River Cruising Water Cooler

[Daisi]

George Bernard Shaw - "England and America are two countries separated by the same language.".

 

I tend to mix my English and French up in sentences, especially if I'm in an area where there are French signs (yes, we have them all over here). I also am getting German down a bit where it comes out occasionally. My husband just shakes his head, and nudges me if I get to confusing. 🙂

 

[gnome12]

2 hours ago, sharkster77 said:

I wish I could remember who made that quip.

It is unclear

https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/74737/what-is-the-origin-of-the-phrase-two-nations-divided-by-a-common-language

[CPT Trips]

9 hours ago, Canal archive said:

.

Ohh I once - in my youth started an - English/American dictionary I must look for it. 
Fawcet-tap, Lift-elevator and so on and so forth

Well, we need an American/American dictionary. 
soda - pop

hoagie - sub - grinder

spaghetti sauce - gravy

[CPT Trips]

@Daisi We always enjoyed PFK chicken lunch when in PQ. 

[notamermaid]

Austrian German has its own dictionary. The differences to standard German in Germany are sometimes big sometimes small. Anyway, the country has its own standardized dictionary. There is also a dictionary, and a bit more light-hearted it is, that helps you translate Germany German into Austria German. I got by in Vienna without it...

 

@RDVIK2016 We have talked about Heimat in the Rhine thread. I thought Edgar Reitz had retired from filming but I saw in the news last night that he has finished another project which is now being cut (edited). Edgar Reitz is 90 years old! Should you get to the Hunsrück on a land trip you could check out the museum opened last year in Simmern.

 

notamermaid

 

[Kristelle]

3 hours ago, CPT Trips said:

Well, we need an American/American dictionary. 
soda - pop

hoagie - sub - grinder

spaghetti sauce - gravy

 

 

ah yes Australia has a few non standard meaning words too - the one that comes to mind is 'thongs' - meaning the footwear most of you call  flip- flops.

 

can lead to confusion if one person is thinking underwear and one footwear 😁

[Coral]

1 hour ago, Kristelle said:

 

 

ah yes Australia has a few non standard meaning words too - the one that comes to mind is 'thongs' - meaning the footwear most of you call  flip- flops.

 

can lead to confusion if one person is thinking underwear and one footwear 😁

At one time in the US - we did refer to those as thongs. Like in the '70's and '80's.

[Coral]

5 hours ago, CPT Trips said:

Well, we need an American/American dictionary. 
soda - pop

hoagie - sub - grinder

spaghetti sauce - gravy

Well - I have clear opinions on this one!

[CPT Trips]

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 hour ago, Coral said:

At one time in the US - we did refer to those as thongs. Like in the '70's and '80's.

If memory serves, in those idyllic days we were spared the other meaning of thongs [in public at least] 🤣

[Canal archive]

Come to think of it not many of us Southerners can understand Geordie or Glaswegian but I don’t do to badly on west country and of course Welsh is another language although it’s weird when listening to someone in full Welsh flow and out comes a modern word because there’s no translated word. 
The English colloquial word for an eraser has in the past caused many a raised eyebrow though in America.

[Coral]

8 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

If memory serves, in those idyllic days we were spared the other meaning of thongs [in public at least] 🤣

Definitely. I didn't even know the others existed. Though I was a young one.

 

We definitely did not refer to them ever as flip flops.

[gnome12]

6 hours ago, Canal archive said:

The English colloquial word for an eraser has in the past caused many a raised eyebrow though in America.

That's the one we used as kids here in Canada.

[Canal archive]

Ahhh those were the days.

[capriccio]

23 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Austrian German has its own dictionary. 

My DH is the son of a Sicilian immigrant.  When I first met his cousin in Sicily in 1975 she (an English teacher since she had lived in the States for about a decade) told us about the Sicilian/Italian dictionary still used at that time in schools when necessary.  I wouldn't doubt that a Neapolitan/Italian dictionary also existed/exists.  My DH is fluent in Italian and Sicilian but is totally flummoxed by Neapolitan.

 

 

[CPT Trips]

21 hours ago, Coral said:

At one time in the US - we did refer to those as thongs. Like in the '70's and '80's.

And Zorrys in the ‘50s and ‘60s. 

[Canal archive]

One of my eldest daughters friends father was a professor of ancient French at an English University - I think the expression is ‘go figure’.

[Canal archive]

Ahh thongs I find both versions exceedingly uncomfortable! 🤪

[CPT Trips]

Just to stir the pot. 😉
Matildas or Lionesses?

Revenge for The Ashes?

[sharkster77]

During our May trip to Switzerland, our tour director often talked about the differences between Swiss German and High German, as she called it.   I am sure @notamermaid can relate to this.

[Canal archive]

CPT we will soon see if the Lionesses will be waltzing with the Matilda’s or could it be the Matilda’s waltzing with the Lionesses either way it’s a W & S only an hour till kick off.

[notamermaid]

6 hours ago, sharkster77 said:

During our May trip to Switzerland, our tour director often talked about the differences between Swiss German and High German, as she called it.   I am sure @notamermaid can relate to this.

Yes. A very big difference between the two and Swiss German is a real challenge. I can understand some of it but could fail to understand whole sentences in a conversation easily. I have seen it subtitled in documentaries in Germany, just to difficult to follow for a viewer that is not living close to the area where it is spoken.

 

notamermaid

 

[sharkster77]

I grew up in a household with a grandmother who emigrated from Quebec, so I grew up speaking Quebecois French, actually learning English when I started to watch cartoons!  A couple of points resonated with me:

---starting a sentence in one language, switching to another, then back to the original language, most people I knew spoke this way.

---Quebecois French vs. Parisian French vs. the hybrid language we spoke in New England:  I found that I could understand local folk without problem, understood family in Quebec OK, but really struggling with European French.

 

At this point, in my 7th decade, I can read and understand French somewhat OK, but wished I had not lost conversational skills.   Chatting in French is difficult for me.

[Daisi]

3 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Yes. A very big difference between the two and Swiss German is a real challenge. I can understand some of it but could fail to understand whole sentences in a conversation easily. I have seen it subtitled in documentaries in Germany, just to difficult to follow for a viewer that is not living close to the area where it is spoken.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

I agree, my 2nd Father is Swiss, and the German I am learning is very different from what he speaks. Mind you, my F-I-L and (Step) M-I-L were from towns about 20 miles apart, and I remember them saying they couldn't speak Dutch to each other because of the different dialects. She taught me a bit, I used to read her letters from the family when her eyes were bad and he was always telling us we were wrong with the words. 🙂

 

As for Quebecois, there is so much "slang" that is considered everyday ( oui being pronounced more like "way" than "we" , bonjour as "onn jour" instead of "bon joour") French, as well as the new words the Gov't. brought in because you can't use English words ("chein chaud" for "hot dog") that you basically can't call the two languages the same. Quebecois has stayed "old" while Parisienne French has evolved with time.

[Canal archive]

On one of our trips to Spain with the our two absolutely wonderful daughters we arrived in Vienne just south of Lyon found our hotel and as she was learning French at school sent off our eldest (with youngest) to inform the hotel we had arrived so they could open the garage. Some would say we were very bad parents as she was a bit, well more than a bit nervous, but well supported by her very outgoing sister. The hotel concierge was absolutely amazing and over the next couple of days took both girls through the differences between colloquial French and French as is taught in English schools. They learnt so well from this guy, I will be forever grateful to him. After many many years I still have two daughters who can hold their own anywhere in France. I must say though unlike myself evidently my accent is impeccable and that’s it.