True English

An expression I didn't know: "fair and square".

After the Hockey match b/w Canada and USA, I read the victory was "fair and square".

I also learned that in the past square meant "fair and honest" so, "fair and square" is a pleonasm but EMT don't care as much as the French; let's say they want to insist on "fair".

Ni Gerard

Thank you for that expression. Ihave found another one.
if you hit someone fair and square on a particular part of their body, you hit them hard exactly on that part She hit me fair and square on the nose.

ENT as an acronym - anyone knows? without a dictionary (otherwise the punishment will be to have to remember)?

No idea, I give in.

ENT is an acronym for a medical specialty.

French acronyms usually are comical (to foreigners) as we have the same letters than for the international acronym except that we change the order (SIDA->AIDS, ONU->UNO, IRM->MRI, etc).
In this case of ENT (En acronym), the French acronym is completely different.

Hi there.

I won't open a new thread for this but I want to recount it.

One or 2 days ago, I heard it on a French radio.
The compère pronounced something like graymy howards... I guess you understood what she meant.
The compère is not a good English speaker (but she's very savvy at Spanish)... I had an opportunity to exchange with her in the past...

I won't send her an email for this but the first vowem in Grammy "gr&mI is the same as in grammar; the first vowel in Award(s) @"wO:d is the same as well.
It's probably impressive to badly pronounce. That reminds me of my father who explained to me the difference b/w British and American stating I must fill my mouth with chewing gum or burning coal

~~

Anecdote -
A few years ago, I sent her an email after she poorly translated the title of a jazz song.
I said that I didn't want to critisize her in a mean way but I found the mistake funny.
She translated "Your heart is as black as night" into "Ton chapeau est aussi noir que la nuit".
I added that I couldn't laugh at her as I had understood "Ton cœur est aussi noir que le mien".
(the words were pronounced by an American singing jazz, so it was not exactly at the BBC)

This was posted by Nikki Yanofsky herself.

I relay this to point out the "shh" which is the English for the Fr "chut".

Hi everyone,

America -
My friend Linda published a few lines concerning her grandson:

Trip to the ER = 2 hours

Do you know what ER means?
(I know the response as I had the rest of the words but ER is an acronym that I didn't know and that I should have)

There are about 80 ERs as acrnyms... good luck!
- ER means Elizabeth Regina... but not the response here
- "Er" is an exclamation (Fr euh) but not convenient here.
- ER Estrogen receptor
- Er Erbium
- ER Escape Route
- ER Expense Ratio
- ER Electron Reflectometer

- etc.

Gérard, isn't it Erythrée ?

Trip to the Erythrée = 2 hours

No Muriel,

It was sudden and the grandson is about 4.

I understand better now  

MurielB a écrit:I understand better now  

So?

You understood there was an accident and they had to go to the hospital.

I posted this because the acronym ER (Fr urgences) had to be known: do you know what it stands for?

Gérard, was the emergency "wee-wee" ??

No Muriel, it was a serious accident. Here's the entire message Linda posted:

Trip to the ER = 2 hours
4 stitches and a fat lip = Badge of courage
Lesson learned = Jacuzzi tub is not a miniature half pipe

Thanks  a lot. It was a serious accident !

Muriel, everyone,

gerardM a écrit:No Muriel, it was a serious accident. Here's the entire message Linda posted:

Trip to the ER = 2 hours
4 stitches and a fat lip = Badge of courage
Lesson learned = Jacuzzi tub is not a miniature half pipe

Also important when we learn English, learn exact words (Linda is a teacher, trust her):
- vocabulary : ER (Emergency Room), stitch (with "tch", not clip nor staple), fat lip (not swollen), tub (not bath which is British)
- spelling & grammar - in American English, learn is a regular verb

Gérard a écrit:fat lip (not swollen),

Hi Gérard
i understand that it is important to learn the exact words. By the way I don't understand the difference between "fat lips" and "swollen lips" .  I thought that you get "swollen lips "after a blow while "fat lips" is the shape of your lips
Would you be so kind as to correct me if I am wrong.

Muriel,

You're right! but...

MurielB a écrit:

Gérard a écrit:fat lip (not swollen),

Hi Gérard
i understand that it is important to learn the exact words. By the way I don't understand the difference between "fat lips" and "swollen lips" .  I thought that you get "swollen lips "after a blow while "fat lips" is the shape of your lips
Would you be so kind as to correct me if I am wrong.

