You wouldn't want to put candied fruits in silverware, really not good for the silver and the fruits might not taste so good.
It's alright: they're nestling on beds of tender beech leaves freshly picked from the avenue of trees planted to mark the visit of Elizabeth I.
I suspect you've been sold a pup with the beech trees, 150-200 years is their expected longevity, so planted in the time of one of the Georges at a pinch, Victoria more likely. (They are currently coming down like nine pins locally whenever there's any wind at all, and they aren't that old.) If you're using leaves from trees planted in the time of Elizabeth I you're either trying to poison your guests with oak or yew, or mistaking sweet chestnut or most likely walnut tree leaves for beech, although walnut trees rarely live to 400 years.
The trees have of course been refreshed (Like the 50 year old cricket bat which had 3 new handles and 2 new blades) but it's still the avenue planted for Good Queen Bess.
Growing up Southern USA the silverware is what one uses to eat with at the table, no matter what it is made of. On the other hand the good silver is the sterling stuff most often saved for special company and holidays. The Silver was everything else, punch bowels, vases and such. At this point in the Image household the silverware is stainless steel and is used for all occasions, and the silver is one sterling silver toast holder we received as a wedding gift and I use to hold the mail, and never polish.
I hope no-one thought I was being unduly dismissive when I mentioned my brief experience of Saskatoon -- when visiting a country the size of Canada you can't see everywhere properly. (And I saw enough of Saskatchewan in passing to know that it's not just flat wheatfields as the less knowledgeable might imagine the Prairies to be).
Back on topic, I've noticed some linguistic differences when talking with my cousin's other half, who is French-Canadian but grew up partly in Ontario and speaks fluent (and as far as I can tell normal-accented) Canadian English. The differing meanings of 'corn' have probably already been mentioned on this thread, and I probably knew about them anyway, but I hadn't previously come across 'siding' as part of a building (I gather that it means something like 'cladding' or 'weatherboarding'), only as in 'railway siding' (which I think is also used in North America but with a range of meaning that only partly overlaps with how it's used here). And does 'yacht' in North America usually refer to the kind of vessel used by Russian oligarchs? Here it can have those connotations, but more commonly it can refer to almost any recreational sailing boat big enough to have a cabin.
I don't remember noticing such things with my British-born Canadian relatives; living in Quebec they talk about things like autoroutes (motorways) and dépanneurs (convenience stores or corner shops), but the first of these is obvious if you know a little French, and the latter is non-English enough that it was explained to me the first time one of them used it.
The differing meanings of 'corn' have probably already been mentioned on this thread, and I probably knew about them anyway, but I hadn't previously come across 'siding' as part of a building (I gather that it means something like 'cladding' or 'weatherboarding'), only as in 'railway siding' (which I think is also used in North America but with a range of meaning that only partly overlaps with how it's used here).
As used here (American South), “siding” means the material used for the exterior of buildings—so the siding might be wood, vinyl, aluminum, etc. Weatherboarding, board-and-batten, etc., would refer to the style of the siding.
I’m not familiar with railway siding.
And does 'yacht' in North America usually refer to the kind of vessel used by Russian oligarchs? Here it can have those connotations, but more commonly it can refer to almost any recreational sailing boat big enough to have a cabin.
Maybe not as far as Russian oligarchs, but yacht here definitely implies large size and luxury.
Siding is indeed two things. It's a railway track that allows a train or some cars to be shunted aside on for another to pass, or to store rail cars to be filled, say with wheat or lentils. Siding is also cladding on the outside of house. Usually with an additional layer of styrofoam insulation under it and house wrap to increase the warmth in cold climates.
Which leads me to quonset. Which is a metal building to store very large things, or perhaps an arena (ice surface to play hockeyon) semicicular. Looks like this: https://www.quonset.ca/
Never said with the word "hut" attached.
I don't know if this has been mentioned previously, but why do Americans pronounce CARAMEL as CARMEL? Other English speaking countries say CAR-A-MEL. This just doesn't make sense to me.
I have NEVER pronounced caramel as carmel and I am an American. I get mad when I hear other of my countrymen/women saying that and have been known to get in arguments about it.
Siding is indeed two things. It's a railway track that allows a train or some cars to be shunted aside on for another to pass, or to store rail cars to be filled, say with wheat or lentils. Siding is also cladding on the outside of house. Usually with an additional layer of styrofoam insulation under it and house wrap to increase the warmth in cold climates.
Which leads me to quonset. Which is a metal building to store very large things, or perhaps an arena (ice surface to play hockeyon) semicicular. Looks like this: https://www.quonset.ca/
Never said with the word "hut" attached.
