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The Language (and travel) Thread


Carol the Dabbler

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I was going to say, but didn't, but seeing as you have mentioned it- I will!

The word I absolutely hate is 'rag'.

To me it is only acceptable if it is indeed a tatty old or ripped off bit of cloth...

possibly for use in cleaning a dirty engine in a garage, you know, like an oil rag.

But please do not use it with reference to anything domestic, inisde, to do with hygiene and cleaning...it just sounds vile and soiled!

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My mother grew up on a farm during the Depression, and they didn't dare waste anything, so worn-out clothing was cut up and used for all sorts of other purposes, including washing people and dishes.  But I assure you, such rags were perfectly clean!

 

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Yes and if they are genuinely cut offs, that is fine...

I would only buy new packs of cloths for anything, myself...

but that's just me and while I'm still in paid work!

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  • 1 month later...

@Carol the Dabbler Haven't seen the video but I hope the title is sarcasm.

Is it worth watching?

 

I am here to comment about nick names!

I think I faintly know that James is Jim, those kind of nick name.

But I totally forgot about William and Bill. This agitates me for some reason as I named a villain as William and a nice cute lovable dog as Billy. 

And then, when I read The Picture of Dorian Gray, I found another quite unusual one. Henry = Harry???

Why you are doing this, English name/language? 

In my world, Billy is Billy, Henry is Henry!

 

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On 4/23/2022 at 12:19 AM, Van Buren Supernova said:

And then, when I read The Picture of Dorian Gray, I found another quite unusual one. Henry = Harry???

That one seems a bit unintuitive to me as well.  But then Henry can also be Hank, and it just now occurred to me that that could be adapted from Dutch, where the equivalent of Henry is Hendrikus, and one nickname for that is Henk.  (Another is Rieks, and I'm aware of this because the only two people I know from the Netherlands are named Hendrikus, and those are their nicknames.)

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Harry as a nickname for Henry, you mean?  I just double-checked, and Prince Harry's legal name is actually Henry Charles Albert David.

Over here, Henry and Harry seem to have become more or less two separate names, with babies being given either as their legal name.  Around a hundred years ago, Henry was a top-ten name here, then rapidly became less popular after that -- though it's making something of a comeback since the turn of the millenium.  Harry had a very similar history, but as of the 2010s had not made a comeback.  Maybe the popularity of Prince Harry will give it a boost!

 

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Just off the top of my head, I can think of only one Harry that I've ever known personally.  He was a super-nice guy, so the name has no stigma for me, but nevertheless I don't particularly like it.  Oh, wait a minute, just thought of another one, and he was  really cool, but that still doesn't change my opinion of the name itself.

Perhaps I should mention that in most of the US, "Harry" is pronounced exactly the same as "hairy" (both rhyme with merry and berry here).  That may have something to do with my feelings about the name.

 

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Never heard of Harry as a nickname for Henry before, at least anyone I've personally known.  My old boss was Henry and a coworker used to call him Hank. The Harrys I've known were either just Harry or Harolds...

There's also Harriet. Watson, that is. :)

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I suspect that Harry/Henry is another name that's more common in the UK than in the US.  I mentioned having known only two Harrys -- but failed to state that half of them were English, even though I've spent virtually my entire life in the US.

 

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21 hours ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

I suspect that Harry/Henry is another name that's more common in the UK than in the US.  I mentioned having known only two Harrys -- but failed to state that half of them were English, even though I've spent virtually my entire life in the US.

 

This is likely true. Incidentally,  one of the Harrys that I knew stateside was a standard poodle, so that doesn't exactly count. 

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6 hours ago, DistantView said:

one of the Harrys that I knew stateside was a standard poodle

Was Harry hairy?   (sorry)

 

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Yes, Harry was hairy, and he also met an untimely end after attacking two people while his owner was walking him (on leash), one of whom was a child. He had previously attacked (though didn't bite) a child at a family reunion (he belonged to one of my cousins), so his number came up a bit early... 3 strikes and out.

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2 hours ago, DistantView said:

he also met an untimely end after attacking two people

I had a collie like that.  He looked just like Lassie but sure didn't act like Lassie.  He was so devoted to me that he seemed to feel it his duty to protect me from my little brother.  My parents were sufficiently alarmed by how he kept growling at the toddler that they decided not to wait for him to actually attack him.  When I got home from school that day, they told me that my beloved dog had suddenly taken ill and died.  I didn't know the full truth till much later (wouldn't have understood back then, I'm sure), and still can't think what else my parents could have done.

 

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On 4/22/2022 at 12:39 AM, Carol the Dabbler said:

Just came across an intriguing video entitled "Txtng is killing language.  JK!!!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmvOgW6iV2s

Comments???

 

On 4/23/2022 at 12:19 AM, Van Buren Supernova said:

Haven't seen the video but I hope the title is sarcasm.

Is it worth watching?


Sorry, I neglected to respond to your question.  Yes, it's sarcasm.  The basic idea is that texting is sort of halfway between writing and speaking.  I found it very interesting.
 

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8 hours ago, besleybean said:

I expect correct grammar and spelling in all forms of commuincation!

You are certainly free to expect it.   :D   But if by "correct grammar" you mean "according to the textbook," you're likely to be disappointed now and then by people who speak a different dialect.

As for spelling, umm, it's actually "communication."  Just saying.

 

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Hey, I live in Scotland rememeber. Ha.

Mind you, many in England cannot speak the language correctly!

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  • 1 month later...

I just discovered that Archive.org has the full text of some old Indianapolis City Directories online   :D   so I'm looking up some of my forebears in the 1920 edition [here].  Each entry has the person's surname, first name, occupation, and street address.  My great-grandfather's occupation is listed as "carp," and yes, he was a carpenter.

Other people worked as "meat ctr," "chauf," "smstrs," "janitor," etc., all of which seem self-explanatory.  But then I noticed that several people's occupation was "elk" -- I doubt that they were actually employed as large deer!

There's also one "stereo."

Any ideas?

 

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  • 1 month later...
On 6/17/2022 at 1:14 AM, Carol the Dabbler said:

"elk"

Electrician?

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5 hours ago, Arcadia said:

Electrician?

Nice try, but I think that'd be "elec" or something.  The abbreviations don't seem to be standardized, and some are longer than others.  I'm bewildered by "stereo" -- seeing as how stereophonic recordings hadn't been invented yet.  I think they did have stereopticons (3-D slide viewers), though, so maybe it had something to do with that.

 

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