The Language (and travel) Thread

[Undead Medic]

Glad you got it sorted!

[Carol the Dabbler]

I see there's also an Add to Dictionary function, so I can teach it to recognize funny words like Sherlockology and Mycroft [done!].

 

Welcome to the Twenty-first Century, Carol!

[Carol the Dabbler]

The calm down thing can be kind of explained by this -

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6k2YEc6dozA

 

The whole curly hair and shell suit thing was a dig at a certain section of the Liverpool population, but Scousers being Scousers, they kind of adopted the piss-take and made it their own...

Thanks, aely! We're still on plain-vanilla dial-up, but with my current newer computer, downloads are more reliable (if not particularly faster), and the sampling algorithm is way better. Which is to say, I finally watched your brief video today, then showed it to Hubby. We both thought it was hilarious (and I think it may explain my in-laws just a bit!).

[Carol the Dabbler]

Back to my confusion over the current British use of "quite" --

 

I just checked out this dictionary in a London bookstore, then ordered it from Amazon UK.  (My apologies to the bookstore, but their only remaining copy was a dog-eared paperback.  I'm hard on dictionaries, so I ordered a hardback, and besides, I didn't care to lug it back to Indiana myself.)  The book explains that the British "quite" is very similar to the American "pretty" (when either is used to modify an adjective).  Finally, the whole thing makes sense to me -- which is unfortunately of very little help toward understanding British instances of "quite" (especially in print).

 

I had a boyfriend years ago who rated virtually everything as "pretty good."  I objected when he described something I'd done with those words, and he pointed out that he'd said my efforts were "pretty good," whereas something he didn't like so much was merely "pretty good."

 

It occurs to me that (in addition to "quite") I'd better stop using the word "pretty" on the forum unless I specify which meaning I have in mind!

 

The above dictionary, the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, is really pretty good!  Unlike the regular Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, it's intended for people whose first language is not English, so it gives pronunciations (both British and American) and explains nuances of usage (ditto).  I've finally found what I've been looking for!

 

[bborchar]

My former boss is British, and he and I worked together for almost 4 years.  We were always going back and forth about what we should and shouldn't do.  Sometimes I would be talking about figures and throw up two fingers (index and middle) to indicate the number "2", and in Britain, if you are showing the back of your hand, it's a pretty derogatory sign (called "flipping the v").  We'd argue about it, because I'd tell him that he's in Rome now, do as the Romans, lol.  He's the only thing I miss about that job.

 

Edit:

 

CSB: When he went on vacation for a couple of weeks, one of my coworkers and I remodeled his office in all French stuff.  He was thrilled

[Carol the Dabbler]

My former boss is British....  Sometimes I would be talking about figures and throw up two fingers (index and middle) to indicate the number "2", and in Britain, if you are showing the back of your hand, it's a pretty derogatory sign (called "flipping the v").

Contrariwise, British people will often point to things using their middle finger (e.g., Sherlock entering the code to Irene's safe), which can seem a bit rude (for exactly the same reason!) to Americans (who point with their index finger instead).

 

I was just wondering about the term "BST," which I assume stands for "British Summer Time." Here in the US. an "S" in the middle of a time-zone abbreviation would mean "standard" (i.e., the time that's used in the winter), such as EST (Eastern Standard Time) as opposed to EDT (Eastern Daylight Time, which is used in the summer).

 

Just curious about what the winter time system is called in the UK?

[Undead Medic]

The winter time or standard time is known as "Greenwich Mean Time" or GMT Which is arguably the same as UTC or Zulu time. 

 

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

OK, so it's just called "GMT" there, in everyday usage?  Over here, "GMT" is more of a technical term, used for defining time zones (e.g., GMT - 5 hours) rather than for actually telling someone what time it is.

 

[Caya]

I don't know about Britain, but here in Austria it's not really common to specify the time zone in everyday use, seeing as we only have one (therefore TV programmes start at the same time for everybody, and so on). I know the term CET (Central European Time) and that it's GMT+1, but that's mostly from setting it when I register at some international site etc.. It's really only Sommerzeit (summer time) and Winterzeit (winter time) otherwise, and I guess it's not that different in the UK.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Right, same here generally -- people just say the time, and in spring or fall they might specify Standard or Daylight time.

 

But the contiguous US spans four time zones, plus additional zones for the states of Alaska and Hawaii -- so when dealing with other states (or even other portions of the same state), we frequently need to ask which zone they're in.  Ads for network television programs typically say what time they're shown in the Eastern (GMT-5) and Pacific (GMT-8) zones.  Web sites will generally specify their time zone when mentioning what hours they answer their phone.

 

[bborchar]

Right, same here generally -- people just say the time, and in spring or fall they might specify Standard or Daylight time.

 

But the contiguous US spans four time zones, plus additional zones for the states of Alaska and Hawaii -- so when dealing with other states (or even other portions of the same state), we frequently need to ask which zone they're in.  Ads for network television programs typically say what time they're shown in the Eastern (GMT-5) and Pacific (GMT-8) zones.  Web sites will generally specify their time zone when mentioning what hours they answer their phone.

 

I grew up in middle TN in CST.  When I went to college, I lived in East TN, and was in EST.  I always loved driving back to CST, because then I'd gain an hour- but then I'd lose it on my way back, which sucked .  Now I live in another state in EST, and I still have the same problem.