The use of siding is much the same here, save that these days the word "cladding" is more often used for sheets on the outside of houses. Siding in that sense has fallen out of favour.
I don't know when I last heard quonset used, but it would have been a reference to a hut as you describe in Arctic or Antarctic regions, and with the hut added.
That's a gin palace (the large yacht of an oligarch or the like)
'If Temperance Societies would suggest an antidote against hunger, filth, and foul air, or could establish dispensaries for the gratuitous distribution of bottles of Lethe- water, gin-palaces would be numbered among the things that were.' Sketches by Boz 1835.
I did double-check to see if "gin palace" to name overblown oligarch yachts wasn't an esoteric home use before I posted it: a Google of "gin palace + yacht" pulled up scads of images of the kind of unstable monstrosity mentally conjured up. I hung about in boats a lot when I was younger and heard several scathing comments about gin palaces, often in response to their arrival in the harbour where we were at the time. They are a completely different shape to the ocean racing yachts that are more to my taste.
I'm sure that's what a gin palace is now, I'm just wondering how it migrated from the London slums to Monte Carlo (or similar). I suspect the common theme is gaudy opulence underpinned by moral murkiness all floating on human misery.
'Gin palace' is definitely here a slightly (but not very) old fashioned term for a flash pub. Using it to describe a boat would be a live metaphor likening it to a floating version of the original.
À propos of nothing in particular, my family, who liked a drink, were quite scathing and looked down on people who kitted out their sitting rooms to look like a cocktail bar, with a little domestic bar, kept their drinks on shelves behind it and drank them sitting on stools at it. I assume such a boat would contain one.
Never heard of a quonset and I think the only other term for cladding I know is 'weather-boarding'. It's usually lapped like a roof so that the rain runs off each piece. Sidings are only found here on railways., though the term is available for use as a metaphor.
And epergne of course. Never sit down to a meal without one.
Really? To my mind, unless you have a very wide table they fall into the category of "clutter", plus many are hideous and hard to clean. A low bowl is much better for a few flowers.
Yes, but where are you going to put the candied fruits and suchets?
You obviously keep a far more lavish establishment than me.
According to Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage, than6, you're assuming an ellipsis of than I (keep) but you can use than me without that assumed ellipsis. It depends on whether there would be ambiguity in the sentence. The example given in Fowler is You treat her worse than I means something other than You treat here worse than me
According to Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage, than6, you're assuming an ellipsis of than I (keep) but you can use than me without that assumed ellipsis. It depends on whether there would be ambiguity in the sentence. The example given in Fowler is You treat her worse than I means something other than You treat here worse than me
Yes, totally agree with your last sentence. I started to give that sort of example, but could not quickly think of one as neat. Far from sure about the conclusion Fowler reaches - it records much public usage but does that make it correct? Possibly, to some.
According to Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage, than6, you're assuming an ellipsis of than I (keep) but you can use than me without that assumed ellipsis. It depends on whether there would be ambiguity in the sentence. The example given in Fowler is You treat her worse than I means something other than You treat here worse than me
Yes, totally agree with your last sentence. I started to give that sort of example, but could not quickly think of one as neat. Far from sure about the conclusion Fowler reaches - it records much public usage but does that make it correct? Possibly, to some.
Well, if you disregard usage, how do you establish correctness? There are a few alternatives, e.g., what my mother/teacher taught me, what's in the dictionary, or grammar book, my local dialect, snobbery. But they all seem to founder, since usage in the long run conquers.
Maybe not as far as Russian oligarchs, but yacht here definitely implies large size and luxury.
Come to think of it, a motor yacht would probably be quite large and expensive -- if smaller it would be a motor cruiser -- but 'yacht' on its own in the UK more commonly refers to a sailing vessel, which as I say needn't be all that big.
Siding is indeed two things. It's a railway track that allows a train or some cars to be shunted aside on for another to pass, or to store rail cars to be filled, say with wheat or lentils....
Here a railway siding is a subsidiary track for parking trains or loading/unloading freight; commonly it would be a dead end (one accessible for trains at both ends would often be called a loop), although you might refer to sidings in the plural without assuming them all to be dead ends. A track provided for trains in opposite directions to pass each other on an otherwise single-track route is a passing loop, accessible at both ends; if it was single-ended, so trains had to reverse either in or out, it would be a passing siding, but such an arrangement would be very unusual here.
Nissen huts are incredibly versatile and long-lived - much of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital is still accommodated in some put up by Luftwaffe PoWs and the famous Italian Chapel on Orkney is a nissen hut.
