-second-guessing-yourself/">here</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>At the <a href="https://bavardbar.co.uk/">Bavard Bar in St Leonard's</a> a few months ago, a Bavardier asked me if I'd noticed the difference between the US and UK meanings of <i style="text-align: center;"><b>second-guess</b>. </i><span style="text-align: center;">I hadn't! She felt that the US meaning was overtaking the UK meaning, but whose meaning is really whose? </span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Here's what Oxford Languages says: </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWJyKD2-6rDXWPTLqwcN6XwZ3gnG6xemooyG1cHEv2HbsxkmA4sa9qvAY5TmZpsxtaqJmUhSQ7BtuTElEBem9s574ExyZLwpVgYdJhKE_dcCaXXSs0UPXn6gVaWkQEv-jpY6kHQE5jmcA9mUkXn8TZfMON3PkG22KOdydfNf9QBPWyiT_uxu4o/s1048/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-02%20at%2002.54.05.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Dictionary Definitions from Oxford Languages · Learn more second-guess verb 1. anticipate or predict (someone's actions or thoughts) by guesswork. "he had to second-guess what the environmental regulations would be in five years' time" 2. NORTH AMERICAN criticize (someone or something) with hindsight. "juries are often reluctant to second-guess doctors"" border="0" data-original-height="422" data-original-width="1048" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWJyKD2-6rDXWPTLqwcN6XwZ3gnG6xemooyG1cHEv2HbsxkmA4sa9qvAY5TmZpsxtaqJmUhSQ7BtuTElEBem9s574ExyZLwpVgYdJhKE_dcCaXXSs0UPXn6gVaWkQEv-jpY6kHQE5jmcA9mUkXn8TZfMON3PkG22KOdydfNf9QBPWyiT_uxu4o/w640-h258/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-02%20at%2002.54.05.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div>But more than the one meaning is North American. The <i>Oxford English Dictionary</i> lists it, in any meaning, as 'originally and chiefly <i>North American</i>', with evidence of the 'anticipate' sense form 1941 and of the 'judge' sense from 1946. <div><br /></div><div>It looks like only the first of those meanings ('anticipate by guesswork') initially went to the UK, while that meaning perhaps lost steam in the US. The American <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/second-guess">Merriam-Webster dictionary lists the 'criticize' meaning first</a>. <p>For me, 'judge with hindsight' doesn't capture how I use <i>second-guess. </i>Here's me using it in <i>The Prodigal Tongue</i>, talking about the acts of faith we need to take in communicating:</p><blockquote><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> when you’re talking with people from other places, you cannot <b>second-guess </b>every noun and verb you utter.</p></blockquote><p>If we use <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synonym#:~:text=The%20standard%20test%20for%20synonymy,sentence%20without%20changing%20its%20meaning.">a substitution test </a>to see which of the definitions above fits with it, it's not very satisfying. </p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><i>you cannot <b>anticipate</b> every noun and verb you utter</i>. </li><li><i>you cannot <b>judge with hindsight </b>every noun and verb you utter</i></li></ol><p></p><p>Neither seems to me to capture what I meant, which was something more like:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><i>you cannot <b>spend time doubting and re-thinking</b> every noun and verb you utter</i></li></ul><p></p><p>This sense of 'doubt' seems to come through when <i>second-guess </i>is used with a reflexive (-<i>self</i>) pronoun, as in <i style="font-weight: bold;">I spend too much time second-guessing myself </i>and, it turns out, there are about 2.5 times more second-guessing of oneself in the American part of <a href="https://www.english-corpora.org/glowbe/">GloWbE corpus</a> as in the British part:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL0Jil2SIjdqF8Qj0UiuctBUCrqCEBtrQCVvMOz5TifG-cvIwtYu5jjun_DSMD1UKiDcn-LFbfUoAAfrizX3C_BXtWKrC0WyrM5D305UbxUsx1U4FfF4nZQ323wjJojIhEhdoTvhtj6oRj2rcFkImSVVSplXOIhGDQUOJSafwAFdm3k3prG3Y0/s796/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-09%20at%2012.34.47.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Results table from GloWbE corpus shows 48 US instances of 'second-guess* *self', 19 GB instances" border="0" data-original-height="584" data-original-width="796" height="294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL0Jil2SIjdqF8Qj0UiuctBUCrqCEBtrQCVvMOz5TifG-cvIwtYu5jjun_DSMD1UKiDcn-LFbfUoAAfrizX3C_BXtWKrC0WyrM5D305UbxUsx1U4FfF4nZQ323wjJojIhEhdoTvhtj6oRj2rcFkImSVVSplXOIhGDQUOJSafwAFdm3k3prG3Y0/w400-h294/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-09%20at%2012.34.47.png" width="400" /></a></div><p><a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/second-guess">Wiktionary</a>'s definition might be more in line with my intuitions of the meaning. <br /></p><ol style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; list-style-image: none; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 3.2em; padding: 0px;"><li style="break-inside: avoid; margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><span class="usage-label-sense"><span class="ib-brac">(</span><span class="ib-content" style="font-style: italic;"><a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#idiomatic" style="background: none; color: #0645ad; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Appendix:Glossary">idiomatic</a></span><span class="ib-brac">)</span></span> to <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vet" style="background: none; color: #0645ad; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="vet">vet</a> or <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/evaluate" style="background: none; color: #0645ad; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="evaluate">evaluate</a>; to <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/criticize" style="background: none; color: #0645ad; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="criticize">criticize</a> or <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/correct" style="background: none; color: #0645ad; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="correct">correct</a>, often by <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hindsight" style="background: none; color: #0645ad; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="hindsight">hindsight</a>, by <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/presuming" style="background: none; color: #0645ad; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="presuming">presuming</a> to have a better <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/idea" style="background: none; color: #0645ad; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="idea">idea</a>, <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/method" style="background: none; color: #0645ad; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="method">method</a>, etc. <span class="HQToggle" style="bottom: 1px; font-size: smaller; left: 5px; margin-left: 5px; position: relative;"><a role="button" style="background: none; color: #0645ad; cursor: pointer; overflow-wrap: break-word; user-select: none;" tabindex="0">quotations ▼</a></span><dl style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.2em;"><dd style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;"><i>Please don't try to <b>second-guess</b> the procedure that we have already refined and adopted.</i></dd><dd style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;"><i>Once she began listening to her instincts and didn't <b>second-guess</b> herself the entire time, her artwork improved noticeably.</i></dd></dl></li></ol><p>Their use of the originally <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2008/12/words-of-year-2008.html">BrE verb </a><b><i><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2008/12/words-of-year-2008.html">to vet</a></i> </b>seems to capture what I meant in my sentence: 'One cannot vet every noun or verb for its dialect-appropriateness before it comes out of one's mouth.' I'm betting this usage has arisen by 'contamination' from a similar, but centuries-older phrase: <i style="font-weight: bold;">have second thoughts about</i><i>.</i></p><p>That's not to say I always use it in the 'vetting' way. Here's an example from an email I sent, replying to a question of whether students would like to join the staff in a reading group:</p><p></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px;">I don't think we should </span><b style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px;">second-guess</b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px;">whether students would want to do it; I think we should just invite them. </span> </blockquote><p>This one has more the 'anticipate' sense. I don't think I picked that up in the UK. Rather, I think the phrase does more than one thing for AmE speakers. </p><p>So, is my fellow Bavardier right that things are changing in the UK? Let's look in the <a href="https://www.english-corpora.org/now/">News on the Web</a> corpus, since that covers the past 14 years, whereas the GloWbE data were from 2012. Using the same search string as I used in GloWbE (second-guess* *self), there is still 2.5 times more in the US subcorpus than in the British subcorpus. If we just search for second-guess* (without the *self), it's 2.2 times more in the US. </p><p>But we can see it really picking up in BrE since 2017:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLe-1L5ubmDZ3_Ojp6QFQBqrvc40sM5yhHfLqwBblGV1hxsuoD0jDwjnihb5QJyZZ2LCDcnl8Q3BzhF_69nPkozQUkdq7FzfGIFhNks5Xotlfhzg07T1yPj841kOqhirjnGeqNMMoZFXwXDJJ4n4536NPqgug_qJoPj1eQcpT4ynySZpW9gEsg/s2271/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-18%20at%2019.10.39.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Now corpus results table shows single-figure 'second-guess* *self' results until 2017, low double figures after." border="0" data-original-height="1088" data-original-width="2271" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLe-1L5ubmDZ3_Ojp6QFQBqrvc40sM5yhHfLqwBblGV1hxsuoD0jDwjnihb5QJyZZ2LCDcnl8Q3BzhF_69nPkozQUkdq7FzfGIFhNks5Xotlfhzg07T1yPj841kOqhirjnGeqNMMoZFXwXDJJ4n4536NPqgug_qJoPj1eQcpT4ynySZpW9gEsg/w640-h306/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-18%20at%2019.10.39.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>So it feels kind of 'new' in BrE. But while it's older in AmE, there's certainly a great increase in its use in the past few years. Perhaps it's that increase in the US that's allowed it to be picked up in the UK:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMWD6ll1Mctyn140V3PlOuny-l88reV6RUmt6gtA5SKz3SxaLKCCQo5yzoScAp0CntC9_07hIL6eBt6KfQ1Fxgjb_zH8GvMmZQOxb9P33F_5up9sbYvPfniQbZiEeUELzQKafu-OTigYboZMgfUyFvBglr34b1_ZON_nRTBMyJlOQ_q1Fz1qrR/s2268/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-18%20at%2019.11.41.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1352" data-original-width="2268" height="382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMWD6ll1Mctyn140V3PlOuny-l88reV6RUmt6gtA5SKz3SxaLKCCQo5yzoScAp0CntC9_07hIL6eBt6KfQ1Fxgjb_zH8GvMmZQOxb9P33F_5up9sbYvPfniQbZiEeUELzQKafu-OTigYboZMgfUyFvBglr34b1_ZON_nRTBMyJlOQ_q1Fz1qrR/w640-h382/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-18%20at%2019.11.41.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Rather than me second-guessing your thoughts on this, why don't you just tell us in the comments?</div><p></p></div>lynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-9216338591369413172024-01-03T21:32:00.003+00:002024-01-04T02:27:52.880+00:00US-to-UK Word of the Year: OK<p><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2024/01/uk-to-us-word-of-year-2023-if-im-honest.html">See here </a>for the UK-to-US WotY post. <br /><br />Time for the 2023 US-to-UK Word of the Year. Before people complain that this word has been in British English too long for it to count as a word of 2023, let me remind you of the criteria for SbaCL WotYs: </p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #303f50; font-family: inherit;">Good candidates for SbaCL WotY are expressions that have lived a good life on one side of the Atlantic but for some reason have made a splash on the other side of the Atlantic this year. </span></li><li><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #303f50; font-family: inherit;">Words coined this year are not really in the running. If they moved from one place to another that quickly, then it's hard to say that they're really "Americanisms" or "Britishisms". They're probably just "internetisms". The one situation in which I could see a newly minted word working as a transatlantic WotY would be if the word/expression referenced something very American/British but was nevertheless taken on in the other country.</span></li><li><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #303f50; font-family: inherit;"><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif">When I say</span><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif"> </span><i>word</i><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif"> </span><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif">of the year, I more technically mean</span><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif"> </span><i>lexical item of the year</i><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif">, which is to say, there can be spaces in nominations. </span></span></li></ul><div>This word did make something of a splash in the British news this year. Here's a tweet from the <i>Daily Mail</i>:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfZjBeSLgkz46pQ5kbjSTV_QEktSxOWko9KzStKUM_THxtjgmUbiXx9J5Q6v2PplF58WF66fGg8Vqzju_HCBYTaNTml4qUa101E_ER7rQ5bDKjHWOM1XQCU8WX0dHWaY2ty_cJjznZEiZ6D2FpqrdkcJQ-hBzqIeund1ekKHMz-RaZlI9QIYJw/s972/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-02%20at%2015.53.57.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Daily Mail March 2023: This common American word will make you sound less smart. Use this British one instead." border="0" data-original-height="702" data-original-width="972" height="462" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfZjBeSLgkz46pQ5kbjSTV_QEktSxOWko9KzStKUM_THxtjgmUbiXx9J5Q6v2PplF58WF66fGg8Vqzju_HCBYTaNTml4qUa101E_ER7rQ5bDKjHWOM1XQCU8WX0dHWaY2ty_cJjznZEiZ6D2FpqrdkcJQ-hBzqIeund1ekKHMz-RaZlI9QIYJw/w640-h462/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-02%20at%2015.53.57.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>And what was that American word? *fanfare* The 2023 US-to-UK Word of the Year is </div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><i>OK!</i></span></h1><div>(Also spelled <i style="font-weight: bold;">okay</i>, but we'll get to that!)<br /><br />Though it has appeared in BrE since at least the late 19th century (originating in AmE earlier in that century), <i><b>OK</b> </i>took a while to make its way into everyday speech in the UK. (Click on images to enlarge them.) Here's its trajectory in books (via <a href="https://books.google.com/ngrams/">Google Books Ngram Viewer</a>). </div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPTQBlxWJWDHaPBDK4lmOtNNm_MrD978tS6btWJP9pAjlDgOy6fQPMYi9GX5zUhIsmWWGktqW-OAV96eKIW_K99PbUQ3BwNXxV6s4J6AA0hLeSzQRViwKHbJloEQnK7YJwWD0mfy2fS7p5WIobtZavy9sFD3wRv5D9ss3uImXMtG1jmpE0rv3D/s2418/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-02%20at%2016.08.41.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="ngram graph shows gentle rise in British 'okay' from 1960s, then sharp increase in 2010s" border="0" data-original-height="1208" data-original-width="2418" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPTQBlxWJWDHaPBDK4lmOtNNm_MrD978tS6btWJP9pAjlDgOy6fQPMYi9GX5zUhIsmWWGktqW-OAV96eKIW_K99PbUQ3BwNXxV6s4J6AA0hLeSzQRViwKHbJloEQnK7YJwWD0mfy2fS7p5WIobtZavy9sFD3wRv5D9ss3uImXMtG1jmpE0rv3D/w640-h320/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-02%20at%2016.08.41.png" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><i>OK</i> is underrepresented in earlier years in this graph because it was <b>spelled/spelt</b> <i>O.K. </i>with (BrE) <b>full stops</b>/(AmE)<b> periods </b>until and into the 20th century. As far as I know, there's no way to search for a word with that punctuation in it in Google Ngram Viewer, so I'm a bit stuck in showing more of the historical picture. </div><div><br /></div><div>One of American English's great observers/collectors/analysts, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/18/nyregion/allen-read-96-the-ok-expert-is-dead.html">Allan Walker Read</a> put significant effort into the study of <i>OK</i>, tracing its origins to a humorous spelling of <i>all correct. </i>Then people forgot about the joke and it went on to become "the English language's most successful export" according to this <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/the-hilarious-history-of-ok-okay">Merriam-Webster post</a>, about a book by another late, great American English linguist, <a href="https://americandialect.org/allan-metcalf-1940-2022/">Allan Metcalf</a>, relating Read's research. </div><div><br /></div><div>Getting back to the UK news in 2023, here's the headline of the <i>Daily Mail</i>'s story:</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguY17NlnhGRYIFk9bQSXeHn1Xi8Z4IFwn1iMJ0elUAZMTYy-KItAGNXS7lMmPrjDogA42vvfXOd63SDBVqR8Cf1C5mc9F8IygNnKLCe_expS7-bGMc34RZsivb5AWtlN8cmeLRKbqObFMDwlhm1WrbqYGYbZus5Ln0s5jLFbS03_FphmJ_FXrv/s1256/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-02%20at%2015.37.47.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Americans believe British people are smarter because of their habit of saying 'right' instead of 'ok' - which makes them sound like they understand more than they do" border="0" data-original-height="414" data-original-width="1256" height="105" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguY17NlnhGRYIFk9bQSXeHn1Xi8Z4IFwn1iMJ0elUAZMTYy-KItAGNXS7lMmPrjDogA42vvfXOd63SDBVqR8Cf1C5mc9F8IygNnKLCe_expS7-bGMc34RZsivb5AWtlN8cmeLRKbqObFMDwlhm1WrbqYGYbZus5Ln0s5jLFbS03_FphmJ_FXrv/w320-h105/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-02%20at%2015.37.47.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04;">Dailymail.co.uk headline.<br />Not linking to them because they don't need the traffic<br /><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div>That headline came from a particular interpretation of work by <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378216622003125">Galina B. Bolden, Alexa Hepburn, and Jenny Mandelbaum</a> published in the <i>Journal of Pragmatics</i> on differences in US and UK usage of <i style="font-weight: bold;">right</i>, about which they conclude:<br /></div><div><blockquote><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">[I]n American English, <i>right</i> conveys the speaker's knowing stance and, in certain environments, the speaker's claim of primary knowledge. In contrast, in British English, <i>right</i> registers provided information as previously unknown, informative, and relevant to the current speaker's ongoing project. </p></blockquote><p><span> </span><span> [...]</span> </p><blockquote><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">[S]ome UK usages of <i>right</i>—such as registering of potentially consequential information and projecting a transition—are quite similar to US <i>okay</i> in comparable positions [...]. This suggests a possibility that, in US English, <i>okay</i> took over some of the <i>right</i> usages and/or, in UK English, <i>right</i> took over some of the <i>okay</i> usages."</p></blockquote><p>Their research was inspired by this interaction between BrE-speaking "AB" and AmE speaker "GA":<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg24L6vdhObN5y0qQypEJFJu1uh2eDYWss3RJifh6oNUhErMwReon36uHBkVq_rxrICHi6v71siNNFAY8FXImFLJo2F-Ufa0qHhc1jiKbqGuQZ17aTDvjaD0zFf4XX9OyfQ4WHJKB5ErmbErhFjOUEmG-2ySGItr5WfuHLQQ8m_7SmFK0Tj6486/s1170/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-02%20at%2021.50.45.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="GA: so that’s when Christie’s team stepped in and turned everything alround. AB: Right. GA: Wait. You knew this already? AB: No?" border="0" data-original-height="344" data-original-width="1170" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg24L6vdhObN5y0qQypEJFJu1uh2eDYWss3RJifh6oNUhErMwReon36uHBkVq_rxrICHi6v71siNNFAY8FXImFLJo2F-Ufa0qHhc1jiKbqGuQZ17aTDvjaD0zFf4XX9OyfQ4WHJKB5ErmbErhFjOUEmG-2ySGItr5WfuHLQQ8m_7SmFK0Tj6486/w640-h188/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-02%20at%2021.50.45.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>So, essentially, the British use of <i>right</i> in that context leads GA to think that AB is confirming (rather than acknowledging receipt of) the information. If AB had said <i>OK, </i>then GA would have understood it as acknowledgement rather than confirmation.</p><p>Even though the researchers note differences in usage between BrE and AmE <b><i>okay</i> </b>(though keep in mind that their research is about <i>right</i>), it seems like a fitting US-to-UK WotY because (in whichever usages), it's used more than ever in the UK. Here it is in the British section of the News on the Web corpus, where it shows <i>OK </i>and <i>okay</i> climbing in the last couple of years.</p></div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOKznGsSecXkt7eisBqgVPwtD8U9Cr84bAZKZ8EmBtIN7AOI6HFDRArY1c1JsOZ1LZHam3jrMsc_rclxa8aO4OKlkyxSO7LRF10gydmSXGXeT_AybrKArDr3kYZs6PaDISTrI0SwRZc54-BXcoBNZkI6FA1S8SSdYfzStlHWyQkAwQgJ5VmuSK/s2392/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-02%20at%2016.05.29.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="606" data-original-width="2392" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOKznGsSecXkt7eisBqgVPwtD8U9Cr84bAZKZ8EmBtIN7AOI6HFDRArY1c1JsOZ1LZHam3jrMsc_rclxa8aO4OKlkyxSO7LRF10gydmSXGXeT_AybrKArDr3kYZs6PaDISTrI0SwRZc54-BXcoBNZkI6FA1S8SSdYfzStlHWyQkAwQgJ5VmuSK/w640-h162/Screen%20Shot%202024-01-02%20at%2016.05.29.png" width="640" /></a></div></div><div><br /></div><br /><div>Something to notice about the spelling is that in the news corpus, the <i style="font-weight: bold;">OK</i> spelling outnumbers the <i style="font-weight: bold;">okay</i> spelling, but in the books <i style="font-weight: bold;">okay</i> outnumbers <i style="font-weight: bold;">OK</i>. I think this tells us something about spelling style in different kinds of publications. I checked whether it also told us something about adjective (<i>an okay/OK word</i>) versus interjection use (<i>OK! Okay!</i>), but did not find a great difference between the spellings in the different uses.</div><div><br /></div><div>Since this was a year of warning Britons against it, <i><b>OK</b> </i>is the 2023 Separated by a Common Language US-to-UK Word of the Year! </div><div><br /></div><div><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 8px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 8px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 8px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 8px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p></div>lynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-45697621427214626492024-01-01T00:24:00.005+00:002024-01-01T04:10:24.305+00:00UK-to-US Word of the Year 2023: if I'm honest<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); text-align: justify;">Each year since 2006, this blog has designated Transatlantic Words of the Year (</span><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/search/label/WotY" style="line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration-line: none;">WotY</a><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); text-align: justify;">). The twist is that I choose the most 'of the year' borrowings from US-to-UK and from UK-to-US. </span><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif"> The question this year raises is: does 2023 deserve SbaCL Words of the Year?</span></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); margin: 12px 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The eligibility criteria remain:<br /></span></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); font-family: inherit;">Good candidates for SbaCL WotY are expressions that have lived a good life on one side of the Atlantic but for some reason have made a splash on the other side of the Atlantic this year. </span></li><li><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); font-family: inherit;">Words coined this year are not really in the running. If they moved from one place to another that quickly, then it's hard to say that they're really "Americanisms" or "Britishisms". They're probably just "internetisms". The one situation in which I could see a newly minted word working as a transatlantic WotY would be if the word/expression referenced something very American/British but was nevertheless taken on in the other country.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);">When I say</span><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"> </span><i style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);">word</i><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"> </span><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);">of the year, I more technically mean</span><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"> </span><i style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);">lexical item of the year</i><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);">, which is to say, there can be spaces in nominations. Past space-ful WotYs have included</span><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #303f50;"> </span><b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #303f50;"><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2014/12/2014-uk-to-us-co-word-of-year-gap-year.html" style="color: #a50910; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;"><i>gap year</i></a></b><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #303f50;">,</span><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #303f50;"> </span><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2013/12/2013-us-to-uk-word-of-year-black-friday.html" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #a50910; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;"><b><i>Black Friday</i></b></a><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #303f50;">, </span><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);">and</span><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #303f50;"> </span><b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #303f50;"><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2009/12/words-of-year-2009-staycation-and-go.html" style="color: #a50910; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;"><i>go missing</i></a></b><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #303f50;">.</span><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);"> I've also been known to declare a</span><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #303f50;"> <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2022/01/us-to-uk-word-of-year-2021-doon.html">pronunciation</a> t</span><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9);">he Word of </span><span face="Droid Sans, Arial, Arial Unicode MS, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span>the Year.</span></span></span></li></ul><div><span face="Droid Sans, Arial, Arial Unicode MS, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #303f50;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face="Droid Sans, Arial, Arial Unicode MS, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #303f50;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The UK > US WotY was nominated by <a href="https://fritinancy.substack.com/">Nancy Friedman </a>and endorsed by <a href="https://notoneoffbritishisms.com/2020/11/30/if-im-honest/">Ben Yagoda</a>. It is most definitely a phrase:</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face="Droid Sans, Arial, Arial Unicode MS, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #303f50;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face="Droid Sans, Arial, Arial Unicode MS, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #660000; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>if I'm honest</i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="Droid Sans, Arial, Arial Unicode MS, Helvetica, sans-serif">In <a href="https://notoneoffbritishisms.com/2020/11/30/if-im-honest/">Ben's post</a> the phrase is associated with <i>Great British <b><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2014/12/2014-us-to-uk-co-word-of-year-bake-off.html">Bake-Off</a></b></i> (AmE: <i>Great British Baking Show</i>) judge Paul Hollywood. When I looked for it on <a href="https://youglish.com/pronounce/if%20I%27m%20honest/english/uk?">YouGlish</a>, there were a whole slew of examples from the British (BrE) <b>motoring </b>show <i>Top Gear</i>, on which they review cars. In both program(me)s, the phrase is useful in softening criticisms (which both shows have a lot of) by framing them as a truths expressed with some reservation. <i>If I'm honest </i>marks something as an admission of some sort. It's similar to <i style="font-weight: bold;">to be honest</i>, which has long been said in the US (and the UK) for much the same reason. (And then there's <b><i>h</i></b><b style="font-style: italic;">onestly</b>, which I'll come back to.)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="Droid Sans, Arial, Arial Unicode MS, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="Droid Sans, Arial, Arial Unicode MS, Helvetica, sans-serif">Here are some recent American uses of the phrase:<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://www.polygon.com/23791156/barbie-ryan-gosling-ken-everything-quote-casting-said">Ryan Gosling</a>, on being cast as Ken in <i>Barbie</i>: "I just decided I was going to Ken as hard as I can. I Kenned in the morning; I Kenned at night. <b>If I’m honest</b>, I’m Kenning a little right now.”</li><li><a href="https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/ashley-darby-reveals-she-estranged-201907848.html">A Real Housewife of Potomac</a>, on getting divorced: "I've just been a little bit complacent about it, <b>if I'm honest</b>, because there are benefits to being married."</li><li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/01/i-disconnected-from-the-electric-grid-for-8-months-in-manhattan/">A Manhattanite</a> writing about an experiment in sustainable living: "<b>If I’m honest</b>, part of me hoped to find the challenge untenable so I could say the cure was worse than the disease and give up."</li><li><a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/politics/ct-brandon-johnson-police-superintendent-choice-20230411-ufhbsg4eefg4jp7hsiiivlvjsi-story.html">A Chicago police officer</a> commenting on the city's mayoral race: “If I’m honest, I think Catanzara may have some blame here”</li></ul></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="Droid Sans, Arial, Arial Unicode MS, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="Droid Sans, Arial, Arial Unicode MS, Helvetica, sans-serif">These kinds of phrases are <a href="https://blog.ieltspractice.com/ielts-tips-speaking-opinionated-discourse-markers/"><b>discourse markers</b></a>. They do not add factual meaning to the sentence they're in, but rather make a comment on the speaker's attitude, or stance, <b><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2013/07/towards-and-other-wards.html">toward(s)</a></b> what they're saying. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="Droid Sans, Arial, Arial Unicode MS, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="Droid Sans, Arial, Arial Unicode MS, Helvetica, sans-serif">Is it a British phrase? Yes. Here is <i style="font-weight: bold;">if I *m honest </i>(i.e., <i>if I'm honest </i>or <i>if I am honest</i>)<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>in<b> </b>the 2012 data of the <a href="https://www.english-corpora.org/GloWbE/">Corpus of Global Web-Based English</a>, where it occurs 7.6 times more often in BrE than in AmE. (Click on the images to embiggen them.)<br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy0WiJwMqjXezPiUdSaPLEV2SZCZE4B3r2eggHHLDl7CQ6QMQPhctPJ50PSyhl6j2yklX43LKbPt0wBfRJk56BMFEByrrulh-Uvoh-sBNPrv3UIjbnTa9y3uUu3QXer83_r0FO9QKgAyxJexJR6bb0pglvVEbFxy22_B9WssZu9X5HP1iavSkQ/s948/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-31%20at%2021.41.09.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="GloWbE shows 1.84 per million words in BrE, 0.24 per million words in AmE" border="0" data-original-height="790" data-original-width="948" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy0WiJwMqjXezPiUdSaPLEV2SZCZE4B3r2eggHHLDl7CQ6QMQPhctPJ50PSyhl6j2yklX43LKbPt0wBfRJk56BMFEByrrulh-Uvoh-sBNPrv3UIjbnTa9y3uUu3QXer83_r0FO9QKgAyxJexJR6bb0pglvVEbFxy22_B9WssZu9X5HP1iavSkQ/w320-h267/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-31%20at%2021.41.09.png" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">And here it is in British sources in the <a href="https://www.english-corpora.org/now/">News on the Web</a> Corpus: </div><span face="Droid Sans, Arial, Arial Unicode MS, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9d6rgrZl5XSvceH7tFe7hQZzeIWXlneFvhRDFpdjUTstG9T9LKH6XgqUV15_zbsHsL-iqIhZu6thVCBxyV-uG4kfO3hALaOA9PHbGM8IdLrs5qZNJtEjNuREqOst-6NywWbm-wJxktAkVW8E1vIUBIXmEH9odztDnsVGyJNloJTi0SpqqGFfB/s2392/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-31%20at%2021.45.23.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="bar chart shows UK rate of 'if I'm honest' increasing since 2000" border="0" data-original-height="798" data-original-width="2392" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9d6rgrZl5XSvceH7tFe7hQZzeIWXlneFvhRDFpdjUTstG9T9LKH6XgqUV15_zbsHsL-iqIhZu6thVCBxyV-uG4kfO3hALaOA9PHbGM8IdLrs5qZNJtEjNuREqOst-6NywWbm-wJxktAkVW8E1vIUBIXmEH9odztDnsVGyJNloJTi0SpqqGFfB/w640-h214/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-31%20at%2021.45.23.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In the 2012 data, the phrase occurs at a much higher rate in GloWbE than in NOW—the NOW number only reaches GloWbE's rate (1.8 per million words) in 2023—because the types of texts in the two corpora are different—there's more variety and informal language on GloWbE. That's something worth keeping in mind when we look at the US numbers. Speaking of which, here they are:</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuKmCcfH_WwgW93kSN6__HEQgPeAE6CtdeR5ye6rAd9U5w_x0hhGnC9gMVbITjhyphenhyphenvWyXv5UK_R8uL8btaNwwhpzbOPWyqX11D6kIFl7_LymmbJyzv2MM3QkuFXy2-fty5I5ovSauK5HvwRrKSGnl2wqqnQAe9oGf6otEH8FpRPEA1QuiFyVZ5J/s2394/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-30%20at%2017.03.39.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="bar chart shows "if I'm honest" increasing in US since 2000, rising particularly in 2015 & 2016, then down again, then rising again in the past three years" border="0" data-original-height="796" data-original-width="2394" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuKmCcfH_WwgW93kSN6__HEQgPeAE6CtdeR5ye6rAd9U5w_x0hhGnC9gMVbITjhyphenhyphenvWyXv5UK_R8uL8btaNwwhpzbOPWyqX11D6kIFl7_LymmbJyzv2MM3QkuFXy2-fty5I5ovSauK5HvwRrKSGnl2wqqnQAe9oGf6otEH8FpRPEA1QuiFyVZ5J/w640-h212/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-30%20at%2017.03.39.png" width="640" /></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuKmCcfH_WwgW93kSN6__HEQgPeAE6CtdeR5ye6rAd9U5w_x0hhGnC9gMVbITjhyphenhyphenvWyXv5UK_R8uL8btaNwwhpzbOPWyqX11D6kIFl7_LymmbJyzv2MM3QkuFXy2-fty5I5ovSauK5HvwRrKSGnl2wqqnQAe9oGf6otEH8FpRPEA1QuiFyVZ5J/s2394/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-30%20at%2017.03.39.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikJMIjjihGDrKpizKmDRc3PBEk2XM21ipSnTR2LSPD0luE_JC0pfuLgE1rZ0S0Nf36aK6W_5lu8BX21-HWcp_VmJUy9Bw1zfiTsfssBD7yTRV4yaK3Yrgb0H1Jko1S1zbaAh0UbwA45h0JbQbeQtZbPEJvpPPyXW-HYlLYebRoJkQCFFnGo83C/s300/If_I'm_Honest_(Official_Album_Cover)_by_Blake_Shelton.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="album cover: Blake Shelton, If I'm honest (black and white picture of white man's face with mustache)" border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikJMIjjihGDrKpizKmDRc3PBEk2XM21ipSnTR2LSPD0luE_JC0pfuLgE1rZ0S0Nf36aK6W_5lu8BX21-HWcp_VmJUy9Bw1zfiTsfssBD7yTRV4yaK3Yrgb0H1Jko1S1zbaAh0UbwA45h0JbQbeQtZbPEJvpPPyXW-HYlLYebRoJkQCFFnGo83C/w200-h200/If_I'm_Honest_(Official_Album_Cover)_by_Blake_Shelton.png" width="200" /></a></div></div><br /><span face="Droid Sans, Arial, Arial Unicode MS, Helvetica, sans-serif">A few things to notice here:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Yes, the phrase is going up in AmE news, from 0.08 per million words to 0.19 over the past 13 years. </li><li>But it's still below the 2012 GloWbe number (0.24 pmw). One would imagine that if we had current data that was collected in the same way as GloWbE, we'd see a lot more there. </li><li>And it's wayyyyyy below the British numbers.</li><li>A country music album had the title <i>If I'm Honest </i>in 2016, which helps (<b><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2015/07/known-them-to-and-help-them-to.html">to</a></b>) account for the higher number then.</li></ul><div><br /></div><div>Here's a view of the Google Books numbers, comparing <i>If I'm honest</i> with <i>To be honest </i>(though keep in mind that <i>to be honest </i>here is not necessarily the discourse marker. It could be in any number of sentences about honesty.)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKJJaTMylgnqtwy8p-AzYorInhDILQ9U92vlWSUQW1Xju1EWrvtTNtT1whkmI5umZ3iOo62W_8U-qI_7FfF84gPU2PtrfLnChBBBJwzZZqWsKhQWwdAwgRtvFVKuQPBsncRC-cGpzLgqN3BEPaRHK9FRAyoblpBMHbnu9VKJZfvqCi9_1pXWMk/s2480/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-30%20at%2017.55.56.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="graph showing 'to be honest', low in the 1900s, rising in the 2000s, more in UK than US. "If I'm being honest' lines are very low by comparison" border="0" data-original-height="1358" data-original-width="2480" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKJJaTMylgnqtwy8p-AzYorInhDILQ9U92vlWSUQW1Xju1EWrvtTNtT1whkmI5umZ3iOo62W_8U-qI_7FfF84gPU2PtrfLnChBBBJwzZZqWsKhQWwdAwgRtvFVKuQPBsncRC-cGpzLgqN3BEPaRHK9FRAyoblpBMHbnu9VKJZfvqCi9_1pXWMk/w640-h350/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-30%20at%2017.55.56.png" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>And a comparison of it with the equivalent <i>if I'm being honest</i>, which is less common, but making a move in AmE.<br /><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI40w_tD2sczpIkkivw9Ee7K-8LQNKYRJuZNFhnUuOIVnbfgpHcJCiZFShzkYHAQazJQqBeHd_a2LeJ2f0Qt9_gzPt0sB11ygG-b3XIeWkx6wl4-Enj2OLUs8sn9I_tiVIaNuXjdcUZYiDWDt7cQXx2yxJ9-llyotEl7RlflDvIKHchdHlOTJO/s2498/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-30%20at%2017.57.13.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="graph shows UK 'if I'm honest' rising steeply in past 20 years. In US, it is rising but at a slower rate. "If I'm being honest" is much lower in both countries" border="0" data-original-height="1162" data-original-width="2498" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI40w_tD2sczpIkkivw9Ee7K-8LQNKYRJuZNFhnUuOIVnbfgpHcJCiZFShzkYHAQazJQqBeHd_a2LeJ2f0Qt9_gzPt0sB11ygG-b3XIeWkx6wl4-Enj2OLUs8sn9I_tiVIaNuXjdcUZYiDWDt7cQXx2yxJ9-llyotEl7RlflDvIKHchdHlOTJO/w640-h298/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-30%20at%2017.57.13.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>The pictures (and numbers) tell the story of a British expression that's become more and more common in BrE, and that has raised American exposure to (and use of) it. But note that it's rising far faster in BrE than in AmE. So, does it meet the first of my eligibility criteria? Maybe not. But it's what I've got for this year!</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>P.S. <b><i>Honestly</i></b></div><div><b><i><br /></i></b></div><div><i>Honestly, </i>used as a discourse marker in a sentence seems to be more common in AmE. But as a stand-alone expression of exasperation, it seems more common in BrE (<i>Honestly!</i>). It's definitely more common from the BrE speakers in my house than from me, but maybe I'm just more exasperating to live with than they are. Here are searches with punctuation from GloWbE:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIPByO4OY4lN2jlgXHnzIwjD6mISfViyDVPdMscR_d_Pc61LLV_B6nKX4yzLVld2rSdcNz0JnGn14tm7B1S1jUzGMUW4hw8mMFLwKytfJOdh1XjaTzfZTjjQ8XKbzuywn30NGAuzSDLw1YKWV3yAoInDpq9-D4Ajto7cm9klBxDwTMczPmitIN/s2066/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-31%20at%2023.28.46.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="748" data-original-width="2066" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIPByO4OY4lN2jlgXHnzIwjD6mISfViyDVPdMscR_d_Pc61LLV_B6nKX4yzLVld2rSdcNz0JnGn14tm7B1S1jUzGMUW4hw8mMFLwKytfJOdh1XjaTzfZTjjQ8XKbzuywn30NGAuzSDLw1YKWV3yAoInDpq9-D4Ajto7cm9klBxDwTMczPmitIN/w640-h232/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-31%20at%2023.28.46.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLi8mfWa56ZYDhAZ4TKhsRQ9v5NHRerrS7YXvcnnFP-4ia18cFlawd1erGPDXqGrUVKa3tO4mrSe3dK7qH7VyQuVQwPdfa4NO17pwSa5oqqyK2B0mHI7qWv_0FVUQFuW53zShIFrL09ipr1oSmS-9Bd_otVYEIgL95azI_LkFyYkkagLR3aEn7/s1956/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-31%20at%2023.29.57.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="724" data-original-width="1956" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLi8mfWa56ZYDhAZ4TKhsRQ9v5NHRerrS7YXvcnnFP-4ia18cFlawd1erGPDXqGrUVKa3tO4mrSe3dK7qH7VyQuVQwPdfa4NO17pwSa5oqqyK2B0mHI7qWv_0FVUQFuW53zShIFrL09ipr1oSmS-9Bd_otVYEIgL95azI_LkFyYkkagLR3aEn7/w640-h236/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-31%20at%2023.29.57.