The Language (and travel) Thread

[Carol the Dabbler]

Right, the sooner you book, the cheaper the train fare is.  But we planned our day trip just 12 days ahead, and the early / late trains were still not too expensive -- middle of the day fares were ridiculous by then.

 

[Julia Mae]

  If you'd just as rather save the cost of a hotel room, a day trip should be doable.

 

 

I thought since this is the language thread, I'd point out something "language-y."  I have never head anyone say, "...just as rather."  I have only heard "... just as soon."  I'm betting it's regional, possibly even family. 

 

What would be the BE equivalent?  And while I have the topic cards at hand...

 

BRITISH SPORTS METAPHORICAL EXPRESSIONS

 

We share golf, so probably we all say something like "Well, that's par for the course..." when we mean "That's what we normally expect." 

 

Baseball is American so BE would probably not include, "He hit that one out of the park..." when someone does something exceptionally well. 

 

I believe "knocked for six" is a BE expression for "amazed by something" that comes from cricket. 

 

Y'all have the rugby/cricket deal sewn up.  Probably have more expression from hunting and polo, also.  We have the poker, after all, "the buck stops here,"  though I was surprised to hear "Let the chips fall where they may" in Parade's End. 

 

So, any expressions you know that have their origins in sports or games?   Pretty please? 

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Not to change the subject, really, since you did mention being surprised at hearing what you thought was an American expression used in a British production -- I have been surprised by that sort of thing a number of times.  One that I've heard in at least a couple of different British productions is "Another day, another dollar."

 

As for British sports sayings, how about "sticky wicket"?  I believe that's a cricket analogy -- as is, presumably, "That's not cricket!"

 

[aely]

"That's just not cricket," is used an awful lot, if you want to object to something being downright unfair/wrong/not the done thing in a polite fashion, even among people who don't like cricket (like me).

 

We also use tennis in the same way occasionally (might possibly be more now, after Andy Murray winning both the Olympic gold last year and Wimbledon this year).

 

"Kicked that one into touch" comes from rugby and can be used as a term to describe stopping an argument or discussion, or perhaps refuting a certain point - "Well, you kicked that one into touch."

 

We'll sometimes use 'scrum' (another term from rugby) to describe a whole heap of people going after the same thing, such as trying to be first through the door or pick up something in the sales - "There was a bit of a scrum in the sales" you could use scramble to imply almost the same thing.

 

"Level Pegging" comes from cribbage (aka crib) and essentially means that in a game/competition/vote that all sides have an equal number of points/whatever. In Cribbage the score is kept by placing pegs in holes in a block, so if you have the same score as your opponent, you are 'level pegging'. I haven't played cribbage for years, but it was a useful thing when camping!

 

Traditional crib score board...

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Trad_Cribbage_Board.jpg

 

[aely]

As for trains, I had a day trip to London from Liverpool on a Sunday (a notoriously bad day to travel) and the go early, come back late thing did save a lot of money - I also travelled first class on the way back for only a few extra pounds. Having said that, I did book it over a month in advance.

[Alice Holmes]

:marmite: :marmite: :marmite: :marmite:

[Julia Mae]

"That's just not cricket," is used an awful lot, if you want to object to something being downright unfair/wrong/not the done thing in a polite fashion, even among people who don't like cricket (like me).

 

 

"Kicked that one into touch" comes from rugby and can be used as a term to describe stopping an argument or discussion, or perhaps refuting a certain point - "Well, you kicked that one into touch."

 

We'll sometimes use 'scrum' (another term from rugby) to describe a whole heap of people going after the same thing, such as trying to be first through the door or pick up something in the sales - "There was a bit of a scrum in the sales" you could use scramble to imply almost the same thing.

 

"Level Pegging" comes from cribbage (aka crib) and essentially means that in a game/competition/vote that all sides have an equal number of points/whatever.

 

I did research cricket at one point and I intend to research rugby.  What's interesting is that I understood from context what "scrum" meant, but had no idea it was a rugby term.  I'll have to understand more about rugby to get the nuances in the phrase, I'm sure. 

 

It's also interesting that we also play cribbage, but I've not heard the "level pegging" phrase before.   OTOH, we say, "You've got him pegged," when we mean "You understand his character/motivation perfectly."   Which derives from the idea that you have defined and limited the person, possibly rendered them powerless to manipulate the situation. 

 

Nice post.

 

[Liselle]

 

I have never head anyone say, "...just as rather." I have only heard "... just as soon." I'm betting it's regional, possibly even family.

 

What would be the BE equivalent?

 

I've never heard that expression either; I don't think there is a BE equivalent. We would just say 'rather'.

 

 

Baseball is American so BE would probably not include, "He hit that one out of the park..." when someone does something exceptionally well.

 

Actually I've heard that expression used fairly often in Britain. It's not very popular, but it is used. Though we would probably say 'he knocked that one out of the park".

 

 

We have the poker, after all, "the buck stops here," though I was surprised to hear "Let the chips fall where they may" in Parade's End.

 

"Let the chips fall where they may" is a fairly well-used expression in BE, and we also use 'the buck stops here' quite a bit. I've also heard 'let the dice fall where they may".

 

This may be useful if you're looking for sports expressions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sports_idioms

 

One that I've heard in at least a couple of different British productions is "Another day, another dollar."

 

Really? I've not heard that one before...

 

 

"That's just not cricket," is used an awful lot, if you want to object to something being downright unfair/wrong/not the done thing in a polite fashion, even among people who don't like cricket (like me).