According to Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage, than6, you're assuming an ellipsis of than I (keep) but you can use than me without that assumed ellipsis. It depends on whether there would be ambiguity in the sentence. The example given in Fowler is You treat her worse than I means something other than You treat here worse than me
As John Lennon once said, "If I give my heart to you I must be sure from the very start that you would love me more than her." He could mean one of two things.
Yes, totally agree with your last sentence. I started to give that sort of example, but could not quickly think of one as neat. Far from sure about the conclusion Fowler reaches - it records much public usage but does that make it correct? Possibly, to some.
If enough people say it wrong in the same way for long enough, it becomes right. Either that or go back to speaking proto-Indo-European, much luck to you.
As John Lennon once said, "If I give my heart to you I must be sure from the very start that you would love me more than her." He could mean one of two things.
I've wondered about that since I first heard it.
(Well, not non-stop, but every once in a while.)
Nissen huts are incredibly versatile and long-lived - much of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital is still accommodated in some put up by Luftwaffe PoWs and the famous Italian Chapel on Orkney is a nissen hut.
We have some in a neighbouring town which were erected as post-war social housing and are now listed on the local heritage register, and thus subject to planning restrictions.
We have some in a neighbouring town which were erected as post-war social housing and are now listed on the local heritage register, and thus subject to planning restrictions.
Some not all that far from us were built in WW II and used by the RAAF as dormitories etc, and then after the War for newly arrived migrants. I don't know if they are still there, but I must check them out now you've raised the subject. Mr Curly might take a walk there, probably about a half hour each way from where he is, with some good hills in between to get him really fit.
And epergne of course. Never sit down to a meal without one.
Really? To my mind, unless you have a very wide table they fall into the category of "clutter", plus many are hideous and hard to clean. A low bowl is much better for a few flowers.
Yes, but where are you going to put the candied fruits and suchets?
You obviously keep a far more lavish establishment than me.
Nissen huts are incredibly versatile and long-lived - much of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital is still accommodated in some put up by Luftwaffe PoWs and the famous Italian Chapel on Orkney is a nissen hut.
Not the same as prefabs – which also date from WW2 and were put up all over London and other heavily bombed cities to accommodate people who had lost their homes. They were small, single story flat roofed units that were meant to be strictly temporary, but in fact they turned out to be so well designed, efficient and comfortable (and in many cases better than the slums the occupants had been living in before) that they were still around well into the 1960s. I remember several prefab sites in my area of London when I was walking to school in the 60s. They were much missed!
There were prefab houses, little flat roofed houses, locally until more recently than that - 1990s? I know someone who lived in one and still lives in the now replacement houses, which look like the rabbit hutch housing of early Milton Keynes. I lived in a prefab bungalow for a while, which I loved.
And epergne of course. Never sit down to a meal without one.
Really? To my mind, unless you have a very wide table they fall into the category of "clutter", plus many are hideous and hard to clean. A low bowl is much better for a few flowers.
Yes, but where are you going to put the candied fruits and suchets?
You obviously keep a far more lavish establishment than me.
And epergne of course. Never sit down to a meal without one.
Really? To my mind, unless you have a very wide table they fall into the category of "clutter", plus many are hideous and hard to clean. A low bowl is much better for a few flowers.
Yes, but where are you going to put the candied fruits and suchets?
You obviously keep a far more lavish establishment than me.
The trouble with living in a multicultural household is, more often than not, the different languages that we speak. I told my Dear Wife that I was going to solder something. "You mean sodder, don't you?" "NO! I'm going to solder it, not sod it!"
Comments
The trees have of course been refreshed (Like the 50 year old cricket bat which had 3 new handles and 2 new blades) but it's still the avenue planted for Good Queen Bess.
Back on topic, I've noticed some linguistic differences when talking with my cousin's other half, who is French-Canadian but grew up partly in Ontario and speaks fluent (and as far as I can tell normal-accented) Canadian English. The differing meanings of 'corn' have probably already been mentioned on this thread, and I probably knew about them anyway, but I hadn't previously come across 'siding' as part of a building (I gather that it means something like 'cladding' or 'weatherboarding'), only as in 'railway siding' (which I think is also used in North America but with a range of meaning that only partly overlaps with how it's used here). And does 'yacht' in North America usually refer to the kind of vessel used by Russian oligarchs? Here it can have those connotations, but more commonly it can refer to almost any recreational sailing boat big enough to have a cabin.
I don't remember noticing such things with my British-born Canadian relatives; living in Quebec they talk about things like autoroutes (motorways) and dépanneurs (convenience stores or corner shops), but the first of these is obvious if you know a little French, and the latter is non-English enough that it was explained to me the first time one of them used it.