I insisted on "exact words".

In expressions, you cannot change a single word otherwise it looks strange.
"Fat lip" is not exactly an expression but it is the adjective which is used. You can say swollen lip and people will understand but it is not the usual couple that Americans are used to hearing.
"Fat lip" is involved in a similar expression which is "Do you want a fat lip?"; don't change a single word! It's the equivalent to our "Tu veux un œil au beurre noir ?"... "Tu veux un œil violet ?", "Tu veux un œil noir ?", "Tu veux que je te donne un coup de poing dans l'œil ?" won't ring any bell to a French person.

So, yes you are right, the lip will be swollen after you are punched but it's not the expected adjective.

I copy here something that I wrote in another thread because it's its place here:

Muriel,

I've something to add...

gerardM a écrit:Muriel,

Sorry for not having been clear.

MurielB a écrit:

Muriel, remember English is not FRench and the masculine doesn't have the precedence in grammar: rather say "It also helps the person to think about what they are going to say next." unless you are speaking about Reagan

Gérard, with "the person" you use "they" not "he" or "she" ?

When you don't know the gender of the subject (when the text is general), you must not give the precedence to the masculine: you have to use "they" instead.

I told you that when they don't know the gender, Americans use "they" and never "he" (as the French do) or "their" but never "his". Sometimes we can find "he/she" or "(s)he" but it was in an intermediate step.

Americans are very respectful (or let's say American ladies know how to be respected).

On a similar way, they don't say any more "salesman" or "mailman", or other old words ending with -man unless they are speaking about a specific guy: they now say "salesperson", "mailperson" even though it is longer.
(mailperson is the American word for postman... I'm not that sure Brits use the same neutral words)

Hi everyone,

> Americans are very respectful (or let's say American ladies know how to be respected).

American ladies are successful in this task since WWI: then, they got their independance.

An anecdote to illustrate the fact.
By 2000, I was contributing to an American computing forum.
An American guy posted a "joke" (at least, that's what he thought) to mock the response written by a lady: something like "Oh it's a girly!"; the result is that he was immediately banned from the forum! That's it!

Thanks a lot for all these very interesting explanations. In France it is the other way round. My sister-in-law, now retired was pharmacist. She hated when she was called "Une pharmacienne" and she wanted to be "Un pharmacien".
it is the same for "un professeur or un docteur". Funny is n't it ?

Gérard, I am very pleased to introduce American manners in the forum.  

Yes Muriel. Cultural features are very important and in my opinion, Americans are very different to Brits.

gerardM a écrit:Muriel,

You're right! but...

MurielB a écrit:

Gérard a écrit:fat lip (not swollen),

Hi Gérard
i understand that it is important to learn the exact words. By the way I don't understand the difference between "fat lips" and "swollen lips" .  I thought that you get "swollen lips "after a blow while "fat lips" is the shape of your lips
Would you be so kind as to correct me if I am wrong.

I insisted on "exact words".

In expressions, you cannot change a single word otherwise it looks strange.
"Fat lip" is not exactly an expression but it is the adjective which is used. You can say swollen lip and people will understand but it is not the usual couple that Americans are used to hearing.
"Fat lip" is involved in a similar expression which is "Do you want a fat lip?"; don't change a single word! It's the equivalent to our "Tu veux un œil au beurre noir ?"... "Tu veux un œil violet ?", "Tu veux un œil noir ?", "Tu veux que je te donne un coup de poing dans l'œil ?" won't ring any bell to a French person.

So, yes you are right, the lip will be swollen after you are punched but it's not the expected adjective.

Thanks a lot Gérard, I will remember...

Really?!?!

Years that I know the English word "marzipan"!
A life that I know the French word "massepain"!!!

It today only that I realize!!

On a catalog, there was the picture of a bow with "marzipan" written, and the name of the product: "masepain".  
To me marzipan was almond pasta.

Le massepain est une pâte confectionnée à base d'amandes mondées et finement moulues, mélangées à du blanc d'œuf et du sucre dans une proportion respective de 2/3 et 1/3. Cette préparation est traditionnelle dans plusieurs pays d'Europe.

Yeah, hearing this weird English word marzipan makes me obviously think of "massepain" lol