Dictionary of American Regional English

MurielB Jeu 3 Mai - 10:12

http://dare.wisc.edu/?q=node/22
http://www.thetakeaway.org/2012/feb/02/dictionary-american-dialect/
Dare is the dictionary of American Regional English Have a look at those very interesting links

MurielB Ven 8 Juin - 15:05

The Oxford English Dictionary official policy is to attempt to record a word's most-known usages and variants in all varieties of English past and present, worldwide

In the English language, words are changing all the time. For instance people say "I want to go to the loo" not "to the toilet". It is interesting to wonder when the expression first appeared.With the help of old magazines, postcards etc.... It is possible to find out. Again I have found an interesting article in Vocable about that subject.

French language is controlled while there is no academy in Britain. so when a word hangs round for some time,it appeard in the Oxford English Dictionary.There are so many origins in the Bristish language : British English, Australian English, American English and all the other varieties of English.

An interesting exemple is "cheers". which at a time meant to drink at someone'shealth.Nowadays people use it for all sorts of things, when you get off the bus the bus conductor says "cheers"at the end of an email or a letter you write "cheers", the Oxford English Dictionary wants to know about that.
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MurielB Jeu 23 Aoû - 9:51

Hi Gerard,Irène, hi everyone

what I find difficult is to Know each word proper meaning for instance

If a man were to shoot his pet dog at a range of 500 yards, you can say that it is "A good shot" but not "This man is a good man" Evil or Very Mad

Invité Mer 12 Sep - 14:35

Hi Irène Gérard, everyone

Let's find street English expressions

He is pigging out on his birthday cake= He is eating too much

Can you help me to find more....When I have time I will write some down.

Invité Jeu 13 Sep - 22:03

Hi everyone

I would like to sound English when i speak and it is a hard job. Why not write idioms on this forum everyday, it could help....

He is as nimble as a goat. When you translate this sentence into french, it is the same apart from the goat which becomes a monkey

He was muttering under his breath In French, it is not under his breaTth but in his beard

Beauty is only skin-deep It is the same in French because skin-deep means superficial

Beauty is in the eye ot the beholder. In French the sentence "in the eye of the beholder is conveyed by "subjective" which is not so descriptive.

Invité Ven 14 Sep - 21:40

Hi everyone

I have found "He is as bald as a coot" or "He is as bald as an egg". it means he has no hair on his head

He's dead to the world means that he is fast asleep

She 's a real looker means that she is very beautiful

I saw him in the flesh means that I saw him in real life.

MurielB Ven 21 Sep - 18:01

Hi everyone

I have also found

I need to let off steam and i found the expression funny because you are like a locomotive which lets off steam. you release your emotions such as anger and you compare it to locomotive steam.

Two heads are better than one There is more in two heads than a single one.

He has a hand in it. He his behind all that

MurielB Lun 8 Oct - 21:48

He has both feets on the ground = He is not a day-dreamer at all .

He only looks after number one = he is self- centered

He is a bit of a character= He is a bit of an eccentric.

He couldn't say boo to a goose = He is very very shy.

She was walking on air = She was very very happy.

Invité Sam 20 Oct - 21:41

He has the patience of Job= He is very patient.

That's where the shoe pinches= That's where there's the rub.

It's a scorcher today= It's blazing hot today

Be careful you are going to miss the boat= You are going to miss your chance.

MurielB Mar 27 Nov - 16:17

an uphill battle/fight/struggle also an uphill job/task
if something you are trying to do is an uphill struggle, it is very difficult,

For instance when you want to brush up your English and nobody helps you It is an uphill battle

gerardM Jeu 6 Déc - 21:56

Hi everyone,

When I'm on Facebook, with colleagues or relatives, I try to put my finger on words, or expressions, or behaviors: vocabulary especially street language, grammar, specificities of American English, Culture showing differencies with French behaviors, etc.

