Re: Sorry-

On Tue, 30 Aug 2005 16:27:43 GMT, ambidge@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Chris Ambidge)
wrote:

>>> [dr fitchy, of earphones]
>>>>>Sony do a model,
>>> [jeeves]
>>>>Is this a Britishism, treating Sony (and presumable other corporate
>>>>subjects) as a plural? It sounds wrong to my American ears, but I can see
>>>>the logic of the usage.
>
> [moi]
>>> yes, it is. and it often causes 'murrican ears to stub
>>> a toe, if i can mix metaphors
>>>manly panda
>>>born and bred in a briar pa^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HBritain
>
> [chris-at-the-heffalump]
>>However, as you left these shores a loooooong time ago, I can report that,
>>lately, this usage has become much less common than it was. Years ago, people
>>would have said, "The Macmillan Government are determined to do
>>{such-and-such}." where the collective noun "government" would take a plural
>>verb. In these more Americanised times, one would more likely hear "The Blair
>>Government is determined to do..."
>
> I don't use the figure of speech myself, but I do recognise it
> and it doesn't give me pause, the way it does to the more-thoroughly-
> US-ised (nb "s") ears of Jeeves.
>
> somewhat tangential: titles/honorifics - the Grauniad (from their
> style manual online): at first mention in a news story it is "Joe
> Bloggs, (position description)" or "the head coroner, Jane
> Smithers" [with parenthetical prohibition: "avoid the "Chancellor
> Gordon Brown" construction, so beloved of the tabloids"]
> but subsequent mention they become Mr Bloggs / Ms (Mrs, Miss)
> Smithers. Unless, of course, they are an artist, author, journalist,
> musician, [convicted] criminal or dead, in which case they
> become Bloggs or Smithers. Defendants in criminal trials keep
> their honorific unless/until convicted.
>
> There's also an exception which I can't find now for single-
> names-no-honorifics for some, if not all, sports players but I
> can't lay my finger on it. but I did like the nicety about
> it being "Mr McIntosh" during the trial, but after a guilty
> verdict, it's "McIntosh".

The New York Times used to do (and probably still does) this too. I suppose
it's like the opposite of what happens when a Cardinal becomes Pope. He goes
from being Your Eminence to Your Holiness without a hiccup.

>>Spelling, on the other hand, is still less likely to be Americani(z/s)ed here;
>>most US-written and produced books are reprinted here with spellings
>>Anglicised. Words like "tire" (as opposed to "tyre") have not yet crept into
>>our printed pages.
>
> not to mention "pyjamas". something else I gave up long ago
> (garment, not spelling). Of course, if i had the nifty ones
> that david and oscar do... but I don't.

Yes, I don't wear 'em, being a shorts-in-bed kinda guy, so have little or no
opportunity to spell 'em.

>>Chris "The British usage of 'in hospital' rather than 'in _the_ hospital' is
>>still very far from the intensive care unit." Hansen
>
> something similar I notice whenever I read Jane Austen --
> "Mrs Thorpe lived in Milson-Street" , whereas the NAmerican
> construction is "Penelope lives on Warren Rd". I can't recall
> what the current UK construction for addresses is - "in" or "on"
> suchandsuch a street?

I hear both. However, something that would probably flummox an
English-speaking Norteamericano is the usage "on the station" referring to
someone's physical presence in a railway (_not_ "railroad") station. So, the
admonition "Smoking is not allowed on the station." Presumably this stems from
the old idea that the railway station is not the building or
cavity-in-the-tunnel that people em- and disembark into and from, but it is
the condition of the railway carriage being stationary on the rails while the
people are em- and disembarking. So instead of a building it's a point.

There are a goodly number of differences between US and UK usages when it
comes to moving people and goods about the country:

UK: railway
US: railroad

UK: railway carriage
US: railroad car

UK: train driver
US: engineer

UK: transport
US: transit

UK: tyre
US: tire

UK: guard
US: conductor

UK: points
US: switches

UK: lorry
US: truck

UK: aeroplane (now somewhat old-fashioned)
US: airplane

UK: pavement
US: sidewalk

There are others that I cannot think of at the moment, I'm sure. Any omission
is unintended.

Another interesting difference is:

UK: toilet
US: restroom / bathroom / men's or ladies' room / little boys' room

I may have talked about this before, but it still brings a bit of a smile to
my face. When I see movies or TV shows shot in the US, and they need to
mention the place where people bathe or take care of intimate bodily
functions, they invariably use "bathroom" or another of the terms above or
other euphemisms. Brits have no compunction in using the word "toilet" for
that particular room. When I first got here, I was shy about using the term
"toilet" in that way, carrying with me across the Atlantic the notion that the
"toilet" is the receptacle for bodily waste only rather than the place where
that particular piece of porcelain resides.

Now that I'm fully integrated into British society and life, I have no
hesitation in using the word "toilet" in the British sense of the word.

In addition, the euphemism "go to the bathrom" for "to pee" or "to defecate"
now seems very weird to me. Brits have their own euphemisms for these
activities: usually "take a wee", "spend a penny", or "have a pee" or
something of that nature. Defecation is usually not mentioned in this context.
But in a restaurant here, if an American asks where "the bathroom" is, I find
that weird now. Do Americans feel odd when one of their number, referring to
urination or defection by dogs or cats, says (for example) that "the dog went
to the bathroom"?

While I'm on weird usages, how about people referring to "the ground" (that
is, paved or unpaved areas that are not within a building) as "the floor"? I
think this is both a US and UK usage. So if someone is walking on the pavement
and trips and falls, then says "I fell on the floor." I find that somewhat
unsettling...it makes me feel as if I'm actually in some big building rather
than outside on the street.

Chris "I didn't intend for this to be so long, but thought it was best to get
it all out before I go to bed." Hansen
--
Chris Hansen | chrishansenhome at btinternet dot com
|http://www.hansenhome.demon.co.uk or
|http://www.livejournal.com/users/chrishansenhome/
|"Ah, ma chère! J'adore lardons!" Mike McKinley
|"That's an L, not an H." Jack Hamilton
.

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