This is the same people who add a silent u to words like color, or has a stroke while spelling the word ‘check’. They say things like bonnet, boot, lorry, lift, innit. I mean, imagine getting into a ‘lift’ just to descend. There is no saving them now.
I’ll have you know that the u in colour is very important. It nake the other o sound more like a u. Furthermore, check is a perfectly good word, but you cant pay with it. For that you need a cheque, and you can’t pay with those in most places now either. You car would have a bonnet and a boot, but a lorry would only have the former. Decending in a lift is no more unexpected than doing so in an elevator, and it significantly fewer letters too.
Now, having sorted out these minor linguistic quirks, would you care for a nice cup of tea and a chat about the weather?
it always weirded me out how british people talk about the weather, but now i understand that the duality of rain and sunshine is one of the most important concepts in the world, and very representative of our lifes.
How do you explain pavement (sidewalk, the rest of the roads are also usually paved), windshield (windscreen? A window screen has holes in it!), jumper (it’s a shirt, why would it be jumping?), etc!
These are mostly code words designed to keep those pesky foreigners confused.
Pavement comes from the latin root “pavire” meaning to tread down. Vehicles drive on the road, a word which may stem from a proto-indo-european root meaning “to ride”. If there’s one thing we like more than tea, it’s tradition, and millennia old words really scratch that itch. Besides, only crabs walk on a sidewalk, or do you lot all shuffle along like you’re trying to get through a narrow gap?
Windscreen is, again, perfectly logical when you consider that in the 14th century “screen” referred to a barrier that might be used to block draughts. If it was a good enough word 700 years ago, it’s good enough now by Jove!
I must take exception to your description of a jumper being a shirt. A jumper does not open at the front, and so cannot possibly be compared to a shirt, whose defining feature is the opening, typically finished with a placket on each side, unless it’s a tee-shirt, but it’s too chilly to wear those here, so we don’t talk about them. The garment you are referring to is, of course, a cardigan. Both the jumper and the cardigan do share the trait of being a made of a heavier material, or knitted, often by your Granny, out of heavy wool.
If defend it I must, then defend it I shall! Oxford’s finest scholars have spent countless hours studying the usage and history of this fine language, and I’ll not have these people coming along with their sidewalks and their windshields sullying their fine works! Harumph.
This kind of childlike literalism is why the colonial darlings call train drivers “engineers”. Not because they have skill in engineering, but because they operate “engines”.
when I was a child, I was sure all American cars had entirely different kinds of engines than ours, because they ran on gas, while ours used liquid fuel.
Hey, the rest of the English speakers in the world are able to handle proper spelling and don’t need a simplified, reduced character count variation of the language to succeed
Hey, we stole some of our vocabulary from the French and we’re gonna fuqueing use it! Besides, “check” already exists so we use “cheque”. Simplified English is ironically complicating the language. But the ‘u’ in everything is silly
This is the same people who add a silent u to words like color, or has a stroke while spelling the word ‘check’. They say things like bonnet, boot, lorry, lift, innit. I mean, imagine getting into a ‘lift’ just to descend. There is no saving them now.
Oi! Knock it off bruv!
I’ll have you know that the u in colour is very important. It nake the other o sound more like a u. Furthermore, check is a perfectly good word, but you cant pay with it. For that you need a cheque, and you can’t pay with those in most places now either. You car would have a bonnet and a boot, but a lorry would only have the former. Decending in a lift is no more unexpected than doing so in an elevator, and it significantly fewer letters too.
Now, having sorted out these minor linguistic quirks, would you care for a nice cup of tea and a chat about the weather?
it always weirded me out how british people talk about the weather, but now i understand that the duality of rain and sunshine is one of the most important concepts in the world, and very representative of our lifes.
How do you explain pavement (sidewalk, the rest of the roads are also usually paved), windshield (windscreen? A window screen has holes in it!), jumper (it’s a shirt, why would it be jumping?), etc!
These are mostly code words designed to keep those pesky foreigners confused.
Pavement comes from the latin root “pavire” meaning to tread down. Vehicles drive on the road, a word which may stem from a proto-indo-european root meaning “to ride”. If there’s one thing we like more than tea, it’s tradition, and millennia old words really scratch that itch. Besides, only crabs walk on a sidewalk, or do you lot all shuffle along like you’re trying to get through a narrow gap?
Windscreen is, again, perfectly logical when you consider that in the 14th century “screen” referred to a barrier that might be used to block draughts. If it was a good enough word 700 years ago, it’s good enough now by Jove!
I must take exception to your description of a jumper being a shirt. A jumper does not open at the front, and so cannot possibly be compared to a shirt, whose defining feature is the opening, typically finished with a placket on each side, unless it’s a tee-shirt, but it’s too chilly to wear those here, so we don’t talk about them. The garment you are referring to is, of course, a cardigan. Both the jumper and the cardigan do share the trait of being a made of a heavier material, or knitted, often by your Granny, out of heavy wool.
We’re gonna be here all day if he has to defend an entire dictionary
If defend it I must, then defend it I shall! Oxford’s finest scholars have spent countless hours studying the usage and history of this fine language, and I’ll not have these people coming along with their sidewalks and their windshields sullying their fine works! Harumph.
I’ve got time 🍿
This kind of childlike literalism is why the colonial darlings call train drivers “engineers”. Not because they have skill in engineering, but because they operate “engines”.
Sorry i don’t like small talk, can we instead talk about English as a language?
when I was a child, I was sure all American cars had entirely different kinds of engines than ours, because they ran on gas, while ours used liquid fuel.
As opposed to getting into an elevator to not get elevated? Or having a „roommate“ who doesn’t live in your room?
Elevation can go up or down. Lift is up. It’s bloody English mate.
Elevator from Elevation imply going up. It’s bloody English mate.
Elevator implies a thing that elevates, you can’t elevate something downwards
Also, generally there is no mating.
Hey, the rest of the English speakers in the world are able to handle proper spelling and don’t need a simplified, reduced character count variation of the language to succeed
I’m going to steal all your maple syrup, and then we’ll see your society crumble! Muhahaha, ahahah, AAHHHAHAHAH.
Wait, did I say that out loud?
I don’t have any thoughts about maple syrup, but Cincinnati kicked Toronto’s ass tonight.
Were the u’s added to piss off the French? That would be very British.
No different than an elevator. Imagine getting into an elevator to decrease your elevation.
Smh, elevat(e)or. That’s how they can go both ways, silly.
🌟 The more you know 🌈
I’m a big fan of riding the de-escalator
I’ll say it again. Elevation can go up or down. Lift is up. It’s bloody English mate.
Hey, we stole some of our vocabulary from the French and we’re gonna fuqueing use it! Besides, “check” already exists so we use “cheque”. Simplified English is ironically complicating the language. But the ‘u’ in everything is silly
The one that offends me the most is Queue. 4 silent letters in there.
Anything you get from the French, give it back.