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Will there be a US-to-UK WotY? To be honest, it's unclear at this point! </div></div>lynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-88024574460949226432023-11-26T01:57:00.004+00:002023-11-26T01:57:39.315+00:00mobility<p>Smylers got in touch recently with this observation:<br /><br /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;"></span></p><blockquote><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: courier;">I found myself being surprised by the word “mobility”, and was wondering if there's a BrE/AmE difference? Enterprise Rent-a-Car emailed to say they're introducing a new brand: <a href="https://www.enterprisemobility.com/ ">Enterprise Mobility</a>. </span></blockquote><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgexKO5ltrlS9EavSTn-EkKNC016FTu-zqtaM4ndzeMTRZ5xK7Wnfr5OlI6qiprdDrL-2yCvbXjU0EoMmag5C0p7GYA800qVBf_KGsGtV9HNZE7BhYL39hrGO2E-Myiu2MsB6Osk6xfPdK_k_GtnfTbNoeu7aTb5sg-LCqAdIbfs8O3HB-tOkdi/s1958/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-19%20at%2017.36.40.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1150" data-original-width="1958" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgexKO5ltrlS9EavSTn-EkKNC016FTu-zqtaM4ndzeMTRZ5xK7Wnfr5OlI6qiprdDrL-2yCvbXjU0EoMmag5C0p7GYA800qVBf_KGsGtV9HNZE7BhYL39hrGO2E-Myiu2MsB6Osk6xfPdK_k_GtnfTbNoeu7aTb5sg-LCqAdIbfs8O3HB-tOkdi/w400-h235/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-19%20at%2017.36.40.png" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span><p></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: courier;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">That made me think of vehicles adapted for wheelchair users, or those who otherwise have limited personal mobility. But apparently it's the overall brand for various transport services; “mobility” is being used to mean “travelling in a vehicle”, rather than “travelling on foot”.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">There's no reason why the unqualified word should have one or the other meaning. But to my British brain, “mobility” makes me think of “mobility scooters” or “mobility aids” — such as those provided by Mobility People, <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2008/03/sticks-and-canes-walkers-and-frames.html">whom you linked to in 2008</a>:</span></span></blockquote><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3t6gaQw3Af-9DWT-XWV7QNUD3xjNYfH7gNoS4l7tfb1sENyrMw5dk7odcHi8he1m-59AbbbTvqufbmJQCDOS7Lp2s8Ika7jRBuHedhG70jRaPib6nmDyZUq7GtpyYT1XQSvUv1-mVUp8IgJBDpJjQs5Ryzq4MOrEtz3vdXDx8NftANILKTzXe/s1308/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-19%20at%2017.34.07.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1308" data-original-width="1088" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3t6gaQw3Af-9DWT-XWV7QNUD3xjNYfH7gNoS4l7tfb1sENyrMw5dk7odcHi8he1m-59AbbbTvqufbmJQCDOS7Lp2s8Ika7jRBuHedhG70jRaPib6nmDyZUq7GtpyYT1XQSvUv1-mVUp8IgJBDpJjQs5Ryzq4MOrEtz3vdXDx8NftANILKTzXe/s320/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-19%20at%2017.34.07.png" width="266" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>It's an interesting one. </p><p>The word <i><b>mobility</b> </i>seems a bit more common in BrE in the the <a href="https://www.english-corpora.org/now/">News on the Web corpus</a>: you find about 11 <i>mobility</i> per million words in the US, versus about 13 per million in the UK. Those British uses tend to relate to a couple of domains: physical (dis)ability and social class.</p><p>It's not that Americans don't use <i>mobility </i>in that way. You can definitely find phrases like <i>mobility scooter </i>(as can be seen at this <a href="https://www.electricwheelchairsusa.com/collections/all-scooters">US electric wheelchair retailer</a>) in AmE. (Though when I asked my brother what those things are called, he didn't use the word <i>mobility</i>, just <i>scooter.</i>) Nevertheless, this (dis)ability-related use of <i>mobility</i> used <u>a lot more</u> in BrE:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipQp_rYqXEQapHQG7Zwihyphenhyphen8xOmcwOTfa6jUYB9M_QOdOtAze_6Fyfr12n6CJ7q4jGwtvfDVrafALlfpqWz7FhujXasQkjW-UCfCgn-YUypQOhQVAzRBhzDmv9SnjbiVVdiOiDa5Jk64ADbbGPxECYMRvBj1NiAJwweFv1VfP4m0Z2oreM6vUOo/s1914/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-19%20at%2018.19.06.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="364" data-original-width="1914" height="122" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipQp_rYqXEQapHQG7Zwihyphenhyphen8xOmcwOTfa6jUYB9M_QOdOtAze_6Fyfr12n6CJ7q4jGwtvfDVrafALlfpqWz7FhujXasQkjW-UCfCgn-YUypQOhQVAzRBhzDmv9SnjbiVVdiOiDa5Jk64ADbbGPxECYMRvBj1NiAJwweFv1VfP4m0Z2oreM6vUOo/w640-h122/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-19%20at%2018.19.06.png" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5f2jPQpU-TALUmhHYXXD1z9Fpm0ClWU1LhWvQpI4Gsw3_qw56MeoVXqXiwBoaYH_cMLzQBwvkvRwwsiggEkD4jbRyedWvpgk8YbYxtUbg-QM8xQO8RfjdOpP3GXiwUaxrz1jG5ibNRWLeE1PPLuU7Fg5Up2IUcDsZuSTU98_mUqS5v2eKx2_8/s1886/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-19%20at%2017.59.12.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="606" data-original-width="1886" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5f2jPQpU-TALUmhHYXXD1z9Fpm0ClWU1LhWvQpI4Gsw3_qw56MeoVXqXiwBoaYH_cMLzQBwvkvRwwsiggEkD4jbRyedWvpgk8YbYxtUbg-QM8xQO8RfjdOpP3GXiwUaxrz1jG5ibNRWLeE1PPLuU7Fg5Up2IUcDsZuSTU98_mUqS5v2eKx2_8/w640-h206/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-19%20at%2017.59.12.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifaitWknqVO1QUYES30hgmiH1IlRc_ksH2YhhFHPAiPlWK2lhNPUlwojANKaxUKigAtoXw2PbJ0E67uRLITZzoMshnT7wLIvJ2XR8PQ9snTXNewDBAUGM3jUE0xAZHX5O8xfgb2WL1iW7nabiPJf6elUVIf9r2tbsTtMsYe5ruzfYI96nWXiug/s2044/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-19%20at%2018.04.48.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="366" data-original-width="2044" height="114" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifaitWknqVO1QUYES30hgmiH1IlRc_ksH2YhhFHPAiPlWK2lhNPUlwojANKaxUKigAtoXw2PbJ0E67uRLITZzoMshnT7wLIvJ2XR8PQ9snTXNewDBAUGM3jUE0xAZHX5O8xfgb2WL1iW7nabiPJf6elUVIf9r2tbsTtMsYe5ruzfYI96nWXiug/w640-h114/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-19%20at%2018.04.48.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p>The (dis)ability-related uses of <i>mobility</i> really take off in this corpus after 2021. For instance, <i>mobility issues </i>(which could refer to different kinds of mobility, but mostly doesn't) had only 0.30 per million (across countries) in 2019, but 0.85 per million in 2022. </p><p>Both AmE and BrE use <i>mobility </i>for metaphorical movement, as in <i>social mobility. </i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeOM0MqxiDRNHulogoiUY_eACtPCFEqvZwPGWx7ibc7pkcozGgYjdSHVsVtIkaZ37zZtp8i8dcrPMC4M-4qXXg9kgdJZuIt2EwJg4Hb0jsiL5FjoBIq8NCdgqLA8Mp2fcgjBbL5tDoZyEm5H8L0s3S8ez4-z2FYtKw8jsc70qqW2x9qo7weJSu/s1980/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-19%20at%2018.00.40.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="362" data-original-width="1980" height="118" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeOM0MqxiDRNHulogoiUY_eACtPCFEqvZwPGWx7ibc7pkcozGgYjdSHVsVtIkaZ37zZtp8i8dcrPMC4M-4qXXg9kgdJZuIt2EwJg4Hb0jsiL5FjoBIq8NCdgqLA8Mp2fcgjBbL5tDoZyEm5H8L0s3S8ez4-z2FYtKw8jsc70qqW2x9qo7weJSu/w640-h118/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-19%20at%2018.00.40.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Why so much more talk of <i>social mobility </i>in the UK? Because the Tory government had appointed a "Social Mobility Tsar" during the period that this corpus was collected. (The hits for <i><b>tsar</b></i> in BrE are similarly out-of-whack.) </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">If instead of asking the corpus for particular phrases like these and instead ask it to tell us which combinations with <i>mobility </i>are statistically "most American" and "most British", the results are interesting. On the left are the "most American" ones*—the greener, the more not-British they are. And vice versa on the right. </div><span style="font-size: x-small;">*This doesn't mean that these are the most common phrases with <i>mobility</i> in either country. And it doesn't mean that the other country doesn't use these phrases. It means that one country uses them surprisingly more than the other.</span></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfulSchpzQKxS3RoWCw7ufeFtRN-H1fpJ8B3AfeX_-IsAr-SkHheTt9QUcNfWGTtOAFuvCyrmdj0id-2Y_gUOqR6rHMgrpP7l0H2rYcpKYoObjRvosftv7umnwyRi8SQD4e0X1uT0LDGHIKyOufmjN6u9ZHfrcts-Sh9ZacJ5pZAhFQlmnZFTl/s2338/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-26%20at%2001.17.01.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1444" data-original-width="2338" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfulSchpzQKxS3RoWCw7ufeFtRN-H1fpJ8B3AfeX_-IsAr-SkHheTt9QUcNfWGTtOAFuvCyrmdj0id-2Y_gUOqR6rHMgrpP7l0H2rYcpKYoObjRvosftv7umnwyRi8SQD4e0X1uT0LDGHIKyOufmjN6u9ZHfrcts-Sh9ZacJ5pZAhFQlmnZFTl/w640-h396/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-26%20at%2001.17.01.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>mobility + </i>noun</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbhJETUG5eQuG45pUxvQGlomFiL0dFbgaIT2jkv97PApUVKZmxUn9rr7nZShH232jf6mvZHVzXDkTjgeblZ0hLa1NWO50J9YxBIQFY64RsSuJKNO1SnNul_VgrqSibOI3AMb68-4nWpUV_h1dFmKuWNAZynJCYssACZ6BVw5p6Rj549wz5xTGV/s2426/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-26%20at%2001.17.30.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="2426" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbhJETUG5eQuG45pUxvQGlomFiL0dFbgaIT2jkv97PApUVKZmxUn9rr7nZShH232jf6mvZHVzXDkTjgeblZ0hLa1NWO50J9YxBIQFY64RsSuJKNO1SnNul_VgrqSibOI3AMb68-4nWpUV_h1dFmKuWNAZynJCYssACZ6BVw5p6Rj549wz5xTGV/w640-h316/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-26%20at%2001.17.30.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Noun + <i>mobility</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKU54sUbpbqZCLRoD8tvG9muPmmWeugFR1t1egVINOghu-p5lmjXt84HcWhgiJ4PtqE7FkS9bHPPTF4m3AwxiZLC0PtGjVJOSF8PaeymsDH2jCXKM_vZ2RMe0ibJB_g-oIOMrdWXzjW40GaL2z-VE-oauEDsDmAL4l86iTxiebzfenKAWo4UYH/s2418/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-26%20at%2001.18.23.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1508" data-original-width="2418" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKU54sUbpbqZCLRoD8tvG9muPmmWeugFR1t1egVINOghu-p5lmjXt84HcWhgiJ4PtqE7FkS9bHPPTF4m3AwxiZLC0PtGjVJOSF8PaeymsDH2jCXKM_vZ2RMe0ibJB_g-oIOMrdWXzjW40GaL2z-VE-oauEDsDmAL4l86iTxiebzfenKAWo4UYH/w640-h400/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-26%20at%2001.18.23.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Adjective + <i>mobility</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>The thing to notice here is how much longer the green lists are on the American side of the second two charts, where <i>mobility</i> is modified by another word. AmE writers seem to have more kinds of <i>mobility</i> than BrE writers do. Where you see something like this, it's reasonable to suspect that more phrases = more meanings, or at least more domains in which the word is used. </div><div><br /></div><div>Sure enough, the BrE side is almost entirely characterized by phrases used in talking about physical (dis)ability and social mobility. (<i style="font-weight: bold;">Green Mobility</i> there refers to an <a href="https://www.greenmobility.com/dk/da/">electric car [BrE] <b>hire /[</b>AmE] <b>rental</b> company </a>in continental Europe.) But the AmE side has other themes coming through: <b><i>family mobility</i> </b>is about the Massachusetts Work and Family Mobility Act, which is about what kind of paperwork you need to get a (AmE)<b> driver's/</b>(BrE) <b>driving licen{c/s}e</b>. <b><i>Electrophoretic mobility</i> </b>refers to a chemistry thing that I'm not going to try to understand. <i><b>Mobility wing</b></i> mostly refers to sections (<i>Air Mobility Wings</i>) of the US Air Force Reserve. And so forth.</div><div><br />Some of the uses, for example, <i style="font-weight: bold;">commercial mobility</i>, refer to means of transport(ation), and that's the use that Enterprise is picking up on in their branding. So there we go! It does look like branding that would work better in the US than the UK. Thanks, Smylers!</div><div><p></p><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;"></span><p></p></div>lynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-87263847009016563502023-10-01T16:37:00.006+01:002023-10-22T21:36:06.022+01:00fighting fire<p>Having spent so many years on Twitter doing "Differences of the Day", I have a lot of (forgive me the jargon) content that could be moved over here, to the blog. Today, I'm moving over the information from tweets that I did during my "fire week" in March 2018: five days of AmE–BrE differences relating to fire-fighting. This choice has been inspired by <a href="https://www.isbns.net/author/Frank_R_Abate">Frank Abate</a>, an American lexicographer who regularly sends me the BrEisms he's come across in reading the news. So, this post is mostly copy-pasted-edited from tweets—the smaller text is info I've added since the tweets.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpT2mFycx6fRyXNrRwASsmD55malA0gepXsYAJUVWF3ZTFb9v07SmMpHnMELj-TCKGyHghsHr6Ehu5hJFW10_0aQPpmpW2AQlVKs_5UCa0pvFCrfaQBTD-ueZuLLUgW1o3SxDhjvK2Tof9lU1nQdTdw1yShmrKCn-rgZWP7JlEQ3nt0XYkjWTP/s1200/Screen%20Shot%202023-10-01%20at%2016.40.26.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="160" data-original-width="1200" height="86" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpT2mFycx6fRyXNrRwASsmD55malA0gepXsYAJUVWF3ZTFb9v07SmMpHnMELj-TCKGyHghsHr6Ehu5hJFW10_0aQPpmpW2AQlVKs_5UCa0pvFCrfaQBTD-ueZuLLUgW1o3SxDhjvK2Tof9lU1nQdTdw1yShmrKCn-rgZWP7JlEQ3nt0XYkjWTP/w640-h86/Screen%20Shot%202023-10-01%20at%2016.40.26.png" width="640" /></a></div><p><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Ways of referring to people who fight fires as a job:</span></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, system-ui, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #0f1419;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">AmE and BrE both use <b style="font-style: italic;">fireman </b>and <b><i>firewoman</i> </b>(though <a href="https://www.english-corpora.org/now/">News on the Web corpus </a>has both of these at higher rates in UK now)</span></span></li><li><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, system-ui, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #0f1419;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">orig. AmE <i><b>fire fighter </b></i>(or <i><b>firefighter</b></i>) is used about twice as much in US</span></span></li><li><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, system-ui, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #0f1419;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">BrE <b><i>fire crew</i> </b>and <i><b>fire (safety) officer</b></i> (which is a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_safety_officer">higher rank</a>) are not much used in US. </span></span></li></ul><div><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, system-ui, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #0f1419;"><span style="font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Those who investigate fires are BrE <b><i>fire investigators</i> </b>or AmE <i><b>fire marshals</b>. </i></span></span></div><div><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, system-ui, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #0f1419;"><span style="font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But in BrE <b><i>fire marshal</i> </b>is a synonym of (also BrE) <i style="font-weight: bold;">fire warden</i>, who is a person in a big building who has a little training and is responsible for helping with evacuation in the event of a fire. I've asked American friends what this is called in the US. A British friend in NYC showed me her workplace has fire wardens, but people in other parts of the country were less certain. <i><b><a href="https://uwm.edu/safety-health/building-chairfloor-captain/">Floor captain</a></b></i> seems to be used in at least some places.</span></span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">These people make up the BrE <b><i>fire brigade</i> </b>or <b><i>fire service</i> </b>or the AmE <b><i>fire department</i> </b>or (less commonly) <i style="font-weight: bold;">fire company</i>. Outside cities, American ones may be volunteer-run. </span></div><div><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div>There are sometimes volunteer fire departments in the UK, but in the US they're common enough to have their own initialism: <b>VFD</b> (Volunteer Fire Department). See <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volunteer_fire_department">Wikipedia</a> for more. </div><p></p><p><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b><i>(Fire) appliance</i></b> is much more common in news/officialese in BrE than AmE (and get a look at NZ!). This goes back to mid-1800s, and refers to a<b> fire engine </b>(used in both countries). AmE has <b><i>fire truck</i></b>, but that's a more informal term than engine/appliance.</span></p><p><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, system-ui, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #0f1419;"><span style="font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAYtK2ppIVCINNe79syJ2WMs6UnCPRduv4_Kjqs0uWKsf_MwxtIBvwzVYf7ilFClumfcYCFBG_S-swcV9dINRIkilCjDOwQfAymcyaxooKU6ogYfxuowf7HlLoWfEKmvuq29IGyNPrTQsDB3-cubPEvQLCznjdueT9Yt-ZMSomSRQEM4tI8Gwu/s962/DY0hzy_W0AEWfly.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Per million frequencies: US 0, UK .07, NZ .24" border="0" data-original-height="382" data-original-width="962" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAYtK2ppIVCINNe79syJ2WMs6UnCPRduv4_Kjqs0uWKsf_MwxtIBvwzVYf7ilFClumfcYCFBG_S-swcV9dINRIkilCjDOwQfAymcyaxooKU6ogYfxuowf7HlLoWfEKmvuq29IGyNPrTQsDB3-cubPEvQLCznjdueT9Yt-ZMSomSRQEM4tI8Gwu/w640-h254/DY0hzy_W0AEWfly.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Fire appliance </i>in the News on the Web corpus. </td></tr></tbody></table><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="color: #0f1419; font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That reminded me of a sign on </span></span><span style="color: #0f1419;"><span style="font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">the fire station near my house in Brighton:</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #0f1419;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0f1419;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiURmW0ckVl9UQdorhwmCA3t3qztjMdCh0O4iadmUwnw5QQ62kchumSoQbT_K7OoDHEueU0YDFUcb-DvqmwxaLvhsSHiBSx2TrIko3gTh-x2v3YOy7ks0kXsFgOXiVN3g2R8lepVf8pBx0m1yljmQcin3DbBRAjB61iYzMlAt7c8pcZbAeKZOea/s3264/FireAppliancesEmerging2016.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Red sign: CAUTION: Fire Appliances Emerging. Someone has put a green smiley-face sticker on it." border="0" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="3264" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiURmW0ckVl9UQdorhwmCA3t3qztjMdCh0O4iadmUwnw5QQ62kchumSoQbT_K7OoDHEueU0YDFUcb-DvqmwxaLvhsSHiBSx2TrIko3gTh-x2v3YOy7ks0kXsFgOXiVN3g2R8lepVf8pBx0m1yljmQcin3DbBRAjB61iYzMlAt7c8pcZbAeKZOea/w640-h480/FireAppliancesEmerging2016.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #0f1419;"><br /></span><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">BrE and AmE both use <i><b>fire station</b> </i>for these places. AmE also has <i style="font-weight: bold;">fire house</i> and <i><b>fire hall</b>. </i>For me, at least, <i>fire hall</i> indicates that it has space for public meetings, etc., reflecting the central role of (often volunteer) fire stations in small-town life. Here's a picture of <b>Fireman's Hall</b> in Alfred, NY (from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fireman%27s_Hall_(Alfred,_New_York)">Wikipedia</a>).</span><p></p><p><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 17px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0yu-b8y4rxUR4qey4WyRDROy4oegMTZcoF8kpbc8_JITZw6xDO_mKCGc4pdANn5z1oiBnf2zs40lBq5yK0oxqPyBE86cJtRHtNu9NEOJYVxXWdeDWz2adcxfgos4WOWT3dBMQsUQXp1JQLRVS_9FWyRyJKJkIST3JrLPNMQK2tpuBJi9ZjMdn/s500/DY-1DtpXUAAzn0V.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="two-story red brick building with a clock tower on top" border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="375" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0yu-b8y4rxUR4qey4WyRDROy4oegMTZcoF8kpbc8_JITZw6xDO_mKCGc4pdANn5z1oiBnf2zs40lBq5yK0oxqPyBE86cJtRHtNu9NEOJYVxXWdeDWz2adcxfgos4WOWT3dBMQsUQXp1JQLRVS_9FWyRyJKJkIST3JrLPNMQK2tpuBJi9ZjMdn/w300-h400/DY-1DtpXUAAzn0V.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.03); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1419; display: inline; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17px;">Finally, <i><b>fire hydrant</b> </i>was originally an Americanism, but is now used in the UK too. They look rather different, though. </span></span></p><p><span style="color: #0f1419; font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">UK hydrants are marked by yellow signs with an H, which tell firefighters that there's access to a pipe nearby. I wish I could remember what I watched on television last week that had an American hydrant in an allegedly UK setting. It's one of those things that will really stand out to those who know. Two points to any commenter who can name the show or film!</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0f1419; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><span style="color: #0f1419; font-family: inherit;"><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwXFYHb8FegOD4QT7aPbpv5aaduAc8IBmQ58kB8XpZOvLVRfVP70QUqOwDcJYqDIaydzCE-eLgzWZGTpxOAiz84oileO9dYGfiej1CJR0qIk0iUv8_9rgdTeYBinBjs7JGZUQfFC9CUr6ZuyFqwgir0WmbJl2OcnfiNExJoEZTjhe99GyzSUIg/s400/fire-hydrant-400x250.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="400" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwXFYHb8FegOD4QT7aPbpv5aaduAc8IBmQ58kB8XpZOvLVRfVP70QUqOwDcJYqDIaydzCE-eLgzWZGTpxOAiz84oileO9dYGfiej1CJR0qIk0iUv8_9rgdTeYBinBjs7JGZUQfFC9CUr6ZuyFqwgir0WmbJl2OcnfiNExJoEZTjhe99GyzSUIg/s320/fire-hydrant-400x250.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">UK hydrant sign (pic from <a href="https://www.equiptest.co.uk/fire-hydrant-testing-your-questions-answered/">here</a>)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAMPTBVUR4RLWY0p6PQqNeojzRhOWZRejrZcRAkzO8c9LgV4TSeX7jq-VtPLbN-xuoRbE3pUTXI-xFdCPbzXYnD3Lwrd7UHrA6tsmncZC4T-fw_2a9MBHvzcOFqGJRQaXjl8JaO-8z-s8eBBn3lK2uz9r9sCWokiFJQosK9PwDCIp5ug5WnYDD/s259/download.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="259" data-original-width="194" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAMPTBVUR4RLWY0p6PQqNeojzRhOWZRejrZcRAkzO8c9LgV4TSeX7jq-VtPLbN-xuoRbE3pUTXI-xFdCPbzXYnD3Lwrd7UHrA6tsmncZC4T-fw_2a9MBHvzcOFqGJRQaXjl8JaO-8z-s8eBBn3lK2uz9r9sCWokiFJQosK9PwDCIp5ug5WnYDD/s1600/download.jpg" width="194" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">US fire hydrant (pic from Wikipedia)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></span><p></p><p>And here's a handy-dandy guide to reading a UK hydrant sign from the Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifkb6_uBfTz7mlei41vaQ2sWabsCkTcarVnxq-WoHSE13dDpnNA4NdMHFeLezal_Ewwu6LfHLvGF4fQ7NzJ33bFlsBGEzLcLDZA1XqEEfZtEOeOB_rxR6WEFOuh6zW4ZA9Wrf4gEQ1GtPYOkKtwj4pcZ3y2hWK5iMdUU5Y0PJ7gCOTdjNND47n/s1024/h.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="1024" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifkb6_uBfTz7mlei41vaQ2sWabsCkTcarVnxq-WoHSE13dDpnNA4NdMHFeLezal_Ewwu6LfHLvGF4fQ7NzJ33bFlsBGEzLcLDZA1XqEEfZtEOeOB_rxR6WEFOuh6zW4ZA9Wrf4gEQ1GtPYOkKtwj4pcZ3y2hWK5iMdUU5Y0PJ7gCOTdjNND47n/w400-h200/h.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>If you liked this, you might be interested in these earlier posts about:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2008/10/some-onomatopoeia.html">the sound a siren makes</a></li><li><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2009/05/trucks-and-lorries.html">other kinds of vehicles</a></li></ul><p></p>lynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-20727136890699257572023-08-28T01:05:00.002+01:002023-08-28T01:06:36.956+01:00so fun, such fun<p>Long ago, I was asked about <b><i>so fun</i></b> versus <i><b>such fun</b></i>. Martin Ball, this one's for you! </p><p>So, <i><b>fun</b> </i>started out in English (1600s) as a verb meaning to 'trick, cheat, deceive'. You could fun someone out of their money. Then by the 1700s, it had become a noun meaning 'light-hearted enjoyment'. At that point, it was very much considered to be slang. Its respectability as a noun has increased over the centuries, but it may still feel a little informal. </p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibdAhw6D-S_8tzWvy-0MD0bZl1wWFcKurSgcjmVBvx0W9Z_ObmdtnzI4TUyC98m4ENuDHT06u8cTNHuzE812N0ru3o8epW9eLwUtCFvLPyejQXPIOYi7-lwL8kG8rZ9RFScOlm-Juu5k2vW_usjQKYl6b5tCMXFH2dYRxiVFjXdg6WUOqSfddD/s640/640x640.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="466" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibdAhw6D-S_8tzWvy-0MD0bZl1wWFcKurSgcjmVBvx0W9Z_ObmdtnzI4TUyC98m4ENuDHT06u8cTNHuzE812N0ru3o8epW9eLwUtCFvLPyejQXPIOYi7-lwL8kG8rZ9RFScOlm-Juu5k2vW_usjQKYl6b5tCMXFH2dYRxiVFjXdg6WUOqSfddD/s320/640x640.jpg" width="233" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Elephant & Piggie books <br />= much recommended</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p>When it's a noun, you can modify it for amount with the kinds of amount-modifiers (<a href="https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/english-grammar-reference/quantifiers" target="_blank">quantifiers</a>) that go with <a href="https://www.englishclub.com/grammar/nouns-countable-un.php" target="_blank">uncountable</a> nouns:</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>we had <u>a lot of </u>fun </li><li>The evening wasn't <u>much fun</u></li></ol><div>But these days, it's also used as an adjective. Adjectives modify nouns, and those nouns usually go after the adjective or, as in the second example here, after a linking verb. Adjectives can be modified by adverbs of various types, underlined in the following:</div><div><br /></div><div><span> </span><span> 3.<span> </span></span>a <u>very</u> fun evening</div><div><span> <span> 4.<span> </span></span></span>The evening wasn't <u>terribly</u> fun</div><div><br /></div><div><div>Examples 2 and 4 look similar (the <i>fun</i> is after a linking verb, <i>was</i>), but we can tell that 2 is a noun because it's modified by a quantifier (<i>much</i>) and 4 is an adjective because it's modified by an adverb (<i>terribly</i>).<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">(<span style="color: #444444;">Merrill Perlman,</span><span style="color: #444444;"> </span><a href="https://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wc/no-fun-noun-yes-adjective-well/" target="_blank">writing for <i>Visual Thesaurus</i></a><span style="color: #444444;">, notes that: "</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Nearly everyone... opposes</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"> '</span><a href="https://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/mailbag-friday-funner-and-funnest/" style="color: #22558a;">funner' and 'funnest</a>'<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">as anything but kid-speak or deliberate irony.)")</span></span></div></div><p></p><p></p><div><br /></div><div>Now, I say "these days" <i>fun</i> can be an adjective, but it's been an adjective for quite a while. Here are the first five adjective examples from the <a href="https://www.oed.com/dictionary/fun_n?tl=true">OED</a>. The 1853 one is American, the rest are British.<br /></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLfdeflW8MNflPmtVJfx0Tjp84JreNA5pA6-sJRWFc8McV2r0EtjklqhtTYXHkvM2IA49OIIYokWConvRM9pqZ7eXd4_q9ZR1Skw3rs-EB_WRsOgMq8-XOuO4wTO6HilxM3ryeuecfNknV73T-_ejOs5k48sI1kCGANGUV0mxlv4hMT-9UKUTH/s1216/Screen%20Shot%202023-08-28%20at%2001.03.26.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="530" data-original-width="1216" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLfdeflW8MNflPmtVJfx0Tjp84JreNA5pA6-sJRWFc8McV2r0EtjklqhtTYXHkvM2IA49OIIYokWConvRM9pqZ7eXd4_q9ZR1Skw3rs-EB_WRsOgMq8-XOuO4wTO6HilxM3ryeuecfNknV73T-_ejOs5k48sI1kCGANGUV0mxlv4hMT-9UKUTH/w640-h278/Screen%20Shot%202023-08-28%20at%2001.03.26.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Is there an AmE/BrE difference to be found here? </div><div><br /></div><div>Well, let's start with the fact that Americans seem to have more <i>fun. </i>In the <a href="https://www.english-corpora.org/glowbe/">Corpus of Global Web-Based English</a>, the American sub-corpus has 151 instances of <i>fun</i> per million words, while the British sub-corpus has 129 per million. Most of that difference is due to greater AmE use of the adjective:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9M3cWPNKb0QycTxYwQWNWYF9hTSX129dSj3_of-DxbEvslAkgSyIAKMskSXS5GNoUX46ywbXDmJ3hfsacdD-RSpkNEG4E-PApGRNOwiKF23NzS3nvyengZ9N6Qtm3sKvmuMsvKs8IFwMVJgvKQIvd42ydsMdz0Nwr0U94_BfJmNe9jp0niz3p/s1264/Screen%20Shot%202023-08-28%20at%2000.27.03.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="488" data-original-width="1264" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9M3cWPNKb0QycTxYwQWNWYF9hTSX129dSj3_of-DxbEvslAkgSyIAKMskSXS5GNoUX46ywbXDmJ3hfsacdD-RSpkNEG4E-PApGRNOwiKF23NzS3nvyengZ9N6Qtm3sKvmuMsvKs8IFwMVJgvKQIvd42ydsMdz0Nwr0U94_BfJmNe9jp0niz3p/w640-h248/Screen%20Shot%202023-08-28%20at%2000.27.03.png" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIRTNHgr5uTqdW_EhjvLF3dk5OINNyPenuee47H61zK_Vbw1HdpQLzwSeNlEF9DUu9U_iHl3WtWguoMymIgpPRhpe8oiK4S-hAXbO6Ft2ywUQanT2ppKTZ_xkr6fvNHW27mwzmsbNRexkclo90eEQrVTatBDEVM12WXIIBdE6ioOz3AQFHqq2F/s1256/Screen%20Shot%202023-08-28%20at%2000.36.43.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="151" data-original-width="1256" height="76" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIRTNHgr5uTqdW_EhjvLF3dk5OINNyPenuee47H61zK_Vbw1HdpQLzwSeNlEF9DUu9U_iHl3WtWguoMymIgpPRhpe8oiK4S-hAXbO6Ft2ywUQanT2ppKTZ_xkr6fvNHW27mwzmsbNRexkclo90eEQrVTatBDEVM12WXIIBdE6ioOz3AQFHqq2F/w640-h76/Screen%20Shot%202023-08-28%20at%2000.36.43.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>This helps us explain why my friend Martin noticed more <i>so fun</i> in AmE and <i>such fun </i>in BrE. <i>So</i> goes with adjectives, <i>such</i> with nouns, and AmE uses <i>fun</i> more as an adjective and BrE more as a noun.</div><div><br /></div><div>What also helps explain it is that <b>AmE (these days) uses more <i>so</i> modification of adjectives</b>. (<a href="https://read.dukeupress.edu/american-speech/article/80/3/280/5437/SO-WEIRD-SO-COOL-SO-INNOVATIVE-THE-USE-OF?casa_token=Vz-6fQnyq1kAAAAA:zxQaPlL9F4kDDM1o3ugHhmaoW_zoO1cKKUULFQfbneseoPrn1vnXzPAzoby-Iak5cyLeLg" target="_blank">There's a study on the effect of the tv show <i>Friends</i> on <i>so</i></a>. Given that <i>Friends </i>has been obsessively watched in the UK for decades now, you'd think there'd be as much <i>so</i> here. But no.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Still, the modifiers of adjectival <i>fun</i> are not too different in US and UK. <i><b>Really</b></i> is the most common modifier in both. Number 2 in the US is <i><b>so</b></i> and in the UK is <i><b>quite</b></i>. But number 3 in the UK is <i><b>so</b> </i>(the American #3 is <i><b>very</b></i>).</div><div><br /></div><div>For the noun, <i><b>such fun</b></i> is heard about twice as much in the UK as the US. This doesn't seem to be because <i>such </i>is more common in BrE generally. <i>Such fun </i>is just such a British thing to say.</div><div><br /></div><div>When <i>fun </i>is a noun, it's common to talk about <i><b>so much fun</b>. </i>What strikes me about <i>such fun </i>is it is <i>so much fun</i> minus the 'o m'. And <i>so fun </i>is <i>so much fun </i>minus the <i>much</i>. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFLxRCZpPxN_DJpt1rfHcKKeRhElCvanoVJTCs0AVrXZD2A8KSGQQVeCnmO0KhhWhADcM0CadCiOKlHS19_B37ECcSfc3wezSZFVY9hca3cfWDmewc6KTn3PKh6edW26EUFj4dAuMXRXRAQw5d2aSM0eBQZQBkJsJW9SHxtiFmemzMuGgInrA1/s1382/Screen%20Shot%202023-08-27%20at%2023.35.22.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="478" data-original-width="1382" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFLxRCZpPxN_DJpt1rfHcKKeRhElCvanoVJTCs0AVrXZD2A8KSGQQVeCnmO0KhhWhADcM0CadCiOKlHS19_B37ECcSfc3wezSZFVY9hca3cfWDmewc6KTn3PKh6edW26EUFj4dAuMXRXRAQw5d2aSM0eBQZQBkJsJW9SHxtiFmemzMuGgInrA1/w640-h222/Screen%20Shot%202023-08-27%20at%2023.35.22.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, it's been so/such fun writing about this. Get in on the fun by leaving a comment! </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />lynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-7325065746162072032023-08-20T00:14:00.003+01:002023-08-20T00:14:47.038+01:00sir, miss (at school)<p>In my last <a href="https://mailchi.mp/30d0ffd3a48e/separated-by-a-common-newsletter" target="_blank">newsletter</a>, I reacted to<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/jun/06/london-school-drops-sir-and-miss-honorifics-to-fight-cultural-misogyny"> this news story</a>:<br /><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJPOwOP6dNM3IaoLFlKtFdSS5ekKxU1-fdNk3EhboYuibievV1-5k-0IBoQPPhv-iTeiTiuOjj0yJ6eOOPkKnbQbWjQX5W8gnkCHO8i6rtC1cEB7pL6ZJL_RRNnsfZilCmXKt1ytrYnUdyh4dp-AmJkvS7nz7UkAubqC_yKRqVOrBVlPZW9rcx/s1448/Screen%20Shot%202023-08-08%20at%2017.45.39.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Guardian headline: London school drops ‘Sir’ and ‘Miss’ honorifics to fight cultural misogyny" border="0" data-original-height="1448" data-original-width="1348" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJPOwOP6dNM3IaoLFlKtFdSS5ekKxU1-fdNk3EhboYuibievV1-5k-0IBoQPPhv-iTeiTiuOjj0yJ6eOOPkKnbQbWjQX5W8gnkCHO8i6rtC1cEB7pL6ZJL_RRNnsfZilCmXKt1ytrYnUdyh4dp-AmJkvS7nz7UkAubqC_yKRqVOrBVlPZW9rcx/w597-h640/Screen%20Shot%202023-08-08%20at%2017.45.39.png" width="597" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">The article is about <i>addressing </i>teachers as <i>sir</i> or <i>miss</i>, which happens in American schools too (I'm sure there's a lot of variation in that across schools and regions). But in the newsletter I mentioned BrE <b>referential</b> use of the words when talking <u>about</u> the teacher (rather than talking <u>to</u> the teacher). I said</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">: "I’m often taken aback when my child (like </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">any ordinary English child) refers to her teachers as </span><span class="il" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><i><b>Sir</b></i></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"> and </span><span class="il" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><i><b>Miss</b></i></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">"—which she often does.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My former colleague David replied to say that he found this odd, since as "a moderately ordinary English child in the north of England in the 1960s," he addressed his (all male) teachers as <i>Sir</i>, but would refer to them by name or description (e.g., <i>our English teacher</i>). He concluded that <span style="font-family: inherit;">"</span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">referring to teachers as </span><span class="il" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Sir</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> and </span><span class="il" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Miss</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> may be either more recent </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">or more southern."</span></span></p><p>While the usage may have been <i>new</i> in the 1960s, it definitely existed then, apparently even in the north.</p><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">The OED's first citation for that use of <i><b>Sir</b> </i>is from 1955 in a novel by Edward Blishen, who hailed from London: <span style="font-family: inherit;">"</span></span><span style="background-color: #fafafa; font-size: 16px;">‘The cane,’ said Sims vaguely. ‘Sir can't,’ said Pottell...</span><span style="background-color: #fafafa; font-size: 16px;">’" A few other quotations can be seen in the OED snippet below (note their nice new layout!) </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> </span></span></div><div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuJSF10UJIcHR8GDNlRZkv6D6gxYWWElruth_tPd7gVEeYpLRD4hjz8NjCXOkBfPeBTtxlb4nbHC4NtOSDSkN0jA1IwM-ioqHUHWGqvPmWStOPeBFYAgpFlQrp-jeHT7zfAdCyD0vqWP0OKqg4pps3PaEa-bV45-5QLOhsyLcOZq8Jw1AdRCBB/s1530/Screen%20Shot%202023-08-08%20at%2018.01.16.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="656" data-original-width="1530" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuJSF10UJIcHR8GDNlRZkv6D6gxYWWElruth_tPd7gVEeYpLRD4hjz8NjCXOkBfPeBTtxlb4nbHC4NtOSDSkN0jA1IwM-ioqHUHWGqvPmWStOPeBFYAgpFlQrp-jeHT7zfAdCyD0vqWP0OKqg4pps3PaEa-bV45-5QLOhsyLcOZq8Jw1AdRCBB/w640-h274/Screen%20Shot%202023-08-08%20at%2018.01.16.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">On to <i><b>Miss</b>. </i>The first referring-to-(not addressing)-a-teacher citation for M</span><span class="il" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><i>iss</i></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> is from 1968 in a</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> book by an author from Salford (in the northwest). (You'll spot another <i>Miss</i> example from that book in the <i>Sir</i> examples above. I've reported the error.)</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span></span></div><div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsG17NC_CysCvWZMWZlx1YV5Qc3orWrWD7Yy254pXyZElFqvwKvcU_-9pVpsv4LS28BldeYtCArWIWiP-V7sfr8K4JVWGyGotr87kll1x4o9WgdDSoSrsr3D-U0qdp18uDRzkGctia_BuCDrfGK20GvXyu8Ri5LJ9IXVa6-imMKTHLhWWpXbOg/s1440/Screen%20Shot%202023-08-08%20at%2018.00.55.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="508" data-original-width="1440" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsG17NC_CysCvWZMWZlx1YV5Qc3orWrWD7Yy254pXyZElFqvwKvcU_-9pVpsv4LS28BldeYtCArWIWiP-V7sfr8K4JVWGyGotr87kll1x4o9WgdDSoSrsr3D-U0qdp18uDRzkGctia_BuCDrfGK20GvXyu8Ri5LJ9IXVa6-imMKTHLhWWpXbOg/w640-h226/Screen%20Shot%202023-08-08%20at%2018.00.55.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Did <i>Miss</i> really only appear a decade after referential <i>Sir</i>? I doubt it. We have to rely on written records, usually published ones, and there aren't a lot of written records in the voice of schoolchildren. Fiction helps, but it has its biases and gaps. </span></div></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkWuFPW70xnC30KkseYxGGgvSx7uLPuErXaMk3NassxOirT08IS-PEGzIaGtjVo3jI5R9XCalERfZ3Jumuyh80gESbT_pe0v3q_RBOO23FcD90EmVidQIiiGvVqxt46KBmIzPPp9qd6FVVUs2SoNUzBu-gM9dLsBPkZJJOLAOkmpQ69bhUVPd4/s450/008375R1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="300" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkWuFPW70xnC30KkseYxGGgvSx7uLPuErXaMk3NassxOirT08IS-PEGzIaGtjVo3jI5R9XCalERfZ3Jumuyh80gESbT_pe0v3q_RBOO23FcD90EmVidQIiiGvVqxt46KBmIzPPp9qd6FVVUs2SoNUzBu-gM9dLsBPkZJJOLAOkmpQ69bhUVPd4/s320/008375R1.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><span style="color: #222222;">And then, of course, there was the 1967 British film <i>To</i></span><i style="color: black;"><span style="color: #222222;"> </span><span class="il" style="color: #222222;">Sir</span></i><span style="color: #222222;"><i>, with Love</i>, in which <i>Sir</i> is used as if it is the name of the teacher played by Sidney Poitier. Is it a term of address there, or referential? Well, the title always seemed weird to me—certainly not a way I'd address a package. This <i>Sir</i> seems halfway between address and reference. We could label packages with the second-person pronouns that we usually used to address people, i.e., "To you", but we tend to use the third person: "To David". Rather than addressing the recipient, it seems to be announcing the recipient. <br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">This past academic year, for the first time, I was addressed as <i>Miss</i> a fair amount (no name, just <i>Miss</i>). This came from a new student who apparently was carrying over school habits to university, and so my colleagues were all <i>Miss</i> as well. I thought often about saying something about it to the student, but I also thought: I know what they mean, so why bother? I get to correct people enough in my job, I don't have to take every opportunity to do so and certainly don't need to make a big deal out of what I'm called. (Just don't call me late for dinner.) One picks one's pedantic battles. It's not a million miles from how I feel about my students calling a lecture or seminar a <b style="font-style: italic;">lesson</b>, <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/06/tutor.html">which I've written about back here</a>.