This morning I discovered many Americans put 2 spaces behind a period at the end of a sentence! I didn't know this!

A discussion started with a rant re the fact that Dian hated people typing two spaces after a period.
Other participants in the discussion declared they still did so (double space) as they learned that way in their classes and it was traditional at the time of typewriting. They say it better separates sentences and it's like a rest in music: in short, it's necessary.
Dian stated she was convinced about single spacing when a professional got her to make a test: remember the text - an additional space had bad effects on attention.

Here are 2 links (provided by Dian) on the subject:
- Why two spaces after a period isn’t wrong (or, the lies typographers tell about history)
- Word Advanced Document Design Course (Dian's blog)
See "Rivers of White"

You can judge thru the length of the articles how important the subject is!!

MurielB Ven 7 Déc - 13:47

gerardM a écrit:they learned that way in their classes and it was traditional at the time of typewriting !!

Thank you, Gérard for writing again in this forum ! It's a real pleasure ! Spotting differences between French and American English is very interesting indeed ! I understand that " 2 spaces behind a period" is now a bit old-fashioned Wink

gerardM Ven 7 Déc - 14:01

Hi Muriel, hi everyone,

Shall I display an example of the Brits being much more daring than many other nationalities... sometimes embarrassing for a French guy.

True English - Page 3 483634_10151323862265295_549336393_n

This is commonly posted by "normal" people (even by a French girlie -my niece- now living in England): OMG! $C\'est vrai!!$

MurielB Ven 7 Déc - 14:17

Very daring indeed ! It goes back a long way when my English friends would only send infant Jesus postcards ....

gerardM Ven 7 Déc - 14:39

I don't know if this might be done in the States but what I wanna point out (again) is that tho' they are very religious, Americans avoid any reference to religion: their traditional phrase is "Season's Greetings".

Season's Greetings
"Season's Greetings" is a greeting more commonly used as a motto on winter season greeting cards, and in commercial advertisements, than as a spoken phrase. In addition to "Merry Christmas", Victorian Christmas cards bore a variety of salutations, including "Compliments of the Season" and "Christmas Greetings." By the late 19th century, "With the Season's Greetings" or simply "The Season's Greetings" began appearing. By the 1920s it had been shortened to "Season's Greetings,"[10] and has been a greeting card fixture ever since. Several White House Christmas cards, including U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower's 1955 card, have featured the phrase.
...
This is used for all of the Winter festivities including Christmas, New Year's Day, Hanukkah, Boxing Day or Saint Stephen's Day, Epiphany, Thanksgiving and Kwanzaa. Some greetings are more prevalent than others, depending on the cultural and religious status of any given area.

(Wikipedia)

Guilaine Ven 7 Déc - 15:00

Hello Gérard, nice to hear of you !

"Seasons's Greetings" instead of "Christmas Greetings" or "Merry Christmas"...

Is it another way of avoiding the Christian connotation of Christmas, in order not to hurt other religions ?

On that purpose, I also heard that the way we call the quarterly holidays is changing nowadays in France :

Christmas holiday : Winter holiday
Easter holiday : Spring holiday
Etc...

I don't think all people will agree with that Evil or Very Mad

gerardM Ven 7 Déc - 15:20

Hi Guilaine,

> "Seasons's Greetings" instead of "Christmas Greetings" or "Merry Christmas"...
> Is it another way of avoiding the Christian connotation of Christmas, in order not to hurt other religions ?
"Season's Greetings" or "Happy Holidays" are the terms used to avoid any reference to religions.
They're mainly used for messages sent to anyone for example by a store, by the President, etc.

They're also used as shortcuts for any celebration from ThanksGiving to Epiphany: Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, Boxing Day, Saint Stephen's Day, New Year's Day, Epiphany.

So to sum up, in one term, they mean several religions, several cultures and a range of days in the calendar.

In France as well?? How interesting!!

gerardM Dim 6 Jan - 22:46

Muriel,

Notice there's no word about fat as this is normal diet in America.

