More "divided by a common language" stuff

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Re: More "divided by a common language" stuff

Post by Nanohedron »

david_h wrote:I wasn't sure 'till then whether or not it was a joke against the good wyf
It's easy to come to that conclusion, but I think the woman was less the butt of a joke than an agent in the story, for the merchant too was an average Englishman; Sheffield's as English a name as it gets, only he had a different dialect. Rather, to me it simply points out the ironies of what can happen when one language is trying to come to grips with the recent social dominance of another. It is more likely, I think, that those of Saxon descent would have had cause for solidarity with each other, for they were now at the bottom of the heap, often oppressed, and this situation lasted for quite some time.
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Re: More "divided by a common language" stuff

Post by david_h »

Perhaps 'joke against' was too strong. I think there was humour there in which the good wife played her part. I think I have seen a TV comedy show sketch that was a parallel to that exchange, maybe inspired by it.
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Re: More "divided by a common language" stuff

Post by Nanohedron »

david_h wrote:Perhaps 'joke against' was too strong. I think there was humour there in which the good wife played her part. I think I have seen a TV comedy show sketch that was a parallel to that exchange, maybe inspired by it.
I agree - absolutely there's comedy-of-errors humor in it, otherwise the story's not worth telling. With no mass communication and little long-distance travel for the lowly, there's no practical reason for your average southerner to know anything of northern English; so given current events, of course one supposes "eggys" must be French. The story could easily have been told the other way around, but all the same - come to think of it - maybe there could be a bit of north/south rivalry in play as well...? The plot thickens.

But:
david_h wrote:And for anyone else who's curious I found the context here: https://chaucer.fas.harvard.edu/pages/m ... h-dialects[/i]
That was interesting, because the writer asks, Lo, what should a man in these days now write, "eggs" or "eyren"?

Here we witness stirrings of the push toward a standardized (if we can call it that) English language.
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Re: More "divided by a common language" stuff

Post by Mr.Gumby »

"eyren" was to be found in the south

Can't help thinking you're getting closer to a source before languages diverted from eachother. The Dutch 'eieren' (which would pronounce close to 'eyren' anyway) for example. 'Wijf' ditto.
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Re: More "divided by a common language" stuff

Post by Michael w6 »

@Richard Cook - Thank you for bringing up, "ain't." It is exceptionally off putting to me hearing coworkers use a sentence such as, "I ain't got none."

Is the neologism, "staycation" used in the UK? It is a widely used term in the US to refer to taking time off work with no real plans or commitments. I'm starting a week staycation, with pay, today.
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Re: More "divided by a common language" stuff

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Michael w6 wrote: Is the neologism, "staycation" used in the UK?

I believe the UK equivalent would be "holistay".
Michael w6 wrote:It is a widely used term in the US to refer to taking time off work with no real plans or commitments.
"Staycation" is a word I won't willingly use, in large part because while "vacation" does commonly tend to imply time spent away from home at a destination far enough that one requires overnight lodging, "vacation" itself is not synonymous with "travel", so to me "staycation" is unnecessary. And anyway, it's too cute for my liking. But maybe I'm just being persnickety. Who knows; maybe it'll have staying power, and maybe it won't.
Mr.Gumby wrote:
"eyren" was to be found in the south
Can't help thinking you're getting closer to a source before languages diverted from eachother. The Dutch 'eieren' (which would pronounce close to 'eyren' anyway) for example. 'Wijf' ditto.
West Germanic languages, and all that ...
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Re: More "divided by a common language" stuff

Post by Michael w6 »

@nano - "Holistay." I like it. It seems more sophisticated than "staycation" but maybe that's due to it being new to me. If Brits say "holiday" where Yanks say, "vacation" the terms seem equivalent. Either way I'm taking a full week away from work and still getting my full wages.
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Re: More "divided by a common language" stuff

Post by Nanohedron »

pancelticpiper wrote:To clear up things British football presenters say for my fellow American EPL and SPL supporters I wrote a glossary of British footballing terms, which has now grown to several hundred items.

My glossary's title is simply an English sports headline:

CROUCH BREAKS POTTER'S MOLINEAUX HOODOO

I've yet to meet an American who can guess the meaning, or an Englishman who cannot.

I decode such sentences as

"Two old masters drop dummies and nutmegs all around the midfield."

"Terry to loose armband."

"The match official declared kit clash."
I'm still waiting for a translation, or am I on my own?
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Re: More "divided by a common language" stuff

Post by Peter Duggan »

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football ... ch-3312146

Crouch = Peter Crouch (football/soccer striker).
Potters = Stoke City F.C. (nickname from local pottery industry).
Molineux = Wolves (Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.) stadium.
Hoodoo = Stoke/Crouch had had a bad run at Wolves.

If you want the rest...

Dummies = dummy passes.
Nutmegs = neat moves where you get past an opponent by steering the ball between their feet.
Armband = what the captain wears to show he's captain.
Kit clash = intended strips too similar.
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Re: More "divided by a common language" stuff

Post by Tunborough »

pancelticpiper wrote:"Terry to loose armband."
Peter Duggan wrote:Armband = what the captain wears to show he's captain.
Is "loose" accurate, or is it a typo for "lose"? In my world, "lose" is a verb, "loose" is an adjective. The best I could make of, "to loose armband," would be, "moves to assistant captain." Fanciful at best.

Edited to add: I'm not about to cast aspersions on sports jargon. I come from a country where a left-winger can roof a wrist shot for the hat-trick.
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Re: More "divided by a common language" stuff

Post by chas »

Nanohedron wrote: "Staycation" is a word I won't willingly use, in large part because while we do commonly tend to infer time spent away from home at a destination far enough that one requires overnight lodging, "vacation" itself is not synonymous with "travel", so to me "staycation" is unnecessary. And anyway, it's too cute for my liking. But maybe I'm just being persnickety. Who knows; maybe it'll have staying power, and maybe it won't.
I use staycation, probably quite incorrectly, for time off work that I'll be spending doing chores/honeydos at home.

Do those in the UK have the word honeydo, as in a chore your SO has requested? ("Honey do" this.)
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Re: More "divided by a common language" stuff

Post by Michael w6 »

@chas - Your use of "staycation" is the way I use it and the way it seems commonly used. During the week of staycation I've just started I'll do various chores and just hang out and enjoy time away from a stressful, unmotivating job.
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Re: More "divided by a common language" stuff

Post by fatmac »

The way that I've heard staycation used in England, is when you take your holidays in your own country, instead of going abroad.

Not heard of honeydos before, we'd just call it your chores.
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Re: More "divided by a common language" stuff

Post by Peter Duggan »

Tunborough wrote:Is "loose" accurate, or is it a typo for "lose"? In my world, "lose" is a verb, "loose" is an adjective. The best I could make of, "to loose armband," would be, "moves to assistant captain." Fanciful at best.
I hadn't bothered with 'loose' because I thought obvious typo. So Terry to lose captaincy.

https://www.google.com/search?q=%22terr ... armband%22
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Re: More "divided by a common language" stuff

Post by benhall.1 »

fatmac wrote:Not heard of honeydos before, we'd just call it your chores.
I've never heard of "honeydos". But that's probably because no-one would ever call me "Honey". If they did, they wouldn't still be with me by bedtime.

As another example of the same sort of thing, not so long ago a woman I had recently met invited me out for dinner. I had said that I'd go, and then she said she thought I was "cute". I found an excuse for not going out for dinner.
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