Global Lingo Thread

[trewornan]

Wostershire (spelling?)

Worcestershire is definitely tricky to spell.

[hoglahoo]

My dad enjoys Worcestershire sauce on his steaks. When I was a kid, it pained me to ever see a word I couldn't read or pronounce easily, so I pronounced it phonetically to remember the spelling, then used that spelling to remind myself how it was actually pronounced. So in my mind it became War Chest Er Shire and then I would translate to the phonetic Werster Sure.

Wasn't that fun?

[Nord Jim]

Worcestershire is definitely tricky to spell.

There was a young lady from Gloucester
Whose parents thought that they'd loucester.
From the fridge came a cry
"Let me out or I'll die!"
Then the problem was how to defroucester.

j

[Nickelking]

A aunt of my friends always called her nephews buggers. Their english mother didn't like that.

[Silver]

Well bugger is no longer considered a swear word, can't be bad language if it's in a Disney film eh?? Yet it still has a few uses. When something goes wrong or I make a mistake "Oh bugger" usually pops out, sometimes when I forget things too, hehehe

Whereas to call someone a bugger usually means they have a mischevious nature.

Lets face it, it's a far cry from the actuall meaning of the word, look it up in the dictionary if you don't know.

This is what I like about language though, the corruption or uses for words that have no relation to their definition.

[Kees]

This is what I like about language though, the corruption or uses for words that have no relation to their definition.

That's what you see in any living language: shifting of the meaning of words. That makes reading Latin so difficult. Latin was used from a couple of centuries BC right to the present time (yes the RC church still uses it and IIRC the Vatican still publishes some things in Latin).
My Latin teacher used to say that Cicero would not be able to make much sense out of Medieval Latin.

The same applies to a lesser extent when you read English from more than a couple of centuries ago. I remember reading Shakespeare with a so called glossary.

[Nord Jim]

That's what you see in any living language: shifting of the meaning of words. That makes reading Latin so difficult. Latin was used from a couple of centuries BC right to the present time (yes the RC church still uses it and IIRC the Vatican still publishes some things in Latin).
My Latin teacher used to say that Cicero would not be able to make much sense out of Medieval Latin.

The same applies to a lesser extent when you read English from more than a couple of centuries ago. I remember reading Shakespeare with a so called glossary.

That's what I love about the French. They think 40 old geezers (L'Academie Francaise) are going to keep the language static. And they end up codifying words like "Beuldozere" or however it's spelled.


I'm sincere, though, when I say I love it. It's the very definition of quixotic.

j

[Kees]

That's what I love about the French. They think 40 old geezers (L'Academie Francaise) are going to keep the language static. And they end up codifying words like "Beuldozere" or however it's spelled.


I'm sincere, though, when I say I love it. It's the very definition of quixotic.

j

Fighting anglicisms they create words that no one uses like oleoduc for pipeline!

[Wildtim]

No raised eyebrows here. If you order it bloody, they know you mean rare. Bloody here doesn't carry the same weight as in the UK. It's one of those "cute" English sayings

I don't know about that, there used to be a guy I knew that ordered his steak "bloody" He'd say:

"I want it bloody, just introduce it to the grill if they get to cozy I'll send it back!"

He was a Texan and he meant it too! He liked his steak warm and pink on the outside with the faintest hint of sear, no more, and if it Mooed when he stuck a fork in it all the better! There are probably some good surgeons who could re-attach what he called perfectly edible.

To me thats what a "bloody" steak is.

[Silver]

I don't know about that, there used to be a guy I knew that ordered his steak "bloody" He'd say:

"I want it bloody, just introduce it to the grill if they get to cozy I'll send it back!"

He was a Texan and he meant it too! He liked his steak warm and pink on the outside with the faintest hint of sear, no more, and if it Mooed when he stuck a fork in it all the better! There are probably some good surgeons who could re-attach what he called perfectly edible.

To me thats what a "bloody" steak is.

Well now, that would be known as a Blue steak over here. If you asked for a bloody steak you would probably be told not to be so rude.