> Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2012 10:06:11 -0700
> From: silme13@yahoo.com
> Subject: Re: Words, Words, Words
> To: tamson-house@googlegroups.com
>
>
> --- On Wed, 7/11/12, Sibyl Smirl <polycarpa3@ckt.net> wrote:
> >
> > I'm reading a British mystery novel right now, on my Kindle,
> > "In the Blood", a genealogical mystery, by Steve
> > Robinson.
>
> Do note that Kindles (and other ebook readers) are prone to weird typos. I like my Kindle, but sometimes the typos are a bit blatant. They're getting better with them, though.
>
> The viewpoint character is (supposed to be)
> > American, though most of the action takes place in
> > Cornwall.
>
> The author is from Kent and now lives in Essex; I was curious and looked him up.
>
> >
> > Jarring for me, because to me, hair that will behave would
> > be _lying_ down, while hair that might be called "sitting
> > down" would evoke a vertical appearance, like "standing up",
> > that is, _not_ behaving, but straight out from the root, or,
> > in the case of "sitting", out from the root, then a bent
> > section, then out again...
>
> It's more British colloquial than just the author. I had to get used to British students referring to the floor when talking about something outside; I would have called it the ground, unless I was talking about the floor of the forest, or something like that. Now I find myself calling the ground the floor sometimes. :)
>
> The following is from an ad for Paul Mitchell hair products:
> "Marlon says
> "Use to fix and control specific areas of your hair like a sweeping fringe or those hairs that won't sit down" "
>
> Our Earthly Pleasures, a band from Newcastle (England) has a song with these lyrics:
> "There it is again that lock of hair that won't sit still
> Our earthly pleasures distract us against our will."
>
> >
> > "_In_ his neck"? That one is especially uncomfortable
> > for me, because the story has just been describing, before
> > that, a body with a cut throat. I'm not even sure what
> > it means-- a too-tight tie might be making a groove in his
> > neck, and definitely not comfortable, but that doesn't seem
> > to work. An American might think "on" or "around", but
> > not "in".
>
> Okay, I'm saying the following from 19 years experience teaching American English (17 in Colorado and two at an American school outside of London) and ten years teaching British English: I think that's a typo. :) (I end my 29th year of teaching on Friday -- hallelujah!! Okay, technically, I ended the teaching last Friday, but we're having a week of meetings, trainings and lots of paperwork now. Year 30 starts on 23 August. This summer will go too fast.)
> >
> > And one for Leslie, a piece of horse equipment, like a
> > feedbag, in an early Eighteenth Century setting, of which
> > I've never heard before. This one isn't in the OED either,
> > though specialized equipment might not be. "His Shire
> > mare, Ebryl, named after the Cornish for the month of April
> > in which she was born, was happily eating her reward from
> > the morral looped around her neck."
>
> Yep, 'morral' is a real word -- it's a feedbag. From an American website: http://www.nrsworld.com/horse-morral.html. In Spanish, morral means just that, and can also mean something like a backpack or haversack, I believe.
>
> Ellen
That's interesting, Ellen. I don't think I have heard anyone refer to the ground as the floor (outside). Is it possible its a 'southern' English thing?
> From: silme13@yahoo.com
> Subject: Re: Words, Words, Words
> To: tamson-house@googlegroups.com
>
>
> --- On Wed, 7/11/12, Sibyl Smirl <polycarpa3@ckt.net> wrote:
> >
> > I'm reading a British mystery novel right now, on my Kindle,
> > "In the Blood", a genealogical mystery, by Steve
> > Robinson.
>
> Do note that Kindles (and other ebook readers) are prone to weird typos. I like my Kindle, but sometimes the typos are a bit blatant. They're getting better with them, though.
>
> The viewpoint character is (supposed to be)
> > American, though most of the action takes place in
> > Cornwall.
>
> The author is from Kent and now lives in Essex; I was curious and looked him up.
>
> >
> > Jarring for me, because to me, hair that will behave would
> > be _lying_ down, while hair that might be called "sitting
> > down" would evoke a vertical appearance, like "standing up",
> > that is, _not_ behaving, but straight out from the root, or,
> > in the case of "sitting", out from the root, then a bent
> > section, then out again...
>
> It's more British colloquial than just the author. I had to get used to British students referring to the floor when talking about something outside; I would have called it the ground, unless I was talking about the floor of the forest, or something like that. Now I find myself calling the ground the floor sometimes. :)
>
> The following is from an ad for Paul Mitchell hair products:
> "Marlon says
> "Use to fix and control specific areas of your hair like a sweeping fringe or those hairs that won't sit down" "
>
> Our Earthly Pleasures, a band from Newcastle (England) has a song with these lyrics:
> "There it is again that lock of hair that won't sit still
> Our earthly pleasures distract us against our will."
>
> >
> > "_In_ his neck"? That one is especially uncomfortable
> > for me, because the story has just been describing, before
> > that, a body with a cut throat. I'm not even sure what
> > it means-- a too-tight tie might be making a groove in his
> > neck, and definitely not comfortable, but that doesn't seem
> > to work. An American might think "on" or "around", but
> > not "in".
>
> Okay, I'm saying the following from 19 years experience teaching American English (17 in Colorado and two at an American school outside of London) and ten years teaching British English: I think that's a typo. :) (I end my 29th year of teaching on Friday -- hallelujah!! Okay, technically, I ended the teaching last Friday, but we're having a week of meetings, trainings and lots of paperwork now. Year 30 starts on 23 August. This summer will go too fast.)
> >
> > And one for Leslie, a piece of horse equipment, like a
> > feedbag, in an early Eighteenth Century setting, of which
> > I've never heard before. This one isn't in the OED either,
> > though specialized equipment might not be. "His Shire
> > mare, Ebryl, named after the Cornish for the month of April
> > in which she was born, was happily eating her reward from
> > the morral looped around her neck."
>
> Yep, 'morral' is a real word -- it's a feedbag. From an American website: http://www.nrsworld.com/horse-morral.html. In Spanish, morral means just that, and can also mean something like a backpack or haversack, I believe.
>
> Ellen
That's interesting, Ellen. I don't think I have heard anyone refer to the ground as the floor (outside). Is it possible its a 'southern' English thing?
Jenny U
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