Reporters saying "TARMAC" how stupid!!

On Wed, 5 Jan 2005 16:07:50 -0600, "tscottme"
wrote:

I fully expect to see some silly CBS reporter describing a lorry crash near
Denver or a shortage of water closets for new homes.

I have heard both these terms (well, lorry, not lorry crash) from
American friends who spent their working lives in Cambridge MA.

(Though "loo" is actually more common than water closet. Come to think
of it, I have even heard my wife say "loo," and she never worked in
Cambridge!)

"Cub Driver" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 5 Jan 2005 16:07:50 -0600, "tscottme"
wrote:

I fully expect to see some silly CBS reporter describing a lorry crash
near
Denver or a shortage of water closets for new homes.

I have heard both these terms (well, lorry, not lorry crash) from
American friends who spent their working lives in Cambridge MA.

More so than other cities Boston seems to pick up a decent amount of
British/Irish usage, but I've been here ten years and never heard "lorry"
used by a native American... I mean someone born in America, not a casino
operator. It might just be an affectation, as New Englanders are definitely
of the "European = More Sophisticated" school of thought.

-cwk.

On Thu, 06 Jan 2005 16:50:23 GMT, "Colin W Kingsbury"
wrote:

It might just be an affectation,

Oh, it's definitely an affectation. I said "Cambridge," but what I
really meant was Harvard. I doubt you would hear it at MIT.

In article ,
Cub Driver wrote:

It might just be an affectation,

Oh, it's definitely an affectation. I said "Cambridge," but what I
really meant was Harvard. I doubt you would hear it at MIT.

don't be so sure...

--
Bob Noel
looking for a sig the lawyers will like

Cub Driver wrote:

On Thu, 06 Jan 2005 16:50:23 GMT, "Colin W Kingsbury"
wrote:

It might just be an affectation,

Oh, it's definitely an affectation. I said "Cambridge," but what I
really meant was Harvard. I doubt you would hear it at MIT.


Well I work at the Harvard/Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge
and we work wiht MIT all the time. The only time I've heard words such as
"lorry" were from foreign born folks.

Never heard a native New Englander use such terms.

Gregg

--
Replicas of 15th-19th century nautical navigational instruments:

http://home.comcast.net/~saville/backstaffhome.html

Restoration of my 82 year old Herreshoff S-Boat sailboat:

http://home.comcast.net/~saville/SBOATrestore.htm

Steambending FAQ with photos:

http://home.comcast.net/~saville/Steambend.htm

On Thu, 6 Jan 2005 at 16:50:23 in message
et, Colin W Kingsbury
wrote:

I have heard both these terms (well, lorry, not lorry crash) from
American friends who spent their working lives in Cambridge MA.

There is no end to the strangeness of language and the subtle
differences between USA and UK English (in as much as there is any such
thing as UK English nowadays - the BBC have more or less abandoned it
for some time now).

On an area of 'tarmac' inside our factory there was once a notice
painted on the ground. 'Lorry's Only' it spelled. Leaving aside that
the plural of 'Lorry' is 'Lorries' it led to comments like who is Lorry,
and to what is he laying claim?

Have you all heard of the Englishman, who while in America, saw a sign
saying, 'Do not walk on the pavement', and was shortly afterwards killed
by a truck?

Some of our police forces have acquired PC madness. One is now referring
to minorities as 'Visual Minority Ethnics'. They don't even know that
ethnic is an adjective not a noun.

Another Force had Police districts which everyone had happily called
'townships' for years, but are now to be called 'partnerships' would you
believe? I leave you to guess the reasoning behind this.
--
David CL Francis

"David CL Francis" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 6 Jan 2005 at 16:50:23 in message
et, Colin W Kingsbury
wrote:

I have heard both these terms (well, lorry, not lorry crash) from
American friends who spent their working lives in Cambridge MA.

There is no end to the strangeness of language and the subtle differences
between USA and UK English (in as much as there is any such thing as UK
English nowadays - the BBC have more or less abandoned it for some time
now).

On an area of 'tarmac' inside our factory there was once a notice painted
on the ground. 'Lorry's Only' it spelled. Leaving aside that the plural
of 'Lorry' is 'Lorries' it led to comments like who is Lorry, and to what
is he laying claim?

Have you all heard of the Englishman, who while in America, saw a sign
saying, 'Do not walk on the pavement', and was shortly afterwards killed
by a truck?

Some of our police forces have acquired PC madness. One is now referring
to minorities as 'Visual Minority Ethnics'. They don't even know that
ethnic is an adjective not a noun.

Another Force had Police districts which everyone had happily called
'townships' for years, but are now to be called 'partnerships' would you
believe? I leave you to guess the reasoning behind this.

Paradoxically, American English is an older style of English and more akin
to 17th C English, whereas English English has moved on. Churchill was right
where he described "Britain and America as two countries divided by a common
language".

The is an excellent book by Bill Bryson which explores the differences
"Made in America"

"David CL Francis" wrote in message
...
They don't even know that ethnic is an adjective not a noun.

English adjectives, nouns, and verbs morph into each other all the time.
Dictionaries have long recognized 'ethnic' as a noun.

Taste in language is like taste in music. Whatever has changed since your
youth seems to you like a decline.

--Gary

On Fri, 07 Jan 2005 22:58:54 GMT, David CL Francis
wrote:

Have you all heard of the Englishman, who while in America, saw a sign
saying, 'Do not walk on the pavement', and was shortly afterwards killed
by a truck?

That was Winston Churchill, wasn't it?

Oh no, he was only knocked down by a taxi cab because he looked the
wrong way when crossing the street.

When I lived in England, I used to shout silently at myself whenever I
stepped into the street: LOOK RIGHT UP! (The "up" helped, somehow.) I
is hard to break the habits of a lifetime.

More so than other cities Boston seems to pick up a decent amount of
British/Irish usage.....

I live in central PA, but I habitually say "telly" and occasionally
use other Brit slang, just for fun. Never been to England; just
picked it up here and there, sometimes from the telly.

vince norris