Proof Americans and Brits speak a different language

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  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    Robertus L wrote: »
    KarlLB wrote: »
    Might possibly be in New Zealand?

    Yes, New Zealand was my thought for wind/wend.

    I played rugby many years ago with a Kiwi, who after particularly robust tackles would complain of being 'wended'

    A tamer vocabulary than many NZ rugby players - or just plain many rugby players.
  • mousethief wrote: »
    In these parts, neither the verb nor the noun "wind" is homophonic with "wend". Are they homophones where you live?

    Nor over here in the Great Northeast, Mousethief.

    Wind rhymes with sinned.
    Wend rhymes with send.

  • I can think of two different ways of pronouncing "wind" and neither is the same as "wend".

    I'm wondering if they sound the same in South African.
  • Enoch wrote: »
    England normal pronunciations.
    'Wind' the thing that blows rhymes with 'sinned'.
    'Wind' what you do to a clock rhymes with 'find'.
    'Wend' what you do when you wend your way, rhymes with 'send'.
    Those are not homophones. Nor, here are 'tin' and 'ten' or 'pin' and 'pen'.

    Ditto for this part of the US.
  • My NZ neighbours pronounce the two similarly. I remember them asking where Bar Im was, and after a few days, I realized they meant Bar M, a local pub.
  • *Lots* of nations separated by a common language.
  • Regional dialects even in the United States can be interesting. I remember when my wife and I moved to Mississippi, the first place we stopped at was a Sears store in Tupelo. We could hardly understand the clerk that was assisting us.

    While we were in Mississippi our daughter learned to speak as a Mississippian. I remember when she was about to do something, she would say, "I'm a fixin to..."

    As a preacher, there, I got to appreciate some of the congregational responses. If people were saying "Amen," you knew they were following you. If someone says, "Preach it" you were hitting it out of the park--at least as far as that individual was thinking. But if you heard, "Help him, Jesus," you knew you were in the grass.

    The dreaded curse in Mississippi, BTW, is "Bless, you, child."
  • That was great, Gramps! Just passed it on to a number of reverend and other friends. "Bless you, child" - I'll remember that.
  • That was great, Gramps! Just passed it on to a number of reverend and other friends. "Bless you, child" - I'll remember that.

    "Bless his/her heart" is also used when saying something negative about someone, e.g., "He has the brain of a fruitfly, bless his heart." It somehow softens the insult, I suppose.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    edited February 2020
    But "bless your heart" (here*, anyway) is usually said in praise or gratitude for something you've done - like a sort of intensifier of "thank you".

    * "Here" is still Canada - until next week ... :)
  • Nick TamenNick Tamen Shipmate
    edited February 2020
    Pigwidgeon wrote: »
    That was great, Gramps! Just passed it on to a number of reverend and other friends. "Bless you, child" - I'll remember that.

    "Bless his/her heart" is also used when saying something negative about someone, e.g., "He has the brain of a fruitfly, bless his heart." It somehow softens the insult, I suppose.
    Piglet wrote: »
    But "bless your heart" (here*, anyway) is usually said in praise or gratitude for something you've done - like a sort of intensifier of "thank you".

    * "Here" is still Canada - until next week ... :)
    In the American South, “Bless your [his/her] heart” and variations like “Bless you, child” have a wide range of meanings that generally depend on context to interpret—who is saying it, to or about whom it’s being said, tone of voice, what it’s being said in response to, etc.

    Either can be used sincerely, and often are. They can, for example and as noted, be a way of saying “thank you,” with the sense of “you are just the nicest, most thoughtful person I think I have ever met.” “Bless your/his/her heart” in particular can be an expression of empathy or sympathy; for example, when said in response to hearing about the misfortunes, major or minor, of another, it’s sort of a verbal “you poor thing, lemme give you a hug.”

    But either can also have a strong sarcastic or passive-aggressive undertone, which carries a meaning along the lines of “you are one pitiful excuse for a human being” or “you don’t have the sense God gave a goose.” There may be an implied “but we love you/him/her anyway,” or the implication may be “and you/he/she can rot in Hell for all I care.”

    It all depends on context, but there usually isn’t any question as to exactly what is meant.

