Nations divided by a common language

[Disaffected.citizen]

To continue the "thread drift" from here....

I was disappointed that offence was taken at the sharing of history but, thankfully, Carl stepped in.

Within the UK we have a multitude of laws pertaining to the constituent "countries" with further laws that are "nationwide". I guess they are akin to "state laws" and "federal laws" in the US. And to that end, you might look at "England/Scotland/Wales/N Ireland", Britain, UK in a similar way. It is far more complex than I set out and, from some quarters, there is friction. The "Scottish parliament" and "Assemblies" in Wales and Northern Ireland are relatively recent changes from UK devolution.

UK relationships with Europe and the EU are similarly fraught.... Brexit!

Many in the "old world" view life, traditions, even phraseology, etc of "new worlders" as being "an evolution too far". Particularly in "little Britain" there can be dislike for "American" spelling and grammar, confusion over US weights and measures - nothing like good old "imperial"! Yet a little research shows up some interesting truths.... much of the language now referred to as "American English" is actually closer to "olde English" than that currently used throughout the UK. British spelling and usage has changed more

US weights and measures appear to have remained the same as those employed in "Britain" at the time the "Pilgrim Fathers" left these shores. "Imperial" weights and measures evolved later... then we went metric!

What I found quite amusing was the "bumper stickers" posting; I thought you guys on the western side of the pond had "fenders" not "bumpers"!

I'm looking forward to input from our "Commonwealth" cousins on this subject

[Fred in Skirts]

What I found quite amusing was the "bumper stickers" posting; I thought you guys on the western side of the pond had "fenders" not "bumpers"!
I'm looking forward to input from our "Commonwealth" cousins on this subject

Fenders are what cover the wheels.

Bumpers are what you bang into the other driver with.

Fenders are on the sides of the car over the wheel wells and sometimes in todays repair shop as quarter panels, and bumpers are in the front and rear of the car.

Fred

[Disaffected.citizen]

What I found quite amusing was the "bumper stickers" posting; I thought you guys on the western side of the pond had "fenders" not "bumpers"!
I'm looking forward to input from our "Commonwealth" cousins on this subject

Fenders are what cover the wheels.

Bumpers are what you bang into the other driver with.

Fenders are on the sides of the car over the wheel wells and sometimes in todays repair shop as quarter panels, and bumpers are in the front and rear of the car.

Fred

Thank you Fred; another misunderstanding thus cleared up! I guess we in the UK are far more advanced, technologically; our cars have "wings"!

[Disaffected.citizen]

It is far more complex than I set out and, from some quarters, there is friction.

Just to clarify, lest it be misconstrued, there are "nationalists" within each of the "home nations", who consider the UK in much the same way that many in the UK perceive the EU.

[Tor]

Well, guess that goes to show that things seem to ultimately boil down to personal quirks writ large, and with a little luck and gentlemanly (and lady-like) behaviour, we can look at them, laugh, and go on grumbling (or even ranting) about our various pet peeves without coming to blows.

It seems that even in the US there are various secessionists movements, though not to the noise of Scotland yet.

Back to language, I've heard in language courses that some Appalachian accents/dialects have quite a few pronunciations rather close to real pronunciation in England at time of separation. Not that they speak Victorian English, mind.

[crfriend]

What I found quite amusing was the "bumper stickers" posting; I thought you guys on the western side of the pond had "fenders" not "bumpers"!

Fenders on the cars are what are on the front and rear sides of automobiles and bumpers are directly on the front and rear. Making it worse, boats have fenders which are the soft objects hung over the side to prevent damage from contact with docks/quays/other boats.

Don't you just love language?

[Gusto10]

I'm happy I don't have to vote on either. Donald may be able top carry his own weight financial, Hillary is put forward by others. Neither has behaved at his or her best. Worst part of it all is the influence either will have intenational and neither realises that the world doesn't exist of the USA only. Neitehr sees the economical power of China and how China opperates, how much China has already acquired. Don't forget that the financial crisis set off in the USA with bad loans. Solid pension funds in the opld world were ammended to American style and are bad performers now. The onl;y pro for Donald could be his business type approach which might be refresshing.

[denimini]

Thank you Fred; another misunderstanding thus cleared up! I guess we in the UK are far more advanced, technologically; our cars have "wings"!

Here in Australia we call them mudguards which is quite descriptive of their purpose.

[moonshadow]

Lots of neat stuff. A good thread to read. Always like learning about different cultures and how they tie in to mine.

Another interesting one I've had some exposure to, but haven't read much about it on this thread is the BTU (British Thermal Unit).

America has some interesting habits in weights and measures. I'd say we're about 1/3 metric and 2/3 standard. We still drive in miles, still buy gasoline and milk by the gallon, still buy other goods by the pound. But most of our vehicles are manufactured with metric parts, except for tires, rims, and windshield wipers which are still measured in inches.

Soda's are sold in liters, unless it's less than a liter bottle then it's sold in ounces. I still put one cup of sugar to a gallon of sweet tea. But to my knowledge, the world over, crude is measured by the barrel.

Fun isn't it?

This is also interesting - what defines a kilogram.

I'm happy I don't have to vote on either. Donald may be able top carry his own weight financial, Hillary is put forward by others. Neither has behaved at his or her best. Worst part of it all is the influence either will have intenational and neither realises that the world doesn't exist of the USA only. Neitehr sees the economical power of China and how China opperates, how much China has already acquired. Don't forget that the financial crisis set off in the USA with bad loans. Solid pension funds in the opld world were ammended to American style and are bad performers now. The onl;y pro for Donald could be his business type approach which might be refresshing.