 

... and I've never heard that one in my life before, so it must be regional. Either that or I've just not been paying attention

 

[aely]

I was brought up in a cricket loving household - one of my mum and dad's best remembered dates was going to see Lancashire play cricket at Old Trafford. We got them tickets to go again for their Golden Wedding, along with a champagne and strawberries picnic.

 

Liverpool also has a cricket club, with their home being only a few miles from me in south Liverpool in Aigburth since 1807, with the current pavilion being built in 1880. There are also cricket grounds in Blackpool, Southport and Chester - all fairly local - so maybe it is a more northern thing.

[Liselle]

I know literally nothing about cricket; I hate sport  So I don't know whether it's particularly popular in or around Leicester at all; it might well be. I used to live in Chester though, and I remember cricket being big there.

[aely]

Another cricket inspired term is used when people die when they're older than average - "Oh, he had a good innings"

[Carol the Dabbler]

I used to live in Chester ....

 

Lovely little place!  We spent the night in the train station there once (then got pooped on by a wood pigeon on our way to the morning train).  But we were brave enough on our next trip over to do the town properly (walked the medieval walls, etc.) and loved it!

 

*  *  *  *  *

 

Just got to wondering about the pitfalls of trans-Atlantic romance; specifically, the terms of endearment common on each side of the pond.

 

The only endearment I can recall noticing so far on Sherlock is "darling" -- but that was Moriarty buttering up Kitty Riley, so I have no idea how it's normally used over there.  How might a less psychopathic British fellow address his new girlfriend (or vice versa)?

 

Over here, we have lots of terms, but the most common at the dating stage may be "sweetheart" or "sweetie."  And husbands and wives often call each other "dear" -- though sometimes that's between clenched teeth!

 

[Caya]

Addendum to the above question: are there any terms of endearment that could be considered to have become "generic"? For I remember being adressed, at various times and by people from different parts of the English-speaking world, as "dear", "darling" and "love" (I think the latter was an Australian woman, at least it sounded like "luv" the way she said it), which I as an ESL would have pegged as romantic in origin but which were clearly meant just as a friendly term.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Yeah, that too!  Those misunderstandings can occur even between different regions of the same country -- I was fresh from Indiana the first time a Boston gentleman called me "dear" -- and it startled me, even though I was perfectly used to being called "honey" (mostly by women) back home.

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Then there are the endearments like "snookem's" and "Poo Bear".

[aely]

I can guarantee that if you go to Liverpool, you'll get called 'love' by pretty much everyone. "Ta, love" is a standard way of saying thanks.

 

I always used to wonder what to call my exes as I spend all day calling everyone love. Darling also gets used indiscriminately, as does honey or hon and one of my Bristolian friends used to call everyone "my lover". In the end I think I rarely used any terms of endearment as they were all in everyday use to a greater or lesser extent (some of my good friends are sweetie for instance).

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

That will be comforting to know when we finally do get over into your neck of the woods, aely.

[aely]

Then don't forget general terms like chicken, chick, hen (mostly in Scotland), pet, pudding, queen, doll and in Liverpool the ubiquitous "La" as in "ey la, giz a..." (which translates as "excuse me, my good person, could you give me a..."). I'm sure there are many more.

[Carol the Dabbler]

So what would a British person call his/her actual sweetheart?  Are there any words left? 

 

[aely]

So what would a British person call his/her actual sweetheart?  Are there any words left? 

 

From my pov, no, there are no words left over - but that's Liverpool for you. Maybe elsewhere in the country there might be.

 

I'd probably still call a significant other 'love' but the inflection would be different, as to me darling and sweetie always felt wrong.

[Alice Holmes]

I think it also probably depends upon your tone of voice, and your mutual understanding of the relationship. I call my friends 'Darling', but I also called my boyfriend 'Darling'. But it was different, in that the relationships were different.

[Liselle]

Hello everyone! Sorry I've been away for a while; I've just come back from my holiday in Helsinki We flew from Gatwick, so we spent the night before we flew in a hotel in London, and on the way there the coach we were on drove down Baker Street; I got very excited

 

So what have I missed?

[Carol the Dabbler]

Welcome back, Liselle -- I wondered why it had suddenly gotten so quiet around here!

 

Still no word of the Series 3 airing date, I'm afraid, but lots of nice tidbits.  Have a look at your New Contents page.

 

And do let us know how things went in Finland!

 

[Liselle]

Thanks Carol! Sorry I've not replied much since I got back; you know how it is when you get back from a holiday; everything's a bit hectic

Finland was amazing; I miss it already! Everything was really great; the people were so friendly, the food was gorgeous and there were so many things to do that we still had loads of stuff left that we wanted to do by the time we had to come home. So that gives us an excuse to go back next year Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to do some of the stuff we really wanted to do, like go to the Ice Bar (bar completely made out of ice) or go on a day trip to Tallinn in Estonia, but again, we can do all of that next time. We did get to eat reindeer and have traditional Finnish saunas though!

I was half terrified that Sherlock would have been on whilst I was away, even though I knew it was highly unlikely I have this thing where I have to watch new episodes of my favourite shows on the day they're actually broadcast; watching them online or watching a repeat isn't the same I was hoping for more news of Season 3 though

[Carol the Dabbler]

Sorry I've not replied much since I got back; you know how it is when you get back from a holiday; everything's a bit hectic

 

Do I ever!  I didn't really wake up for a couple of weeks after we got back from London in May.

 

Finland was amazing; I miss it already!

 

Did you get a chance to practice your Finnish?

 

I was hoping for more news of Season 3 though

 

Yeah, well, like I said all we've gotten lately has been a few tidbits.  Unfortunately, there's no "Series 3 Tidbits" thread, but you'll run across them while you're catching up in general.  (I believe some of them are in the Star Trek thread, by the way.)