General Chat

In Hawaii, flip flops are called... slippers!

I wonder why fortnight stayed in the general vocabulary but se'nnight went out of use

uh :-S :-S :-S

'Words have been given to us to make our meaning clear & not to cloud the message in dishonest doubt'.

There must be a unity of language to serve as a medium of mental exchange. In the UK, we suffer from a timid shyness in the presence of alien words.

Know what I mean?

Thongs :-D

What do they call flip flops in the States?
Know what they call them in Oz!

fortnight - half the world do not know what a fortnight is

When I lived in USA (briefly) I fell foul several times of our common language!

Me - 'could I book a table for tomorrow evening at half seven please?'
Silence.
Them - 'er, tomorrow, you want a reservation?'
Me - 'yes please'.
Them - 'what time ma'am?'
Me - 'sometime in the evening, ideally around half 7'.
Them - 'you mean at night'.
Me - 'yes'.
Them - 'er, half seven, is that 6.30 or 7.30?'

Vive la difference :-D

The Americans use a lot of Spanish words. Like using the Spanish spellings of words such as colour.

Perhaps it would be a good idea for Google Translate to be able to translate from American to English :-D

Spanish word for jam is mermelada.
If you want marmalade you have to ask for mermelada de naranja.

Jelly is what goes with ice cream. Jam is the stuff that goes on toast.

AnnC - Orange jelly? But its got bits in, so its not what we understand as a jelly :-S

Parades, Graham.

I find it confusing when americans call fairs carnivals. I don't know what they call carnivals. Perhaps they don't have them. :-S :-S :-S

jam :-S

That article quotes Marmalade. We've a jar in the cupboard. What else are we supposed to call it? :-S

I love our language and don't like the way American English is creeping into it.

I don't think we need to man the barricades just yet, though. As others have said language is a fluid and changing thing.

But nothing will make me call Autumn "Fall" - even though Bill the Bard did. Autumn is a much nicer word.

Language evolves. We adopt/adapt words from other cultures and they ours.

France is fighting a losing battle over Le Weekend!

Language, not just English, is changing all the time. That's what makes it so interesting and vibrant.

Many moons ago there were complaints about Americanisms such as "swell", but they have mostly dropped out of use now. Incidentally, if you want to be traditional, American English is thought to be closer to the language of Shakespeare than modern English as spoken here.

I admit I don't like some of the words my grandchildren use but then my grandparents thought the same about my language.

Long live change I say

:-D