On 16/07/2010 02:21, NoOp wrote:
On 07/14/2010 10:45 PM, Bob Estes wrote:
On 07/14/2010 07:18 PM, NoOp wrote:
...
OK... take me to hospital. :-)
This is another good example of the differences between UK and US
English. In the US one would say "Take me to a hospital." or "Take me
to the hospital." To us, leaving out the article sounds funny.
However, one can have a lot of fun with the differences. For example:
In the UK you might tell a girl, "I'll pop around in the morning and
knock you up." Meaning that you will go to her place and knock on the
door.
Just don't offer her a napkin :-)
In the US to knock a girl up means to make her pregnant. You can
imagine the different reactions you would get from a girl in the US or a
girl in the UK.
Offer the US girl a serviette :-)
[Way OT] Was in a meeting in Australia many years ago negotiating a
contract. Office girl brought in sandwiches& female US sales rep asked
the office girl for a 'napkin'. Embarrassed office girl went out&
fetched one from her purse& quietly handed it to the US sales rep under
the conference table...
Idioms like this also complicate the tasks of a grammar checker.
@Rob Clement:
http://ethnicity.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/p.html#punctuation
http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/quotes.asp
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/577/01/
I know the problem well :-) I am American, but spent over 20 years
travelling& living in Asia. Lived in Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia,
Japan etc., and always get bits mixed up. I prefer 'flavour' to
'flavor', but never have figured out why the Brits pronounce the River
Thames as 'Tims'. I often wonder if I should install a 'grammar chequer'
or 'grammer checker'... :-)
http://grammar.about.com/od/spelling/a/spellcheck.htm
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I've been following this thread with some amusement not intending to
comment. But I really have to say that the only Brits that would
pronounce "Thames" as "Tims" are Lizzie Windsor, her family and a few
older members of the aristicracy. I, and all the people I know, say
"Temms". But maybe NoOp has mixed with a better class of Brit :-)
Terry W
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