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">If you're interested, here's more I've written on:</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2008/04/academic-titles-and-address.html">titles and address terms in higher education</a></li><li><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/12/types-of-schools-school-years.html">the structure of school education</a></li></ul></div>lynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.com38tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-3407466192572182872023-06-12T01:06:00.004+01:002023-06-12T01:19:01.722+01:00mean to <p>Reader Sam* recently wrote to me with the following: </p><p><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;"></span></p><blockquote><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">A usage that surprises me every time I hear it is “<b>meant</b>” in the sense of “supposed” or “should be”. For example, in a BBC news item today the correspondent said that there were “meant to be elections this year in Pakistan.” The emphasis seems to be on obligation rather than intention.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">[...] do you think this is a recent development, or has British English always had this usage?</span></blockquote><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>Intention has always been part of <i><b>mean</b></i>'s meaning. The oldest sense in the <i>OED</i> is a <a href="https://www.grammarly.com/blog/transitive-verbs/">transitive</a> form that simply means 'to intend [something]'—a sense that is today heard in the phrase <i>I meant no harm</i>. Other intention-y meanings sprang from that. But this <i>mean+to</i>-infinitive usage that Sam mentions has weakened from the 'intend' meaning to signify something more like 'be expected'. </div><div><br /></div>In the third edition of <i>Fowler's Modern English Usage</i> (1996), this use is discussed under the heading '<i>a new passive use'. </i>So, yes, it's new. By 2008 in the <i>Oxford Pocket Fowler's Modern English Usage</i>, second edition, the usage is "so familiar"—at least to British readers:<br /><br /><div><blockquote>In the passive, to be meant has for long had the sense ‘to be destined (by providence), to have special significance’: <br /><br />When I need you, you are here. You must see how meant it all is—Iris Murdoch, 1974. <br /><br />During the 20c this use was joined by another passive use in which meant followed by a to-infinitive means little more than ‘supposed, thought, intended’: <br /><br />For today he was meant to be having dinner with Stephanie at the Dear Friends—A. N. Wilson, 1986. <br /><br />This altered meaning is now so familiar that its relative newness can cause surprise.</blockquote><div><p>By the third edition (2016), the 'supposed/thought' angle is not even discussed, which seems to indicate that it's no longer seen as a potential usage problem in British English:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">In the meaning ‘to intend’, </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">mean</i><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;"> can be followed by a </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to</i><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">-infinitive (when the speaker intends to do something: </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I meant to go</i><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">), by an object+</span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to</i><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">-infinitive (when the speaker intends someone else to do something: </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I meant you to go</i><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">) and, more formally, by a </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">that</i><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">-clause with </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">should</i><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;"> (</span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I meant that you should go</i><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">). Use of </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">mean for</i><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;"> +object+</span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to</i><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">-infinitive (☒ </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I meant for you to go</i><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">) is non-standard.</span></p></blockquote><p>The <i>Oxford English Dictionary</i> (in an entry revised in 2001) has this sense:<br /></p></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div class="top" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cabin, sans-serif;"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">passive</em>, with infinitive clause: to be reputed, considered, said <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">to</em> be something. </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0159px;">Cf. </span><a class="crossReferencePopup" href="https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/194694#eid19729089" rel="194694" rev="/view/Entry/194694#eid19729089" style="color: #4f78a4; cursor: pointer; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0159px; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="smallCaps" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">suppose</span> <span class="ps" style="font-style: italic;">v.</span> 9a</a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0159px;">.</span></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div class="frame" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cabin, sans-serif;"><div class="quotationsBlock" id="eid37458810" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="quotation" id="eid37458811" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="noIndent" id="eid166824244" style="box-sizing: inherit;">1878 <span class="smallCaps" style="box-sizing: inherit;">R. Simpson </span><em style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="sourcePopup" rel="0053621" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #0074d9; font-weight: 700;">School of Shakspere</a></em> I. 34</span> It is confessed that Hawkins and Cobham were <span class="quotationKeyword" style="box-sizing: inherit;">meant</span> to be buccaneers, and it is absurd to deny the like of Stucley.</span></div></div></div></div><div><div class="frame" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cabin, sans-serif;"><div class="quotationsBlock" id="eid37458810" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="quotation" id="eid37458820" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="noIndent" id="eid166824251" style="box-sizing: inherit;">1945 <em style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="sourcePopup" rel="0242946" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #0074d9; font-weight: 700;">Queen</a></em> 18 Apr. 17/1</span> ‘Such and such a play,’ they [my children] will say, ‘is <span class="quotationKeyword" style="box-sizing: inherit;">meant</span> to be jolly good.’</span></div></div></div></div><div><div class="frame" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cabin, sans-serif;"><div class="quotationsBlock" id="eid37458810" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="quotation" id="eid37458830" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="noIndent" id="eid166824257" style="box-sizing: inherit;">1972 <em style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="sourcePopup" rel="0041640" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #0074d9; font-weight: 700;">Listener</a></em> 9 Mar. 310/1</span> America..is <span class="quotationKeyword" style="box-sizing: inherit;">meant</span> to be a great melting-pot.</span></div></div></div></div><div><div class="frame" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Cabin, sans-serif;"><div class="quotationsBlock" id="eid37458810" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="quotation" id="eid37458847" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="noIndent" id="eid166824269" style="box-sizing: inherit;">1989 <em style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="sourcePopup" rel="0073389" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #0074d9; font-weight: 700;">Times</a></em> 30 Mar. 15/1</span> It [<em style="box-sizing: inherit;">sc.</em> evening primrose oil] is also <span class="quotationKeyword" style="box-sizing: inherit;">meant</span> to be good for arthritis.</span></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><p>None of these (Oxford-published) sources mark these usages as particularly British, but over in America, <a href="https://notoneoffbritishisms.com/2019/12/03/stalking-the-elusive-meant-to/">Ben Yagoda at his Not One-Off Britishisms blog </a>discussed <i>meant to</i> in 2019 as a British usage that is 'on the radar' in American English. </p><p><i>Mean</i> has many senses that (chiefly AmE) <b>smush </b>(also <b>smoosh</b>) into each other, making it tricky to analy{s/z}e. Take an example like <i>America is meant to be a great melting-pot</i> (<a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/10/to-hyphenate-or-not-to-hyphenate.html">that hyphen is very British, by the way</a>). It probably means 'reputed' (i.e. people say it's a melting pot). But it could mean 'intended' (i.e. the Founding Fathers wanted it to be that). <i>Meant</i> in the rest of the 20th-century OED examples can be replaced by <i>reputed</i>, but <i>reputed</i> doesn't seem like the right synonym for the A. N. Wilson example in <i>Fowler's</i> or the Pakistan election example in Sam's email. </p><p>In the GloWbE corpus (data collected in 2012–13), <i><b>is meant to</b> </i>usually doesn't look very British. For example, here are the results for "is meant to be [adjective]". As you can see (if you click to enlarge), items like <i>is meant to be fun </i>occur at similar rates in American and British. The results are very similar for <b><i>is meant to be a</i> </b>(as in <i>is meant to be a melting-pot</i>). </p><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsJPKFTLOFMAjoaYmM3Swqi4fyQMNkkV1Yxv33NG-qLGNk9IhH4roN6jkL9B0eBTzGDj997L3CRb6YwVC43C6dMqd_N3UUX9xgWNjMInqBLlyC_xfHh9HlU0lhylWL9tiFYkr2QdcJ2LP3j25Zpf2hLjTRo9LqN_Lv165k6yzaSyw3xdc5GA/s1528/Screen%20Shot%202023-06-11%20at%2022.00.51.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1144" data-original-width="1528" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsJPKFTLOFMAjoaYmM3Swqi4fyQMNkkV1Yxv33NG-qLGNk9IhH4roN6jkL9B0eBTzGDj997L3CRb6YwVC43C6dMqd_N3UUX9xgWNjMInqBLlyC_xfHh9HlU0lhylWL9tiFYkr2QdcJ2LP3j25Zpf2hLjTRo9LqN_Lv165k6yzaSyw3xdc5GA/w640-h480/Screen%20Shot%202023-06-11%20at%2022.00.51.png" width="640" /></a><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">The bar chart shows that the American examples are fewer overall, but not all </span><i style="text-align: left;">that</i><span style="text-align: left;"> different (the black line is to facilitate comparison). </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPzxlbOSfzUgfXolm9GEK1TTWgiW0F0CsWtDq-yLTw1QmrvQBH9KzWEkpIe8YkvcSxmrs3tWDGO840t2PdRzZuGXePM5HYJMnNtUqKWCN7IdeXctP0R74wJNry6ddNmqvp18r4A48IwuNKrilmhkD28z5A7HpKNXQJRMktnyCzHGVdeVZKCw/s1028/Screen%20Shot%202023-06-11%20at%2023.51.10.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="732" data-original-width="1028" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPzxlbOSfzUgfXolm9GEK1TTWgiW0F0CsWtDq-yLTw1QmrvQBH9KzWEkpIe8YkvcSxmrs3tWDGO840t2PdRzZuGXePM5HYJMnNtUqKWCN7IdeXctP0R74wJNry6ddNmqvp18r4A48IwuNKrilmhkD28z5A7HpKNXQJRMktnyCzHGVdeVZKCw/w400-h285/Screen%20Shot%202023-06-11%20at%2023.51.10.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">There is something interesting going on in that adjective list, though: Americans are using <i>is meant to be</i> with very similar adjectives: <i>fun</i>, <i>funny</i>, <i>humorous, entertaining</i> plus odd-one-out <i>free</i>. The British adjectives are more diverse, which probably signals that this 'supposed to be' meaning is more established in BrE and Americans use it in more limited ways.**</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In Sam's example <b><i>there were meant to be elections</i></b>, the grammatical subject of <i>be meant to </i>is the <a href="https://blog.oup.com/2019/12/how-to-use-the-existential-there/#:~:text=Also%20known%20as%20the%20existential,to%20call%20something%20to%20mind.">existential/dummy subject </a><i><a href="https://blog.oup.com/2019/12/how-to-use-the-existential-there/#:~:text=Also%20known%20as%20the%20existential,to%20call%20something%20to%20mind.">there</a>. </i>If we look for that, a US/UK divide seems clearer<i>.</i> North Americans don't really say <i>there [be] mean to</i>, which will be why that example stood out for Sam:<br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJc8C7pHDR8M7TQKQksVd6s1UM3lVRESXJSs9sYjkywPGYpoNOzvkJYUEr9mIHTp9wISm1ZBqXkSNjJt9Mou1hqmFE6psmPDH7q2sEE0a6hgiqNZDxgiB4qiVMIA9G3uPVyWCr_Uele2MH4oNZWxuysjiroay1cG7Hppt9jOfO71sDDw3e8w/s1308/Screen%20Shot%202023-06-12%20at%2000.05.21.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="794" data-original-width="1308" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJc8C7pHDR8M7TQKQksVd6s1UM3lVRESXJSs9sYjkywPGYpoNOzvkJYUEr9mIHTp9wISm1ZBqXkSNjJt9Mou1hqmFE6psmPDH7q2sEE0a6hgiqNZDxgiB4qiVMIA9G3uPVyWCr_Uele2MH4oNZWxuysjiroay1cG7Hppt9jOfO71sDDw3e8w/w640-h388/Screen%20Shot%202023-06-12%20at%2000.05.21.png" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><i>There</i> does occur slightly less in the US data overall—about 7% less than in British. So that might be a contributing factor. But, to me, it looks like the <i>is meant to</i> construction just isn't as much at home in AmE as it is in BrE at this point. And that's to be expected, since it's a usage that seems to have started in Britain only after American independence. </div><div><br /></div><div>I should probably say something about the usual translation of <i>be meant to</i>: <i style="font-weight: bold;">be supposed to</i> as in <i>The weather is supposed to be nice</i>.<i> </i>This is much older than<i> meant </i>in the sense of 'expected/assumed'—the OED's first example is from 1616. The 'ought to' meaning, as in <i>I'm supposed to be in bed by now</i>, comes much later—the OED's first citation is from 1884 in Britain. So, we can't call <b><i>supposed to</i> </b>"AmE" as opposed to BrE. But since <i><b>meant to</b> </i>has taken on some of <i>supposed to</i>'s jobs, and <i>meant to</i> is more British, it's not surprising to find more <i>supposed to</i> in AmE:<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4DdpMCHJWYbxvIFtjTzZDK44aFNYxfxxD8fVkNHFDF7ThDEvj2opN-ox2b9KG3Iqdlm0NmlG8eoZSxFfDKjnVxMHe8GdYEbhsvNtOGRHov4s7-w7obAzvNG5OeZz3siL8qeMtVDrHmGzcI8m5cBaOtFeKO4Y-gx6xP688L15BaHMT_AXzjQ/s1342/Screen%20Shot%202023-06-12%20at%2000.44.38.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="560" data-original-width="1342" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4DdpMCHJWYbxvIFtjTzZDK44aFNYxfxxD8fVkNHFDF7ThDEvj2opN-ox2b9KG3Iqdlm0NmlG8eoZSxFfDKjnVxMHe8GdYEbhsvNtOGRHov4s7-w7obAzvNG5OeZz3siL8qeMtVDrHmGzcI8m5cBaOtFeKO4Y-gx6xP688L15BaHMT_AXzjQ/w640-h268/Screen%20Shot%202023-06-12%20at%2000.44.38.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div>I'm really meant/supposed to be in bed by now. So I shall leave it at that! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">------------</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">*<a href="https://twitter.com/LKMcFarlane/status/1003797688993832960">@LKMcFarlane</a>, <div class="css-901oao css-1hf3ou5 r-14j79pv r-18u37iz r-37j5jr r-1wvb978 r-a023e6 r-16dba41 r-rjixqe r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" dir="ltr" style="-webkit-box-direction: normal; -webkit-box-orient: horizontal; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; flex-direction: row; font-feature-settings: "ss01"; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap;"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; white-space: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://twitter.com/Miranda_Neville/status/667067439436402688"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">@Miranda_Neville </span>& @PamRosenthal</a>, </span></span></div><div class="css-901oao css-1hf3ou5 r-14j79pv r-18u37iz r-37j5jr r-1wvb978 r-a023e6 r-16dba41 r-rjixqe r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" dir="ltr" style="-webkit-box-direction: normal; -webkit-box-orient: horizontal; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; flex-direction: row; font-feature-settings: "ss01"; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap;"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; white-space: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-style: inherit;"><a href="https://twitter.com/aaj1an/status/294767565257977856">@aaj1an</a> </span><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" style="font-style: inherit;"> <br /></span><span style="font-style: inherit;">and possibly others have raised this topic with me </span><i>years</i><span style="font-style: inherit;"> before. Sorry it's taken so long! </span></span></span></div></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">**Note that there's always the risk in GloWbE data that writers represented in a particular column are not really from that country. For instance, this data might include British commenters on American websites and vice versa. So, to be safe, I checked that <i>is meant to </i>is also found in the Corpus of Contemporary American English, which doesn't rely so much on internet English. It is. </div><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></div>lynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-43339102301046875762023-05-02T00:00:00.006+01:002023-09-22T21:38:27.508+01:00baggage and luggage<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3tF59FlLJKc9Znc_U2CB6nI7Qoig6-fxWFw2cOtKeuISXVV8gD4hEuFr55AwnLkrvN9fNGb64YVbFPvprO_HbLy5SwpbwAfyokpGBUlDZ9dQDemiLuUwIVUL-uIXLmt9dmGGGJD1nQxn-5QX6XOeVuZjvULDVv3NRqnZ0Qb7qEehPI3YkeA/s2176/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-01%20at%2023.46.57.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="582" data-original-width="2176" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3tF59FlLJKc9Znc_U2CB6nI7Qoig6-fxWFw2cOtKeuISXVV8gD4hEuFr55AwnLkrvN9fNGb64YVbFPvprO_HbLy5SwpbwAfyokpGBUlDZ9dQDemiLuUwIVUL-uIXLmt9dmGGGJD1nQxn-5QX6XOeVuZjvULDVv3NRqnZ0Qb7qEehPI3YkeA/w640-h172/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-01%20at%2023.46.57.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=luggage&newwindow=1&sxsrf=APwXEdf6E5P04o2_Jqwhmr5nq6bVGlTdbQ:1682981182963&source=lnms&tbm=shop&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiuw8u8mdX-AhUaUsAKHVQAAYYQ_AUoAXoECAEQAw&biw=1149&bih=610&dpr=2.5">results of a Google search for "luggage"</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />I'm reading Ingrid Paulsen's <a href="https://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/341"><i>The emergence of American English as a discursive variety</i> </a>(it's open-access, so you can read it in PDF. But note: it is definitely an academic book). The book is essentially about when American English became "American English". If you subscribe to my newsletter (<a href="https://mailchi.mp/30d0ffd3a48e/separated-by-a-common-newsletter">plug, plug</a>), you'll probably read more about the book at some point in future. Today, I'm just mentioning it because it's inspired me to think more about <b><i>baggage</i></b> and <b><i>luggage</i></b>. Paulsen searched for this pair of words (among other things!) in 19th-century newspapers in order to find cases of people writing about American versus British English. I wondered if people still perceive a transatlantic difference here. <p></p><p>These words got a boost in the 1800s thanks to the invention of rail travel and the need for a place to put one's <i>stuff</i> on them. Hence the invention, and the naming, of the (AmE) <b>baggage car</b> or (BrE) <b>luggage van</b>, which is one of the contexts Paulsen discusses. It's also been one of my Twitter Differences of the Day:<br /><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Tw1dPPPavQXhKA7UuogUIkZsGSE_N9FJ5rVocCfMktCAs66m91kPxSMO2iAePEbc1ldIvEGgTIbMVnS6c3zw4tPqI9UOV1qx8mpt2loX62qvijdlNVzuspwsYicYBfiaKWSp9BDSeoms91X_qIrCfBvQYEipLz9NDhOhPcuuZdpxP2zaGg/s922/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-30%20at%2018.25.02.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="180" data-original-width="922" height="127" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Tw1dPPPavQXhKA7UuogUIkZsGSE_N9FJ5rVocCfMktCAs66m91kPxSMO2iAePEbc1ldIvEGgTIbMVnS6c3zw4tPqI9UOV1qx8mpt2loX62qvijdlNVzuspwsYicYBfiaKWSp9BDSeoms91X_qIrCfBvQYEipLz9NDhOhPcuuZdpxP2zaGg/w655-h127/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-30%20at%2018.25.02.png" width="655" /></a></div><p></p><p>I can't remember the last time I checked my bags on a train journey, so I haven't run into people calling anything a <i>baggage car </i>or <i>luggage van </i>lately. I have to believe that they were more common in the US (where one could go greater distances by rail/train), since <i>baggage car</i> shows up whole a lot more in American books than either term shows up in British books:</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBHxBIF_DowJ_AxmRieKwxnfOm0qHCDQpDfY07k9YoXxhjRoxGnMWyrh5pgQR47D6qa0dyAvRcit6-Lp3V7ZO5O24Y4ZDhpGGutx4a8YzsKgNsgLU6pzKsnFP7Nnr3FqJ4729sFsLXm6SEKabPV9MbbnMlHESPz1neQ-cku-8kA3G6HcBMtA/s2554/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-30%20at%2018.42.55.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1194" data-original-width="2554" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBHxBIF_DowJ_AxmRieKwxnfOm0qHCDQpDfY07k9YoXxhjRoxGnMWyrh5pgQR47D6qa0dyAvRcit6-Lp3V7ZO5O24Y4ZDhpGGutx4a8YzsKgNsgLU6pzKsnFP7Nnr3FqJ4729sFsLXm6SEKabPV9MbbnMlHESPz1neQ-cku-8kA3G6HcBMtA/w640-h301/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-30%20at%2018.42.55.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">click to embiggen</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>But what about the words <i style="font-weight: bold;">baggage </i>and <i style="font-weight: bold;">luggage </i>themselves? How did they get to be a "difference" and are they still a "difference"? </p><p>Let's start with the history. This appears to be one of those differences that came about because English had two words that drifted in different ways in the two places—with more drifting in the UK. The <i>Oxford English Dictionary</i> hasn't fully updated its entries for these words since the dictionary was first published, but we can assume that they got the past fairly correct. Here are the first senses the OED gives for each word:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0159px;"><b>baggage</b> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0159px;">The collection of property in packages that one takes along with him on a journey; portable property; luggage. (Now rarely used in Great Britain for ordinary ‘luggage’ carried in the hand or taken with one by public conveyance; but the regular term in U.S.) [1885]</span><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0159px;"><b>luggage </b>In early use: What has to be lugged about; inconveniently heavy baggage (</span><em style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0159px;">obsolete</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0159px;">). Also, the baggage of an army. Now, in Great Britain, the ordinary word for: The baggage belonging to a traveller or passenger, esp. by a public conveyance. [1903]</span></p></blockquote><p>I'd say that the original senses feel "right" for me as an AmE speaker—that luggage is big/heavy enough to be "lugged", but baggage can be more varied. But I am even more likely to use <i>luggage</i> for empty suitcases. I buy new luggage for a trip. A 1997 draft addition to the OED <i>luggage</i> entry says this 'suitcases' meaning dates to the early 20th century.</p><p>It only becomes <i>baggage</i> when I fill it up with stuff and give it to someone else to put onto a train or plane. If I handle it myself, I wouldn't call it <i>baggage</i>. I'd call it 'my bags' or 'my suitcases' or 'my stuff'.</p><p>I've just asked my English spouse how he'd differentiate the two words:</p><p><u>Him</u>: <i>Baggage </i>sounds old-fashioned, I probably wouldn't use it.<br /><u>Me</u>: But there's [BrE] <b><i>baggage reclaim</i> </b>[=AmE <i style="font-weight: bold;">baggage claim</i>] at the airport.<br /><u>Him</u>: That's true...A backpack or a box can be <i>baggage</i>, but it can't be <i>luggage. Luggage</i> has to be cases. </p><p>Other than his claim about old-fashionedness, we're pretty much on the same page. And when I look for these things in <a href="https://www.english-corpora.org/glowbe/">the GloWbE corpus</a>, they don't show a clear British-versus-American profile: There is more British usage of both terms in that corpus. Maybe this can be attributed to the fact that British people get a lot more (BrE) <b>holiday </b>/ (AmE) <b>vacation</b> time than Americans get, so their websites have more discussion of buying/packing/losing luggage or baggage?</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKL2byRFpwQ9Gw3uTtiNbCootJyMYXJmi1faMb6wMjKuDtc9np3zioOUHKtf3W4oR3bFS7MVQHU5tHdzbMC0qA4DSmh06rkDMf6Rv5mPkYAJSikOMCvPBjZ3OqVvrYMlpS4KfC57TZLx2XYYubA6W-Qbk5ukLHsbM1NbKoTAaf8LhVBJh5Lw/s1174/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-30%20at%2018.48.47.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="494" data-original-width="1174" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKL2byRFpwQ9Gw3uTtiNbCootJyMYXJmi1faMb6wMjKuDtc9np3zioOUHKtf3W4oR3bFS7MVQHU5tHdzbMC0qA4DSmh06rkDMf6Rv5mPkYAJSikOMCvPBjZ3OqVvrYMlpS4KfC57TZLx2XYYubA6W-Qbk5ukLHsbM1NbKoTAaf8LhVBJh5Lw/w640-h270/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-30%20at%2018.48.47.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In books, it looks like AmE & BrE are getting to be more similar in how they use <i>luggage</i>:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6fWefxxBejXsvXIZ6McAoyyNe57xU2fG6gBYxh1pY5FQKWGUTxz8oHln3fOFGsO5lY3JBQm9YF3KKRikAKJoKO7pV0HRVP3AkTKBYqHFKW1dxSg4Y0biR9HgE3_hAKjxGkVbB4jjdx599rD5r-CHa1S-D0uq_Uf32a1N4vQloNbf1u6yCog/s2598/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-01%20at%2023.33.11.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1278" data-original-width="2598" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6fWefxxBejXsvXIZ6McAoyyNe57xU2fG6gBYxh1pY5FQKWGUTxz8oHln3fOFGsO5lY3JBQm9YF3KKRikAKJoKO7pV0HRVP3AkTKBYqHFKW1dxSg4Y0biR9HgE3_hAKjxGkVbB4jjdx599rD5r-CHa1S-D0uq_Uf32a1N4vQloNbf1u6yCog/w640-h314/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-01%20at%2023.33.11.png" width="640" /></a></div><p>So, it doesn't look like the words themselves are good markers of Americanness/Britishness these days. But expressions containing these words can be. We've already seen <b><i>baggage car/luggage van </i></b>and <i><b>baggage (re)claim</b>. </i>There are others.</p><p>In BrE, <b><i>hand luggage</i></b> is essentially the same as AmE <b style="font-style: italic;">carry-on </b><b>(</b><b style="font-style: italic;">bag)</b>. Or at least it was. I think the import of <i>carry-on</i> might be influencing its meaning. Spouse says he makes a distinction: you put hand luggage under the seat in front of you, carry-ons in the overhead bin. But, his intuition notwithstanding, shop for <i>hand luggage</i> and you'll be shown carry-ons. </p><p><i><b>Baggage carousel</b> </i>is marked by the OED (2003) as 'originally and chiefly <i>North American</i>', but it's well used in BrE, as is <i style="font-weight: bold;">luggage carousel</i><i>.</i> </p><p><i><b>Luggage locker</b> </i>is BrE for the kinds of lockers that one might find in a train station (or also BrE <b><i>rail[way] station</i></b>) or (AmE) bus/(BrE) coach station. I think in AmE, we'd just call them <i>lockers</i><i>.</i></p><p><i><b>Left luggage</b> </i>is BrE for the kind of place where you pay someone to keep your bags for you for a while. AmE would call that <i>luggage storage</i>, and you find that expression in BrE too. </p><p><i><b>Hold luggage</b> </i>(or <i style="font-weight: bold;">hold baggage</i>) is BrE for AmE <b style="font-style: italic;">checked bags </b>on a plane. (But <i>checked baggage</i> is found in both.)</p><p>Plenty of other <i>luggage/baggage</i> collocations are the same. We all use <i>luggage racks</i> and <i>baggage handlers</i>, and <i>baggage allowance</i>, among other things.</p><p><br /></p><p>As for metaphorical <i>baggage—</i>emotional baggage and the like, this usage is common to both countries. The OED added a draft definition for it in 2007: <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0159px;"> </span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><em style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0159px;">f</em><em style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0159px;">igurative</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0159px;">. Beliefs, knowledge, experiences, or habits conceived of as something one carries around; (in later use) </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0159px;" title="especially">esp.</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0159px;"> characteristics of this type which are considered undesirable or inappropriate in a new situation.</span> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11.0189px;">Frequently with modifying word, as </span><span class="lemmaInDef" id="eid115091667" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11.0189px; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">cultural baggage</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11.0189px;">, </span><span class="lemmaInDef" id="eid115091668" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11.0189px; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">emotional baggage</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11.0189px;">, </span><span class="lemmaInDef" id="eid115091669" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11.0189px; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">intellectual baggage</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11.0189px;">, etc.</span> </p></blockquote><p>Their first citation for it comes from 1886 in the (London) <i>Times </i>in the phrase <i>intellectual baggage </i>(followed by a US citation in 1922). <i>Cultural baggage</i> shows up in 1967 in Canada, and <i>emotional baggage</i> in 1997 from a UK author. Their first citation for just plain (metaphorical) <i>baggage</i> is from an American author in 1986 (though the OED notes their source as the UK edition of the book). </p><p><br /></p><p>P.S. If this post interested you, you might also like the post on <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/09/purses-and-bags.html"><b>purses</b> and <b>bags</b></a></p><p>P.P.S. [22 Sept 2023] Greg [no relation] Murphy sent me this photo, showing Amtrak [AmE] <b>covering all the bases</b>.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBO-NkAdsawwFVlOayMxLi6k8JQTbhGVkyGY1zNEJl-segYsOK4xk7R709IIxZntIXXcJ1OnjQfFyO_zsOnMGEn8d1aJEHmI-MN_8aUYENKpZdIB1P2eRtWE6KXx19xEcVYZJYmHAfm0OpkKeBFdxxTTwGo7Cg7gtcbift8O9YEHHs7XhV1x0p/s640/0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="616" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBO-NkAdsawwFVlOayMxLi6k8JQTbhGVkyGY1zNEJl-segYsOK4xk7R709IIxZntIXXcJ1OnjQfFyO_zsOnMGEn8d1aJEHmI-MN_8aUYENKpZdIB1P2eRtWE6KXx19xEcVYZJYmHAfm0OpkKeBFdxxTTwGo7Cg7gtcbift8O9YEHHs7XhV1x0p/s320/0.jpg" width="308" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>lynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-67860745914243101472023-04-11T01:34:00.036+01:002024-03-16T12:01:06.984+00:00NYT Spelling Bee: an archive of disallowed BrE words<p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Twitter has been my main internet stomping ground since 2009, but I've been withdrawing my <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/10/putting-u-in-endeavour.html">labo(u)r</a> from it since October, when it became much more volatile <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acquisition_of_Twitter_by_Elon_Musk">for some reason</a>. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The <i>New York Times</i> Spelling Bee has been my morning-coffee activity for some of those years, and since November 2020 I've been jokingly tweeting the BrE words that it hasn't accepted. These go in a thread of posts that always start: </span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">Perfectly Common BrE Words the @NYTimesGames Spelling Bee Has Denied Me: An Occasional Series</span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Twitter has really degraded this week, which is making me feel a bit sad that perhaps that thread will have to die. (I'm also sad that the thread has frayed along the way—it's very difficult to read it all the way to the beginning because it splits here and there.) So as a clearly procrastinatory measure, I'm putting the list of "perfectly common BrE words" here, with a little more explanation than they tended to get on Twitter.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">For those who don't know the Bee: it's an anagram game where one must use the middle letter. The twist—and what makes it a superior anagram game—is that you can use any of the letters as many times as you like. Here's what it looked like on the 5th of April when I hadn't yet got to Genius level. (My goal every day is 'make it to Genius before breakfast'. It's nice to be called 'Genius' before you've started work.) </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisHzj404GPf0H8MSWkk3GqWCxOJsXiPk6h5m6aZ1MFTYrv8i_cikJkvzDlHTdnnxVfiZw8pDRkT1QG7auNK18hXrVZu-ZIbtF5TLhdh4r0-BdqByP04etvSJ3NMPxiLYqLSJDeiAeTnr0air4GMfF3GJL51Pj59pX9xjLi06ivwqSQ5gP1zA/s2208/IMG_1164.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2208" data-original-width="1242" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisHzj404GPf0H8MSWkk3GqWCxOJsXiPk6h5m6aZ1MFTYrv8i_cikJkvzDlHTdnnxVfiZw8pDRkT1QG7auNK18hXrVZu-ZIbtF5TLhdh4r0-BdqByP04etvSJ3NMPxiLYqLSJDeiAeTnr0air4GMfF3GJL51Pj59pX9xjLi06ivwqSQ5gP1zA/s320/IMG_1164.PNG" width="180" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The game, of course, has its own word list, which is suitably American for its <i>New York Times</i> home. Still, some not-usually-AmE words are playable, like <b>FLATMATE</b>, <b>LORRY</b> and <b>PRAM</b>. But many words that are part of my everyday vocabulary in England are not playable. And non-AmE spellings are generally not playable. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">There's been a lot of attention to AmE words that (orig. AmE) <b>stump</b> non-American players in Wordle. (<a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/editorial/woty">Here's Cambridge Dictionary's 2022 Word of the Year post</a>, which covers some—and includes a video in which I talk about why <b>HOMER</b> was a great choice for Word of the Year.) Not as much attention has been paid to the Spelling Bee, which you need to subscribe to. I'm sure British players have their own (mental) lists of American words they've had to learn in order to get "Queen Bee" status (finding all the day's words) in the game. If you're one of them, do use the comments to tell us about those weird words.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">So, after all that preamble, here are the "Perfectly Common BrE Words the @NYTimesGames Spelling Bee Has Denied Me" words in alphabetical order, with translations or links to other blog posts. But first, a bit more preamble. The disclaimers! </span></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">Words in the puzzle must be at least four letters long, so some of these are suffixed forms for which the three-letter base word was unplayable. If there's an -ED form but not an -ING form (etc.), that'll be because the other one's letters weren't in the puzzle. </span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">Some of these would not have been allowable—regardless of their dialectal provenance—on the basis that they are "naughty" words. I include them anyway. </span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">I have checked questionable cases against the <a href="https://www.english-corpora.org/">GloWbE corpus</a> to ensure that the word really is more common in BrE than AmE.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">Some are Irish or Australian by origin, but they are still more common in BrE than in AmE.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">Sometimes my spelling is a bit liberal here. If I could find one British dictionary that allowed me the word with the given spelling, I included it. </span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">Also the phrase "perfectly common" is not meant to be taken too seriously!</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">These words were not playable <i>at the time when I tried to play them</i>. The word list may have changed and some of them may be playable now. </span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b>Red</b></span> ones are ones that have been unsuccessfully played/tweeted about since I first started this blog list. <span style="color: #38761d;"><b>Green</b></span> ones have been added to the blog since the original post, but were tweeted-about earlier than that—I just missed them in the tangled Twitter threads when I was writing the blog post. </span></li></ul><b style="font-family: georgia;"><div><b style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></b></div>ABATTOIR</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"> AmE </span><b style="font-family: georgia;">slaughterhouse</b><br /><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>AGGRO</b> aggression, aggressive behavio[u]r</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>AITCH </b> the letter. Less need to spell it as a word in AmE. <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/06/herbs-and-haitches.html">See this old post</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>ANAEMIA</b> / <b>ANAEMIC</b> AmE <b>anemia/anemic</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>ANNEXE</b> minority spelling in BrE; usually, as in AmE, it's <b>annex</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #990000;">APNOEA</span> </b>AmE <b>apnea</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>APPAL</b> AmE <b>appall</b>; <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/07/double-ls.html">old post on double Ls</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>ARDOUR</b> <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/10/putting-u-in-endeavour.html">old post on -or/-our</a></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKOIXFbP9ZdjNioKu5pqqWxhCnrCYcOpq-GydT4YfOis18CCV4YxCEsl7xY5xmFuYpbEBhZO5pQcHLhF41UXAbcnXFbL6JXX_BBdxWPs1t-0rdj4qTxGIh74Nl91culMt5rLScTCVF1nIMEd95zr7e7eH0efFt-xzOufeilpok0q8wL7kuVQ/s680/FsiHTwnWAAAMqkB.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="642" data-original-width="680" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKOIXFbP9ZdjNioKu5pqqWxhCnrCYcOpq-GydT4YfOis18CCV4YxCEsl7xY5xmFuYpbEBhZO5pQcHLhF41UXAbcnXFbL6JXX_BBdxWPs1t-0rdj4qTxGIh74Nl91culMt5rLScTCVF1nIMEd95zr7e7eH0efFt-xzOufeilpok0q8wL7kuVQ/w200-h189/FsiHTwnWAAAMqkB.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>ARGYBARGY</b> this is a bit of a joke entry because it's usually spelled/spelt ARGY-BARGY (a loud argument), but the Squeeze album has no hyphen. <br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>ARMOUR </b> <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/10/putting-u-in-endeavour.html"> -or/-our</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>BIBBED</b> I don't know why this shows up more in BrE data, but it does, just meaning 'wearing a bib'</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>BINMAN</b> / <b>BINMEN</b> AmE <b>garbage man </b>(among other terms); <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/06/bins.html">old post on <i><b>bin</b></i></a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>BINT</b> derogatory term for a woman</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>BITTY</b> having lots of unconnected parts, often leaving one feeling unsatisfied; for example, this blog post is a bit bitty</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>BLAG</b> <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2015/11/untranslatables-month-2015-summary.html">covered in this old post</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #990000;">BLUB / BLUBBING</span> </b>to sob (= general English <b>blubbering</b>)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>BOAK</b> retch, vomit, throw up a bit in the mouth. That was gross. Sorry.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>BOBBLY</b> having <b><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/09/pants-and-trousers-bobbles-and-pills.html">bobbles</a> </b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>BOBBY</b> I think this one might be playable now. Informal term for police officer. In AmE, found in <b><i><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/02/hairy-subjects-part-2-hair-accessories.html">bobby pins</a></i></b>. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>BODGE</b> / <b>BODGED</b> make or fix something badly</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>BOFFIN</b> <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2015/11/untranslatables-month-2015-summary.html">see this old post</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>BOLLOCK</b> / <b>BOLLOCKED</b> reprimand severely</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>BOLLOX</b> This one's more common in Irish English than BrE. To screw something up.