When I heard the world was ending, I popped a bag of popcorn, sat back, and waited in anticipation.

[pelmut]

Another interesting one I've had some exposure to, but haven't read much about it on this thread is the BTU (British Thermal Unit).

That one is a minefield. Originally the British Thermal Unit was abbreviated "BThU" and was mainly used for the calorific value of gas and coal; this distinguished it from another unit, the Board of Trade Unit, which was used for the measurement of electrical power, and was abbreviated to "BTU".

When the BTU was re-named "kilowatt-hour", some idiot had the brainwave that the 'h" could be dropped from the BThU, because it made life easier - thus "BThU" became "BTU". If you read old engineering textbooks or scientific papers and come across "BTU", you either have to guess at its meaning from the context or you have to look up the date the article was written and work out whether it was before or after the re-naming. You could still get it wrong, because the changeover was very slow to take effect (understandably!) and the author might still have been using the older form of the abbreviation.

To avoid confusion, I still insist on using "BThU" for the thermal unit.

[Disaffected.citizen]

Back to language, I've heard in language courses that some Appalachian accents/dialects have quite a few pronunciations rather close to real pronunciation in England at time of separation.

I can believe that.

Not that they speak Victorian English, mind.

Of course they don't, their ancestors had left these shores long before she was born!

[Disaffected.citizen]

Thank you Fred; another misunderstanding thus cleared up! I guess we in the UK are far more advanced, technologically; our cars have "wings"!

Here in Australia we call them mudguards which is quite descriptive of their purpose.

I was about to say we don't have mudguards because our roads are tarmac or concrete , but you'd see through that!

[Disaffected.citizen]

Lots of neat stuff. A good thread to read. Always like learning about different cultures and how they tie in to mine.

In my limited and humble opinion this site has the most convivial atmosphere on the 'net.

Another interesting one I've had some exposure to, but haven't read much about it on this thread is the BTU (British Thermal Unit).

So many rabbit holes to go down; there's never enough time!

America has some interesting habits in weights and measures. I'd say we're about 1/3 metric and 2/3 standard. We still drive in miles, still buy gasoline and milk by the gallon, still buy other goods by the pound. But most of our vehicles are manufactured with metric parts, except for tires, rims, and windshield wipers which are still measured in inches.

Soda's are sold in liters, unless it's less than a liter bottle then it's sold in ounces. I still put one cup of sugar to a gallon of sweet tea. But to my knowledge, the world over, crude is measured by the barrel.

This is where it gets really confusing! We, too, still mix and match; we started metrication in the mid '60s! In the UK, many like that our "Imperial system" is the original...Think again

Fun isn't it?

This is also interesting - what defines a kilogram.

I'm happy I don't have to vote on either. Donald may be able top carry his own weight financial, Hillary is put forward by others. Neither has behaved at his or her best. Worst part of it all is the influence either will have intenational and neither realises that the world doesn't exist of the USA only. Neitehr sees the economical power of China and how China opperates, how much China has already acquired. Don't forget that the financial crisis set off in the USA with bad loans. Solid pension funds in the opld world were ammended to American style and are bad performers now. The onl;y pro for Donald could be his business type approach which might be refresshing.

When I heard the world was ending, I popped a bag of popcorn, sat back, and waited in anticipation.

[Pdxfashionpioneer]

Hello Gusto10,

Don't let appearances fool you.

Trump isn't that great shakes of a businessman. He's done a great job of convincing people his name stands for something that makes it worth money to buy the rights to his name, but when it comes time for him to actually run something ... let me just suggest you look for CNN's profile piece on him, "The Hidden Donald Trump" or something like that. It hit the airwaves during the last 30 days. Or the cover story Bloomberg BusinessWeek did on him during the Primaries. The man's a complete counterfeit as our plain-spoken Pres. Truman would say.

Similarly, the biggest strategic error that Hilary has committed is trying to go toe-to-toe bloviating, bigoted bully. He's as practiced at that as she is as government policy. No, she should have left it to her surrogates -- her husband, Pres. Obama, Elizabeth Warren, etc. -- to sling the mud while she talked policy. That, and world affairs, are the things she knows about. Remember, as our Secretary of State (roughly equivalent to your Foreign Minister, our Secretary of State has some other duties that I suspect are uniquely American that have nothing to do w/ foreign affairs) she travelled to 112 countries or more. So she knows a fair amount about other nations.

Last night Hilary benefitted from what she does best, prepare diligently. She played Trump like a Stratavarius. That was the time for her to get under his skin and boy did she. If she does it 2 more times, Trump doesn't have a chance.

So sleep soundly tonight my friend. Never forget that classis exchange in "Casablanca:"

Major Strasser: "The Americans? They're nothing but a bunch of blunderers!"
French Prefect of Police: "Perhaps so. But I was with the Americans during the last war when they blundered their way into Berlin."

[Ray]

Taping of weights and measures, the US gallon is smaller than the UK gallon. The former is 3.785 litres; the latter is 4.54 litres.

This goes some way to explaining why the US cars' miles per gallon (mpg) figures always seem so bad to a UK resident. I'm not sure what the prevailing numbers are in the US, but if a car is getting less than 40mpg in the UK, it's seen as a bit thirsty!