 

It was harder when I lived in Japan, though.  I'd have to call my mom in the middle of the night to talk to her.  But on the plus side, I was able to talk to my friends in Australia every day.  Time zones are always fun.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Time zones are always fun.

That's one word for it.

 

Switching to Daylight Time is fun, too.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

It would have been more interesting had the powers that be been successful in getting Maine onto the Nova Scotia Maritime Canadian time zone. What ever kind of sense that would have made.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Interesting.  Yeah, that's another word for it!

 

[bborchar]

So, not really a question, but there was something interesting when I was watching the Japanese dub of Sherlock: ASIB.  In the English version, he calls her "The woman"...but in Japanese, they don't have articles like "a", "an" or "the (they also don't have future tenses, plurals, etc- makes for an interesting language, lol).  So, anyway they use "Ano onna", which means "That woman" instead.  At the very end, where Sherlock says "The woman...the woman", in the dub, he said "Ano onna...ano...onna".  The really interesting thing is that in the sub, it won't have that intonation, so they actually had to change the words to "Ano onna...hiruinaki onna", which means "That woman...the woman without equal."  I found it an interesting translation of something they don't have an equivalent for.

[Carol the Dabbler]

 

 

So, not really a question, but there was something interesting when I was watching the Japanese dub of Sherlock: ASIB.  In the English version, he calls her "The woman"...but in Japanese, they don't have articles like "a", "an" or "the (they also don't have future tenses, plurals, etc- makes for an interesting language, lol).  So, anyway they use "Ano onna", which means "That woman" instead.  At the very end, where Sherlock says "The woman...the woman", in the dub, he said "Ano onna...ano...onna".  The really interesting thing is that in the sub, it won't have that intonation, so they actually had to change the words to "Ano onna...hiruinaki onna", which means "That woman...the woman without equal."  I found it an interesting translation of something they don't have an equivalent for.

 

Sounds like an excellent job of translation!

 

[bborchar]

I was really impressed with the dub overall.  The voices take getting used to (John's voice is deeper and Sherlock is less emotive [than usual]), but they did a great job of keeping as much of the original jokes in there as they could.  You could really feel the British jokes coming through, so I liked that (instead of changing them to something comparable in japanese).  And of course, I even got a little teary-eyed when he said "Sayounara, John" just before jumping.

[Selena]

I hope this is the right thread to post this question in.

 

We are doing a bit of repetition of grammar in my German class and we are asked to translate the sentence "Dieter had an apartment in Kantstrasse".

Can someone please tell me whether the proper translation would be "Dieter hatte eine Wohnung in der Kantstrasse" or "Dieter hatte eine Wohnung in die Kantstrasse"? Or whether both sentences are wrong?

[Liselle]

Just thought I'd drop in here and say if anyone has any queries regarding French or Spanish, I'm happy to help! I have a degree in French and Spanish. I also speak little bits of Italian, Finnish and German (though I've forgotten most of my German, unfortunately )

 

And, of course, I'm English, so if any of you American people have any questions about British English, I'm your girl

[Caya]

I hope this is the right thread to post this question in.

 

We are doing a bit of repetition of grammar in my German class and we are asked to translate the sentence "Dieter had an apartment in Kantstrasse".

Can someone please tell me whether the proper translation would be "Dieter hatte eine Wohnung in der Kantstrasse" or "Dieter hatte eine Wohnung in die Kantstrasse"? Or whether both sentences are wrong?

 

The first version is the correct one. You can use "in" with either case, but that changes the meaning. With the dative case, it is roughly analogous to the English "in", with the accusative case, it's closer to "into". So you want the first version in this instance.

 

eta: Yeah! Another Britpicker! Beware, you're about to get swamped .

 

eta2: And btw, it's Kantstraße, not Kantstrasse - not sure if you can see the correct letter in your browser, though.

[Selena]

Thank you very much for your help, Caya!

[Julia Mae]

We've already had a bit of discussion on words and phrases that sound distinctively British to Americans, such as "not a sausage" -- and I'll add that an ex-Londoner friend cracked me up recently by exclaiming "Crikey!" It occurs to me that there must likewise be some expressions that sound perfectly normal to me, but which sound distinctively or even humorously American to the British ear. Obviously I can offer no examples -- how about the rest of you?

 

"That's a bit previous..."

[Caya]

Thank you very much for your help, Caya!

 

Any time - just drop me a PM if you've got more questions!

 

[Julia Mae]

 

And, of course, I'm English, so if any of you American people have any questions about British English, I'm your girl

 

Oh, goody!  I have a question.  I know (I think) that "bloke" means a man.  But does it have connotations?  Does it mean a certain sort of man?  Is it in common useage?  Or is it, like some other words, only used by certain classes or in certain localities?

 

Also, Americans often say "balls!" when they mean something is total "B.S."  (untrue)  Do the British use "bollocks" the same way?

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Americans often say "balls!" when they mean something is total "B.S." (untrue)

 

You know, I don't think I've ever actually heard anyone (American or otherwise) use "balls" in that context, though I have read it in some of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe detective stories.  I had been assuming that it was an old-fashioned term, not used much these days.  But if you're familiar with it, then I'm wondering if it might be a regionalism.  Where have you heard it, Julia Mae -- Colorado or Rhode Island or -- ?