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>BOKE</b> see BOAK </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>BONCE</b> the head (informal)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>BOYO</b> a boy/man (Welsh informal)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><b style="color: #990000;">BRILL </b>short for <i>brilliant</i>, meaning 'excellent'; also a kind of European flatfish</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #990000;">BROLLY</span> </b> umbrella (informal)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>BUNG</b> / <b>BUNGING</b> to put (something) (somewhere) quickly/carelessly. People cooking on television are always bunging things in the oven. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>BUTTY </b><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2014/05/sandwiches-more-particularly-bacon.html">see this old post</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>CAFF</b> a café, but typically used of the kind that is analogous to an AmE <b>diner</b> (that is to say a café is not as fancy in BrE as it would be in AmE)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>CAWL</b> a soupy Welsh dish (<a href="https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/lamb-recipes/michael-sheen-s-traditional-welsh-cawl/">recipe</a>); also a kind of basket</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">CEILIDH</span></b><span style="color: #990000;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: georgia;">a Scottish social dance (event)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #990000;">CHANNELLED</span> </b></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/07/double-ls.html" style="font-family: georgia;"> post on double Ls</a></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #990000;">CHAPPIE</span></b> a chap (man)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>CHAV</b> / <b>CHAVVY</b> see <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/05/chav.html">this old post</a> and/or <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-fourth-untranslatables-month-summary.html">this one</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>CHICANE</b> a road arrangement meant to slow drivers down; see <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/11/bollards.html">this old post</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>CHILLI</b> see <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2018/07/chilli.html">this old post</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>CHIMENEA</b> / <b>CHIMINEA</b> the 'e' spelling is considered etymologically "correct" but the 'i' spelling seems to be more common in UK; I think <a href="https://chimineashop.co.uk/">these kinds of outdoor fireplaces</a> are just more trendy in UK than in US?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #990000;">CHIPPIE</span></b><b style="color: #660000;"> </b>alternative spelling of <i style="font-weight: bold;">chippy</i>, informal for a (fish and) chip shop</span></p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBzXFsIWHITQB2JZw-KLMJ04b-Ds6GYNfmq6I2RaylAQqUE0ZtlRAl0A0lBxHqXXMle4pxiR2-MSCW-4DyZUfV73pdDkMcyGTfouxzKeCbD__oqwxa7fO4qyoARDbG6IzJI0sWyT8yZBgpCwBPlK3YuV1cxY_BYWjGm8uGyUe5mCOPTyMdbA/s1200/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-11%20at%2000.00.18.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1184" data-original-width="1200" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBzXFsIWHITQB2JZw-KLMJ04b-Ds6GYNfmq6I2RaylAQqUE0ZtlRAl0A0lBxHqXXMle4pxiR2-MSCW-4DyZUfV73pdDkMcyGTfouxzKeCbD__oqwxa7fO4qyoARDbG6IzJI0sWyT8yZBgpCwBPlK3YuV1cxY_BYWjGm8uGyUe5mCOPTyMdbA/w320-h317/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-11%20at%2000.00.18.png" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>"cholla" at a UK online supermarket</i></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>CHOC</b> chocolate (informal, countable)</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>CHOLLA</b> a spelling of challah (the bread) <br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>CLAG </b>mud; more common is <i style="font-weight: bold;">claggy </i>for 'having a mud-like consistency'</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>COLOUR </b> <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/10/putting-u-in-endeavour.html"> -or/-our</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #990000;">CONNEXION</span> </b>this is a very outdated spelling of <i>connection</i>. Not actually used in UK these days, but wouldn't it be nice to be able to play it?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>COOTCH</b> a hiding place, a shed or similar (from Welsh <i>cwtch</i>)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>COUNCILLOR</b> <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/07/double-ls.html"> post on double Ls</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>CRAIC</b> it's really an Irish one (a 'good time'), but it qualifies here because it's used more in BrE than AmE (and understood pretty universally in UK)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>CRIM</b> criminal</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>CUTTY</b> short (in some UK dialects)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>DADO</b> as in <i>dado rail</i>, what's often called a <i><b>chair rail</b> </i>in AmE (<a href="https://skirtingonline.co.uk/product/stepped-dado-rail/">here's a picture</a>)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>DEFENCE</b> AmE <b>defense</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>DEMOB</b> /<b>DEMOBBED</b> de-mobilize(d); that is, released from the (BrE) <b>armed forces</b> / (AmE) <b>military</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #990000;">DENE</span> </b>a valley (esp. a narrow, wooded one) or a low sand dune near the sea (regional)</span></p><p><span style="color: #990000; font-family: georgia;"><b>DIALLING </b></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/07/double-ls.html" style="font-family: georgia;">post on double Ls</a></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>DIDDY </b>small (dialectal); see <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2008/01/baby-talk-introducing-grover.html">this old post</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>DOBBED / <span style="color: #990000;">DOBBING</span></b> actually Australian, <b style="font-style: italic;">dob </b>= to inform on someone; <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/11/institutional-verbs.html">see this old post on the BrE equivalent <i><b>grass (someone) up</b></i></a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>DODDLE</b> <i>it's a doddle </i> = (orig. AmE) <b>it's a piece of cake</b> (very easy)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>DOOLALLY</b> out of one's mind</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>EQUALLED</b> <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/07/double-ls.html">post on double Ls</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>FAFF</b> / <b>FAFFING</b> one of the most useful BrE words. <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2015/11/untranslatables-month-2015-summary.html">See this old post</a>. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>FARL</b> a kind of (AmE) <b><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2021/12/cake.html">quick bread</a></b>, usually cut into triangles; can be made of various things, but <a href="https://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/authentic-irish-potato-farls/">here's a recipe for a common kind, the potato farl</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>FILMIC</b> cinematic, relating to film</span></p><p><span style="color: #990000; font-family: georgia;"><b>FITMENT</b> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">= AmE <b>fixture</b>, i.e. a furnishing that is <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/06/irregular-verbs-gotten-fit-knit.html">fit(ted)</a> in place</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>FLANNELETTE</b> = AmE <b>flannel</b> <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/06/flannel-and-washcloth.html">old post on flannels</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>FOETAL</b> <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2015/05/foetus-and-foetal-and-bit-on.html">AmE (and BrE medical) <b>f</b></a></span><b style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2015/05/foetus-and-foetal-and-bit-on.html">etal</a></b></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">FUELLED</span> </b></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/07/double-ls.html" style="font-family: georgia;">post on double Ls</a></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>FULFIL</b> <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/07/double-ls.html">post on double Ls</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #990000;">GADGIE</span> / <span style="color: #990000;">GADGE</span> </b>guy, man, boy (regional)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>GAMMON</b> <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2009/12/buying-meat.html">this post covers the meat meaning</a>, but lately<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gammon_(insult)"> it's also used as an insult</a> for Brexiteers and their political similars</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>GAMMY </b>(of a body part) not working well; e.g., <i>I have a gammy knee</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>GANNET</b> a type of sea bird, but also BrE slang for a greedy person</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">GAOL</span> </b>now less common spelling for <b>jail</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>GIBBET</b> gallows; to hang (a person) [not really in current use]</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>GIGGED</b> / <b>GIGGING</b> to perform at a gig <span style="color: #660000;">[playable as of May 2023]</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>GILET </b> <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/08/jumpers-sweaters-and-like.html">covered at this clothing post</a> and <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/08/pronouncing-french-words-and-names.html">also at this pronunciation post</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>GIPPING</b> form of <b>gip</b>, a synonym of <b>BOAK</b> (see above)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>GITE</b> French, but used in English for a type of<b> <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2009/12/words-of-year-2009-staycation-and-go.html">holiday/vacation</a></b> cottage</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>GOBBED</b> / <b>GOBBING</b> form of <b>gob</b>, which as a noun means 'mouth', but as a verb means 'spit'</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">GOBBIN</span> </b>waste material from a mine</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>GOBBY</b> mouthy</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">GOOLY</span></b> (more often GOOLIE, GOOLEY) a testicle (informal, <a href="https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/sdaqiba">see GDoS</a>)</span></p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhASlZtIh2c7MZmXvckiMwIEWri0odKsXrQlsGpPst_BeKLfmUaogX5vONdygcAICyr7WbaVAzkevcw_xo8WEbG3rhm5ICcW9fHLKT7xZP6d7aMx-RBDMGm-jiIlyxPyWV6E0yl9qtjvw_1KnzI1msglf__GrZuTXx18CW_E7rV6oZOeWOPLw/s675/Get_covered_in_green_SLIME!.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="440" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhASlZtIh2c7MZmXvckiMwIEWri0odKsXrQlsGpPst_BeKLfmUaogX5vONdygcAICyr7WbaVAzkevcw_xo8WEbG3rhm5ICcW9fHLKT7xZP6d7aMx-RBDMGm-jiIlyxPyWV6E0yl9qtjvw_1KnzI1msglf__GrZuTXx18CW_E7rV6oZOeWOPLw/s320/Get_covered_in_green_SLIME!.jpg" width="209" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>getting gunged/slimed</i></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>GUNGE</b> any unpleasant soft or slimy substance; also used as a verb for having such stuff poured over one's head on a children's show (= AmE <b>slime</b>)<br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>GURN</b> / <b>GURNING </b><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2017/12/untranslatable-october-vii-summary.html">see this old post</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>HAITCH</b> = <b>AITCH</b><i>, </i>but pronounced differently <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/06/herbs-and-haitches.html">See this old post</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>HALLO</b> old-fashioned <i>hello</i> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>HENCH</b> strong, fit (like a weightlifter)</span></p><p><span style="color: #990000; font-family: georgia;"><b>HOLDALL</b> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">a duffel bag or similar heavy-duty bag; often spelled with a hyphen (<i>hold-all</i>), but at least some places don't. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">HOOPOE</span> </b>a kind of bird (mostly African), which sometimes makes it to England</span></p><p><b style="font-family: georgia;">HOGMANAY</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><a href="https://www.edinburghshogmanay.com/" style="font-family: georgia;">it is a proper noun</a><span style="font-family: georgia;">, but I wanted to include it anyway</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>HOICK</b> / <b>HOIK</b> to lift/pull abruptly</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>HOTCHPOTCH</b> AmE <b>hodgepodge</b></span></p><p><b style="font-family: georgia;">INNIT</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><a href="http://www.englicious.org/lesson/tag-questions-innit-0" style="font-family: georgia;">invariant tag question</a><span style="font-family: georgia;">: </span><i style="font-family: georgia;">isn't it</i><span style="font-family: georgia;">? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>JAMMY</b> lucky; <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/08/jammy.html">old post</a> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>KIPPING</b> form of <b>kip</b>, to take a nap</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #990000;">LAIRY</span></b> (esp. of a person) unpleasantly loud, garish </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>LAMPED</b> form of <b>lamp</b>, to hit a person very hard</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>LAYBY</b> AmE <b>turnout </b>(and other synonyms/regional terms); a place where a car can move out of the flow of traffic (usually has a hyphen <b>lay-by</b>, but I found one dictionary that doesn't require it)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>LIDO</b> an outdoor public swimming pool; there's some <a href="https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/lifestyle/fun-stuff/guildford-lido-debate-pronounced-lie-13216813">debate</a> about how to pronounce it </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>LILO</b> a blow-up mattress for floating on in a pool</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>LINO</b> short for <i>linoleum</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>LOLLY</b> lollipop or (AmE) <b>popsicle</b> (especially in <b><i>ice lolly</i>)</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>LOVAGE</b> <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/search?q=herb&search-button=Search">a(n) herb</a> that Americans don't see very often <span style="color: #990000;">[has been added! Played successfully on 3 May 2023]</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>LUPIN</b> AmE <b>lupine</b>, a flower</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>LURGI</b> / <b>LURGY</b> <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2008/12/dreaded-lurgi.html">see this old post</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>MEDIAEVAL</b> the less common spelling of <b>medieval</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">MILLIARD</span></b> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">(no longer really used) </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">a thousand million, i.e. a billion </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">MILORD</span></b> address term for a nobleman</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>MINGE</b> a woman's pubic hair/area (not flattering) </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>MINGING</b> foul, bad smelling, ugly (rhymes with <i>singing</i>!)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>MODELLED</b> <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/07/double-ls.html">post on double Ls</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>MOGGY</b> a cat (informal)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>MOOB</b> man boob</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>MOULT</b> AmE <b>molt</b> (related to <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/10/putting-u-in-endeavour.html"> -or/-our</a>)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>MOZZIE</b> mosquito</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>MUPPET</b> in its lower-case BrE sense: 'idiot; incompetent person'</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>NAFF</b> this has come up in posts about <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2011/11/untranslatables-month-summary.html">'untranslatables' </a>and about a study that identified <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2020/10/british-words-most-americans-dont-know.html">common BrE words Americans don't know</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>NAPPY</b> AmE <b>diaper</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>NAVVY</b> a manual labo(u)rer (old-fashioned)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>NEEP</b> Scottish English for what the English call a <b>swede</b> and what Americans call a <b>rutabaga</b> (<a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/06/pickles-pickle-rutabaga-and.html">old post on the latter two</a>)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #990000;">NELLY</span></b> in the BrE phrase <b>not on your nelly</b> (= AmE <b>not on your life</b>)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>NOBBLE</b> to unfairly influence an outcome; steal </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>NOBBLY</b> alternative spelling of <b>knobbly</b> (which is more common in both AmE & BrE)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>NONCY </b>adjective related to <b>nonce </b>(sex offender, p[a]edophile) </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">NOWT</span> </b>nothing (dialectal)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>ODOUR</b> <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/10/putting-u-in-endeavour.html"> -or/-our</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>OFFENCE</b> AmE <b>offense</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>OFFIE</b> short for BrE <b>off-licence</b>; AmE <b>liquor store</b> (discussed a little in <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-americanization-of-english.html">this old post</a>) </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>ORACY</b> the speaking version of literacy; in US education, it's called <b>orality</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>PACY</b> having a good or exciting pace (e.g. <i>a pacy whodunnit</i>)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b style="color: #38761d;">PAEDO </b>short for <i>pa(e)dophile</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>PANTO</b> <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2010/12/pantomime.html">see this post</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #990000;">PAPPED </span>/ PAPPING</b> from <i style="font-weight: bold;">pap</i>, to take paparazzi pictures</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>PARLOUR</b> <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/10/putting-u-in-endeavour.html"> -or/-our</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>PARP</b> a honking noise</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>PEDALLED</b> <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/07/double-ls.html">post on double Ls</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>PELMET</b> another one from the study that identified <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2020/10/british-words-most-americans-dont-know.html">common BrE words Americans don't know</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>PENG</b> slang for 'excellent' </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>PIEMAN</b> / <b>PIEMEN</b> this one is usually two words (<b>pie man</b>), but I was able to find a dictionary that allowed it as a single word, so I added it to the list</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>PIPPED</b> / <b>PIPPING</b> <b>pip</b> = to defeat by a small amount; often heard in <i>to be pipped at the post</i> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>PITTA</b> another spelling for <b>pita</b>, more in line with the BrE pronunciation of the word</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>PLAICE</b> another one from the study that identified <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2020/10/british-words-most-americans-dont-know.html">common BrE words Americans don't know</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>PLUMMY </b><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-third-untranslatables-month-summary.html">see this post</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">PODGY</span></b><b style="color: #990000;"> </b>chubby</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>POMMY</b> another Australian one, but English people know it because it's an insult directed at them, often in the phrase <i>pommy bastard</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>PONCE</b> / <b>PONCY </b><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2008/03/johns-punters-and-ponces.html">see this post</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #990000;">PONGING</span> </b>horrible-smelling</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>POOED</b> / <b>POOING</b> <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2017/02/poo-poop.html">see this post for the <i><b>poo </b></i>versus <b><i>poop</i></b> story</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">POOTLE</span> </b>to travel along at a leisurely speed</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>POPPADOM</b> / <b>POPPADUM</b> anything to do with Indian food is going to be found more in UK than US</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>PORRIDGY</b> like porridge, which in AmE is <b>oatmeal</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>PUFFA</b> full form: <b>puffa jacket</b>;<b> </b>a kind of quilted jacket; it is a trademark, but used broadly; I did find it in one dictionary with a lower-case p</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>PUNNET</b> <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/07/fools-and-cream.html">see this old post</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>RAILCARD</b> you buy one and it gives you discounts on train tickets</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>RANCOUR</b> <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/10/putting-u-in-endeavour.html"> -or/-our</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>RUMOUR</b> <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/10/putting-u-in-endeavour.html"> -or/-our</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>TANNOY </b>AmE <b>loudspeaker</b>, <b>public address system</b> (originally a trademark, but now used generically)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>TELLY</b> (orig.) AmE <b>tv</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>THALI</b> another Indian menu word </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>THICKO</b> stupid person</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>TIDDY</b> small (dialectal) </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>TIFFIN</b> usually referring to chocolate tiffin (<a href="https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chocolate-tiffin">recipe</a>)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>TINNING</b> AmE <b>canning</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>TITCH</b> a small person </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>TOFF</b> an upper-class person (not a compliment)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>TOMBOLA</b> <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2020/10/british-words-most-americans-dont-know.html">see this post</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>TOTTED</b> / <b>TOTTING</b> <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/11/totting-and-toting.html">see this post </a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>TOTTY</b> an objectifying term for (usually) a woman</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">TRUG</span> </b>a kind of basket; these days, often a handled rubber container </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzK6eoEdsYV6a_d7J-uqvH-kNnEEDv480evCCiG1LpFdXktU4tCwBswKRVvxOfZZqWjZDTSGi8rD27ULaZcH0ISsFzAUgep0PTohKi1Vn2MtgGpTfT3I5yYoBwDWJ8j3PLueQLBHqp6EUyF-t-gPgqhq2Qy2ZVNBQ4nJ6Xy95EH7zW-aHcHA/s1132/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-14%20at%2016.34.24.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="812" data-original-width="1132" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzK6eoEdsYV6a_d7J-uqvH-kNnEEDv480evCCiG1LpFdXktU4tCwBswKRVvxOfZZqWjZDTSGi8rD27ULaZcH0ISsFzAUgep0PTohKi1Vn2MtgGpTfT3I5yYoBwDWJ8j3PLueQLBHqp6EUyF-t-gPgqhq2Qy2ZVNBQ4nJ6Xy95EH7zW-aHcHA/s320/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-14%20at%2016.34.24.png" width="320" /></a></div><b style="font-family: georgia;">TWIGGED, <span style="color: #660000;">TWIGGING</span></b><span style="font-family: georgia;"> form of </span><b style="font-family: georgia;">twig </b><span style="font-family: georgia;">'to catch on, understand'</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>UNEQUALLED</b> <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/07/double-ls.html">post on double Ls</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>VIVA</b> an oral exam (short for <i>viva voce</i>)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>WANK</b> / <b>WANKING</b> <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/01/words-of-year-2006.html">my original Word of the Year (2006!)</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>WEEING</b> AmE <b>peeing</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>WELLIE</b> / <b>WELLY </b> a (BrE) <b>wellington boot</b><i style="font-weight: bold;"> / </i>(AmE) <b>rubber boot</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #660000;">WHIN</span> </b>a plant (=<i>furze</i>, <i>gorse</i>)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>WHINGE</b> AmE <b>whine</b> (complain)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>WILLIE</b> / <b>WILLY</b> penis</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>WOAD</b> a plant used to make blue dye</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>WOLD</b> a clear, upland area (mostly in place names now)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>WOOLLEN</b> <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/07/double-ls.html">post on double Ls</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>YOBBO</b> / <b>YOBBY</b> hooligan / hooliganish</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>YODELLED</b> <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/07/double-ls.html">post on double Ls</a></span></p><p><br /></p>lynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.com42tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-54070660535094484322023-04-03T00:53:00.004+01:002023-04-03T19:50:10.057+01:00puh-lease/pur-lease<p>My obsession with the word <i>please</i> keeps leading me to new discoveries. This time: a spelling difference!</p><p>One particular use of <i>please</i> is to be dismissive of something someone else has said or done, as in: </p><p style="text-align: left;"><i> Please! You don't really imagine we want to read about </i>please <i>again,</i> <i>do you?</i></p><p>But when people say that <i>please</i>, they often elongate the pronunciation, including putting a bit of vocal 'space' between the P and the L, creating a two-syllable <i>please</i>. And because people pronounce it with two syllables, they sometimes spell it with something syllable-indicating between the P and the L.</p><p>So I went looking for such spellings in the <a href="https://www.english-corpora.org/glowbe/">Corpus of Global Web-based English</a>. Since I didn't know the exact spellings I was looking for, I put in various key letters/punctuation and asterisks after them, like pu*lea* and p-le*: the asterisks are wildcards that stand for any number of characters. So, pu*lea* gave me relevant results like <i>puhlease</i> and <i>puuuleazz</i> and irrelevant ones like <i>purpleleaf</i>. Sorting through the results (thanks to Becky Hunt for doing the table for me), we've got:</p><table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTable15Plain2" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid #7F7F7F .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-bottom-themetint: 128; mso-border-top-alt: solid #7F7F7F .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-themetint: 128; mso-padding-alt: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1696;">
<tbody><tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: -1; mso-yfti-lastfirstrow: yes;">
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid rgb(127, 127, 127); border-left: none; border-right: none; border-top: 1pt solid rgb(127, 127, 127); mso-border-bottom-alt: solid #7F7F7F .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-bottom-themetint: 128; mso-border-top-alt: solid #7F7F7F .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-themetint: 128; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 42.3pt;" valign="top" width="56">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-yfti-cnfc: 5;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid rgb(127, 127, 127); border-left: none; border-right: none; border-top: 1pt solid rgb(127, 127, 127); mso-border-bottom-alt: solid #7F7F7F .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-bottom-themetint: 128; mso-border-top-alt: solid #7F7F7F .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-themetint: 128; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 155.9pt;" valign="top" width="208">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-yfti-cnfc: 1;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">Examples<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
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<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid rgb(127, 127, 127); border-left: none; border-right: none; border-top: 1pt solid rgb(127, 127, 127); mso-border-bottom-alt: solid #7F7F7F .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-bottom-themetint: 128; mso-border-top-alt: solid #7F7F7F .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-themetint: 128; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 152.4pt;" valign="top" width="203">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-yfti-cnfc: 1;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">US<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid rgb(127, 127, 127); border-left: none; border-right: none; border-top: 1pt solid rgb(127, 127, 127); mso-border-bottom-alt: solid #7F7F7F .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-bottom-themetint: 128; mso-border-top-alt: solid #7F7F7F .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-themetint: 128; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 116.9pt;" valign="top" width="156">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-yfti-cnfc: 1;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">UK<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 42.3pt;" valign="top" width="56">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-yfti-cnfc: 4;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">puh<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 155.9pt;" valign="top" width="208">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><i><span lang="EN-GB">puh-<span class="SpellE">leaze</span>, <span class="SpellE">puhleese</span>, <span class="SpellE">puhleez</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 152.4pt;" valign="top" width="203">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">168</span></p>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 116.9pt;" valign="top" width="156">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">39</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 42.3pt;" valign="top" width="56">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-yfti-cnfc: 4;"><span class="SpellE"><b><span lang="EN-GB">pul</span></b></span><b><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 155.9pt;" valign="top" width="208">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="SpellE"><i><span lang="EN-GB">puleeze</span></i></span><i><span lang="EN-GB">, pulease, puleasssse<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 152.4pt;" valign="top" width="203">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">30</span></p>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 116.9pt;" valign="top" width="156">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">8</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 2;">
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 42.3pt;" valign="top" width="56">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-yfti-cnfc: 4;"><span class="SpellE"><b><span lang="EN-GB">puu</span></b></span><b><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 155.9pt;" valign="top" width="208">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="SpellE"><i><span lang="EN-GB">puulease</span></i></span><i><span lang="EN-GB">, <span class="SpellE">puuulleeeeezzz</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 152.4pt;" valign="top" width="203">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">7</span></p>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 116.9pt;" valign="top" width="156">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">0</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 3;">
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 42.3pt;" valign="top" width="56">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-yfti-cnfc: 4;"><span class="SpellE"><b><span lang="EN-GB">pu</span></b></span><b><span lang="EN-GB">-<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 155.9pt;" valign="top" width="208">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="SpellE"><i><span lang="EN-GB">pu</span></i></span><i><span lang="EN-GB">-lease, <span class="SpellE">pu-leeze</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 152.4pt;" valign="top" width="203">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">6</span></p>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 116.9pt;" valign="top" width="156">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">0</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 4;">
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 42.3pt;" valign="top" width="56">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-yfti-cnfc: 4;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">p-l<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 155.9pt;" valign="top" width="208">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><i><span lang="EN-GB">p-lease, p-<span class="SpellE">leeease</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 152.4pt;" valign="top" width="203">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">0</span></p>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 116.9pt;" valign="top" width="156">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">3</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 5; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid rgb(127, 127, 127); border-image: initial; border-left: none; border-right: none; border-top: none; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid #7F7F7F .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-bottom-themetint: 128; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 42.3pt;" valign="top" width="56">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-yfti-cnfc: 4;"><span class="SpellE"><b><span lang="EN-GB">pur</span></b></span><b><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid rgb(127, 127, 127); border-image: initial; border-left: none; border-right: none; border-top: none; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid #7F7F7F .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-bottom-themetint: 128; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 155.9pt;" valign="top" width="208">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="SpellE"><i><span lang="EN-GB">purlease</span></i></span><i><span lang="EN-GB">, <span class="SpellE">purleese</span>, <span class="SpellE">purleeze</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid rgb(127, 127, 127); border-image: initial; border-left: none; border-right: none; border-top: none; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid #7F7F7F .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-bottom-themetint: 128; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 152.4pt;" valign="top" width="203">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">0</span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid rgb(127, 127, 127); border-image: initial; border-left: none; border-right: none; border-top: none; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid #7F7F7F .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-bottom-themetint: 128; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 116.9pt;" valign="top" width="156">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB">25</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table><br /><div>
