wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin ) (12/17/85)
In article <974@lsuc.UUCP> msb@lsuc.UUCP (Mark Brader) writes: >When I go to Britain I don't ask for the elevator, but the lift; I don't >ask for the subway (which means something else), but the underground. What does "subway" mean in Britain, then? Also, I noticed this weekend, whilst listening to the BBC news describing the ski-lift accident, that they used the word "ill" to refer to people who had been injured in that accident. The context was in a phrase like "the most seriously ill were taken by helicopter to Denver", or the like. I believe that a USA-English-speaker would never use "ill" to refer to people who had been injured, but use that term only if they were sick from disease. "Hurt" or "injured" would be used instead. Of course, there are many such usages which we have grown to expect -- the dropping of "the" so that people "go to hospital" instead of "going to the hospital", and the reference to companies as plural ("Meridian have come out with a new version of their compact disc player") which help us distinguish British English from USA English. But I had never heard that usage of "ill" before, so I thought I'd mention it. Any other "unusual" Briticisms netlanders want to mention? Will
rjw@ptsfc.UUCP (Rod Williams) (12/17/85)
>What does "subway" mean in Britain, then?
It normally refers to an underground pedestrian passage - like one to
get from one side of a busy street to another - or even to an
Underground (Railway) Station (:-)). Incidentally, the Underground in
London is familiarly referred to as The Tube.
--
rod williams | {ihnp4,dual}!ptsfa!ptsfc!rjw
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pacific bell | san ramon | californiacjh@petsd.UUCP (Chris Henrich) (12/17/85)
[] In article <760@brl-tgr.ARPA> wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin ) writes: >What does "subway" mean in Britain, then? >... Any other "unusual" >Briticisms netlanders want to mention? In Britain, a "subway" is usually a passageway under the street, for pedestrians. My favorite transatlantic confuser is the distinction between "in Maple Street" and "on Maple Street." If I said to a Briton "I live on Maple Street" he would have a momentary vision of me pitching my tent atop the yellow line. He would say "I live in Windermere Crescent" (or whatever). The idiomatic distinction is precisely switched in the USA (I think Canadian usage resembles that of the USA here). Regards, Chris -- Full-Name: Christopher J. Henrich UUCP: ...!hjuxa!petsd!cjh US Mail: MS 313; Concurrent Computer Corporation; 106 Apple St; Tinton Falls, NJ 07724 Phone: (201) 758-7288 Concurrent Computer Corporation is a Perkin-Elmer company.
roger@celtics.UUCP (Roger Klorese) (12/18/85)
In article <760@brl-tgr.ARPA> wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin ) writes: >In article <974@lsuc.UUCP> msb@lsuc.UUCP (Mark Brader) writes: >>When I go to Britain I don't ask for the elevator, but the lift; I don't >>ask for the subway (which means something else), but the underground. > >What does "subway" mean in Britain, then? > A subway is a tunnel under a street, in other words, an underpass. -- ... "What were you expecting, rock'n'roll?" Roger B.A. Klorese Celerity Computing, 40 Speen St., Framingham, MA 01701, (617) 872-1772 UUCP: seismo!harvard!bu-cs!celtics!roger ARPA: celtics!roger@bu-cs.ARPA
marcus@wanginst.UUCP (Bob Marcus) (12/20/85)
>Any other "unusual" Briticisms netlanders want to mention? > These aren't Briticisms, but examples of things that are the opposite of what we would expect: Driving on the left isn't the only thing the British do "backwards". For one thing, the salt shaker is the one with only one hole; the pepper shaker is the one with several. You only make that mistake once. Another is light switches: down is generally "on", while up is "off". There are many such anomalies, but as usual I can't think of them. Can anyone help? -- Bob Marcus marcus@wanginst (Csnet) Wang Institute of Graduate Studies wanginst!marcus (UUCP) Tyng Road, Tyngsboro, MA 01879 (617) 649-9731
iwm@icdoc.UUCP (Ian Moor) (01/09/86)
In article <760@brl-tgr.ARPA> wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin ) writes: >In article <974@lsuc.UUCP> msb@lsuc.UUCP (Mark Brader) writes: >>When I go to Britain I don't ask for the elevator, but the lift; I don't >>ask for the subway (which means something else), but the underground. > >What does "subway" mean in Britain, then? > A subway is a buried passage for crossing a busy road; I wonder how many Americans have followed "subway ->" signs, gone down the steps and looked all over for the ticket machines. To confuse things further an Underground station often acts as a subway, with entries on both sides of the street. The thing that most often confuses me is British American Shorts (Bermuda) Shorts Pants (Jockey) Shorts Do Americans call trousers with short legs pants ? or just those with long legs. What does "outback" mean in the US ? I heard of one Australian who told an American "Our Vicar wears only shorts when he visits the outback" and got a very odd reaction.-- Ian W Moor UUCP: seismo!mcvax!ukc!icdoc!iwm ARPA: iwm%icdoc@ucl Department of Computing Whereat a great and far-off voice was heard, saying, Imperial College. Poop-poop-poopy, and it was even so; and the days 180 Queensgate of Poopy Panda were long in the land. London SW7 Uk.
kort@hounx.UUCP (B.KORT) (01/12/86)
I suspect the American interpreted the word "outback" as meaning "outhouse", which is usually located out back. In case the term is obscure to the Eastern Hemisphere, an outhouse is a small building used before the days of indoor plumbing and water closet.