I heard tell of a bloke who came to visit his friend and his friend's wife on this side of the pond. On the way to the hotel from the airport, his friend said that he had to work the next day, but he should come over and go for a drive with his wife. The bloke's reply was, "Okay, Sara, I'll knock you up around 10." What he meant by "knock you up" was "knock on your door". She kept silent until she indignantly confronted her husband later in the evening after they got home.
Best regards, Brian Epstein Sr Regulatory Compliance Engineer Veeco Instruments 112 Robin Hill Rd Santa Barbara CA 93117 805-967-2700 x2315 brian.epst...@veeco.com <mailto:brian.epst...@veeco.com> -----Original Message----- From: Jacob Schanker [mailto:schan...@frontiernet.net] Sent: Friday, October 25, 2002 5:12 AM To: EMC-PSTC Subject: English vs. American - very off topic, but in line with current thread Re: Definition ? Back in March 2000, I wrote the following piece for The Rochester Engineer magazine. I think it fits in nicely with the current "Definition ?" thread contrasting English English with American English. Regards, Jacob Z. Schanker, P.E. 65 Crandon Way Rochester, NY 14618 Tel: 585 442 3909 Fax: 585 442 2182 j.schan...@ieee.org English I'm preparing this column in a hotel room in Basingstoke, Hampshire in the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom, by the way is increasingly a disunited kingdom with the devolution of Scotland and Wales, and, of course, Ireland. Devolution is sort of what we did in America in 1776, but without guns. Every time I am in England, which has been a lot, I am struck by the language differences. Churchill supposedly put it as: "Two great nations separated by a common language." When a colleague prepares for their first trip to the UK, I prepare them by giving them an American-English Dictionary I found on the Web (as a text file called amlish.txt, look for it, or send me an email and I will send it to you). I also give the dictionary to English colleagues when they visit the U.S. After all, confusion goes both ways. There is an excellent web site, containing upwards of a thousand translations, with humorous commentary. Check out < www.effingpot.com >. Mike Etherington runs the web site. He just published a book, The Best of British - The American's guide to speaking British, based on the content of the web site. I ran across it the other day and bought it. Even after all my exposure to the British language, I found myself laughing out loud at his explanations. In case you are interested, it is ISBN 0-9536968-0-4. By this time, I'm quite fluent in English, but American words often slip out, with sometimes amusing results. The funniest was the time I had forgotten my rubbers, which is a no-no given the damp and rainy climate over here. I asked someone where I could get rubbers. The stare I received set the wheels in my head turning (yes, I still have a mechanical brain). I realized that they thought I meant condoms. I should have asked for galoshes or overshoes. In fact, many of the pitfalls in language center on differences in terms of a sexual or anatomical nature, best not discussed here. Differences in the names of articles of clothing also have a potential for amusement. Walking through the Marks & Spencer's department store, I found signs for Men's slips, and Men's jumpers (translation: briefs and sweater vests). If you need to hold your pants up, don't ask for suspenders. And, don't play golf in knickers. Some of our familiar engineering terms used to have English counterparts, but increasingly, the English are adopting U.S. terminology along with the rest of the World. Accumulators are now batteries, but earth is still earth, not ground, although I hear ground being used in technical conversation. I suppose vacuum tubes are still valves, but then you don't see much of them anymore. Shields used to be screens; maybe they still are, after all, a windshield is still a windscreen here. Fortunately, the English are exceedingly polite, and forgive the occasional gaffes or misunderstandings. Their constant exposure to the best and worst of American television shows has trained them in the American language to the point where many are now bilingual. Now, if I ask where I can get a Big Mac, I'll be directed to the nearest McDonalds, not to a men's clothing store carrying large size outerwear. ------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE EMC Society Product Safety Technical Committee emc-pstc discussion list. Visit our web site at: http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/emcs/pstc/ To cancel your subscription, send mail to: majord...@ieee.org with the single line: unsubscribe emc-pstc For help, send mail to the list administrators: Ron Pickard: emc-p...@hypercom.com Dave Heald: davehe...@attbi.com For policy questions, send mail to: Richard Nute: ri...@ieee.org Jim Bacher: j.bac...@ieee.org All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://ieeepstc.mindcruiser.com/ Click on "browse" and then "emc-pstc mailing list" ------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE EMC Society Product Safety Technical Committee emc-pstc discussion list. Visit our web site at: http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/emcs/pstc/ To cancel your subscription, send mail to: majord...@ieee.org with the single line: unsubscribe emc-pstc For help, send mail to the list administrators: Ron Pickard: emc-p...@hypercom.com Dave Heald: davehe...@attbi.com For policy questions, send mail to: Richard Nute: ri...@ieee.org Jim Bacher: j.bac...@ieee.org All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://ieeepstc.mindcruiser.com/ Click on "browse" and then "emc-pstc mailing list"