The US column has a lot more of these spellings. That's to be expected—that 'dismissal' usage is more common in AmE and so the re-spelling of it will be too. But what's super-interesting is the contrast between the preferred AmE use of <i>puh</i> or <i>pu</i> to represent the first syllable versus the BrE-only use of <i>pur</i>. <p></p><p><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2008/05/uh-er-um-erm.html">Echoes of a previous post! The one where</a> I had discovered that when Americans say "uh" on British television, it gets close-captioned as "er" <b>because an </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">r</i><b> after a vowel in English-English spelling does not signal the /r/ sound, but rather a kind of vowel quality</b><i><b>.</b> </i></p><p><i><b>Purlease</b></i> in BrE spelling does not indicate a different pronunciation from <i><b>puhlease</b></i>: it represents one way that a <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/non-rhotic">non-rhotic</a> (non-/r/-pronouncing) speaker can represent the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwa">schwa</a> sound that's been inserted in the elongated word. </p><p>Not what I thought I'd discover when I started looking for <i>please</i> spellings, so a fun little extra for me! (And now you too!)</p></div>lynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-84635128710345630442023-03-13T15:20:00.003+00:002023-03-13T15:46:51.590+00:00what 'polite' means: Culpeper, O'Driscoll & Hardaker (2019)<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>I've studied the word <b><i>please</i> </b>off and on for a few years now.* Currently, I'm trying to finish up a study</span><span> that I started an embarrassing number of years ago. Now that I've returned to it, I have the pleasure of reading all the works that have been published on related topics in the meantime. They couldn't inform my study design, but they must now inform the paper I hope to publish. One of these is a chapter by <a href="https://pure.hud.ac.uk/en/publications/notions-of-politeness-in-britain-and-north-america">Jonathan Culpeper, Jim O'Driscoll and Claire Hardaker: "Notions of Politeness in Britain and North America,</a>" published in the book<span> in </span></span><span><i>From Speech Acts to Lay Understandings of Politeness</i>, edited by Eva Ogiermann and Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich (Cambridge UP, 2019). </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Their question, what does <i><b>polite</b></i> mean in the UK and US, was a research project on my to-do list. When I was a younger scholar, I'd have been (a) royally annoyed with those authors for getting to it first, (b) sad, sad, sad that I didn't get to do a fun piece of research, and (c) consumed with self-loathing for not being quick enough to do the project myself. It is both the blessing and curse of middle age that I now look at anything anyone else has done with gratitude. Good! Now I don't have to do it! </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Let's start with why it's interesting to ask about "notions of politeness" in the two countries. Here's a clue <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2012/08/saying-please-in-restaurants.html">from</a><span><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2012/08/saying-please-in-restaurants.html"> an earlier post </a>about use of <i>please </i>when ordering at restaurants<i>. </i>I asked:<br style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); text-align: justify;"><blockquote>So, how can it be that Americans think of themselves as polite when they fail to extend this common courtesy word?</blockquote></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); text-align: justify;">I argued that Americans (subconsciously) find the lack of </span><i style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); text-align: justify;">please</i><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); text-align: justify;"> in these contexts "more polite." In the comments section for that post, some people—mostly British people—could just not accept that a food order without a <i>please</i> could be described as <i>polite</i>. To them, to be polite includes saying </span><i style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); text-align: justify;">please. </i><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); text-align: justify;">If you're not using the word </span><i style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); text-align: justify;">please</i><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); text-align: justify;">, it's just not polite. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now, part of the reason for that disagreement is that I was using the word <i>polite</i> in linguistic-theory-laden ways. The distinction between how the word <i>politeness</i> is used in linguistic discussions and how it's used in everyday life has become such a problem for us linguists that we now talk about <i>polite1 </i>and <i>polite2</i> to distinguish commonplace understandings of <i>polite </i>(1) from our theoretical uses (2). The failures of communication in my previous blogpost probably stemmed from having <i>three</i> understandings of <i>politeness</i> at play: the linguist's <i>polite2</i>, American <i>polite1</i>, and British <i>polite1. </i></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM6wL0P-yFa0SL-l4_AE3xnseF5OtyCs1-ipOL3g_DxSdgwMy0FVm1i8TiayOySRwPLj2y3XK8KFFEhhcmPYqTYLIfXVehuIjF3KbUKWNeiGTgdC6ilxRBvHHvcTATLZKCG6HhKruAu-aRBHrh5hqyY0-BF2VCG0toyp-LILaXEQI6K7hGWQ/s1890/Screen%20Shot%202023-03-13%20at%2015.44.49.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1240" data-original-width="1890" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM6wL0P-yFa0SL-l4_AE3xnseF5OtyCs1-ipOL3g_DxSdgwMy0FVm1i8TiayOySRwPLj2y3XK8KFFEhhcmPYqTYLIfXVehuIjF3KbUKWNeiGTgdC6ilxRBvHHvcTATLZKCG6HhKruAu-aRBHrh5hqyY0-BF2VCG0toyp-LILaXEQI6K7hGWQ/s320/Screen%20Shot%202023-03-13%20at%2015.44.49.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.lgpcards.com/cards-1.html">Postcard from the <i>How to be British</i> series</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><i><br /></i></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Culpeper et al. set out to contrast British and American <i>polite1</i>. They point out that academic research on the topic of British/American politeness is "full of stereotypes that have largely gone unexamined." These stereotypes hold that British culture favo(u)rs maintaining social distance by using indirectness and avoidance in interaction, while Americans are more interested in creating interactional intimacy by being informal and open. The authors asked: how do AmE and BrE speakers use the word <i>polite</i>? If differences exist, then do they conform to the stereotypes, or do they tell us something new? To investigate this, the authors used two sets of data.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><h4 style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><b>Part 1: clustering 'polite' words in the OEC</b></h4></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">First, they searched the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Corpus">Oxford English Corpus,</a> where they found thousands of instances of <i>polite</i>. In AmE, it occurs 6.8 times and in BrE 8.8 times </span>per million words<span style="font-family: inherit;">. They then used corpus-linguistic tools to determine which words <i>polite </i>was most likely to co-occur with in the two countries' data. They then used statistical tools to group these <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collocation">collocates</a> into clusters that reflect how they behave linguistically. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">(I'll skip over the detail of the statistical methods they use, but it suffices to say: they know what they're doing.) </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">For example in the British data, words like </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">courteous</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">, </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">considerate</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">, and </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">respectful</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> form a </span><b style="font-family: inherit;">courteous</b><span style="font-family: inherit;"> cluster, while words like </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">cheery</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">, </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">optimistic</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">, and </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">upbeat</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> are in the </span><b style="font-family: inherit;">cheerful</b><span style="font-family: inherit;"> cluster. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The British and American datasets were similar in that <i>polite</i> co-occurred at similar rates with words that formed <b>cheerful</b> and <b>friendly</b> clusters. This seems to go with the common stereotype of American politeness as outgoing and inclusive, but contradicts the British stereotype of reserved behavio(u)r. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The most notable difference was that British <i>polite</i> collocated with words in a <b>sensible</b> cluster, including: <i>sensible</i>, <i>straightforward</i>,<i> reasonable</i>, and <i>fair</i>. This cluster didn't figure in the American data. The British data also had a <b>calm</b> cluster (<i>calm, quiet</i>, <i>generous</i>, <i>modest</i>, etc.), which had little overlap with American collocates. British <i>polite</i>, then, seems to be associated with "calm rationality, rather than, say, spontaneous emotion." </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;">Other clusters seemed more complex. <b>Courteous </b>and <b>charming</b> came up as British clusters, while American had <b>respectful</b>, <b>gracious</b>, and <b>thoughtful </b>clusters. However, many of the words in those clusters were the same. For example, almost all the words in the British <b>courteous</b> cluster were in the American <b>gracious </b>cluster. That is, in American <i>courteous</i> and <i>attentive </i>were more closely associated with 'gracious' words like <i>open-minded</i> and <i>appreciative</i>, while British <i>courteous</i> and <i>attentive </i>didn't intersect with more 'gracious' words. <i>Respectful</i><b style="font-style: italic;"> </b>is a particularly interesting case: it shows up in the <b>courteous</b><i style="font-weight: bold;"> </i><span>cluster </span>for the British data, but has its own <b>respectful </b>cluster in American (with words like <i>compassionate</i> and <i>humane</i>). </div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">Looking at these clusters of patterns gives us a sense of the connotations of the words—that is to say, the associations those words bring up for us. Words live in webs of cultural assumptions. Pluck one word in one web, and others will reverberate. But it won't be the same words that would have reverberated if you'd plucked the same word in the other web. It's not that <i>compassionate</i> wasn't in the British data, for example—it's that its patterns did not land it in a cluster with <i>respectful</i>. In American, <i>respectful </i>seems to have "a warmer flavour" with collocates relating to kindness and positive attitudes toward(s) others, while in the British data <i>respectful</i> has "older historic echoes of courtly, refined, well-mannered behaviour." </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;"><b>Part 2: 'politeness' and sincerity on Twitter</b></h4><div style="text-align: left;">Their second investigation involved analy{s/z}ing use of <i>polite</i> and its synonyms in a particular 36-hour period on Twitter. The data overall seemed to go against the stereotypes that American politeness is "friendly" and British is "formal", but once they looked at the data in more detail, they discovered why: US and UK words differed in (in)sincerity. In the British data, <i>respectful</i> seemed to "be used as a vehicle for irony, sarcasm and humour", while in the American data <i>friendly </i>"appears to have acquired a negative connotation" about 17% of the time, in which "friendly" people were accused of being untrustworthy or otherwise undesirable. This also underscores the idea that American <i>respectful</i> has a "warmer flavour" than British <i>respectful</i>. It's intriguing that each culture seems to be using words stereotypically associated with them (American–<i>friendly</i>; British–<i>respectful</i>) in ironic ways, while taking the less "typical of them" words more seriously. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;"><b>Yay for this study! </b></h4><div style="text-align: left;">I'm grateful to Culpeper, O'Driscoll and Hardaker for this very interesting paper, which demonstrates why it's difficult to have cross-cultural discussions of what's "polite" or "respectful" behavio(u)r. The more we're aware of these trends in how words are interpreted differently in different places, the better we can take care in our discussions of what's polite, acceptable, or rude. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">*If you're interested in the fruits of my <i>please</i> labo(u)rs so far, have a look at:</span></div><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/66601/">Routine Politeness in American & British Requests (Murphy & De Felice 2019)</a></span></li><li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/87659/1/DICTIONARIES%20Defining%20your%20P%E2%80%99s%20and%20Q%E2%80%99s.pdf">Defining your P's & Q's: Describing and Prescribing Politeness in Dictionaries (Murphy 2019)</a> </span></li><li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/search/label/politeness">Blog posts with the 'politeness' label</a></span></li></ul><p></p>lynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-72068526207880407282023-02-19T18:49:00.002+00:002023-02-19T18:53:40.100+00:00veteran and vet (noun)<p><span style="font-family: inherit;">More than once, I think, <i style="font-weight: bold;">veteran </i>or (the noun <i style="font-weight: bold;">vet) </i>has been nominated </span> for US>UK Word of the Year.<b> </b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dru, who nominated it for 2022, felt that it was appearing more often in UK contexts:</span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #303f50; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The word I’d propose is ‘veteran’ in the US sense of a former soldier. Some may dispute this as a word for this year as many of us have long been aware of it as an American expression, but since the summer of this year, I’ve increasingly heard it used on the BBC and elsewhere to meaning a former member of the UK armed services.</span></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #303f50; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In the UK hitherto, it has just meant ‘old’, possibly slightly distinguished and used of cars etc.</span></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #303f50; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The US abbreviation ‘vet’ causes confusion here as ‘vet’ means a doctor for animals, short for veterinary surgeon.</span></span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">I considered making it the WotY, but it didn't feel 2022-ish enough. (You'll see why below.) But I put it on my to-be-blogged-about-sooner-rather-than-later list, and here we are! If you don't want to see all (BrE) <b>my workings</b>, scroll down to the <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/tldr-TLDR">TL;DR</a> version.</span></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiSf6NZdCUWbBbiGq0eQ5SqnmpslWhlhiV4flVIVdjaw_d8h-w461ZxC0JcdxMWlbpsuJkaF4H3tDiP5Q1Uwww-yniIdw5dV2diiV-Ka9qGw3-7QT-hb3M2owdnl6uFsjOHMoSySF7mOiJMo6-RJyi7KkoHVYOGkExpnp2xCNwodp3BpNpog/s940/Screen%20Shot%202023-02-19%20at%2018.52.12.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="940" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiSf6NZdCUWbBbiGq0eQ5SqnmpslWhlhiV4flVIVdjaw_d8h-w461ZxC0JcdxMWlbpsuJkaF4H3tDiP5Q1Uwww-yniIdw5dV2diiV-Ka9qGw3-7QT-hb3M2owdnl6uFsjOHMoSySF7mOiJMo6-RJyi7KkoHVYOGkExpnp2xCNwodp3BpNpog/w400-h255/Screen%20Shot%202023-02-19%20at%2018.52.12.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.military.com/off-duty/2021/01/13/7-things-know-about-being-military-veterinarian.html">From: "7 things to know about being a military veterinarian"</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">The ex-soldier sense of <i><b>veteran</b></i> wasn't made up by Americans.<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"> Since the 1500s, <i>veteran</i> has been an English noun referring first to someone with "long experience in military service or warfare" (<i>Oxford English Dictionary</i> sense 1a) or "an ex-member of the armed forces" (sense 1b). Note the difference there: in the 1a meaning, the person is still probably serving, whereas in the 1b meaning they're retired from service. <br /><br />That second (1b) meaning, the <i>OED</i> notes, is </span>"<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">now chiefly </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">North American,</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">" though there are UK examples peppered through their timeline of quotations. </span></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8G4jZTfz5P-abhULRSS_f_D8ypZ8HhBFLU8yasGbg9NEiYzI0xf4qEnHYiLyLfxYsW49MhIjqUwmpmGle8syb0kcXjhBTWQRAF2RLPuMt6mTdJsSNLeiApFYo-y1QMdJv-7NyseRIPFBUvrge8fozd3iOyySU9ublIELjLEwLIhT3GptqgQ/s1446/Screen%20Shot%202023-02-19%20at%2017.10.07.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1222" data-original-width="1446" height="338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8G4jZTfz5P-abhULRSS_f_D8ypZ8HhBFLU8yasGbg9NEiYzI0xf4qEnHYiLyLfxYsW49MhIjqUwmpmGle8syb0kcXjhBTWQRAF2RLPuMt6mTdJsSNLeiApFYo-y1QMdJv-7NyseRIPFBUvrge8fozd3iOyySU9ublIELjLEwLIhT3GptqgQ/w400-h338/Screen%20Shot%202023-02-19%20at%2017.10.07.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>In BrE it is still used for sense 1a, to refer to old-but-still-going things or people. It's sometimes used like that in AmE too, often in relation to<b><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2016/01/theatre-theater.html"> theat{er/re}</a></b>, as in <i>a veteran of stage and screen</i>. The usage that Dru mentioned, <i><b>veteran car</b></i>, is particularly BrE. In AmE, you could call such a thing a <i><b>vintage car</b> </i>(as in BrE too) or an <i style="font-weight: bold;">antique car</i>, as shown here in the <a href="https://www.english-corpora.org/">GloWbE corpus</a>: </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizQ9I5VQjbNjvMGy2XxTpl7C8sb7ckzRa8RunbKiHOLOsKqxWSJe-nkiD_UYGHs8qHBo5QWG5BN5--z3nyrAUwk7A1I_LVHbeigIUuXRhAQERiR47dGHcn89NV5W9D43lkSFNzMX-FwxbD1SSQy1CWxjRi5t-VfSBr5xNbQ33DR99r6evmKA/s1228/Screen%20Shot%202023-02-19%20at%2017.20.46.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="684" data-original-width="1228" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizQ9I5VQjbNjvMGy2XxTpl7C8sb7ckzRa8RunbKiHOLOsKqxWSJe-nkiD_UYGHs8qHBo5QWG5BN5--z3nyrAUwk7A1I_LVHbeigIUuXRhAQERiR47dGHcn89NV5W9D43lkSFNzMX-FwxbD1SSQy1CWxjRi5t-VfSBr5xNbQ33DR99r6evmKA/w640-h356/Screen%20Shot%202023-02-19%20at%2017.20.46.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>It's tricky to investigate whether the ex-soldier meaning of <i>veteran</i> is going up in BrE usage because how much we talk about veterans varies a lot according to what's going on in the world. But to have a little look-see, I searched for the phrase "war veteran(s)" in <i><a href="https://www.english-corpora.org/">Hansard</a></i>, the record of the UK Parliament. There is almost no usage of the phrase before 1990, then a lot more in 2000–2009. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdRbrR2iR42YETPNgLxvBp9VC9J04P384n9XAlsljkl66zsyNFtZ06o99lVkskveo6ion39UYBq_TEr4iGbPnrsiZn25hESKR1MawYNJCOVcLD5PYWspt2KLiRnp2uMD1IY3s7xjeDvK6-BaM6iVbYPJN9RYXcHTxaXwggpvagPBwYkrQ2tw/s2158/Screen%20Shot%202023-02-19%20at%2017.36.55.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="2158" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdRbrR2iR42YETPNgLxvBp9VC9J04P384n9XAlsljkl66zsyNFtZ06o99lVkskveo6ion39UYBq_TEr4iGbPnrsiZn25hESKR1MawYNJCOVcLD5PYWspt2KLiRnp2uMD1IY3s7xjeDvK6-BaM6iVbYPJN9RYXcHTxaXwggpvagPBwYkrQ2tw/w640-h208/Screen%20Shot%202023-02-19%20at%2017.36.55.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>Now, maybe some of these are in sense 1a, the 'been serving for a long time' sense. But a peek at the data shows that most of the 2000s examples relate to compensation for Gulf War veterans, so it does seem to be more the ex-soldier meaning. Note that [more AmE] <b>WWI/WWII </b>veterans are usually called <b><i>First/Second World War veterans </i></b>in BrE, and there was the Falklands War after that, so it's not that there were no "war veterans" before the 1990s. </p><p>A different tool, <a href="https://hansard.hud.ac.uk/site/index.php">Hansard at Huddersfield</a>, takes us up to 2021, and there we can see that this use of <i>veteran</i> appears to have stabilized, rather than continuing to increase. But in Covid Times, it's likely that there was just less debate about ex-servicepeople in Parliament—so we can't make too much of that stability. It could be increasing in comparison to other ways of talking about ex-servicepeople. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqGzRaw_v3gtyco_-BYkr8wP2_SpxEXcWPTh-ekEyJPhwcXKVPTUNQR0198tODDlvgkjrnVfrUo7AvFe8T_4u0EBs5nLbuSs4eM0l-dO4HiKeSNbS_mSxUjgEvc_bCwNpN4LTmFfnkZYh-N0RlDF6jJBLpoflnxjNhjlEMPEdgGWtVaXMBBg/s2100/Screen%20Shot%202023-02-19%20at%2017.40.24.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1232" data-original-width="2100" height="376" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqGzRaw_v3gtyco_-BYkr8wP2_SpxEXcWPTh-ekEyJPhwcXKVPTUNQR0198tODDlvgkjrnVfrUo7AvFe8T_4u0EBs5nLbuSs4eM0l-dO4HiKeSNbS_mSxUjgEvc_bCwNpN4LTmFfnkZYh-N0RlDF6jJBLpoflnxjNhjlEMPEdgGWtVaXMBBg/w640-h376/Screen%20Shot%202023-02-19%20at%2017.40.24.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">What about <i>vet</i>?</h3><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">I've written about <i style="font-weight: bold;">vet</i> before—in fact it was my <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2008/12/words-of-year-2008.html">2008 UK>US Word of the Year</a>. But in that case it was a verb (as in <i>to vet a candidate</i>). Now I want to just look at the noun—or nouns.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Vet</i></b> can be short for (more AmE) <i style="font-weight: bold;">veterinarian/</i>(BrE) <i style="font-weight: bold;">veterinary surgeon</i>.<i> </i>You take your pet to the vet. It rhymes and everything. Let's call that <i><b>vet1</b></i>. The <i>OED</i> has examples going back to 1862, and marks it as "chiefly British", which, as we're going to see, might not be the best way to describe it. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">In AmE since the 1840s, <i><b>vet</b> </i>has been used as a shortened form of <i>veteran</i>. Let's call that <i><b>vet2</b></i>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">In AmE, where both are used, context is usually enough to tell the difference between <i>vet1</i> and <i>vet2</i>. You take your dog to the vet1. People study at vet1 school. But a Vietnam vet is probably a vet2 and not a Vietnamese vet1. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Both <i>vet</i>s are well-used in AmE. I used english-corpora.org to take a 100-sentence sample of the noun <i>vet</i> from the <a href="https://www.english-corpora.org/coca/">Corpus of Contemporary American English</a>. Of the 100, 57 definitely referred to the animal doctor, 23 referred to former soldiers, 3 referred stage or other veterans, and 6 were neither of these nouns (1 verb, some acronyms, a typo, and a Dutch word). That leaves 11 where I couldn't tell in the very brief window of text which <i>vet</i> it was; it referred to a person who'd been introduced earlier in the text. Had I had the full text, I assume there would be close to zero ambiguous cases—but even with a very short window of context, it was usually easy to tell. (For some examples, see below. Click to enlarge.) In any case, note that the majority refer to the animal doctor. I had a quick peek in the <a href="https://www.english-corpora.org/coha/">Corpus of Historical American English</a>, and the phrase "to the vet" (as in <i>I took my dog...</i>) is there since the 1940s, increasing in use each decade. </span></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi12KDHqnk1NSDzQ5e7yCD1JrD5UGNGuUFwNoKBs6HY37Fyk53qJzQSYCiV8EIptoKdmxQaLH2cy1PX-Bcgvq_HV7trg-6mpHTedJdl4KEgsywCiylfMKNR-0ixAtQdZDnU5SeBYH9LflUFXPiWWuSg8x4O7Ao-Qz6eths1viQyfh1amNapeQ/s1682/Screen%20Shot%202023-02-19%20at%2016.51.13.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="808" data-original-width="1682" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi12KDHqnk1NSDzQ5e7yCD1JrD5UGNGuUFwNoKBs6HY37Fyk53qJzQSYCiV8EIptoKdmxQaLH2cy1PX-Bcgvq_HV7trg-6mpHTedJdl4KEgsywCiylfMKNR-0ixAtQdZDnU5SeBYH9LflUFXPiWWuSg8x4O7Ao-Qz6eths1viQyfh1amNapeQ/w400-h193/Screen%20Shot%202023-02-19%20at%2016.51.13.png" width="400" /></span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">While the singular was usually the animal doctor in AmE, in the plural, <i>vets</i>, it's more likely to refer to former soldiers, since they are more often discussed as a class than veterinarians are. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYOELL4PITCWsCM3AMWsNR5VNtbAllYVqT7-u2p3YTLL9IqjWhfqFLY15vr47_03EilI4PD8GwR3Am1aC82FxI3PAD6iYg5udg71Qf6QoZ_uauueVhLDZBSd5jmoUbhoYFgNAcNwu6p26LU4Nx4McYg7rxloxpcIaZTvC1wf5Kkx-SlVCk3Q/s1522/Screen%20Shot%202023-02-19%20at%2016.56.10.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="820" data-original-width="1522" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYOELL4PITCWsCM3AMWsNR5VNtbAllYVqT7-u2p3YTLL9IqjWhfqFLY15vr47_03EilI4PD8GwR3Am1aC82FxI3PAD6iYg5udg71Qf6QoZ_uauueVhLDZBSd5jmoUbhoYFgNAcNwu6p26LU4Nx4McYg7rxloxpcIaZTvC1wf5Kkx-SlVCk3Q/w400-h215/Screen%20Shot%202023-02-19%20at%2016.56.10.png" width="400" /></span></a></div><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">So, as is often the case for homonyms, context usually tells us which thing we mean.</span></p><p>Is the use of <i><b>vet2</b></i> increasing in BrE? Well, probably some, but it's harder to find good evidence for it. There are scattered uses of <i>war vets</i> in Hansard since the 1960s, but it's probably too new and informal to be used in parliamentary talk. When I was researching it as a possible Word of the Year, I looked at samples from the News on the Web corpus, and found 5 examples (of 100 <i>vet</i>) in 2011 and seven in 2022 (the highest years were 2019 at 11 and 2020 at 20, but there were only 3 in 2021). My small sample size could have skewed things (but it was as much as I could give time for). A lot of the UK examples I looked at were about American vets, in which case the UK news source could have been quoting an American person or possibly publishing text from a wire service, possibly originally written by an AmE speaker. So, as I say, it's not simple to spot the truly BrE usage. </p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><i>TL;DR version</i></h3><div>The full form <i><b>veteran</b></i> (in the ex-soldier sense) is definitely used in the UK these days. Though it is now perceived as an Americanism, it originally came from Britain, and it probably never entirely went away there. </div><div><br /></div><div><b><i>Vet</i> </b>as an abbreviation of <i>veteran</i>, originates in AmE, and is still used there. <b><i>Vet</i> </b>as an abbreviation for veterinarian/veterinary surgeon is originally BrE, but has been well used in AmE for a long time (or at least, throughout my lifetime!). The ambiguity this creates hasn't been a huge problem. No one's mistakenly taking their dog to <a href="https://www.vfw.org/">the VFW</a>. </div>lynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-54545126783194077602023-01-02T01:28:00.006+00:002023-01-02T01:32:06.233+00:002022 US-to-UK Word of the Year: homer<p>Yesterday, I declared the UK-to-US SbaCL Word of the Year. <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2023/01/uk-to-us-word-of-year-2022-fit.html">You can read about it here</a>. </p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">The US-to-UK one may be as controversial as it was the first time<b> <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/05/round-and-around.html">(a)round</a></b> (in May). But here goes: </span></p><h2 style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #8a99a8; font-size: 31px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 37.2px; margin: 10px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">2022's US-to-UK Word of the Year is: <i><span style="color: #990000;">homer</span></i></span></h2><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div>Why? </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicJwjCf61Vit1F3Vyn72ckcq8Lt-G4P6s5g4ytuqwF_RxRaGVfGHqO3k4bB0MVUZGv-XK690CGcdqW-hcfufEJmR1g6QmvhADQuUxzi96-ue6keHwIIAQHPaRh7-KLBNRXhTO0BFM_Z6uLmVFJS9pwBRN26LP5WsOBQY9fi-TutbqYG4A3Yw/s680/FKAspxmXsAM0oJ6.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="377" data-original-width="680" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicJwjCf61Vit1F3Vyn72ckcq8Lt-G4P6s5g4ytuqwF_RxRaGVfGHqO3k4bB0MVUZGv-XK690CGcdqW-hcfufEJmR1g6QmvhADQuUxzi96-ue6keHwIIAQHPaRh7-KLBNRXhTO0BFM_Z6uLmVFJS9pwBRN26LP5WsOBQY9fi-TutbqYG4A3Yw/s320/FKAspxmXsAM0oJ6.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Because it is possibly the most talked-about Americanism in British social media this year.</li><li>Because if I chose the other finalist,* I'd get too many "that's not a word!" complaints.</li><li>Because it alludes a huge, wordy phenomenon of 2022.</li></ul><div>That phenomenon is Wordle, the word game invented by a Welsh engineer in the US, an added transatlantic bonus. </div><div><br /></div><div><i><b>Homer</b> </i>was the Wordle solution on the 5th of May, setting off a lot of grumpiness on social media. The cartoonist Stephen Collins provides a good illustration of the depth of feeling on the matter on the part of many committed UK Wordlers:<br /><br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjntTIactl_-u3bOST1dk5kb24rvX5pZajnAwgjQrg-z_0Jtb0_Mtjr7sGNPft4mvdAlaU6Dd3SxMBMLUPsZoaEbHfskErSPDA-vF9Abw9mEH8lOHkvUdLV7tC36XPchN9AMf2payrA3QbQfCZBBFJdsyycy6fjFHjw7fLZU7XE3y2afrog0g/s1128/Screen%20Shot%202023-01-02%20at%2001.16.31.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Stephen Collins @stephen_collins · 31 May 2022 Wordle: still angry about ‘homer’. It’s been weeks now. Furious. Stephen Collins @stephen_collins Will I ever play again? Can I forgive? Homer. Fuck no 11:24 pm · 31 May 2022" border="0" data-original-height="476" data-original-width="1128" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjntTIactl_-u3bOST1dk5kb24rvX5pZajnAwgjQrg-z_0Jtb0_Mtjr7sGNPft4mvdAlaU6Dd3SxMBMLUPsZoaEbHfskErSPDA-vF9Abw9mEH8lOHkvUdLV7tC36XPchN9AMf2payrA3QbQfCZBBFJdsyycy6fjFHjw7fLZU7XE3y2afrog0g/w640-h270/Screen%20Shot%202023-01-02%20at%2001.16.31.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>So, this isn't a Word of the Year because British people have taken on the word to refer to baseball home runs. There is very little need to talk about baseball in Britain. It's US-to-UK Word of the Year because it was an Americanism talking point in Britain, demonstrating how separate our vocabularies can be.</div><div><br /></div><div>But is it an Americanism? The thing is, British people do say <i><b>homer</b></i> for lots of other reasons. In various BrE d<span style="font-family: inherit;">ialects or jargons, it can be a homing pigeon, a (BrE) <b>match</b> played on the home (BrE) <b>pitch</b> in some sports, or "a job that a skilled worker, such as a house painter or a hairdresser[..], does for a private customer in the customer's home, especially when they do this in addition to their main job and without telling their employer or the tax authorities" (<a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/homer">Cambridge Dictionary</a>). It's also the name of an ancient Hebrew measurement. But none of these uses are as common in BrE as <i>homer</i> meaning 'home run' is in AmE, and so the word was definitely perceived as an Americanism by British Wordle players. </span></div><div><br /></div><div>Now, this choice isn't exactly original on my part. Cambridge Dictionary made <i><b>homer</b></i> their Word of the Year back in November. It's also been noted as one of <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-63895493">the most Googled words of the year</a>. But that's another reason why it feels right as the US-to-UK Word of the Year. It not only spiked high in their look-up statistics on the day, it continued to be looked up in their online dictionary for months after—perhaps because BrE speakers just can't stop talking/tweeting about it. <i><b>Homer</b> </i>was again showing up in tweets about losing one's Wordle streak on 27 December, when the answer was the tricky HAVOC. (And I imagine it was showing up in the less searchable social media as well.) It'll be interesting to see if it's still being put to these purposes next year, or if it'll have been forgotten. The chances that it'll be forgiven seem thin.</div><div><br /></div><div>I do encourage you to have a look at <a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/editorial/woty">Cambridge's Word of the Year site </a>for more on this word, British–American linguistic relations and how Wordle's been affecting dictionary usage. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>*My other "finalist" was <i style="font-weight: bold;">them's the breaks</i>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8-CD9s8YSE">as spoken by Boris Johnson </a>in his resignation speech outside 10 Downing Street. I was sure in July that that would be my "Word" of the Year, but, two Prime Ministers later, this well and truly feels like ancient news now.</div></div>lynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-32916059608018593042023-01-01T02:41:00.003+00:002023-01-29T16:38:18.617+00:00UK-to-US Word of the Year 2022: fit<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Having let the year run its course, I'm now am ready to declare the Separated by a Common Language Words of the Year for 2022. <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); text-align: justify;">As ever, there are two categories: US-to-UK and UK-to-US. To be a SbaCL WoTY, the word just needs to have been noticeable in some way that year in the other country. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); text-align: justify;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); text-align: justify;">For past WotYs, </span><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/search/label/WotY" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration-line: none;">see here</a><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); text-align: justify;">. And now...</span></span></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">The 2022 UK-to-US Word of the Year is: <i><span style="color: #990000;">fit</span></i></h2><div>Now, of course the word <i style="font-weight: bold;">fit</i> is general English when we use it in contexts like <i>The shoes fit</i> or <i>I'm going to get fit this year. </i>But those <i>fit</i>s are not my UK-to-US Word of the Year. The <b><i>fit</i> </b>I'm talking about is the informal British usage that means 'attractive, sexy'. A close (orig.) AmE synonym is <i><b>hot</b>. </i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>Ben Yagoda, on his Not One-Off Britishisms blog, first noticed this sense of <i><b>fit</b> </i>in an American context <a href="https://notoneoffbritishisms.com/2013/05/22/fit/">back in 2013</a>, but it seems to have taken hold in the US in the past couple of years. I assume this is due to the international popularity of the British television (BrE) <b>programme</b>/(AmE) <b>show</b> <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Island_(2015_TV_series)">Love Island</a>. </i></div><div><br /></div><div>Here's a clear example of this sense of <i>fit</i> from another UK reality series, <i>Made in Chelsea.*</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sJTgW_RUh_Y" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p></blockquote><div>I like that video just because it's clearly <i>fit </i>meaning 'hot' rather than 'healthy and/or muscular', but if you'd like to hear it said on <i>Love Island</i>, then you can hear it here at 1:38 (though the YouTube automatic subtitling mishears it as <i>fair</i>).</div><div><br /></div><div><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zfLLWysALD4" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe> </div><div><br /></div><div>This use of the word is new enough to the US that it's included in glossaries for American <i>Love Island </i>fans, like <a href="https://www.theringer.com/tv/2019/7/9/20687456/love-island-dictionary">this one</a> and <a href="https://screenrant.com/love-island-uk-british-slang-words-lingo/">this one</a>. The <i>Oxford English Dictionary </i>added it in 2001:</div><div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="top" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("../images/bg_senseGroup_top.gif") left top no-repeat rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.0104px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 15px 170.922px 0px 8px; position: relative; width: 854.609px;"><p class="entry-header" id="eid4277046" style="display: inline-block; font-size: 1.231em; line-height: 1.35; margin: 0px 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px; width: initial;"> <em>British</em> <em>slang</em>. Sexually attractive, good-looking.</p></div><div class="frame" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("../images/bg_senseGroup_btm_gd.gif") left bottom no-repeat rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.0104px; margin: -10px 0px 0px 1px; padding: 0px 10px 2px 25px;"><div class="quotationsBlock" id="eid4277050" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0.5em 0px 0px;"><div class="quotation" id="eid4277051" style="margin: 0.2em 0px 0px 3em; padding: 0px; text-indent: -3em;"><span class="noIndent" id="eid159171678" style="text-indent: 0px;">1985 <em><a class="sourcePopup" rel="0091175" role="button" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(216, 224, 248); color: #4f78a4; cursor: pointer;" tabindex="0">Observer</a></em> 28 Apr. 45/1</span> ‘Better 'en that bird you blagged last night.’ ‘F—— off! She was <span class="quotationKeyword" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted gray;">fit</span>.’</div><div class="quotation" id="eid4277059" style="margin: 0.2em 0px 0px 3em; padding: 0px; text-indent: -3em;"><span class="noIndent" id="eid159171684" style="text-indent: 0px;">1993 <span class="smallCaps" style="font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">V. Headley</span> <em><a class="sourcePopup" rel="0051767" role="button" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(216, 224, 248); color: #4f78a4; cursor: pointer;" tabindex="0">Excess</a></em> iv. 21</span> ‘So wait; dat <span class="quotationKeyword" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted gray;">fit</span> brown girl who live by de church ah nuh your t'ing?!’ he asked eyebrows raised.</div><div class="quotation" id="eid4277083" style="margin: 0.2em 0px 0px 3em; padding: 0px; text-indent: -3em;"><span class="noIndent" id="eid159171702" style="text-indent: 0px;">1999 <em><a class="sourcePopup" rel="0921124" role="button" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(216, 224, 248); color: #4f78a4; cursor: pointer;" tabindex="0">FHM</a></em> June (Best of Bar Room Jokes & True Stories Suppl.) 21/1</span> My first night there, I got arseholed, hit the jackpot and retired with my <span class="quotationKeyword" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted gray;">fit</span> flatmate to her room.</div><div class="quotation" id="eid4277091" style="margin: 0.2em 0px 0px 3em; padding: 0px; text-indent: -3em;"><span class="noIndent" id="eid159171708" style="text-indent: 0px;">2000 <em><a class="sourcePopup" rel="0110242" role="button" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(216, 224, 248); color: #4f78a4; cursor: pointer;" tabindex="0">Gloucester Citizen</a></em> (Nexis) 14 Feb. 11</span> I would choose Gillian Anderson from the X-Files, because she's dead <span class="quotationKeyword" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted gray;">fit</span>.</div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/yx4m4yi" style="font-style: italic;">Green's Dictionary of Slang </a>has one 19th-century example, but notes that "<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Libertine, serif; font-size: 16px; text-indent: -32px;">(</span><i style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Libertine, serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-indent: -32px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;">later 20C+ use is chiefly UK black</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Libertine, serif; font-size: 16px; text-indent: -32px;">)." </span></div><div><br /></div><div>I can't give statistics on how often this <i>fit</i> is use in the US because (a) the word has many other common meanings, making it very difficult to search for in corpora, and (b) this particular meaning is not likely to make it into print all that often. (Slang is like that.) Ben Yagoda considers <i><b>fit</b></i> <a href="https://notoneoffbritishisms.com/2022/12/07/soccer-and-other-woty-candidates/">"still an outlier"</a> in AmE. But Ben's probably not in the right demographic for hearing it. </div><div><br /></div><div>An anonymous blog reader nominated it, and it struck me as apt for 2022—the popularity of "<i>Love Island UK" </i>(as it's called in the US) was hard to miss on my visit to the US this summer. I got to hear my brother (whose [AmE] college-student daughter loves the show) imitating the contestants, throwing in words like <i>fit. </i>I can easily find young US people using and discussing 'sexy' <i><b>fit</b></i> on social media (though I won't share their examples here because those young people didn't ask for the attention). And it made it onto <i>Saturday Night Live</i>, in a sketch about <i>Love Island</i>. You can hear <b><i>proper fit</i> </b>at 1:11:</div><div><div><br /><div><i><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xj65JgmJBYc" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><br /></i></div></div></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><br /></div><div>So Happy New Year to you! I wrote this post after watching the fireworks (on tv) at midnight. Now I'm (BrE humorous) <b>off to Bedfordshire</b>, so I'll leave the other WotY for tomorrow. Stay tuned for the US-to-UK WotY! </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div><b>*Update</b>: I'm told that the<i> Made in Chelsea </i>video does not play in the US. Here's a quick transcript of the relevant bit:</div><div><br /></div><div>Scene: Two male cast members on a sofa, commenting on this video shot of a female cast member:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYxZEZvRdCU2IAYweUicZXFEWPne1WK7lDmTjA0jmMm0HfLQMDTqURPJ11IOeCV9m_yaw3wS5oVX-HTm7f2zihN7o9ul4Otd6AC_A6no0cFPuSYE3eHXufpif0rKI1MyurrPDHS8jZZjY4XU1HeVTCZquqno8YPrKX9emw-TvHKuHrAyHjmA/s1690/Screen%20Shot%202023-01-01%20at%2015.12.58.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="970" data-original-width="1690" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYxZEZvRdCU2IAYweUicZXFEWPne1WK7lDmTjA0jmMm0HfLQMDTqURPJ11IOeCV9m_yaw3wS5oVX-HTm7f2zihN7o9ul4Otd6AC_A6no0cFPuSYE3eHXufpif0rKI1MyurrPDHS8jZZjY4XU1HeVTCZquqno8YPrKX9emw-TvHKuHrAyHjmA/s320/Screen%20Shot%202023-01-01%20at%2015.12.58.png" width="320" /><br /></a></div><p style="text-align: left;">M1: God, she's fit. </p><p>M2: She is so hot.</p><p>M1: So fit.</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p> </p></blockquote></div>lynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-79381801101621201962022-12-28T17:43:00.018+00:002024-01-21T22:14:19.686+00:00Newsletter archive<p>If you'd like to subscribe to the newsletter, <a href="https://mailchi.mp/30d0ffd3a48e/separated-by-a-common-newsletter">follow this link</a>. You'll get around one newsletter per month. The newsletters have something about British–American linguistic relations (often linking to blog posts here), a bit about what I've been up to in my Lynneguist life (as well as things in the works), and links to things I've found interesting. </p><p><a href="https://us21.campaign-archive.com/home/?u=2916b36c5de68405e58ca585c&id=eb44d748e9">Click here for the newsletter archive.