C'n I go back to the original topic for a moment? I'm reading A Traitor to Memory by Elizabeth George, and I've come across some Britishisms (or, for the Brits, "proper usages") that are diffrunt from those we use in the States.
My fellow 'Murricans, what are:
Sultanas
Biros
Trainers
Biscuits
???
Some of those ought to be fairly clear, others might be a puzzle... There are a few more, along with spellings (strange to us) like tyres... by the way, it's a good book. I'll look for more of hers!
Sultanas - Raisins
Biros - Ball point pens
Trainers - Sneakers
Biscuits - cookies
Actually, a sultana is a pale yellow seedless grape, grown in Turkey (Sultana).
While a raisin is the dried fruit of certain varieties of grape.
Sultanas are seedless. Somehow the dried fruit of the sultana, which is a wine grape variety originally from Turkey and which yields a good dried grape too, became known as raisins in the US.
At least in the EU, both are differently named on the packages. (Which doesn't mean that ALL buyers know the difference.)
Gautam, no fair!
You live there and use biros every day! I wanted to puzzle some of the folks on this side of the pond! I guess I should have been clearer about my intent.
Walter, I think sultanas would be labeled Golden Raisins here. All dried grapes are raisins of some sort to us... and I don't think many people know what a currant is either!
You mean red, white, black currants?
How about AC or DC currants?
<groan>
Yes Andrew, you mean bi-sexual curants do you
The other trade name for a biro is a 'Bic'. That's the names of the inventor and mass-marketer. Ball-point is acceptable.
How about the version that has a thin graphite rods to make it a pencil, I have seen them labelled as 'mechanical' or 'clutch- pencils'. Any UK/US versions?
Here's a howler from an Australian paper a few years back.
Firstly ya gotta know that the Australian expression for 'flashlight' is 'torch'.
Apparently some Aussies were staying over in California with in the house of their American friends.
Their hostess had set them up for the night and wanted to know if they should have a light on to let them find their way through the house in the dark.
"It's OK", says Aussie, "We bought a torch".
Hostess is horrified, "You CAN'T use that!! This is a WOODEN house!".
Mechanical pencil is the usual word in the States, Mr. S.
And, yes, most Americans get very confused by the 'torch' thing. They also get confused by such expressions as 'an electric fire', meaning an electric heating device. They envision flames that were started by lightning.
I'm fed up of all this American English nonsense, there's more difference between the way someone from the north and south of England use the language than there is between America and England. Just accept it. You speak English. Not American English. I never hear Geordies claiming they speak 'Newcastle English'. Half the words quoted as been 'American English' have been in use in England for well over a hundred years and have their origins in earlier PIE languages. The only words that may be considered genuinely originally American must have from the Native peoples of that land, but 'cookie' is not one of them.
I think you're missing the point, dreamworld. It's not a matter of etymology but, rather, useage. Of course a Brit will readily understand the so-called 'Americanisms.' Most of them are standard English words. The point is that no English person is likely to call a 'biscuit' a 'cookie,' even though he/she knows perfectly well what the word means. (Incidentally, 'cookie' was originally considered slang, derived from the Dutch, rather than the English language. It achieved legitimacy only through constant use.)
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm . . .
Cooooooookies . . .
The Americans have something called shortnin' bread, and hominy grits, and I never found out what these are.
And, we say envisage, not envision.
In Britain, a cookie is a Chinese cook.
Morning, everybody.
Welcome dreamworld, by the way. I hear you, I know where you're coming from. Gateshead, was it?
Have you, I keep asking folks this, read 'Mother Tongue' by Bill Bryson?
I enjoyed it, and it's got lots of fascinating insights along these lines.
But I must say I disagree with you about the term American English being meaningless. Clip any two paragraphs from a newspaper from each country, and it will be plain which comes from which.
Dreamworld, When we talk about American English and British English, we're talking about words and expressions that differ from one place to the other. We're all certainly speaking and learning and reading and writing English. If I'm writing something and I make a mistake, I'll use an eraser. You'll use a rubber. We're both erasing and using the same thing to do it with. C'est tout.