Remy Lun 7 Jan - 7:56

Nice pan on words !

Guilaine Mar 8 Jan - 14:26

Hi Gérard, Remy, Muriel,

Not only the English is clever, think of the French as well :

You write : STRESSED can be read the other way round in DESSERTS.

This is called in French : un palindrome : mot, vers, phrase qu'on peut lire dans les deux sens.

Exemple : LAVAL
ESOPE RESTE ICI ET SE REPOSE.

Not bad, isn't it ?

gerardM Mar 8 Jan - 14:50

Hi Guilaine, hi everyone,

Thanks for your words and examples (never heard the last one).

A palindrome (same word in English - of course pronounced in the En way especially the "in" sound which is very different in English and in French) provides exactly the same word/expression/etc. in both ways i.e. stressed -> desserts is not.

Guilaine Mar 8 Jan - 15:00

Why not ??? stressed = desserts ; the writing is the same. Of course the pronunciation is not, but I bet in English you will never find one...

gerardM Mar 8 Jan - 15:04

Hi everyone,

Remy a écrit:Nice pan on words !

To those who didn't get it.

Remy has got a deadpan sense of humor (Fr. un pince-sans-rire).
In his sentence, we can understand "Nice pun !"
- a "pun" is a joke based on words (jeu de mots, calembour)
- "pan" (close pronunciatioon) is the generic word for lots of culinary containers (saucepan, frying pan, etc.)... remember we were speaking about "desserts".

gerardM Mar 8 Jan - 15:11

Hi Guilaine,

You're right.
I'm too restrictive: a palindrome can also be a sentence.

There're lots of palindromes in English: EVE, RADAR, CIVIC, LEVEL, ROTOR, MADAM, REVIVER, KAYAK, etc. lots
English, with its compound words, is THE language of palindromes. English people do love playing with words.

MurielB Ven 25 Jan - 11:29

To shift into another gear (You have 3 gears in your car 1st 2nd 3rd) so you can shift into a higher gear, a lower gear.
There are different expressions in English with gear : Get in gear= start do it.
When people shift into another gear, they change speed.

(=equipment) matériel m , équipement m
camping gear le matériel de camping
→ fishing gear
your sports gear tes affaires de sport

(=clothes for particular activity) tenue f
→ We took off our riding gear.
→ protective gear
→ police in riot gear

* (=clothes) fringues fpl *
the type of gear I used to wear as a teenager le genre de fringues que je portais adolescent

[+car] vitesse f
→ Select the lowest gear before moving off.
in first gear en première vitesse
→ We were trying to climb the hill in third gear
to be in second gear être en deuxième (vitesse)
→ Stay in low gear.
to change gear changer de vitesse
to shift gear (US) changer de vitesse
to change down into second gear rétrograder en seconde
→ He changed down into third gear as we approached the corner.
to be in gear [car] être en prise
to be out of gear [car] être au point mort
to leave the car in gear laisser la voiture en première
→ Leave the car in gear so it won't roll down the hill.
→ top gear
→ bottom gear
→ high gear

[+bike] vitesse f
→ My bike's got twenty-one gears.

(=part of machine) engrenage m
→ interlocking cogs and gears

vt
to be geared to or towards (=aimed at)
[+punishment, rewarding] viser
→ a prison policy which has been geared to punishment rather than rehabilitation
to be geared to meet the needs of sb [service] (=designed to meet) être conçu pour répondre aux besoins de qn
Our service is geared to meet the needs of the disabled. Notre service est conçu pour répondre aux besoins des handicapés.
they are not geared to meet the needs of ... (=incapable of meeting) ils ne sont pas en mesure de pouvoir répondre aux besoins de ...
→ Colleges are not always geared to the needs of mature students.
→ job centres are not geared to meet the needs of highly qualified people

True English

Dictionary of American Regional English

The Oxford English Dictionary

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Expressions with "Gear"