</a></p>lynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-16188179833259152752022-12-18T16:25:00.011+00:002022-12-19T23:00:31.726+00:00go west/south<p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jim recently (<a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/09/ish-and-moreish.html">ish</a>) wrote to ask me about this line he read in <i>Magpie Murders </i>by Anthony Horowitz:</span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 10px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 11px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">At the time, I hadn’t completed a deal with the BBC and the whole thing could have gone west.</span></span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 10px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 11px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p></blockquote><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: inherit;"><div><span style="color: #1a1a1a;"><br /></span></div>Jim wondered about that <i style="font-weight: bold;">gone west</i>, which seemed to be equivalent to AmE <i style="font-weight: bold;">gone south</i>. </span><div><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: inherit;">Twenty-some years in the UK, and I hadn't knowingly encountered that meaning of <i style="font-weight: bold;">go west</i>. But it's definitely out there.</span></div><div><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: inherit;"><div style="color: black;"><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 11px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/go-west"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Cambridge Dictionary</a> gives the sense that Horowitz probably intended, and marks it as "UK informal".</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 11px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><h1 class="ti fs fs12 lmb-0 hw superentry" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.75rem; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1; margin: 0px;"><span><a name='more'></a></span>Meaning of <span class="tb ttn" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">go west</span> in English</h1><div class="page" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div class="pr dictionary" data-id="cald4" data-tab="ds-cald4" data-type="sorted" role="tabpanel" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;"><div class="cid" id="dataset_cald4" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; height: 1px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: -110px; width: 1px;"></div><div class="link" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="pr di superentry" itemprop="text" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; position: relative;"><div class="cid" id="dataset_cald4" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; height: 1px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: -110px; width: 1px;"></div><div class="pr x lbb lb-cm" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-right-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-top-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;"><div class="hfr lpb-2" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; float: right; padding-bottom: 2px;"><div class="pr hdib i i-facebook lp-5 lmr-10" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #292929; display: inline-block; font-family: ico-c; font-size: 1rem; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1; margin-right: 10px; padding: 5px; position: relative; speak: none; text-rendering: auto; vertical-align: middle;"><a class="pa p0" href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fdictionary.cambridge.org%2Fdictionary%2Fenglish%2Fgo-west&t=" rel="noopener" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; inset: 0px; position: absolute; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank" title="Share on Facebook"></a></div> <div class="pr hdib i i-twitter lp-5 lmr-10" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #292929; display: inline-block; font-family: ico-c; font-size: 1rem; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1; margin-right: 10px; padding: 5px; position: relative; speak: none; text-rendering: auto; vertical-align: middle;"><a class="pa p0" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdictionary.cambridge.org%2Fdictionary%2Fenglish%2Fgo-west&text=" rel="noopener" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; inset: 0px; position: absolute; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank" title="Share on Twitter"></a></div></div></div><div class="di-body" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="pr idiom-block" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;"><div class="cid" id="cald4-1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; height: 1px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: -110px; width: 1px;"></div><div class="idiom-block" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="di-title" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px;"><h2 class="headword tw-bw dhw dpos-h_hw" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 36px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1; margin: 5px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">go west</span></h2></div><span class="di-info" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px;"><span class="pos dpos" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-right: 5px;" title="">idiom</span> <span class="lab dlab" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.75rem;"><span class="region dregion" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">UK</span> <span class="usage dusage" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">informal</span></span></span><span class="idiom-body didiom-body" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; margin-top: 10px;"><div class="pr dsense dsense-noh" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-left-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-right-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 3px; border-top: 3px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 30px; position: relative;"><div class="cid" id="cald4-1-1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; height: 1px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: -110px; width: 1px;"></div><div class="sense-body dsense_b" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="def-block ddef_block" data-wl-senseid="ID_00035991_05" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px;"><div class="dwl hax" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border-top: thin solid rgb(254, 196, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 2px; position: relative;"><a amp-access="NOT loggedIn" class="dwla wordlist-add-button" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background: rgb(254, 196, 0); border-radius: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; padding: 2px 8px; position: absolute; right: 0px; top: -12px;" title="Add this meaning to a word list"><span aria-hidden="true" class="i i-plus" face="ico-c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #292929; display: inline-block; font-size: 10px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1; speak: none; text-rendering: auto; vertical-align: middle;"></span> <span class="i i-list-ul" face="ico-c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #292929; display: inline-block; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1; speak: none; text-rendering: auto; vertical-align: middle;"></span></a></div><div class="ddef_h" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 15px 0px 20px;"><span class="def-info ddef-info" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"></span><div class="def ddef_d db" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 10px;">If something goes <a class="query" href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/west" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" title="west">west</a>, it is <a class="query" href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/lost" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" title="lost">lost</a>, <a class="query" href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/damaged" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" title="damaged">damaged</a>, or <a class="query" href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/spoiled" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" title="spoiled">spoiled</a> in some way:</div></div><div class="def-body ddef_b" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px;"><div class="examp dexamp" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.4; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-right: 22px; padding-left: 12px; position: relative;"><span class="eg deg" face="Arial, Helvetica, "Hiragino Sans GB", "Microsoft YaHei", "WenQuanYi Micro Hei", sans-serif, ico-c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; padding-right: 15px; vertical-align: initial;">I couldn't get a <a class="query" href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/ticket" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" title="ticket">ticket</a> - that's my last <a class="query" href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/chance" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" title="chance">chance</a> to <a class="query" href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/see" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" title="see">see</a> the show gone <a class="query" href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/west" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" title="west">west</a>.</span></div></div></div></div></div></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><span style="color: black;"></span></span></div><div><span><!--more--></span><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: inherit;"><i><a href="https://www.dictionary.com/browse/go--west">Dictionary.com</a></i> defines <i>go west </i>as 'die', and indicates that someone out there is 'ascribing' this meaning Native American legend, though that can't be where English got it from (the dates don't match up). (I'm not sure I see the purpose of pointing out this incorrect information. Especially when no one asked you to, it's likely to just call more attention to the bad info, not to spread the good info. And <a href="https://firstdraftnews.org/articles/the-psychology-of-misinformation-why-its-so-hard-to-correct/">"</a></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://firstdraftnews.org/articles/the-psychology-of-misinformation-why-its-so-hard-to-correct/"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; letter-spacing: 0.02px;">correction can </span><i style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; letter-spacing: 0.02px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">strengthen</span></i><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; letter-spacing: 0.02px;"> belief in misinformation"</span></a>.</span><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: inherit;">) </span></div><div><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span><!--more--></span></div><div><section class="entry-headword" id="top-definitions-section" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #4a4a4a; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><div class="css-1gvu524 e1wg9v5m7" style="-webkit-box-align: baseline; align-items: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-flow: row wrap; flex: 1 1 0%; margin-bottom: 8px;"><div class="css-jv03sw e1wg9v5m6" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1a1a1a; display: inline-flex; line-height: normal; margin-right: 8px;"><h1 class="css-japric e1wg9v5m5" data-first-headword="true" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-size: 49px; margin: 0px;">go west</h1></div><div class="css-cpet15 ea1n8qa0" style="-webkit-box-align: baseline; align-items: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1a1a1a; display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div><div class="css-x8ezj7 e15jzgbm5" data-headword-buttons-container="true" data-slug="go--west" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: row;"><div class="css-bjn8wh e15jzgbm0" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;"><button aria-label="save word" class="css-1jjtf5b e15jzgbm3" data-outlined-star-button="true" style="appearance: button; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-color: initial; border-style: none; border-width: initial; cursor: pointer; display: initial; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.15; margin: 0px 8px 0px 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><div class="css-1vr7vmn e15jzgbm2" style="-webkit-box-align: center; align-items: center; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;"><span class="css-1xq8258 e15jzgbm1" face="dictionary-fonticon" font-size="32px" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1a1a1a; display: inline-block; font-size: 32px; height: 32px; margin-bottom: 2px; transition: transform 0.3s ease 0s; vertical-align: text-bottom; width: 32px;"></span><span class="dropdown-arrow-icon css-jfavdo e15jzgbm1" data-save-word-down-arrow="true" face="dictionary-fonticon" font-size="24px" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1a1a1a; display: inline-block; font-size: 24px; height: 24px; margin-bottom: 2px; transition: transform 0.3s ease 0s; vertical-align: text-bottom; visibility: hidden; width: 24px;"></span></div></button></div></div></div></div><div class="css-1eoy87d e1wg9v5m4" style="-webkit-box-pack: justify; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; justify-content: space-between;"><div class="css-1ff36h2 e1wg9v5m3" style="-webkit-box-flex: 1; box-sizing: border-box; flex-grow: 1;"><div class="css-zv7ju9 e12fnee33" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px;"><a class="css-1mm57bl e12fnee32" data-linkid="oowy0r" href="https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/go%20west" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #f44725; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; position: relative; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">See synonyms for <span class="css-1jwcxx3 e12fnee31" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic;">go west</span> on Thesaurus.com</a></div></div></div><hr class="headword-separator css-qxeaj1 etjs7ll0" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(182, 182, 182); border-bottom-style: solid; border-top: 0px; box-sizing: content-box; height: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; overflow: visible;" /></section><section class="css-16s0ij6 e1w1pzze5" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #4a4a4a; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px 0px 17px;"><p class="one-click-content css-0 e1w1pzze4" data-linkid="nn1ov4" data-term="was" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; position: relative; z-index: 1;">Die, as in <span class="italic" data-linkid="nn1ov4" data-term="declared" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic;">He declared he wasn't ready to go west just yet</span>. This expression has been ascribed to a Native American legend that a dying man goes to meet the setting sun. However, it was first recorded in a poem of the early 1300s: “Women and many a willful man, As wind and water have gone west.”</p><p class="one-click-content css-0 e1w1pzze4" data-linkid="nn1ov4" data-term="was" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; position: relative; z-index: 1;"><span></span></p><!--more--><span style="color: #1a1a1a;"><br /></span><p></p><div style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; position: relative; text-align: left; z-index: 1;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1a1a1a;">The </span><i style="color: #1a1a1a;">Oxford English Dictionary </i><span style="color: #1a1a1a;">has several meanings for <i>go west</i>, and has the 'die' meaning as 'originally Scottish'. The date in brackets after each definition is the year </span></span><span style="color: #1a1a1a;">of the </span><i style="color: #1a1a1a;">OED'</i><span style="color: #1a1a1a;">s first citation for that sense</span><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: inherit;">:</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; position: relative; text-align: left; z-index: 1;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span><!--more--></span></span></div></section></div><div><span class="numbering" style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0159px;"><strong>a. </strong></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0159px;">Of the sun: to move towards the western horizon; to set, go down. [c.1425]</span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0159px;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0159px;"><b>b. </b></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0159px;"> <b>(a) </b>Originally </span><em style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0159px;">Scottish</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0159px;"> (</span><em style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0159px;">figurative</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0159px;">) To die. [1532]</span><span class="note" id="eid191982476" style="background-color: white; display: block; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 0.688em; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 1px 1px; padding-left: 26px; padding-top: 3px;">The sense became widespread during the First World War (1914–18). The relationship between quot. <a class="crossReferencePopup" href="https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/227885?redirectedFrom=go+west#eid14635727" rel="227885" rev="/view/Entry/227885#eid14635727" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;"><i>a</i>1532</a> <span class="ieWhitespace"> </span> and the later evidence has not been firmly established.</span><span class="note" id="eid1264850990" style="background-color: white; display: block; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 0.688em; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 1px 1px; padding-left: 26px; padding-top: 3px;"> [Apparently ultimately with reference to the west as the place of the setting sun and perhaps also to its identification (esp. in Celtic traditions) as the abode of the dead. The uses at <a class="crossReferencePopup cancelled" href="https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/227885?redirectedFrom=go+west#eid191982489" id="c396" rel="227885" rev="/view/Entry/227885#eid191982489" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;">Phrases 1b(b)</a> <span class="ieWhitespace"> </span> probably show a further development of this sense. There is probably no foundation to the suggestion that either sense results from folk-etymological alteration of <em>go whist</em> </span><span class="note" id="eid1264850990" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 0.688em; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 1px 1px; padding-left: 26px; padding-top: 3px;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"> <b><span> (b) </span></b>To be lost or destroyed; to disappear, vanish; to end in failure, come to grief. [1916]</span><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0159px;"> </span><span class="numbering" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0159px;"><strong>c. </strong></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0159px;"></span><span class="lemmaInDef" id="eid185554324" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0159px; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">go west, young man</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0159px;">: used as an encouragement to seek fortune in the American West; also in extended use. [1836 in the form <i>go to the West</i>, 1856 <i>Young man, go west</i>]</span><span class="note" id="eid190988967" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 0.688em; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 1px 1px; padding-left: 26px; padding-top: 3px;">Attributed to Horace Greeley, who, according to Josiah Bushnell Grinnell, gave the latter this advice in September 1851 (see quot. <a class="crossReferencePopup" href="https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/227885?redirectedFrom=go+west#eid190988970" rel="227885" rev="/view/Entry/227885#eid190988970" style="color: #4f78a4; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;">1891</a>).</span><span></span></p><!--more--><span class="note" id="eid190988967" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 0.688em; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 1px 1px; padding-left: 26px; padding-top: 3px;"><br /></span><p></p><div>The American idiom (c) relates to the opportunity and space that "going west" gave to European-American settlers in the westward expansion of the United States. (<a href="https://library.law.howard.edu/civilrightshistory/indigenous/removal">Safe to say it did not offer the same promise to the people already living there.</a>) <i>Going west</i> then became a metaphor for seizing opportunity. In contrast, the British senses all seem to relate to the west as the place where the sun goes to bed: it is a place of endings and darkness. </div><div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #38761d;">Postscript:</span> Julian Walker, who writes about English in World War I, has written about <i>gone west</i> <b><a href="http://jwalkerwords2.blogspot.com/2022/12/gone-west-and-other-places.html">here</a></b>. It includes Eric Partridge's musings about the possibility of cross-contamination between the American and 'death' senses. (Thanks to Tony Thorne for tweeting about it.)</div><div><br /></div>All this puts an interesting spin on the Pet Shop Boys' cover of the Village People's song <i>Go West</i>. The Village People's song seemed to be about the opportunities found by moving, perhaps to San Francisco:<br /><br /><br /><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1wc-AQJ2MYo" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe> <div><br /></div><div>But the Pet Shop Boys version had a different vibe. Here I cut-and-paste from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_West_(song)#Changes">Wikipedia</a> on the critical reception to their cover (emphasis added): </div><div><br /></div><div><blockquote>Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic said the song is a "<b>bizarrely moving</b>" cover. Larry Flick from Billboard commented, "Nothing better captures the tone of bittersweet joy and drama that permeates Very than PSB's cover of the Village People nugget, 'Go West'. Covered with thick layers of pillowy synths, the track swaps the male-bonding vibe of the original with a <b>wistful demeanor</b> that's lined with a <b>pensive subtext of loss</b>". In the single review, he described it as a "gorgeous reading", adding that Neil Tennant "gives the happy, male-bonding lyrics <b>a wistful, almost melancholy edg</b>e—an odd but successful contrast to the fist-waving chants at the chorus".</blockquote>The video was notable for its use of Soviet imagery, putting the East–West axis far beyond what Horace Greeley was referring to. But it also has a definite afterlife vibe, with central placement of what surely seems to be a Stairway to Heaven. The West=Heaven (death) connection is helped along by the original Village People lyrics, which promise that life will be "peaceful" in the "open skies". <br /><br /></div><div> <iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LNBjMRvOB5M" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe> </div><div><br /></div><div>I am the happy, happy holder of a ticket to see Pet Shop Boys on their 2023 tour, so I do my best to ask them about this from my position in the umpteenth row. Will report back in late June.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">But what about <i>go south</i>?</h3><div>All the <b><i>g</i></b><i style="font-weight: bold;">o south</i> quotations in the <i>OED</i> are American, and their etymology indicates that it all started with talk of with stock market prices "going south". Their first citation is from 1920, but usage only seems to pick up in the 1970s, with verbs like <i>head</i> and <i>turn</i>, and with <i>go south</i> (applied far beyond market prices) predominating in this century.</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0158px;"><span><!--more--></span></span><span class="numbering" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0158px;"><strong>3.</strong></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0158px;"> </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0158px;">colloquial</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0158px;"> (originally </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0158px;">Stock Market</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0158px;">). Downward or lower in value, price, or quality; in or into a worse condition or position. Esp. in </span><span class="lemmaInDef" id="eid116039777" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0158px; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">to head (<span class="roman" style="font-style: normal;">also</span> go) south</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16.0158px;">.</span><span class="note" id="eid116039780" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 0.688em; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 1px 1px; padding-left: 26px; padding-top: 3px;"><span class="lemmaInDef" id="eid116039781" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">south of</span>: lower than, worse than.</span></div><span><!--more--></span><div><br /></div><div>A downward-pointing arrow is common to the graphic treatment of "south" in the maps we're most used to. A downward-pointing slope, as in this illustration, indicates falls in prices. It also seems to equate downward-trending prices with going to Hell:<br /><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBR2rFmyIDAl30DqCGECR61JpNuRhttZ7csyfMyfwvonyziShutXnXCTzZILMou9TC1D9OKE6KCaVQ29aGfRBKPJGu4doNpSajXBCxlcjTFqFkNn6YAt6lUN9a37F8OGHG3BXng9TIFG-NRHWuxMX2buZ1gIntrLyKPr4Q4li4XRhWclmmKA/s919/Screen%20Shot%202022-12-18%20at%2015.46.56.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="882" data-original-width="919" height="614" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBR2rFmyIDAl30DqCGECR61JpNuRhttZ7csyfMyfwvonyziShutXnXCTzZILMou9TC1D9OKE6KCaVQ29aGfRBKPJGu4doNpSajXBCxlcjTFqFkNn6YAt6lUN9a37F8OGHG3BXng9TIFG-NRHWuxMX2buZ1gIntrLyKPr4Q4li4XRhWclmmKA/w640-h614/Screen%20Shot%202022-12-18%20at%2015.46.56.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><div class="top" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("../images/bg_senseGroup_top.gif") left top no-repeat rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 15px 168.922px 0px 8px; position: relative; width: 844.609px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This is all part of a more general <a href="https://www.studocu.com/en-ca/document/macewan-university/introduction-to-linguistic-analysis/metaphor-idiom-examples/12724027"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><b>conceptual metaphor</b> UP=GOOD/DOWN=BAD</span></a><span style="color: #333333;">. Given (a) the deep roots of that metaphor and (b) the co-existence of a different meaning of <i style="font-weight: bold;">go west</i> in AmE, it's no wonder that the BrE <i style="font-weight: bold;">go west</i> feels unintuitive as a metaphor to (at least some) Americans. </span></span></div><div class="frame" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("../images/bg_senseGroup_btm_gd.gif") left bottom no-repeat rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #333333; font-size: 13.0104px; margin: -10px 1px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 10px 2px 25px;"><div class="quotationsBlock" id="eid116039782" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0.5em 0px 0px;"></div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /></div>
lynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-83987867414474868912022-11-27T16:24:00.002+00:002022-11-27T16:25:23.284+00:00fixtures and brackets<p><span style="font-family: inherit;">It's FIFA World Cup Time, a fact that is hard to avoid in this part of the world. I am not the kind of person who’s interested in watching it, regardless of who’s playing or where it’s being held. But I'm nothing if not opportunistic, so I'll use this as an excuse to write about some linguistic differences related to <b><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/07/countmass-nouns-potato-egg-tax-sport.html">sport(s) </a></b>more generally. </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It’s old news that the British mostly call it <i><b>football</b></i> and Americans mostly call it <i><b>soccer</b></i>. It’s even older news that the name <i>soccer</i> is actually British. To quote myself (from <i>The Prodigal Tongue</i>):<br /><br /></span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Britain, Americans call your football <i>soccer</i> because you taught them to. Just like <i>rugger</i> is a nickname for rugby football, <i>soccer</i> came from the full name of the </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">game, </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">association football</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">. The word comes from England. You </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">should be proud of it. </span></p></blockquote><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />But that’s not the difference I want to feature this time. I want to talk about <b><i>fixtures</i></b>. If your eyesight’s good (the words are very faint, for some reason), you can see the term repeatedly used on the local team’s website (I've added the purple boxes to highlight them):</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZCz_DRN44bQ0nnQqvL_rCh5xQtBLd69yyBztfFIoK08OlIETel7JIbAuuprbrQxY2gzqFanUjdAgD7H0xhKsIIFzNJWo8pWz4VMRXWus16UwmhUp7Gvk3kqnF8PpOwbHW5XTOFzFy6UYhvIT6cc9aTZgCS1gr6h95mzHR90M6hPiWDmmSDQ/s2228/Screen%20Shot%202022-11-20%20at%2016.47.16.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="832" data-original-width="2228" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZCz_DRN44bQ0nnQqvL_rCh5xQtBLd69yyBztfFIoK08OlIETel7JIbAuuprbrQxY2gzqFanUjdAgD7H0xhKsIIFzNJWo8pWz4VMRXWus16UwmhUp7Gvk3kqnF8PpOwbHW5XTOFzFy6UYhvIT6cc9aTZgCS1gr6h95mzHR90M6hPiWDmmSDQ/w640-h238/Screen%20Shot%202022-11-20%20at%2016.47.16.png" width="640" /></a></div><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">BrE </span><b style="font-family: inherit;"><i>fixture</i></b><span style="font-family: inherit;"> in this sense means ‘who’s "fixed" to play whom when’. In the plural, it's the whole list of who's playing whom when. I</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">t's a necessary word at any kind of tournament in the UK. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">I initially learned it</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> through tournament Scrabble (at my first UK tournament 22 years ago), and I recall it (probably orig. AmE) <b>throwing me for a loop </b>then.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">You won’t see the word </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">fixtures</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> on most American sports sites or advertising. Instead, you’ll see </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="font-weight: bold;">schedule</i>, a</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">s seen here for my "local" (BrE) <b>American football</b> /(AmE) <b>football</b> team back in the US:</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGCso1Laggnjw33XnRGJRkBV4osRyjPJYQ-M_q4NrT9Obr0NkWD3Hkaj9j2G7zzS65IwQLqtL0G9WwazkV1qcqVqkdkhyS2XUqnJueDZEDql6yeepvAMcT3Se9HYSdJGXFtXEOtQE2QYTKx5ikjLWj24SmjPOKgwobyJbEFzdY3sVLsN7nig/s995/Screen%20Shot%202022-11-27%20at%2015.30.07.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="234" data-original-width="995" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGCso1Laggnjw33XnRGJRkBV4osRyjPJYQ-M_q4NrT9Obr0NkWD3Hkaj9j2G7zzS65IwQLqtL0G9WwazkV1qcqVqkdkhyS2XUqnJueDZEDql6yeepvAMcT3Se9HYSdJGXFtXEOtQE2QYTKx5ikjLWj24SmjPOKgwobyJbEFzdY3sVLsN7nig/w640-h150/Screen%20Shot%202022-11-27%20at%2015.30.07.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">n </span><i style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://theprodigaltongue.com">The Prodigal Tongue</a>, </i><span style="font-family: inherit;">I cover the strange history of the pronunciation of </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">schedule</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">. (If you haven't read it, tell Santa. Or your nearest bookseller.)</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> In that discussion, I note that the word </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">schedule </i><span style="font-family: inherit;">is used <i>much</i> more in AmE than BrE, because BrE uses other words for the things Americans call </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">schedules </i><span style="font-family: inherit;">in various contexts.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Words like: </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">timetable</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">, </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">programme</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">, and </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">fixtures</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A related term is AmE <i style="font-weight: bold;">bracket</i>, which derives from the use of this kind of diagram for showing who's playing whom in an elimination tournament. (For more on differences in the punctuation term <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/08/parentheses-and-brackets.html"><i style="font-weight: bold;">bracket</i>, see here</a>.) Randall Munroe, at his comic xkcd, has done some <a href="https://xkcd.com/1529/">fantastic brackets</a>, like this one, which I will share because we've had enough sports talk now, haven't we?</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/bracket.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="689" height="400" src="https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/bracket.png" width="345" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">click image to enlarge</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In BrE one might instead talk about <i style="font-weight: bold;">the draw</i>, i.e. who's been "drawn" (as if from a hat) to play against whom. <i>Bracket</i> is a bit different from <i>draw </i>because it's not just who's playing whom in the initial random arrangement, but also eventually who's playing whom all the way up the various rounds of competition. </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And speaking of <i>draw</i>, England were <b>drawn </b>against USA this week, and it ended in <b style="font-style: italic;">a </b>0–0<b style="font-style: italic;"> draw</b><span style="font-style: italic;">, </span>which could also be called <i style="font-weight: bold;">a tie</i>. <i>Tie </i>is generally more common in AmE, but it's used in BrE too. <br /><br />Here's 'ended in a tie/draw' in the News on the Web corpus:</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk5FIbW_Ug4MrZIKn34smvCKdpNWd3qB9Ao_z89xQl7_g0V-DF1l7B8tDxOcAHj9TzVJgY66LcMBPiMVuqQwqBOp-Pti62JXesC0jmCPZ5kxg7IWPNCYp6mpzgh7z7y9fl1WXSUB1RMvVp8QAPetLiVrZl857excHTi-yfecc1h2gGX-Ij3g/s741/Screen%20Shot%202022-11-27%20at%2016.19.43.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="328" data-original-width="741" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk5FIbW_Ug4MrZIKn34smvCKdpNWd3qB9Ao_z89xQl7_g0V-DF1l7B8tDxOcAHj9TzVJgY66LcMBPiMVuqQwqBOp-Pti62JXesC0jmCPZ5kxg7IWPNCYp6mpzgh7z7y9fl1WXSUB1RMvVp8QAPetLiVrZl857excHTi-yfecc1h2gGX-Ij3g/w640-h284/Screen%20Shot%202022-11-27%20at%2016.19.43.png" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbV3-hL7SPWZJNCIi0P5CHoNxthM7NwiadUNLpnRJbIlPvk95lvJad6GAMPyVRQCyX6oARt0uIo9FVHAoFiRh30k9kfJedWF3qfBUF430qFwQHgs1DOzQJJnNkBF8hZAxMm0_9R3ZkkAPE0IdnoyAquXvjE1VOXiIrJsbLhTT15WXO_OJzjw/s836/Screen%20Shot%202022-11-27%20at%2016.18.51.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="325" data-original-width="836" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbV3-hL7SPWZJNCIi0P5CHoNxthM7NwiadUNLpnRJbIlPvk95lvJad6GAMPyVRQCyX6oARt0uIo9FVHAoFiRh30k9kfJedWF3qfBUF430qFwQHgs1DOzQJJnNkBF8hZAxMm0_9R3ZkkAPE0IdnoyAquXvjE1VOXiIrJsbLhTT15WXO_OJzjw/w640-h248/Screen%20Shot%202022-11-27%20at%2016.18.51.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you’re interested in more football/soccer-related content, here are a couple of posts:</span></p><ul class="ul1"><li class="li3" style="color: #dca10d; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="color: black; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/07/world-cup-words.html"><span class="s2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">World Cup words</span></span></a> (from 2006!)</span></li><li class="li3" style="color: #dca10d; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="color: black; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/05/up-albion.html"><span class="s2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Up the Albion!<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></a></span></li></ul><div><span style="color: #dca10d;"><br /></span></div><div>And in case you missed it, I now have a (hopefully usually) weekly newsletter in which I will be sharing news of new blog posts (like this one) and other US/UK and linguistic content. <br /><a href="https://mailchi.mp/30d0ffd3a48e/separated-by-a-common-newsletter">Sign up here if you haven't already!</a></div>lynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-667429178913444142022-11-20T12:39:00.005+00:002023-01-02T02:26:55.991+00:00WotY news and Lynneguist news<h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Nominate transatlantic words of the year!</span></h4><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">It's Word of the Year season, and before the end of 2022—possibly before the end of the 11th month of 2022—every extant dictionary (and various professional associations and a few marketing companies etc. etc.) will have announced the words that they think sum up something about 2022. Here (BrE) <b>at SbaCL Towers</b>,* we (that is to say, I) wait until the year is at least almost properly finished before considering what 2022 was like for transatlantic English. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); text-align: justify;">So, let's do the important business of opening nominations</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); text-align: justify;">!</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); text-align: justify;"> As ever,</span></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); text-align: justify;"> the </span><b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); text-align: justify;">Separated by a Common Language Words of the Year</b><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"> categories are:</span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); margin: 12px 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"></p><ul style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); list-style-type: none; margin: 1em 0px 1em 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><li style="line-height: 21px; margin: 3px 0px 0px; overflow: visible hidden; padding: 0px 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">UK-to-US </span></li><li style="line-height: 21px; margin: 3px 0px 0px; overflow: visible hidden; padding: 0px 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">US-to-UK </span></li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div>Some nomination guidance:</div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Good candidates for SbaCL WotY are expressions that have lived a good life on one side of the Atlantic but for some reason have made a splash on the other side of the Atlantic this year. </li><li>Words coined this year are not really in the running. If they moved from one place to another that quickly, then it's hard to say that they're really "Americanisms" or "Britishisms". They're probably just "internetisms". The one situation in which I could see a newly minted word working as a transatlantic WotY would be if the word/expression referenced something very American/British but was nevertheless taken on in the other country.