Differences in UK and US........

[dg123]

Still think that would be strange, the French influence on English language has been here since the 11 - 12th century

That might be so but written word was in Latin for many centuries after tha time, English as written word had yet to develop.

 

[2scoops0406]

If memory serves, it all came about in the 18th century, when lots of the french aristocracy fled to England, for understandable reasons, during this period, French became the lanuage of choice is noble circles (lingua Franca), and I think this is where a lot of the "new" spellings came in. Obviously as the colonials had already gone, they retained the original spellings. BTW, that is all of the top of my head, and quite probably complete rubbish.

 

[WoodYouLike]

Could be right, but I was thinking of a much earlier period, when it was also vary fashionable for English to speak French (and even to send their sons over to French for 'proper' upbringing') during the long war between England and French in the 11 and 12th centuries?

 

[dg123]

If you are thinking of the Hundred Years war that was 14th & 15th centuries.

 

[WoodYouLike]

Yep, I stand corrected, that's the one I mean

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Interesting, isn't it, that in the 11th and 12th centuries the Normans were consolidating their conquest of England, and yet within a few hundred years we had become so non-French that we were at war with them...

 

[mlb3c]

I was just on a site where it was comparing meanings of words (UK/US).
our cookies are your biscuits
our'milky way' bar is your 'mars' bar
our 'three musketeers' is your 'milky way'
your "football" is soccer here
and not real sure what snooker is (I think a table sport like pool?) and
David Boreanaz was on TV a bit ago and now I find myself saying crikey! that'll get me some looks from my new neighbors!

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Others to beware of (in both directions)

fag

rubber

fanny

pissed

pavement

And one of our traditional dishes always amuses Americans:



Click the photos or this for more info..

 

[notb665]

Still think that would be strange, the French influence on English language has been here since the 11 - 12th century

The French language influence is still stronger in South England today. The Midlands, The North, Scotland all have dialect words and accents that reflect North Germany, Denmark, The Netherlands, Norway etc. Even when you look at obituries in local newspapers many surnames can be traced back to certain areas of Europe, e.g. the English East coast has lots of Scandinavian sounding surnames.

When discussions get more and more heated, even in places like the Houses of Parliament, they get more and more basic, and all the fancy French origin words get replaced by Germanic ones, showing English's true roots.

Our 2 worst swear words all have similar words in Norweigan, Dutch, German etc.

I'm a cunninglinguist, don't you know.

 

[kendor]

size of houses.

 

[mlb3c]

a real house? or a joke, can't tell....getting tired I guess

 

[securespark]

Some others are:


Diaper = Nappy

Trunk = Boot (car)

Hood = Bonnet

Gas = Petrol

Fender = Bumper

Faucet = Tap

 

[securespark]

Our 2 worst swear words all have similar words in Norweigan, Dutch, German etc.

What, "Ooops" and "Sugar"?

 

[mlb3c]

with tension in the air both here and there .......or there and here........everywhere......it is a little reassuring that because of the time difference, at least the planet is still in one piece.......of course it also means that you are 6 to 7 hours older there. ( I guess my side is better for that)

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Some others are:


Diaper = Nappy

Trunk = Boot (car)

Hood = Bonnet

Gas = Petrol

Fender = Bumper

Faucet = Tap

Mostly just different - it's the ones with scope for unfortunate alternative meanings to watch out for..

Did you know that the biggest selling brand of clear adhesive tape in Australia, and their generic name for the stuff, is Durex?