I’m not familiar with railway siding.
Maybe not as far as Russian oligarchs, but yacht here definitely implies large size and luxury.
Which leads me to quonset. Which is a metal building to store very large things, or perhaps an arena (ice surface to play hockeyon) semicicular. Looks like this: https://www.quonset.ca/
Never said with the word "hut" attached.
I have NEVER pronounced caramel as carmel and I am an American. I get mad when I hear other of my countrymen/women saying that and have been known to get in arguments about it.
Yeah, I'm one of those "Grammar/Spelling Police"
The use of siding is much the same here, save that these days the word "cladding" is more often used for sheets on the outside of houses. Siding in that sense has fallen out of favour.
I don't know when I last heard quonset used, but it would have been a reference to a hut as you describe in Arctic or Antarctic regions, and with the hut added.
A gin palace to me is a rowdy uncouth Victorian or pre-Victorian pub. Presumably from the 18th century, before the Gin Act.
MMM
'If Temperance Societies would suggest an antidote against hunger, filth, and foul air, or could establish dispensaries for the gratuitous distribution of bottles of Lethe- water, gin-palaces would be numbered among the things that were.' Sketches by Boz 1835.
Was Dickens the first to coin the expression?
I don't think any of us would like to eat SOAP at all with any shape of spoon!😃
À propos of nothing in particular, my family, who liked a drink, were quite scathing and looked down on people who kitted out their sitting rooms to look like a cocktail bar, with a little domestic bar, kept their drinks on shelves behind it and drank them sitting on stools at it. I assume such a boat would contain one.
Never heard of a quonset and I think the only other term for cladding I know is 'weather-boarding'. It's usually lapped like a roof so that the rain runs off each piece. Sidings are only found here on railways., though the term is available for use as a metaphor.
Yes, totally agree with your last sentence. I started to give that sort of example, but could not quickly think of one as neat. Far from sure about the conclusion Fowler reaches - it records much public usage but does that make it correct? Possibly, to some.
Well, if you disregard usage, how do you establish correctness? There are a few alternatives, e.g., what my mother/teacher taught me, what's in the dictionary, or grammar book, my local dialect, snobbery. But they all seem to founder, since usage in the long run conquers.
Come to think of it, a motor yacht would probably be quite large and expensive -- if smaller it would be a motor cruiser -- but 'yacht' on its own in the UK more commonly refers to a sailing vessel, which as I say needn't be all that big.
Here a railway siding is a subsidiary track for parking trains or loading/unloading freight; commonly it would be a dead end (one accessible for trains at both ends would often be called a loop), although you might refer to sidings in the plural without assuming them all to be dead ends. A track provided for trains in opposite directions to pass each other on an otherwise single-track route is a passing loop, accessible at both ends; if it was single-ended, so trains had to reverse either in or out, it would be a passing siding, but such an arrangement would be very unusual here.
That is surprising! Here it is always said with the word "hut" attached, so that it is pronounced as one word: "kwonsetutt" for Quonset hut.
As John Lennon once said, "If I give my heart to you I must be sure from the very start that you would love me more than her." He could mean one of two things.
If enough people say it wrong in the same way for long enough, it becomes right. Either that or go back to speaking proto-Indo-European, much luck to you.
(Well, not non-stop, but every once in a while.)
Well, at least I know some people do read my posts. SOUP (damn spell check).
Carry on, my wayward friends.
We have some in a neighbouring town which were erected as post-war social housing and are now listed on the local heritage register, and thus subject to planning restrictions.
Some not all that far from us were built in WW II and used by the RAAF as dormitories etc, and then after the War for newly arrived migrants. I don't know if they are still there, but I must check them out now you've raised the subject. Mr Curly might take a walk there, probably about a half hour each way from where he is, with some good hills in between to get him really fit.
You'll have heard of Florencecourt?
Not the same as prefabs – which also date from WW2 and were put up all over London and other heavily bombed cities to accommodate people who had lost their homes. They were small, single story flat roofed units that were meant to be strictly temporary, but in fact they turned out to be so well designed, efficient and comfortable (and in many cases better than the slums the occupants had been living in before) that they were still around well into the 1960s. I remember several prefab sites in my area of London when I was walking to school in the 60s. They were much missed!
Yes.
The model for Villa Firenze. Give or take a few hundred acres of Fermanagh (and a few other minor deviations).
Almond--I pronounce the l
Salmon--the l is silent.
Likewise in Australia
Ah, thank you. I was fixin' to post something really nasty about the others.