</li><li>When I say <i>word</i> of the year, I more technically mean <i>lexical item of the year</i>, which is to say, there can be spaces in nominations. Past space-ful WotYs have included <b><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2014/12/2014-uk-to-us-co-word-of-year-gap-year.html" style="line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;"><i>gap year</i></a></b>, <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2013/12/2013-us-to-uk-word-of-year-black-friday.html" style="line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;"><b><i>Black Friday</i></b></a>, and <b><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2009/12/words-of-year-2009-staycation-and-go.html" style="line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;"><i>go missing</i></a></b>. </li></ul><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); margin: 12px 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Please nominate WotYs in comments to this blog post</b>, where it'll be easier for me to keep track of them than if they show up on different social platforms. To see more past winners, <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/search/label/WotY" style="line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">click here</a>.</span></p><p>I have a few words in mind, so I'll be interested to see if you come up with the same or different ones.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Cambridge Dictionary Word of the Year: <i>homer</i></h4><div><a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/editorial/woty?fbclid=IwAR39HKWd8qV3kgbI5eJSWBufkhLR9MW9nFNyocHpiWugHqsxavtedBxQ0oc">Cambridge Dictionary chose <b><i>homer</i> </b>as their Word of the Year</a>. I thought it was a great choice, and you can hear why here:</div><div><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7Z2YD76GIKk" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><i style="font-weight: bold;">Homer</i> was protested in Wordle as an "Americanism" (95% of the dictionary look-ups of it came from outside North America). It is fairly familiar in AmE as an informal term for a baseball home run, but it has many other meanings around the world. That's what happens when you take an otherwise common word and put an <i>-er</i> on it. <a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/homer">Cambridge Dictionary</a> notes that it has a special meaning in Scotland:<br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="def-block ddef_block" data-wl-senseid="ID_00015497_2" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px;"><div class="ddef_h" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 15px 0px 20px;"><span class="def-info ddef-info" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="lab dlab" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.75rem;"><span class="region dregion" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">Scottish English</span> <span class="usage dusage" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">informal</span></span></span><div class="def ddef_d db" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 10px;">a <a class="query" href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/job" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" title="job">job</a> that a <a class="query" href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/skill" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" title="skilled">skilled</a> <a class="query" href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/worker" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" title="worker">worker</a>, such as a <a class="query" href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/house" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" title="house">house</a> <a class="query" href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/painter" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" title="painter">painter</a> or a <span class="nondv-xref dnondv-xref" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><a class="query" href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/hairdresser" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" title="hairdresser">hairdresser</a></span><span class="gloss dgloss" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"> (= a <a class="query" href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/person" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" title="person">person</a> who <a class="query" href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/cut" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" title="cuts">cuts</a> people's <a class="query" href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/hair" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" title="hair">hair</a>)</span>, does for a <a class="query" href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/private" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" title="private">private</a> <a class="query" href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/customer" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" title="customer">customer</a> in the customer's <a class="query" href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/home" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" title="home">home</a>, <a class="query" href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/especially" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" title="especially">especially</a> when they do this in <a class="query" href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/addition" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" title="addition">addition</a> to <a class="query" href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/their" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" title="their">their</a> <a class="query" href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/main" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" title="main">main</a> <a class="query" href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/job" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" title="job">job</a> and without <a class="query" href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/telling" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" title="telling">telling</a> <a class="query" href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/their" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" title="their">their</a> <a class="query" href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/employer" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" title="employer">employer</a> or the <a class="query" href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/tax" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" title="tax">tax</a> <a class="query" href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/authority" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" title="authorities">authorities</a>:</div></div><div class="def-body ddef_b" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px;"><div class="examp dexamp" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.4; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-right: 22px; padding-left: 12px; position: relative;"><span class="eg deg" face="Arial, Helvetica, "Hiragino Sans GB", "Microsoft YaHei", "WenQuanYi Micro Hei", sans-serif, ico-c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; padding-right: 15px; vertical-align: initial;">I am a <a class="query" href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/fully" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" title="fully">fully</a> <a class="query" href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/qualified" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" title="qualified">qualified</a> <a class="query" href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/joiner" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" title="joiner">joiner</a> <a class="query" href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/looking" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" title="looking">looking</a> for homers in the Renfrewshire <a class="query" href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/area" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" title="area">area</a>.</span></div></div></div><div class="daccord" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background: rgb(255, 248, 228); box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d2a57; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 10px 0px;"><amp-accordion class="i-amphtml-element i-amphtml-layout-container i-amphtml-built i-amphtml-layout" i-amphtml-layout="container" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; margin: 0px; position: relative;"><section style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; float: none; margin: 0px;"><header aria-controls="83_AMP_content_0" aria-expanded="false" class="ca_h daccord_h i-amphtml-accordion-header" id="83_AMP_header_0" role="button" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(223, 223, 223); box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; float: none; font-size: 1rem; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 10px 15px; position: relative;" tabindex="0"><span class="i i-plus ca_hi" face="ico-c" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #292929; display: inline-block; font-size: 0.875rem; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1; margin-right: 5px; speak: none; text-rendering: auto; vertical-align: 0px;"></span></header></section></amp-accordion></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Both of those meanings derive from the noun <i>home</i> plus the -<i>er </i>for something that happens at "home".</div><div><br /></div><div>But <b><i>home</i> </b>can also be a verb meaning 'to go/return home', and if you add the <i>-er</i> suffix onto a verb, it means 'one who [does verb]'. So it gets more meanings that way, some of which are in other dictionaries. For instance, <i>homer</i> can mean 'a homing pigeon'. Apparently, it's often used in British crossword puzzles in this sense. Perhaps the crossworders had an advantage for the infamous HOMER Wordle. </div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_inzGvV_5H-jNM7hwscmlS9nCt9zpUhhd-iw7dHLHLNlF4EcZGswjSewG8XYTi3NIC8UuWvrOLIbD3MfoAnXws_L6-rkaeqJR-l3tgyuOQJxeXVZxpZBN_OzlFT1YnKz9VMevY-2bnoeEHAkhyUIn849PQHxaKT_3-Nof44AxjTV153nHMw/s1096/Screen%20Shot%202022-11-20%20at%2012.07.43.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Tweet from Stephen Collins, 31 May: Wordle: still angry about 'homer'. It's been weeks now. Furious." border="0" data-original-height="190" data-original-width="1096" height="110" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_inzGvV_5H-jNM7hwscmlS9nCt9zpUhhd-iw7dHLHLNlF4EcZGswjSewG8XYTi3NIC8UuWvrOLIbD3MfoAnXws_L6-rkaeqJR-l3tgyuOQJxeXVZxpZBN_OzlFT1YnKz9VMevY-2bnoeEHAkhyUIn849PQHxaKT_3-Nof44AxjTV153nHMw/w640-h110/Screen%20Shot%202022-11-20%20at%2012.07.43.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The British cartoonist Stephen Collins holds a grudge</td></tr></tbody></table><br /> </div><h3 style="text-align: left;">News! New way to follow Lynneguist!</h3><div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xdj266r x126k92a" style="background-color: white; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">Since 2009, I've been doing a AmE–BrE Difference of </span><span style="color: #050505;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">the Day (DotD) on </span></span><span style="color: #050505; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">Twitter, and spending a lot of my time on that platform. Because of the time that the DotD required, this blog has <b>got(ten)</b> less frequent. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">I've never run out of differences to tweet about, but the time has come to re-think how I use my online time and how I communicate with people who are interested in my work (and, more importantly, my hobbies, of which this blog is one). </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #050505;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">This blog will continue to be where I write about UK–US linguistic differences—sometimes in a lot of depth. </span></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #050505;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #050505;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">But my social media presence has been about a lot more than deep dives into particular words. It's been about sharing links to interesting linguistic and transatlantic cultural information and news. It's been about sharing things I've written elsewhere or news of events I'm doing. And it's been about those Differences of the Day—shorter info about linguistic differences, sometimes linked to new or old blog posts. </span></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #050505;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #050505;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">So, I'm going down the newsletter route. It feels like going back to my roots, since in (AmE) <b>grad school</b> I ran the departmental linguists newsletter (<i>Colorless Green Newsletter</i> it was called) and then when I moved to South Africa, I decided a newsletter was the best way to share with friends and family the things I was learning by living there—I sent that one out (at some snail-mail expense) every three weeks—and it got to its recipients about three weeks later. </span></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #050505;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #050505;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Now we have email, so I can do a newsletter on the cheap and you can get it right after I send it. </span></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://mailchi.mp/30d0ffd3a48e/separated-by-a-common-newsletter">Sign up here </a>and you will get no-more-than weekly, no-less than monthly updates on what's going on in the Lynneguist world. There won't be Differences of <i>the Day</i>, but there will be lots of linguistic differences to learn about or reflect on, as well as other super-interesting stuff.</span></div></div></div><div><br /></div><p><b>Footnote </b></p><div id="mc_embed_signup"><form action="https://theprodigaltongue.us21.list-manage.com/subscribe/post?u=2916b36c5de68405e58ca585c&id=eb44d748e9&f_id=001dc5e1f0" class="validate" id="mc-embedded-subscribe-form" method="post" name="mc-embedded-subscribe-form" novalidate="" target="_blank"><div id="mc_embed_signup_scroll"><div class="optionalParent"><div class="clear foot">
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<!--End mc_embed_signup--><p>* Here's a <a href="https://twitter.com/lynneguist/status/1419688970645123073">link</a> to my Difference of the Day tweet about 'at X Towers', but since I don't know how long Twitter will be around, I'll post a screenshot too:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjejOA3LXlR-A4szzgMNbegSCf9I9jkxajJpgVtnQ6NuChRcPZJwUkdQVsmXVETbCRrRVxe3q_EUzdduuzTiYuzk64x_aGKKl88G85ZDhWXzF_dK6Hj1ZYdJ9litLoDD0vNJPa8oL9sBwGYIWio9nFS-kojNelKXMReks6rY5KRsHoOGaH3TQ/s1174/Screen%20Shot%202022-11-20%20at%2011.29.35.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img alt="GloWbE corpus shows plenty of instances of "here/we at [something] towers" in British English, none in American English are in" border="0" data-original-height="1174" data-original-width="1004" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjejOA3LXlR-A4szzgMNbegSCf9I9jkxajJpgVtnQ6NuChRcPZJwUkdQVsmXVETbCRrRVxe3q_EUzdduuzTiYuzk64x_aGKKl88G85ZDhWXzF_dK6Hj1ZYdJ9litLoDD0vNJPa8oL9sBwGYIWio9nFS-kojNelKXMReks6rY5KRsHoOGaH3TQ/w549-h640/Screen%20Shot%202022-11-20%20at%2011.29.35.png" width="549" /></span></a></div><br />lynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.com37tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-63432189795514597552022-10-16T22:43:00.009+01:002022-10-21T12:37:47.540+01:00a (head of) lettuce<p><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b>UPDATE, 20 Oct 2022: The lettuce won! </b></span></p><p>The less I say here about the current state of British politics, the better for all of us, but I've had some requests to write about the question: <br /></p><h2 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Can Liz Truss outlast </span>a lettuce<span style="font-weight: normal;">?</span></h2><div>Truss is, at the very moment I'm writing this, the UK Prime Minister. This might not be true at the moment when you read this. And once she's gone, I assume <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm-RE95lKJ0"><i>The Daily Star </i>will stop its livestream</a> of decomposing lettuce in a wig, so I'll post a screenshot of it here, rather than the livestream itself.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiajJqAFM6MGrXc6eFfdBMM9OOQYECmcy8x6t3nC0It-7oZ5HKgQGKHSRTl9cQcep4ZtlRNtOT_SQyjUFOXv5Xetig51-9zKd4B_GKU3ebWaoKdmTDqYTyrofQe39A82Pn_gbQHDVBLyHdBHShfv8ZvIxey_GH17KUL0nJkjtTWWaQ98_G9xw/s1850/Screen%20Shot%202022-10-16%20at%2019.22.46.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Daily Star screenshot: Day Three: can liz truss outlast this lettuce? Iceburg lettuce with face and wig, surrounded by pic of Liz Truss, snack foods, and clock reading 19:22" border="0" data-original-height="1020" data-original-width="1850" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiajJqAFM6MGrXc6eFfdBMM9OOQYECmcy8x6t3nC0It-7oZ5HKgQGKHSRTl9cQcep4ZtlRNtOT_SQyjUFOXv5Xetig51-9zKd4B_GKU3ebWaoKdmTDqYTyrofQe39A82Pn_gbQHDVBLyHdBHShfv8ZvIxey_GH17KUL0nJkjtTWWaQ98_G9xw/w640-h352/Screen%20Shot%202022-10-16%20at%2019.22.46.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>Oh wait, Lettruss has an early bedtime! Here's another screenshot. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8cASXxTWdSmEIrFOpL14KZHSKu_HL2haLQLclYrrUgV-6NtWNI4rWBm_qmlmwBeLNjDoY5C7zRNxmYmVjf7KCJZk-84hqrSVJGz1MkSLf9X7ZEcApE-d7_OLW-Ok6QBk-95M6xFWwM19rgDCTVjo1VLVxieEOGC1MQmCuotxd66CtFezubQ/s1864/Screen%20Shot%202022-10-16%20at%2019.24.34.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1044" data-original-width="1864" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8cASXxTWdSmEIrFOpL14KZHSKu_HL2haLQLclYrrUgV-6NtWNI4rWBm_qmlmwBeLNjDoY5C7zRNxmYmVjf7KCJZk-84hqrSVJGz1MkSLf9X7ZEcApE-d7_OLW-Ok6QBk-95M6xFWwM19rgDCTVjo1VLVxieEOGC1MQmCuotxd66CtFezubQ/w640-h358/Screen%20Shot%202022-10-16%20at%2019.24.34.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>I wonder how much she gets up to in a day? (Note to self: must resist watching PM Lettucehead instead of working.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Lettuce Watch got started after <i><a href="https://www.economist.com/leaders/2022/10/11/liz-truss-has-made-britain-a-riskier-bet-for-bond-investors" target="_blank">The Economist</a> </i>published this unusually straightforward description of Truss's premiership and dubbing her "The Iceberg Lady." </div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEMigvCxKXO9aGoOdcKw77WcRvgEQoBZdojVMqZxZJst2NS6WyRMZFzDQpI7YFlhb5Di12yRUcjex2ERIA8dA4gAHh60oJMStd2dShiLW-grYO4KThMnnmc1vCvLT-srNFTBCBrxO-yRxSSLoBuZbRm94zZVbJ6TmsW-RPcsW98O1l54O2hw/s1170/311143271_10166759948775646_512915195231096443_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Liz Truss is already a historical figure. However long she now lasts in office, she is set to be remembered as the prime minister whose grip on power was the shortest in British political history. Ms Truss entered Downing Street on September 6th. She blew up her own government with a package of unfunded tax cuts and energy-price guarantees on September 23rd. Take away the ten days of mourning after the death of the queen, and she had seven days in control. That is the shelf-life of a lettuce." border="0" data-original-height="1153" data-original-width="1170" height="394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEMigvCxKXO9aGoOdcKw77WcRvgEQoBZdojVMqZxZJst2NS6WyRMZFzDQpI7YFlhb5Di12yRUcjex2ERIA8dA4gAHh60oJMStd2dShiLW-grYO4KThMnnmc1vCvLT-srNFTBCBrxO-yRxSSLoBuZbRm94zZVbJ6TmsW-RPcsW98O1l54O2hw/w400-h394/311143271_10166759948775646_512915195231096443_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Social media got wind of this all, as did <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/15/liz-truss-lettuce-daily-star-economy/" target="_blank">US news outlets</a>, and soon Americans wanted to know: who says <b><i>a lettuce</i></b>?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">(Oh wait, now she's got a disco ball!)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXVGxJPbZ7MYj9hFzQ25zOW7lRqe8zHGI_UdNa7w9xFsc0sOy_6aCosUEYK691owUcTrnQ-PSgIkjxVSeQUcc8cC_mQPEucfpgtJkOP5BKgoFxR4jKGCOOSH3YbCrQUP1Lz-1lgWmF_XzqfWWRClAAiiQ5HEfj3Cs9rpA_yRIwXKmg4q-bEg/s1836/Screen%20Shot%202022-10-16%20at%2019.29.57.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1034" data-original-width="1836" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXVGxJPbZ7MYj9hFzQ25zOW7lRqe8zHGI_UdNa7w9xFsc0sOy_6aCosUEYK691owUcTrnQ-PSgIkjxVSeQUcc8cC_mQPEucfpgtJkOP5BKgoFxR4jKGCOOSH3YbCrQUP1Lz-1lgWmF_XzqfWWRClAAiiQ5HEfj3Cs9rpA_yRIwXKmg4q-bEg/w640-h360/Screen%20Shot%202022-10-16%20at%2019.29.57.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><div>While there's a lot of discussion on names of lettuce types<a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2008/08/big-list-of-vegetables.html"> in the comments of my big ol' vegetable post</a>, no one there mentioned the countability problem. That is: for most Americans, <i><b>lettuce</b></i> is a <a href="https://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/non-countable_nouns.htm">non-countable noun</a>. You can have <i>some lettuce</i>, but not <i>a lettuce</i>. If you want to talk about the thing that's been compared to Liz Truss, in AmE you'd need what is sometimes called <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/partitive-in-grammar-1691587">a partitive noun</a>, like <i>head</i>: <i><b>a head of lettuce</b></i>. </div><div><br /></div><div>BrE is happier than AmE in calling the thing <b style="font-style: italic;">a lettuce</b><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span> I'm afraid the numbers on this corpus result are very small because I had to search for "a lettuce" only before punctuation, so that I didn't accidentally get cases of <i>a lettuce leaf </i>or <i>a lettuce sandwich</i>, etc. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8fHJaadoGW1r_JX-Sx1TUlW5TsXUvhAdxYbStGgIQIiOeB2bSxIVLY14AWA4DFv1tvLN5-ycrUL2qAeLIHpBVBZSF2qq0aPaYjLy2KswNGxBgh8m7s7kAg2uLKbNIyvCWT1C6o9x1S7MMPBYkOKfdNApOwrZeQvGeCn0Jsk8FaOnSYF9K8Q/s1260/Screen%20Shot%202022-10-16%20at%2020.07.53.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="526" data-original-width="1260" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8fHJaadoGW1r_JX-Sx1TUlW5TsXUvhAdxYbStGgIQIiOeB2bSxIVLY14AWA4DFv1tvLN5-ycrUL2qAeLIHpBVBZSF2qq0aPaYjLy2KswNGxBgh8m7s7kAg2uLKbNIyvCWT1C6o9x1S7MMPBYkOKfdNApOwrZeQvGeCn0Jsk8FaOnSYF9K8Q/w640-h269/Screen%20Shot%202022-10-16%20at%2020.07.53.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The first US hit is a weird sentence from a suspended-by-Wordpress blog, so I'm not sure it was really written by an AmE speaker. The other is: "You are what you eat, but who wants to be a lettuce?" The British ones include feeding an animal "a lettuce" and putting another ingredient in "the heart of a lettuce". The numbers are small, but they are leaning British and the British examples are more clearly about literal lettuce.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><b>Cabbage</b> </i>tends the same way, but with more examples:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs1_hLMrvb8pKxMMjam637KrVl729bFCrFClsdqW1VK3L8AwKXcQ8VrTnegncqmZGqdRN6xJbeGTBnWcLqEMMhT8DfEw3P-iawYoMBCmxKtZOMMfc_z_1HmT7wbw5ni5k7N3ybSk0tOK9_lpY01E0vtWAhIjVB-zi7yWOWcL9JWwxSGYoWqQ/s1364/Screen%20Shot%202022-10-16%20at%2020.15.55.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="836" data-original-width="1364" height="392" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs1_hLMrvb8pKxMMjam637KrVl729bFCrFClsdqW1VK3L8AwKXcQ8VrTnegncqmZGqdRN6xJbeGTBnWcLqEMMhT8DfEw3P-iawYoMBCmxKtZOMMfc_z_1HmT7wbw5ni5k7N3ybSk0tOK9_lpY01E0vtWAhIjVB-zi7yWOWcL9JWwxSGYoWqQ/w640-h392/Screen%20Shot%202022-10-16%20at%2020.15.55.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And in case you're wondering, this is not because lettuce or cabbage are mentioned twice as much in UK:<br /><br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz70jolSM7_V8dw8osbQJkK4HEdeNBjer49KEJVwzrQEFcCxHNf8mx2xjnk8xLJ5nOYn4mV4W_bJq0dEx98YsGJMG-88RisA1aEykpbxhb9itwtcu5BCum6sQ6YDMHQtI8cpxEyf-5WsN7lIac4VbTu9ZnsqfPsJkPGZT5VeI5zaAtceeklQ/s1352/Screen%20Shot%202022-10-16%20at%2020.17.02.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="574" data-original-width="1352" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz70jolSM7_V8dw8osbQJkK4HEdeNBjer49KEJVwzrQEFcCxHNf8mx2xjnk8xLJ5nOYn4mV4W_bJq0dEx98YsGJMG-88RisA1aEykpbxhb9itwtcu5BCum6sQ6YDMHQtI8cpxEyf-5WsN7lIac4VbTu9ZnsqfPsJkPGZT5VeI5zaAtceeklQ/w640-h272/Screen%20Shot%202022-10-16%20at%2020.17.02.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><div>If you can have <i style="font-weight: bold;">a lettuce</i>, that is, if it is countable for you, then it is natural for you to talk about two or more <i><b>lettuces</b></i>, and we can see here that BrE does that a lot more than AmE does. In AmE, you <i>can</i> talk about <i>two lettuces</i> but it will almost inevitably be interpreted as 'two kinds of lettuce', for example: <i>I am growing two lettuces this year: iceberg and <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2008/08/big-list-of-vegetables.html" target="_blank">romaine</a></i>. You could say <i>two lettuces</i> in BrE and mean 'two kinds of lettuce', but you could also use it to mean two 'heads' of one kind of lettuce, as in <i>How many iceberg lettuces do you want me to buy?</i></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgukBthdFeDIiB9lc4hFiQmb9w_WezpfepTPymNcPDGlvbPuCmUNuBlqHrOAnFYbXVakjOKuWHKEZd34aHma2LIUFJAo-8C8DiaPfcb5CtrtBWsx7FFcZWp0k71wa4I-pw79yAfuq73nBE_OyXBG6dCuPmM4T9rK4wJcuNk25HcwexoFHWcsQ/s1316/Screen%20Shot%202022-10-16%20at%2022.24.07.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="592" data-original-width="1316" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgukBthdFeDIiB9lc4hFiQmb9w_WezpfepTPymNcPDGlvbPuCmUNuBlqHrOAnFYbXVakjOKuWHKEZd34aHma2LIUFJAo-8C8DiaPfcb5CtrtBWsx7FFcZWp0k71wa4I-pw79yAfuq73nBE_OyXBG6dCuPmM4T9rK4wJcuNk25HcwexoFHWcsQ/w640-h288/Screen%20Shot%202022-10-16%20at%2022.24.07.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>Meanwhile, <i style="font-weight: bold;">head of</i> seems much more American than British (though Irish English seem to like it for cabbages).<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIEvOSDZxKOdY_SMz6de8ntSvd27ebAR3FhKSxrXqsoIUTqSa1yPwgChuxR5aNhQZlCrfkUdFT_7yZwbkgGxlIerexyzSM6v0NbcBTwjbJ-W0E6XyY-NGE5qMCNApN3ZVq78SszgRG7TsKvOsBFYCcyfJOBH3i1QYNjHEyhA8hC2wg_EdKvA/s1342/Screen%20Shot%202022-10-16%20at%2020.21.17.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="578" data-original-width="1342" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIEvOSDZxKOdY_SMz6de8ntSvd27ebAR3FhKSxrXqsoIUTqSa1yPwgChuxR5aNhQZlCrfkUdFT_7yZwbkgGxlIerexyzSM6v0NbcBTwjbJ-W0E6XyY-NGE5qMCNApN3ZVq78SszgRG7TsKvOsBFYCcyfJOBH3i1QYNjHEyhA8hC2wg_EdKvA/w640-h277/Screen%20Shot%202022-10-16%20at%2020.21.17.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkUyRmrj1vl_i0er606d3GhgXg45NQWJgdyjnbiV-QgCY4Kktq4Aw5iykpi0OvCwTR8V6w06HK6pRdsnIYZKJ5xz22RMZ83ri7DWRSBAJmwmKcLSFxXKBaEzSgbfB_UGCSf4OB53xx-CmCAtpXm-iBe6u7diAgJRpp2Esh3mexEbozf9UWHQ/s1334/Screen%20Shot%202022-10-16%20at%2020.21.30.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="568" data-original-width="1334" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkUyRmrj1vl_i0er606d3GhgXg45NQWJgdyjnbiV-QgCY4Kktq4Aw5iykpi0OvCwTR8V6w06HK6pRdsnIYZKJ5xz22RMZ83ri7DWRSBAJmwmKcLSFxXKBaEzSgbfB_UGCSf4OB53xx-CmCAtpXm-iBe6u7diAgJRpp2Esh3mexEbozf9UWHQ/w640-h272/Screen%20Shot%202022-10-16%20at%2020.21.30.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>This isn't because the US or Ireland made up <i>head of—</i>it dates way back in English-English:<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRyTTI5Zz3Swu__GV0RgvA6jmmUK_kP-QQMDMVTOvWRRAe5MUDZvtlmmlzuz0oskv0gB4u-Zj9oWyZxszmtxWJGzuOOMAM-QeKrfdgZwyhS4qsVpzoH674154OnTngtOImOqmUYJtEdxPclPx43E7y_CRAEOLRhAls6bF0c2ZdfyTyj-2l7Q/s1892/Screen%20Shot%202022-10-16%20at%2020.24.13.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="688" data-original-width="1892" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRyTTI5Zz3Swu__GV0RgvA6jmmUK_kP-QQMDMVTOvWRRAe5MUDZvtlmmlzuz0oskv0gB4u-Zj9oWyZxszmtxWJGzuOOMAM-QeKrfdgZwyhS4qsVpzoH674154OnTngtOImOqmUYJtEdxPclPx43E7y_CRAEOLRhAls6bF0c2ZdfyTyj-2l7Q/w640-h232/Screen%20Shot%202022-10-16%20at%2020.24.13.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">But <i><b>head of</b> </i>has clearly been more AmE than BrE since the mid-nineteenth century:</div><div><br /></div><p></p></div>
<iframe frameborder="0" height="335" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="ngram_chart" scrolling="no" src="https://books.google.com/ngrams/interactive_chart?content=head+of+lettuce%3Aeng_gb_2019%2Chead+of+lettuce%3Aeng_us_2019%2Chead+of+cabbage%3Aeng_gb_2019%2Chead+of+cabbage%3Aeng_us_2019&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Chead+of+lettuce%3Aeng_gb_2019%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Chead+of+lettuce%3Aeng_us_2019%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Chead+of+cabbage%3Aeng_gb_2019%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Chead+of+cabbage%3Aeng_us_2019%3B%2Cc0" vspace="0" width="600"></iframe> <div><br /></div><div>You may be able to think of other examples of AmE & BrE differing in whether they treat a noun as count or non-count. <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/search/label/count%2Fmass" target="_blank">Click through here to read blog posts about some of them</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div>In case you're wondering about the other items in the screenshots:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The (AmE) <b>bag/</b>(BrE) <b>packet </b>of (BrE) <b>pork scratchings </b>is similar to (AmE) <b>pork rinds</b>, but apparently <a href="https://www.snafflingpig.co.uk/blogs/pig-blogs/whats-the-difference-between-pork-scratchings-pork-crackling-and-pork-crunch-pork-rind">a bit different</a>. </li><li><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/03/cures-for-what-ails-you.html">I've covered (BrE) <b>paracetamol</b> at this old post</a>.</li></ul></div></div>lynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-50828606441434407142022-09-25T09:00:00.016+01:002022-10-02T20:54:09.442+01:00Competition (UK): Win a copy of Ellen Jovin's Rebel with a Clause<p><span style="font-family: inherit;">For years, <a href="https://www.ellenjovin.com/">Ellen Jovin</a> has carted a table, chair and reference books—first around New York City and later all across the United States—to volunteer herself as “The Grammar Table.” In doing so, she gives passers-by the opportunity to ask grammar questions, to vent about grammar (or other people’s grammar), and to learn more about English and other languages. She’s now written a book based on her Grammar Table adventures: <i>Rebel with a Clause</i>. I got to read it pre-publication, and this was my review:</span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Those who learn grammatical rules are doomed to repeat them. And, boy, do they repeat them—tirelessly, senselessly, bringing us to the point where much of the English-speaking world thinks grammar is boring or difficult or scary. Ellen Jovin is on a mission to rescue us from that joyless fate. Her generosity and curiosity about language is second only to her generosity and curiosity with the people who approach her for grammatical advice. We could all stand to be a bit more Ellen Jovin.</span></p></blockquote><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The publishers have kindly sent me an extra copy of the book to share with my readers—though I must say, it’s me who’s paying for the postage, so I’m going to concentrate my sharing efforts on my UK readers. The American readers at least have the excitement of knowing that they may run into Ellen’s</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Grammar Table in their public square or strip mall when she sets up her stall there. (Rest-of-World readers: Sorry!)</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">To make giving away a book more interesting, I’m going to give it to someone who comments on this blog post with a question for Ellen, and (here’s the exciting part!) you are going to get the Grammar Table experience, because <b>Ellen is going to respond to the questions that show up before the contest deadline</b>.*<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So, to enter the competition:</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Comment on the blog with a question for Ellen by [AmE format]<b> October 2, 2022</b>.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sign your message with a name that will identify you (it need not be your full name) and let us know that you’re in the UK. (You can comment without being in the UK, but you can’t have the copy of the book.)<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Click the ‘Notify Me’ box, so that you’ll see the response to your question AND learn whether you’ve won.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> <span style="color: #cc0000;">If you don't see such a box, there are other ways to be notified...see the comments. </span></span></span></li></ul><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">After the [non-AmE format] <b>2 October</b> deadline, I will put the names of the eligible commenters into a real or virtual hat and draw a winner, then announce that winner in a blog comment, with details on how to email me to claim the prize. I will send the book out to them soon after.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>(BrE) <b>Ready, steady, </b>ask some questions!<br /><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">*Normal commenting etiquette applies. I reserve the right to delete any comments that I find rude or abusive. Any commenter will only be entered into the contest ONCE.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #ffe599; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">AND THE WINNER IS....GRHM!!! <br /></span>I'm closing down the comments now to give Ellen a break. </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #ffe599; font-family: inherit;">Thank you <u>so much</u> to Ellen for her generosity in answering the questions, and to everyone who asked a question! </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>lynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.com66tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-86848693375650592072022-08-14T18:08:00.002+01:002022-08-15T16:25:42.148+01:00fit for purpose / fit to purpose<p> So I tweeted this recently...</p><p><br /></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Difference of the Day: I seriously cannot believe that I've never done BrE 'fit for purpose'. Thanks for suggesting it <a href="https://twitter.com/MHanson62?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MHanson62</a>. What to give for an AmE equivalent? Nothing so well used... <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DotD?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DotD</a> <a href="https://t.co/u2flTPlXZt">pic.twitter.com/u2flTPlXZt</a></p>— Lynne Murphy (@lynneguist) <a href="https://twitter.com/lynneguist/status/1547249499537547271?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 13, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><p>(click on it to get the whole picture from Twitter)</p><p>Here's another view of how much more <b><i>fit for purpose</i> </b>is used in BrE, and how relatively recent it is:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQLBDk6WqOYJJJn-nori-akVgquxT7PnSRPBe93TKwOtFFWv7m4HqaFexMliUyHUACddul-uUK6X-dWibwxmkD3HI5-IThMdPQjgkGa7hAajs72BXJ7iSp9cmPrnBH80ZqbaGdTx9pC8OuUKM-KG9eq-Re1gBdDKdtAsqdmlW_zWOwBb-k3Q/s2630/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-20%20at%2019.37.26.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1242" data-original-width="2630" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQLBDk6WqOYJJJn-nori-akVgquxT7PnSRPBe93TKwOtFFWv7m4HqaFexMliUyHUACddul-uUK6X-dWibwxmkD3HI5-IThMdPQjgkGa7hAajs72BXJ7iSp9cmPrnBH80ZqbaGdTx9pC8OuUKM-KG9eq-Re1gBdDKdtAsqdmlW_zWOwBb-k3Q/w640-h302/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-20%20at%2019.37.26.png" width="640" /></a></p><p>(click to enlarge)</p><p>But then Stephen P wrote to point out this tweet by an American with <b><i>fit to purpose</i>:</b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiasztopbwT37iB7X_HajmR-2CxMH2vCmXlbB9xgvFOjHb8dpl_uVDYen8F62dls-KCn7rK-tfGKMSUJNeN0AYLjKIoZX_VZbpFLFjPQTJTn6qtyGVRcq94zF0Y0RzJv1bKc2tOgd-fC2hV2BWv3ISDJLWgGbdbcsfxevzyqW425xxaJWftaA/s1138/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-20%20at%2019.32.06.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="430" data-original-width="1138" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiasztopbwT37iB7X_HajmR-2CxMH2vCmXlbB9xgvFOjHb8dpl_uVDYen8F62dls-KCn7rK-tfGKMSUJNeN0AYLjKIoZX_VZbpFLFjPQTJTn6qtyGVRcq94zF0Y0RzJv1bKc2tOgd-fC2hV2BWv3ISDJLWgGbdbcsfxevzyqW425xxaJWftaA/w640-h242/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-20%20at%2019.32.06.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><b><br /></b><p></p><p>In searching for that tweet on Twitter, I discovered other Americans writing <i>fit to purpose</i>. Their numbers are dwarfed by the number of BrE speakers saying <i style="font-weight: bold;">fit for purpose</i>, but it's an interesting development! </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYSP7MyBie67nMy6X4XowXNnFnx_Pb0MxzObEOUhfceBrT4udW1cl82cc349cz4WEz5xsyv-N1rrNw2tTD5oYEpzZ3USYrEUCsnuuMpTs6amgGRA22aWF6WcGubZMIzUBEp4JDhmYrLWw2SkZYyrUf0Su2n5z4hM7oK2R7pE1RGTUCp3aHlA/s2586/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-20%20at%2019.36.44.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1190" data-original-width="2586" height="294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYSP7MyBie67nMy6X4XowXNnFnx_Pb0MxzObEOUhfceBrT4udW1cl82cc349cz4WEz5xsyv-N1rrNw2tTD5oYEpzZ3USYrEUCsnuuMpTs6amgGRA22aWF6WcGubZMIzUBEp4JDhmYrLWw2SkZYyrUf0Su2n5z4hM7oK2R7pE1RGTUCp3aHlA/w640-h294/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-20%20at%2019.36.44.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihOsXVoTsCLVDhnEsKmOM3xlpfA17lbNRgFGazEMttogAuq3W7-TG8xnMXslTZiu6An76tTqMFmtLk1S0yco-u6K2dUe5fFht3kPmFs0PKWPDiDHqAtz3mnATIw5l0j1XdDk6JKzByhYq4RWN6Iy1JKr55I__L5lmHCegwXqRiP8nLlyfQBQ/s2582/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-20%20at%2019.38.39.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="910" data-original-width="2582" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihOsXVoTsCLVDhnEsKmOM3xlpfA17lbNRgFGazEMttogAuq3W7-TG8xnMXslTZiu6An76tTqMFmtLk1S0yco-u6K2dUe5fFht3kPmFs0PKWPDiDHqAtz3mnATIw5l0j1XdDk6JKzByhYq4RWN6Iy1JKr55I__L5lmHCegwXqRiP8nLlyfQBQ/w640-h226/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-20%20at%2019.38.39.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><b>The moral of this story</b>: prepositions change easily. That's because prepositions don't have much meaning in themselves. </p><p>This one doesn't seem to have shown up yet on Ben Yagoda's <a href="https://notoneoffbritishisms.com/list-of-entries/#fname">Not One-Off Britishisms,</a> but then again, is it a Britishism in the US? Did Americans pick up <i>fit for purpose </i>and change the preposition, or did they pick up the rarer <i>to</i> and make it their own? There's <b>the second moral of this story:</b> calling something a "Britishism" or an "Americanism" is a complicated business. (And if you want to know how complicated, <a href="https://theprodigaltongue.com/">I have a book to sell you...)</a></p>lynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-91642675424338059472022-07-17T17:05:00.010+01:002022-07-17T18:02:40.195+01:00crescent<p> Reader Sam Fox wrote in with the question:</p><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"></div><blockquote><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I am an American, a Midwesterner all my life, though I have traveled quite a bit.. </div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">On a recent visit to London I was surprised to hear the word “crescent” in the tube stop Mornington Crescent pronounced with a z rather than s. I think I heard other examples of unexected intervocalic voicing. Is this something you have noticed?</div></blockquote><p>I have noticed it, particularly since I've had the word <i>crescent</i> is in my address. But I was surprised to find that UK dictionaries don't seem to agree about it at all.</p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh91_ukBujZILBIMRZDCk2GQKBGNZrG9ZOnL6hC2l5ZRnPpDxEU42iAnX24RGiG2TytI3s0GqbtzMnklqh3SW-i1Bw1lu0lY7FvcrusHqwWjxJcR4p8j_Sg_mUOKAcbjHP-JbUZiMWJzTQpMY5WxZnISxsHAS0t9OnmX_pji5DvkQkFBFQ7-w/s540/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-15%20at%2012.26.38.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="248" data-original-width="540" height="92" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh91_ukBujZILBIMRZDCk2GQKBGNZrG9ZOnL6hC2l5ZRnPpDxEU42iAnX24RGiG2TytI3s0GqbtzMnklqh3SW-i1Bw1lu0lY7FvcrusHqwWjxJcR4p8j_Sg_mUOKAcbjHP-JbUZiMWJzTQpMY5WxZnISxsHAS0t9OnmX_pji5DvkQkFBFQ7-w/w200-h92/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-15%20at%2012.26.38.png" width="200" /></a></div>In the /s/ camp:<p></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The <i>Oxford English Dictionary </i>(a historical dictionary) [first picture]</li></ul><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Google [picture 2] </li><li><a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/pronunciation/english/crescent">Cambridge </a></li><li><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigVU5txPex-shyqebXl86xihfSADzzGMrh2K7tqF0RwSZ75mSUhxLsPf2NC4H4V1lhqFmIWA3EL7i6jba34u8mD4k7UyoMvr6EFPNvhjUXhgncrXE0mSHyd0C43x-rPRdHGRiiodJkPQK6U14rkMM9rkEdMAin0O5qTqtTUv8jIYd9cXYduw/s2076/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-15%20at%2012.28.19.