  • Hitting it out of the park? In the grass? Now I'm really confused!
  • Golden KeyGolden Key Shipmate
    edited February 2020
    RA--

    Both baseball references. When a batter hits the baseball out of the ballpark, it's a big deal. The other team won't have a chance to get it and use it to tag out anyone running from base to base. IIRC, all the runners can safely run to home base.

    IOW, the term means someone did a really good job.

    ETA: I'll let someone else explain the other one.
  • Gramps49 wrote: »
    Regional dialects even in the United States can be interesting. I remember when my wife and I moved to Mississippi, the first place we stopped at was a Sears store in Tupelo. We could hardly understand the clerk that was assisting us.

    While we were in Mississippi our daughter learned to speak as a Mississippian. I remember when she was about to do something, she would say, "I'm a fixin to..."

    As a preacher, there, I got to appreciate some of the congregational responses. If people were saying "Amen," you knew they were following you. If someone says, "Preach it" you were hitting it out of the park--at least as far as that individual was thinking. But if you heard, "Help him, Jesus," you knew you were in the grass.

    The dreaded curse in Mississippi, BTW, is "Bless, you, child."

    People calling out (or even muttering to themselves) during sermons give me the willies. Makes me run for the hills; feels cultish. YMMV naturally.
  • People murmuring during the sermon here usually means someone is taken ill!
  • Surely in Anglican circles the phrases would be, "Thank Cranmer," or "Praise Laud"? ;)
  • I think many positive phrases are used sarcastically, certainly in England. "Oh well done" is common, but there are plenty. "That went well", and "thank you very much" spring to mind. Maybe any positive phrase can be used like this.
  • The real meaning depends on the tone in which the words are uttered.
  • Eirenist wrote: »
    The real meaning depends on the tone in which the words are uttered.

    Well, quite often. But perhaps the deadliest form of sarcasm doesn't use a sarcastic tone. I sometimes say to aggressive people, thank you very much for your concern, said with great enthusiasm. I suppose it could be confusing, wow, I'm so worried about that.
  • Eirenist wrote: »
    The real meaning depends on the tone in which the words are uttered.

    Well, quite often. But perhaps the deadliest form of sarcasm doesn't use a sarcastic tone. I sometimes say to aggressive people, thank you very much for your concern, said with great enthusiasm. I suppose it could be confusing, wow, I'm so worried about that.

    I can totally see that you are!
  • Thank you very much!
  • I am not familiar with "in the grass". Except in the song "Grazin' in the Grass" and I'm not at all sure what it means there, if it doesn't refer to smoking marijuana.
  • I think it comes from "in the tall grass," in other words, off the fairway in a game of golf, and therefore basically in a sucky position.
  • I think it comes from "in the tall grass," in other words, off the fairway in a game of golf, and therefore basically in a sucky position.

    I've heard "in the rough" for that, but not "in the grass". We need @Gramps49 to help us out.
  • Maybe it’s a variation on “in the weeds”?

  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    KarlLB wrote: »
    People calling out (or even muttering to themselves) during sermons give me the willies. Makes me run for the hills; feels cultish. YMMV naturally.
    Same here, KLB.
  • I meant "in the rough" or "the weeds" but "out of the park" refers to a home run in baseball terms.

    I knew when I used these phrases would cause some to say "Huh?"

    BTW as a Lutheran in Baptist country, I kind have gotten used to people calling out during sermons. The fact is, I found ways to elicit those responses.
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    Gramps49 wrote: »
    I meant "in the rough" or "the weeds" but "out of the park" refers to a home run in baseball terms.

    The equivalent of a 6 in cricket, ball hit over the boundary fence in the full. I have seen film of a ball hit not just over the boundary, but over the outside fence and into the street beyond in a match in an English country town or city. My recollection is of the batsman repeating the feat in the same over.
  • That sermon was a gong show. Anything can be a gong show if it's messed up and done badly.
  • EnochEnoch Shipmate
    Would 'a six' be a satisfactory equivalent from cricket, or perhaps 'a pavilion-smasher'?

    Memo to self - use more cricket phrases in future when posting on the Ship.
  • Enoch wrote: »
    Would 'a six' be a satisfactory equivalent from cricket, or perhaps 'a pavilion-smasher'?

