Re: I despair (take 2 ...) OT

[PeterC]

Yet with "orient" instead of "orientation", the Merkins don't seem to use "oriention".

[PeterC]

It always seems to be too mechanical, as if they've been instructed to say it. Also, I feel a need to make a longer response than just "thank you".

The other one in shops etc., in response to my "thank you" is "no problem" - I always feel as if I've inconvenienced the assistant.

Then there's "sorry to keep you waiting", said th the next customer as the previous one is within earshot (seems to be de rigeur in TS). I did suggest that it can be inferred as meaning that the previous customer was the cause of the delay and it is almost an insult.

[Davey]

Whoa, you're expecting logic here?

[Davey]

In the US, 'water' becomes 'wadder', and 'Wimbledon' becomes 'Wimbleton'. 'Go figgure', as the saying is.

[news]

Had fun trying to order "Mountain Dew" in an eatery in Texas. After several failed attempts to be understood it was pointed to on the menu card. AAhh "Moundooo" said the server........

[Johny B Good]

Mere trifles! What you should be concerned about (be _very_ concerned), and I'm surprised it's not already been mentioned, is the inreasing worldwide spread of "Chinglish". Ponder that threat if you will.

[Johny B Good]

Hopefully, just a simple misspelling of 'pronunciation' (spoken exactly as its spelling suggests, with the stress on the second syllable).

[Davey]

As in ...?

[Johny B Good]

Oh, I can! That's just a standard 'skipped the key' typo compounded by 'Fat Finger' syndrome. This type of 'typo' is one of the more common ones in my repetoire of typos (e.g. 'remeber' for 'remember' or 'lokk' for 'look').

Of course, it you're referring to an oral rendition rather than an off the page sighting, what I've just said is a load of bollocks (unless such a typo was the cause of the utterance by the offending party).

[Davey]

Clearly pronounced as such on the BBC News today, I think in reference to the Malaysian Airlines 'plane search.

[Davey]

For some reason, most of my common typos relate to the bottom line of letters on the keyboard, so 'remeber' is often in there. So is the mis-placed Space, so I will see the first letter of the second word hanging onto the end of the first word.

[Johny B Good]

That's a rather clumsy attempt at avoiding any association with the Royal Mail. Using 'Sortation Facility' as a piss poor substitute for the perfectly descriptive "Sorting Office".

It's usually the better part of valour to avoid dealing with such business enterprise which feel the need for such 'distancing' of perfectly good existing naming conventions to seperate them from older established competitors.

[Johny B Good]

No thanks! I only use it in its sarcastic sense which I believe is how the majority of the adult English speaking UK population uses this phrase.

HAND & HTH... :-)

[Nightjar]

Almost any instruction leaflet these days :-)

Colin Bignell

[Jethro_uk]

No, USAians *say* "sodder"

[Bob Eager]

No, it's just US English.

[polygonum]

And the USAian habit of excessive "would", as in:

...and wish I would have purchased sooner...

And the inability to use any adverbs. "I eat healthy."

[Tim Streater]

OTOH I prefer their use of the subjunctive.

[The Other John]

Except 'overly' when over is a perfectly acceptable adverb. According to my dictionary overly is American or Scottish!

[Davey]

But do they know what they are doing?