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="754" data-original-width="2076" height="73" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigVU5txPex-shyqebXl86xihfSADzzGMrh2K7tqF0RwSZ75mSUhxLsPf2NC4H4V1lhqFmIWA3EL7i6jba34u8mD4k7UyoMvr6EFPNvhjUXhgncrXE0mSHyd0C43x-rPRdHGRiiodJkPQK6U14rkMM9rkEdMAin0O5qTqtTUv8jIYd9cXYduw/w200-h73/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-15%20at%2012.28.19.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>And all of the American dictionaries (Merriam-Webster, Webster's New World, Dictionary.com, American Heritage)</li></ul><div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>In the /z/ camp:<span> </span></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Nj4psGtGfQSaDMLcxrs3MsRGO9UIRmLjL0colOrCp4QTv_SLRG0YfEdqGctRziJq40adp8X7ATdgqqOq7JZKd02DEJDYYSkCbkja62104dNH9X47MvYNAenTnPjq_C5CGEsOulk9bbWQfJjOWOftmLQBBfLiASQxUWBuwAcKK5xtt9j3Ng/s1160/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-15%20at%2012.35.47.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="296" data-original-width="1160" height="82" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Nj4psGtGfQSaDMLcxrs3MsRGO9UIRmLjL0colOrCp4QTv_SLRG0YfEdqGctRziJq40adp8X7ATdgqqOq7JZKd02DEJDYYSkCbkja62104dNH9X47MvYNAenTnPjq_C5CGEsOulk9bbWQfJjOWOftmLQBBfLiASQxUWBuwAcKK5xtt9j3Ng/s320/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-15%20at%2012.35.47.png" width="320" /></a><li><a href="https://www.lexico.com/definition/crescent" style="text-align: left;">Lexico</a><span style="text-align: left;"> (which comes from the people at Oxford Dictionaries) </span></li><li><span style="color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: underline;">Macmillan </span>(picture 3)</li></ul></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvu0_YFhXEFSv3Iy8gzNL6WXgalwu0eyCfKw9ydy5knRZzCt3qbSlF96MeRIW7WkhBfllapMDDjbGwQUX9yYYlkX1BJ8DmvsRPlOPVQASLJgw4eQ7hxhmpjxkplR8uqpbLv8CootQo8mbYUP6L0EfnVYQScjWruWAkwjsKdeL1P1ScHbx-bA/s1354/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-15%20at%2012.31.06.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="614" data-original-width="1354" height="145" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvu0_YFhXEFSv3Iy8gzNL6WXgalwu0eyCfKw9ydy5knRZzCt3qbSlF96MeRIW7WkhBfllapMDDjbGwQUX9yYYlkX1BJ8DmvsRPlOPVQASLJgw4eQ7hxhmpjxkplR8uqpbLv8CootQo8mbYUP6L0EfnVYQScjWruWAkwjsKdeL1P1ScHbx-bA/s320/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-15%20at%2012.31.06.png" width="320" /></a>And presenting both, always with /z/ as the second option::</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/crescent">Collins</a>, in both their English dictionary and in the COBUILD (learner's) dictionary. (picture 4)</li><li><a href="https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/crescent">Longman</a></li></ul></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Since the OED has only the /s/ and since /s/ > /z/ between vowels is the more likely phonological process, we can assume that the /z/ is somewhat new compared to the /s/, and so it's particularly interesting that two of the British sources <i>only</i> have the /z/. If anyone in the US says it with a /z/, I don't know about them. So we can say that this /z/ is a BrE pronunciation, but not <i>the</i> BrE pronunciation. (When it comes to pronunciation, there's probably next to nothing that one can count as <i>the </i>BrE.)</div><div><br /></div><div>So how prevalent is the /z/ in the UK? And who says it?</div><div><br /></div><div>I listened to more than 50 examples on <a href="https://youglish.com/pronounce/crescent/english/uk">YouGlish</a>, discounting a few along the way because they were the same person again or the person seemed not to have a UK accent. Of the 47 I counted, 23 had /z/, 23 had /s/, and one, by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Bennett">Alan Bennett,</a> I just couldn't tell. So the dictionaries that have both seem to have good reason for it. </div><div><br /></div><div>At first, I was getting mostly /s/ and I thought that it was because there were a lot of 'posh' voices giving lectures about the Fertile Crescent. But as I went on, it became clear how varied the speakers who say /s/ or /z/ are. Both were said by young and old. Both were said by fancily educated people. There were a couple of Scottish voices that said /s/, but other than that it felt like both /s/ and /z/ were hearable around much of England. Among the /z/-sayers were <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Cox_(physicist)">Professor Brian Cox </a>(from near Manchester, in his 50s) and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Paxman">Jeremy Paxman</a> (in his 70s, born in Leeds but raised in Hampshire and sounding very much like his Cambridge education). I wonder if there are any dialectologists out there who could give us a bit more insight about whether this /z/ is particularly associated with one place or another? It doesn't seem to be a variation that was captured in the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2215039017300589">Cambridge Dialect App</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div>Going beyond <i>crescent</i>, there are other spelled-<i><b>s</b></i>-pronounced-/z/ cases that contrast between AmE and some BrE speakers. The <a href="http://accenteraser.com/blog/american-s-vs-british-z/">Accent Eraser</a>* site lists these ones, a couple of which I've written about before (see links).<br /></div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px;">Eraser</span></li><li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px;">Blouse</span></li><li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px;">Diagnose</span></li><li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px;">Greasy**</span></li><li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px;">Opposite</span></li><li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px;">Resource</span></li><li><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/08/pronouncing-french-words-and-names.html" style="font-size: 15px;">Vase</a></li><li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px;">Mimosa</span></li><li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px;">Crescent</span></li><li><span face="Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2016/07/theresa-and-other-sibilant-names.html">Joseph</a> (click on the link to see a lot more personal names with this difference)</span></li></ul><div>These are lexical pronunciations—that is, speakers just learn to pronounce the word that way on a word-by-word basis, rather than a rule-based pronunciation, where the pronunciation is 'conditioned' by its pronunciation environment and it happens to all words that contain that environment. We can tell this isn't a phonologically conditioned variant because <i>fleecy</i>, which has an /s/ sound between the same vowels as in <i>greasy</i>, is never "fleezy". There's nothing these words have in common that makes them all go toward the same pronunciation—some are between vowels (a place where it's easy for consonants to take on voicing), but others are word-final. Some may have been pushed toward /z/-ness due to their similarity with other /z/-pronounced words: <i>greasy–easy</i>, <i>resource–resort</i>, and the like. </div><div><br /></div><div>My intuition about them is that they're very irregular across people. I just played a 'guess the word' game with my south-London-born spouse (50s), and he used /z/ for all of these except <i>greasy</i> and <i>opposite</i>, for which he used /s/. Who knows why?</div><div><br /></div><div>I haven't got the time now to see how regular dictionaries are about their representations of these, but it strikes me that this would make a nice little undergraduate student project!</div><div><br /></div><div><span>*Eek! "Accent erasing" is not something a linguist likes to endorse—you can be an accent replacer, but not an accent eraser.</span></div><div><span><br /></span></div><div><span>** Forgot to mention: you do hear <i>greasy</i> with a /z/ in AmE. I think of it as southern, someone on Twitter said they think of it as midlands, but a friend from my northeastern hometown says it, so it's kind of irregular too.</span></div><p></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"></div>lynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.com41tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-79901488016913213222022-07-10T20:52:00.001+01:002022-07-10T20:54:39.058+01:00come on!<p>I got this by email from a reader named Robbie:</p><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A while ago I watched several episodes of the US children's show "Bubble Guppies" and found myself getting more and more annoyed with them. As in many preschool shows, the characters speak directly to the audience and encourage them to get involved with the story. Every time the scene changed (going from the park to school, from the classroom to the playground, etc.) one of the characters would turn to the viewer and say "<b>come on!</b>"</p><div><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The more I thought about this, the more rude it sounded, and the more it seemed that you might be the person to ask!</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Presumably all this repetition of "come on" doesn't sound impolite to American ears, since children's shows tend to teach politeness. To me it sounds peremptory and bossy, but does this apply to British listeners generally, or is it just me? I'm guessing an equivalent British show would be more likely to say "let's go" to the viewer, but perhaps also "come along" from one character to another.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">And now I'm thinking of Dora the Explorer, who gets them both in (plus Spanish) with her song: "Come on, vamanos, everybody, let's go".</p></div></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>Interesting question. Phrasal verbs like this are tricky, because they are usually very polysemous (i.e. have many meanings). Phrasal verbs used in imperative form (as a command/request) are going to be even trickier because we don't just have the verb meaning, we have lots of pragmatics/politeness issues swirling around. So I expected this to be a very tricky thing to answer. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvzF2viB8pBGACL0PGLHL9zWQjl9kiwzxEkLEpf-hgAHbEIdi-loGs2QuMOKOL0GRQpceGzUDcGf_zD4qhDKh59BcFX2TGgxRoRfvhLFXKaaf_JCRB4K2W7egNvrNTIVXzKab6D_pJexhG-pfRepqGApL-Evx-rPt0p1pd2iLvqEFgdLZlLw/s1700/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-10%20at%2020.33.25.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="958" data-original-width="1700" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvzF2viB8pBGACL0PGLHL9zWQjl9kiwzxEkLEpf-hgAHbEIdi-loGs2QuMOKOL0GRQpceGzUDcGf_zD4qhDKh59BcFX2TGgxRoRfvhLFXKaaf_JCRB4K2W7egNvrNTIVXzKab6D_pJexhG-pfRepqGApL-Evx-rPt0p1pd2iLvqEFgdLZlLw/w400-h225/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-10%20at%2020.33.25.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Still from the video for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCKTrC5vJd8">this song</a>. Click if you dare!</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br />But then I looked in some dictionaries, and it is easy to see how different British and American lexicographers' estimations of the phrase are. The <a href="https://www.collinsdictionary.com/">Collins dictionary website</a> shows the contrast well. (The American English bit of the Collins website is from the <i>Webster's New World Dictionary</i>, written in the US.)</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div class="cB-h" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px 0px 5px;"><div class="title_container" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><h2 class="h2_entry" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Zilla Slab"; font-size: 38px; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><span class="orth" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;">come on!</span></h2></div></div><div class="cB-h" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px 0px 5px;"><div class="title_container" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><h2 class="h2_entry" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Zilla Slab"; font-size: 38px; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><span class="dictname" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;">in British English</span></h2></div></div><div class="content definitions ced" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><div class="hom sense" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0.5em 1.5em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><div class="sense" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><span class="sensenum" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.1em; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px 2px 0px -1.3em; min-width: 1em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;">a. </span><div class="def" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"> <a class="ref type-def" href="https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/hurry" style="border-bottom-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Definition of hurry">hurry</a> up!</div></div></div></div><div class="content definitions ced" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><div class="hom sense" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0.5em 1.5em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><div class="sense" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><span class="sensenum" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.1em; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px 2px 0px -1.3em; min-width: 1em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;">b. </span><div class="def" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"> <a class="ref type-def" href="https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/cheer" style="border-bottom-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Definition of cheer">cheer</a> up! <a class="ref type-def" href="https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/pull" style="border-bottom-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Definition of pull">pull</a> yourself together!</div></div></div></div><div class="content definitions ced" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><div class="hom sense" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0.5em 1.5em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><div class="sense" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><span class="sensenum" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.1em; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px 2px 0px -1.3em; min-width: 1em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;">c. </span><div class="def" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;">make an <a class="ref type-def" href="https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/effort" style="border-bottom-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Definition of effort">effort</a>!</div></div></div></div><div class="content definitions ced" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><div class="hom sense" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0.5em 1.5em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><div class="sense" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><span class="sensenum" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.1em; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px 2px 0px -1.3em; min-width: 1em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;">d. </span><div class="def" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;">don't <a class="ref type-def" href="https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/exaggerate" style="border-bottom-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Definition of exaggerate">exaggerate</a>! <a class="ref type-def" href="https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/stick" style="border-bottom-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Definition of stick">stick</a> to the <a class="ref type-def" href="https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/fact" style="border-bottom-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Definition of facts">facts</a>!</div></div></div></div></blockquote><div class="mini_h2" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"></div><div class="content definitions ced" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><div class="hom sense" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0.5em 1.5em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><div><div class="def" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><br /></div></div><div><div class="def" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><div class="cB-h" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px 0px 5px;"><div class="title_container" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><h2 class="h2_entry" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Zilla Slab"; font-size: 38px; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><span class="orth" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;">come on!</span><span class="dictname" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;">in American English</span></h2></div></div><div class="mini_h2" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"></div><div class="content definitions american" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><span class="lbl type-register" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Zilla Slab"; font-size: 18px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;">Informal</span><div class="hom" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><span class="gramGrp" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"></span><div class="sense" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0.5em 1.5em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><div class="def" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;">used to <a class="ref type-def" href="https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/signify" style="border-bottom-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Definition of signify">signify</a></div><div class="sense" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><span class="sensenum" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.1em; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px 2px 0px -1.3em; min-width: 1em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;">a. </span> <div class="def" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><a class="ref type-def" href="https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/invitation" style="border-bottom-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Definition of invitation">invitation</a>, often to a <a class="ref type-def" href="https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/different" style="border-bottom-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Definition of different">different</a> place</div></div><div class="sense" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><span class="sensenum" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.1em; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px 2px 0px -1.3em; min-width: 1em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;">b. </span> <div class="def" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;">encouragement, urgency, etc.</div><div class="cit type-example" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><span class="quote" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><span class="hi rend-i" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;">come on</span>! you can do it</span></div></div><div class="sense" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><span class="sensenum" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.1em; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px 2px 0px -1.3em; min-width: 1em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;">c. </span> <div class="def" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><a class="ref type-def" href="https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/objection" style="border-bottom-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Definition of objection">objection</a>, <a class="ref type-def" href="https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/disagreement" style="border-bottom-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Definition of disagreement">disagreement</a>, <a class="ref type-def" href="https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/refusal" style="border-bottom-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Definition of refusal">refusal</a> to <a class="ref type-def" href="https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/believe" style="border-bottom-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Definition of believe">believe</a>, etc.</div><div class="cit type-example" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><span class="quote" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><span class="hi rend-i" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;">come on</span>! you can't be serious</span></div><div class="cit type-example" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><br /></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><span class="xr" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"></span></div>American sense (c) is the same as British sense (d)—the 'objection' sense. That's always going to seem a bit impatient or rude. British senses (a) 'hurry', (b) 'cheer up' and (c) 'make an effort' might all be folded into American sense (b) 'used to signify encouragement, urgency, etc.'. Whether those uses are taken as rude or helpful is very likely to depend on the intonation they're said with. <div><br /></div><div>But American sense (a) doesn't really occur in the British treatment of the expression. Does BrE use <i><b>come along</b>! </i>instead?</div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>Well, yes, but <i>Collins English Dictionary</i> doesn't know about that. Their definitions for <i>come along</i> are the same as their (a) and (c) definitions of <i>come on!</i> </div><div><br /></div><div>The <i>Collins</i> <i>COBUILD</i> dictionary entry (intended for English learners) does capture the 'invitation' sense, though they don't present it in the imperative form:<br /><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span class="sensenum" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-family: "Open Sans", serif; font-size: 1.1em; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px 2px 0px -1.3em; min-width: 1em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;">1. </span><span class="gramGrp pos" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c12d30; font-family: "Zilla Slab"; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">PHRASAL VERB</span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div class="sense" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0.5em 1.5em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><div class="def" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;">You <a class="ref type-def" href="https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/tell" style="border-bottom-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Definition of tell">tell</a> someone to <span class="hi rend-b" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c12d30; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><a class="ref type-def" href="https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/come" style="border-bottom-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Definition of come">come</a> along</span> to <a class="ref type-def" href="https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/encourage" style="border-bottom-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Definition of encourage">encourage</a> them in a <a class="ref type-def" href="https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/friendly" style="border-bottom-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Definition of friendly">friendly</a> way to do something, <a class="ref type-def" href="https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/especially" style="border-bottom-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Definition of especially">especially</a> to <a class="ref type-def" href="https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/attend" style="border-bottom-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Definition of attend">attend</a> something.</div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div class="sense" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0.5em 1.5em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><div class="cit type-example" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><span class="quote" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;">There's a big press launch today and you're most welcome to come along.</span> <a class="lbl type-syntax ref" href="https://grammar.collinsdictionary.com/grammar-pattern/v_1" style="border-bottom-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; cursor: pointer; font-family: "Zilla Slab"; font-size: 0.8em; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Explanation of [VERB PARTICLE]"><span class="punctuation" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: normal; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;">[</span><span class="hi rend-sc" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;">VERB</span> <span class="hi rend-sc" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;">PARTICLE</span><span class="punctuation" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: normal; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;">]</span></a></div></div></div></blockquote></blockquote><div><br /></div><div>I do perceive difference between AmE 'invitation' use of <i>come on! </i> and BrE 'invitation' use of <i>come along!</i>, though. I can imagine American adults saying <i>come on! </i>in a friendly inviting way to each other. <i>Come on! Join us! </i></div><div><br /></div><div>But I have a harder time imagining British adults using it that way—to me it sounds very adult-to-child-directed. I imagine children lining/queuing up behind the teacher who tells them to <i>Come along!</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>The fact that <i>Come along! </i>is less versatile than <i>Come on!</i> is clear from how much less you find it on the web in the <a href="https://www.english-corpora.org/">GloWbE corpus</a>:<br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghbwwBVQHx0bswbAltFR4hZk8zMWXTfgn1l6Gv3I7wtdvLELNzrwleycYzj3Kx-_mfCx_abPr-Y63NfTyb7MBmzrLF9mzAVnw7Ih2nZaAvV3t3S5puXu22TszsNBBd-y2Zv5zLQ2kH-j6CJxghE8HsfmhYYC8BQt9Fas0lhd9b-h7p4Z5Ylw/s1332/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-10%20at%2020.35.37.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="1332" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghbwwBVQHx0bswbAltFR4hZk8zMWXTfgn1l6Gv3I7wtdvLELNzrwleycYzj3Kx-_mfCx_abPr-Y63NfTyb7MBmzrLF9mzAVnw7Ih2nZaAvV3t3S5puXu22TszsNBBd-y2Zv5zLQ2kH-j6CJxghE8HsfmhYYC8BQt9Fas0lhd9b-h7p4Z5Ylw/w640-h286/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-10%20at%2020.35.37.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>I would love to show you how <i><b>c'mon</b> </i>fits into all this and I'd love to look at <i>Come on! Let's go!</i>, but the corpus software can't seem to cope with the apostrophes. The Google books ngram viewer shows <i>c'mon</i> is more common in AmE, but that can't give us a sense of which senses of <i>come on</i> it's used for.<br /><br /></div><iframe frameborder="0" height="500" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="ngram_chart" scrolling="no" src="https://books.google.com/ngrams/interactive_chart?content=c%27mon%3Aeng_gb_2019%2Cc%27mon%3Aeng_us_2019&year_start=1900&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cc%27mon%3Aeng_gb_2019%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cc%27mon%3Aeng_us_2019%3B%2Cc0" vspace="0" width="900"></iframe>
<div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>The comments section is open. <b>Come on</b> and let us know what you think! It might help if, as well as letting us know which country you're from, you give us a sense of your age, since younger UK readers might have a different perception of it, especially if they were Dora the Explorer fans...</div>lynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.com40tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-84723350387266159062022-04-10T15:04:00.005+01:002022-08-10T10:24:25.700+01:00making and taking decisions<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I've mentioned <i><b>making</b></i> and <b style="font-style: italic;">taking decisions </b><a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/10/some-light-verbs-take-vs-make.html">before (15 years ago!), in the context of writing about light verbs</a>. That was back in the days of shorter blog posts. The post began with a reader query:<br /><br /><blockquote style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eff2f5; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: initial; background: url("https://theprodigaltongue.com/separatedby/images/postquote.png") no-repeat scroll rgb(239, 242, 245); border-radius: 3px; clear: both; color: #0d1216; font-family: "Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 10px 0px 0px 25px; overflow: auto; padding: 10px 10px 10px 38px;">Can you tell me why some people make decisions and others take them?</blockquote><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #2e3d4c; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #2e3d4c; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #2e3d4c; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">And I said (emphasis added): </span></div></span><blockquote><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #2e3d4c; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">The reason, of course, is that some people speak some dialects and other people speak other dialects. </span><span style="color: #274e13;"><u><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">AmE speakers generally </span><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; text-align: justify;">make decisions</span><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;"> and BrE speakers can also </span><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; text-align: justify;">take decisions</span><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">.</span><br style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); font-family: "Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;" /></u></span><br style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #2e3d4c; font-family: "Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #2e3d4c; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; text-align: justify;">Make</span><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #2e3d4c; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;"> and </span><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #2e3d4c; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; text-align: justify;">take</span><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #2e3d4c; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;"> in these contexts are </span><u style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #2e3d4c; font-family: "Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">light verbs</u><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #2e3d4c; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">. </span><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #2e3d4c; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; text-align: justify;">Light verb</span><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #2e3d4c; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;"> is defined by the </span><a href="http://www2.let.uu.nl/Uil-OTS/Lexicon/" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #a50910; font-family: "Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration-line: none;">Lexicon of Linguistics</a><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #2e3d4c; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;"> as "thematically incomplete verb which only in combination with a predicative complement qualifies as a </span><a href="http://www2.let.uu.nl/Uil-OTS/Lexicon/zoek.pl?lemma=predicate" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #a50910; font-family: "Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration-line: none;">predicate</a><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #2e3d4c; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">". In other languages, this usually means a fairly semantically-empty verb that occurs with another verb in a sort of compound-verb (Japanese and Korean have lots of these). In English, the term usually refers to verbs that add very little to the sentence but occur with nouns (usually) that have been derived from verbs. So, in this example's case, one could </span><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #2e3d4c; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; text-align: justify;">decide</span><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #2e3d4c; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;"> with a regular old verb, or </span><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #2e3d4c; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; text-align: justify;">make/take</span><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #2e3d4c; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;"> </span><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #2e3d4c; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; text-align: justify;">a decision</span><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #2e3d4c; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;"> with a light verb plus a nominali{s/z}ation of the verb </span><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #2e3d4c; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; text-align: justify;">decide</span><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #2e3d4c; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">: </span><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #2e3d4c; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; text-align: justify;">decision</span><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #2e3d4c; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">.</span></blockquote><span face=""Droid Sans", Arial, "Arial Unicode MS", Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); color: #2e3d4c; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Because I'm thinking about the language of decision-making elsewhere in my life, I had a deeper look into how much decision-taking happens. The key thing to notice is that <i>taking a decision</i> is not the most comon way to say it in BrE. While BrE speakers (in 2012, when this data's from) write <i>take a decision</i> at six times the rate that AmE speakers do, they write <i>make a decision</i> at nearly 18 times the rate that they say <i>take</i>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggRMAK7CF2PrvLIgQ6pXeTeFvjG2J29m4bJuqpEq8jey5rNtdqYRiz0CjFazBGEVo8wWygq-EIZRtstDVLGPjONiVREluTl2LsXYwqnnemIdV98e6zE6OV5T4Y0GCLKMuowTdDUCk2J4iGG3FRsJZfySfWthWGJkdRCFUOX8UVk-gEl3WXlw/s1388/Screen%20Shot%202022-04-02%20at%2011.16.56.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="882" data-original-width="1388" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggRMAK7CF2PrvLIgQ6pXeTeFvjG2J29m4bJuqpEq8jey5rNtdqYRiz0CjFazBGEVo8wWygq-EIZRtstDVLGPjONiVREluTl2LsXYwqnnemIdV98e6zE6OV5T4Y0GCLKMuowTdDUCk2J4iGG3FRsJZfySfWthWGJkdRCFUOX8UVk-gEl3WXlw/w400-h254/Screen%20Shot%202022-04-02%20at%2011.16.56.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />In popular discussions of language, there's a tendency for people to perceive phrases that one group says and the other doesn't as <i>the </i>British way versus <i>the </i>American way. But English gives us lots of ways to say lots of things, and the number of ways that one group has doesn't have to be the same number of ways as another group has. That's the case here. British has more <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_verb">light verb</a> variation with the word <i>decision</i> than AmE has. <div><br /></div><div>There's another (not unrelated) tendency in popular transatlantic language discussions to assume that if BrE is using the same form as AmE when it has another form available, then they must be using the "more American" form because of "Americani{s/z}ation". Is that what's happening here?</div><div><br /></div><div>Here's <i>make/take a decision</i> in Hansard, the record of the UK parliament (where lots of decisions happen!) over 210 years. You can see that people didn't use these constructions much before the 20th century, and at the start (before 1940), there is some preference for <i>take</i>. But the numbers and the differences are small. Because the amount of data for each decade is uneven, one needs to look at the colo(u)rs when comparing across years. The darker the blue, the more 'of that time' the phrasing is. There are two things to notice about this: </div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>There's been more <i>make</i> than <i>take</i> since the 1930s. </li><li>In 'the most <i>take</i>' decades (1960s onward), <i>take </i>is playing second fiddle to <i>make</i>.</li><li>If there's AmE influence, it's happening well before mass media. </li><li>There might be a different pattern emerging for <i>making <b>a</b> decision</i> versus <i>taking <b>the </b>decision</i>. Maybe <i>taking </i>feels more definite than <i>making</i>. After all, things come into existence through <i>making. </i>We <i>take</i> things that are already known to exist.</li></ul></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3XfyirP4ZjE1rdGfRiTmuID_v5AC62A1pzJmJljcePyNWnLCLiP9ws4kFgWRn4o_8Wkny45KnnxscUO16K0gsb2fEer2g6GK97GfYrc0LXmsdU84noKPDwYhvFQyK55t9u9yKRpJiWU3q0ibRQSCBikaCDLq1Rz0V3EoUzgfwArn73qpFSw/s2386/Screen%20Shot%202022-04-02%20at%2011.30.58.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="586" data-original-width="2386" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3XfyirP4ZjE1rdGfRiTmuID_v5AC62A1pzJmJljcePyNWnLCLiP9ws4kFgWRn4o_8Wkny45KnnxscUO16K0gsb2fEer2g6GK97GfYrc0LXmsdU84noKPDwYhvFQyK55t9u9yKRpJiWU3q0ibRQSCBikaCDLq1Rz0V3EoUzgfwArn73qpFSw/w640-h158/Screen%20Shot%202022-04-02%20at%2011.30.58.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As for the history of AmE, it's a pretty solidly <i>make</i> place, with just a bit of <i>take</i> in the 1940s—and then a spark of it in the 2010s. Nascent British influence? Looking at <a href="https://notoneoffbritishisms.com/2011/04/02/take-a-decision/">US occurrences of it in his Not One-Off Britishisms blog</a>, Ben Yagoda calls it 'a novelty'. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK35likE29RodM634NmlHLHONzDqJPgq18Cxwg_xuU8S4SB1Uawx5lEte3IF0sOY6RR1zXFM7MoR4yuZhLU_G2f9KxQVFBG_bfjtCITyGL7DW1M9XgRcvLpeOblHCQSm2QTFFTAZSiHcceJ8PeX7KalnGtUnSVu0DOy1SYXeCZinZC0RuhwQ/s2402/Screen%20Shot%202022-04-02%20at%2011.32.41.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="594" data-original-width="2402" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK35likE29RodM634NmlHLHONzDqJPgq18Cxwg_xuU8S4SB1Uawx5lEte3IF0sOY6RR1zXFM7MoR4yuZhLU_G2f9KxQVFBG_bfjtCITyGL7DW1M9XgRcvLpeOblHCQSm2QTFFTAZSiHcceJ8PeX7KalnGtUnSVu0DOy1SYXeCZinZC0RuhwQ/w640-h158/Screen%20Shot%202022-04-02%20at%2011.32.41.png" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Going a bit deeper into the history, the OED tells us that <i>make a decision</i> has been around (in England) since the early 1600s, and <i>take a decision </i>shows up (in London) in the late 1700s, in a period where the US and UK aren't talking to each other much. This helps explain why <i>make</i> is more present in all of the time periods in both places and why <i>take</i> has no roots in AmE.</div><div><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEielwNtH00i-U5vLlUlLj0XeJPMtuoA4W1_uY0gQfLMD3q0RJvJOWdevCMlVGoOfz51ceUY9rJKUOCTAMgOtfA-j_3ufDiiwlLqLsy_8pZ_ICF89EsAlKS7Oju8Cxb-bB2avnIX95xfvzsjDckh0w3M4j0BxKuDr8XCSO5qlHMm_n-aCl5yIQ/s1648/Screen%20Shot%202022-04-02%20at%2011.36.31.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1328" data-original-width="1648" height="516" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEielwNtH00i-U5vLlUlLj0XeJPMtuoA4W1_uY0gQfLMD3q0RJvJOWdevCMlVGoOfz51ceUY9rJKUOCTAMgOtfA-j_3ufDiiwlLqLsy_8pZ_ICF89EsAlKS7Oju8Cxb-bB2avnIX95xfvzsjDckh0w3M4j0BxKuDr8XCSO5qlHMm_n-aCl5yIQ/w640-h516/Screen%20Shot%202022-04-02%20at%2011.36.31.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>So there's what I've been looking at recently! </p></div>lynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.com34