    Memo to self - use more cricket phrases in future when posting on the Ship.

    Don't force it.
  • Gee D wrote: »
    Gramps49 wrote: »
    I meant "in the rough" or "the weeds" but "out of the park" refers to a home run in baseball terms.

    The equivalent of a 6 in cricket, ball hit over the boundary fence in the full. I have seen film of a ball hit not just over the boundary, but over the outside fence and into the street beyond in a match in an English country town or city. My recollection is of the batsman repeating the feat in the same over.

    Probably the famous occasion on which Gary Sobers hit six sixes in one over - playing for Glamorgan against Nottinghamshire at Swansea in 1968.
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    Thanks, that's it. That must be the greatest episode of batting.
  • Enoch wrote: »
    Memo to self - use more cricket phrases in future when posting on the Ship.

    I thought there was a rule against posting in foreign languages.
    :wink:

  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    @Pigwidgeon - quotes file! :mrgreen:
  • But what could be more English than cricket?
  • Baseball - It's mentioned in Jane Austen (Nothanger Abbey) and you can't get more English than that 😀
  • Interesting article about the origins of baseball (and cricket).
  • Robertus L wrote: »
    Baseball - It's mentioned in Jane Austen (Nothanger Abbey) and you can't get more English than that 😀

    LOL. Cool!
  • Yep, Baseball, the American game, was a British import.

    I think Basketball is the only true American game.

    Prove me wrong. Change my mind.
  • Gramps49 wrote: »
    Yep, Baseball, the American game, was a British import.

    I think Basketball is the only true American game.

    Prove me wrong. Change my mind.

    And basketball was invented out of whole cloth to give guys something to do indoors while they waited for the sun to come out again.
  • LOL
  • EnochEnoch Shipmate
    Robertus L wrote: »
    Baseball - It's mentioned in Jane Austen (Nothanger Abbey) and you can't get more English than that 😀
    Didn't know that. That's a bit of a googly.


  • Robertus L wrote: »
    Baseball - It's mentioned in Jane Austen (Nothanger Abbey) and you can't get more English than that 😀

    Do you mean Rounders?
  • DafydDafyd Shipmate
    No. It is one of Catherine's pastimes on account of which nobody would have supposed her born to be a heroine.
  • Yes but back then it was almost certainly what we now call rounders - and certainly nothing much like the American game with special bats and balls and a pitcher's mound and protective clothing and a stadium etc. The similarities were that you would hit a ball (possibly with a bat, maybe with your hand) and run to various bases.
  • mousethief wrote: »
    Gramps49 wrote: »
    Yep, Baseball, the American game, was a British import.

    I think Basketball is the only true American game.

    Prove me wrong. Change my mind.

    And basketball was invented out of whole cloth to give guys something to do indoors while they waited for the sun to come out again.

    I'm not sure that basketball qualifies as "true American" seeing that it was invented and codified by a Canadian alumnus of McGill, James Naismith. :grin:
  • Cathscats wrote: »
    Yes but back then it was almost certainly what we now call rounders - and certainly nothing much like the American game with special bats and balls and a pitcher's mound and protective clothing and a stadium etc. The similarities were that you would hit a ball (possibly with a bat, maybe with your hand) and run to various bases.

    AIUI, the American things you describe came about gradually. So there might have been more in common, once upon a time.

    BTW: when this came up before, long ago, there was UK Shipmate opinion that baseball was descended from rounders, which was described as a children's version of cricket. With, ISTM, an implication that there's nothing much to baseball.



  • Golden Key wrote: »
    Cathscats wrote: »
    Yes but back then it was almost certainly what we now call rounders - and certainly nothing much like the American game with special bats and balls and a pitcher's mound and protective clothing and a stadium etc. The similarities were that you would hit a ball (possibly with a bat, maybe with your hand) and run to various bases.

    AIUI, the American things you describe came about gradually. So there might have been more in common, once upon a time.

    BTW: when this came up before, long ago, there was UK Shipmate opinion that baseball was descended from rounders, which was described as a children's version of cricket. With, ISTM, an implication that there's nothing much to baseball.

    Not just a children's version. A girls' version. It was not only a condescending but also a very sexist comment.
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