From: ssmith@xocolatl.com (Shannon Smith)
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english,soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Dictionary of American and British Usage
Date: Sun, 12 Apr 92 13:17:37 PDT
Distribution: world
Organization: Amethyst Systems

gtoal@robobar.co.uk (Graham Toal) writes:

> In article <1992Apr5.174521.25924@osf.org> dbrooks@osf.org (David Brooks) wri
> > 
> >terms, things have really changed a lot in the last ten years if Britons
> >understand the full American semantics of:
> 
> Let's see.  No dictionaries...
> 
>  audit (a course),
> To sit in on a course but not take the exam?
    Close.  To sit in on the course, take the exams even, but not
    receive academic credit for the effort.

>  backlog,
> Opposite way round from us!
   ???

> >closet,
> Toilet rather than clothes cupboard. Also used in 'coming out of the ...'
   No...I thought WC was a British usage...?  Closet is similar to a
   wardrobe, but set into a wall.  The metaphorical closet that one
   comes out of is the same.

>  diner,
> Like a transport cafe - cheap & cheerful.  "yo! 2 easy-over!"
   Yep, but that's "Yo! 2 over-easy!"

>  english,
> Spin on a cue ball
   Or tennis ball, or....

>  flophouse,
> tramps hostel
>  gondola,
> Thing you sit in on the ski run, - no water involved
>  half-bath,
> ?
   I'm not sure what's meant by this one either, unless it's used to
   describe the number of bathrooms a home has.

>  iceberg lettuce,
> just a variety of lettuce; we don't get them here I think.
> >John Hancock,
> ?
   A signature.  On the American Declaration of Independence, John
   Hancock's signature is larger than the rest, centrally placed, and
   IMHO quite beautiful.  I don't know why this hasn't come into
   popular use in England; I'm pretty sure the colonists sent you
   your own copy :-)

>  kettle,
> Do you mean a pot rather than a water-boiling jug?  Or some special US meanin
>  letter (school sports),
> Note from mum to get off games
   No, an award from the school for having excelled at games.

>  mobile home,
> dormobile or equivalent.  Not a caravan - has an engine. Big. (RV?)
   Not an RV--a mobile home is intended to be permanent housing, but
   can be moved (with difficulty) when necessary.  Typically one
   makes arrangements to own the home and rent the plot it sits upon.

>  nipple,
> teat? (dummy, for kids)
   A dummy is called a pacifier here.  Nipple means either the fake
   teat (attached to a bottle and through which formula is fed to the
   baby) or the real thing.  There are industrial uses for the word
   as well.

> >orchestra (seats),
> Front stalls
>  paddle,
> punishment for kids.  skelping with a bat, eg ping-pong bat.
>  quarterback (Monday Morning),
> ?
   Hindsight.  American professional (NFL--no flames!) football games
   are *usually* played on Sunday, with the analysis of the game
   appearing in the Monday morning paper.  At that time, all the
   "armchair quarterbacks" can sit back and proclaim how they would
   have handled the game differently.  A Monday morning quarterback
   is a practitioner of that kind of hindsight.

>  realtor,
> estate agent
   Yep, but it should be capitalized (Realtor).

> >sophomore,
> 2nd-year student
>  table (verb),
> Opposite of ours.  Put motion aside.
>  ukase,
> Thought this was an enzyme like luciferin? :-)
> Something political I think.  Need context.
   I'm stumped, too.

>  valedictorian,
> Dux of the school
   Dunno what a dux is--valedictorian is the top student by GPA.

>  wire,
> to send a telegram
>  (ummm),
> ?
   A hem-and-haw, a verbal pause while trying to come up with, say,
   the word you're looking for.

>  yard,
> back garden
   Although it can be the front yard as well.

>  zipgun.
> home made gun from strong spring - used in prison
   Could be--I don't know.


---
Shannon Smith                     ssmith@xocolotl.com