adderslj: (Default)
[personal profile] adderslj
As I work through these redlines, I can't help but be amused at the differences between British and American English. Often it's in phraseology as much as word choice. After four or five years of getting redlines from Americans, it still makes me smile.

There was one particular occasion when a developer was really sarcastic about something I wrote that made perfect sense in the Queen's English. I got a particularly satisfying apology for that once the misunderstanding became clear.

Date: 2003-08-02 02:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] maliszew.livejournal.com
Is "pavement" the standard UK English expression? I ask because it's mostly a regionalism in the US compared to the more common "sidewalk." In Baltimore, my hometown, pavement is what is most common, although in the local patois it's pronounced "pay-ment." Don't ask.

Date: 2003-08-02 02:32 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] adders.livejournal.com
Pavement is universal in the UK. No-one uses sidewalk.

Date: 2003-08-02 02:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] eynowd.livejournal.com
Just to further muddy the waters, we use neither here in Australia.

It's called a "footpath."

Date: 2003-08-02 03:00 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] adders.livejournal.com
Footpath is occasionally used here, but more often it refers to a path through a woods, field or up a hill.

Date: 2003-08-02 03:33 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] point5b.livejournal.com
In the US (or at least Texas), a footpath is either the usage Adders describes or a path through a garden.

Date: 2003-08-04 12:08 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jfs.livejournal.com
Well ... where I was brought up, no one would use pavement. We'd say path (and with a short-a at that.)

But then I have a funny feeling that pavement / path is one of Nancy Mitfords (?) U / non-U signifiers.

Date: 2003-08-05 08:40 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] adders.livejournal.com
Sssh. Don't confuse the Americans any further.

June 2013

S M T W T F S
      1
2345678
910 1112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
30      

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jun. 11th, 2025 12:39 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios