skippyonspeed
Some people think I'm a little bit crazy, but I know my mind's not hazy
Posts: 787 
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Post by skippyonspeed on Jun 19, 2016 9:48:35 GMT
Careful what you wish for.....we might end up with Urban English with Aussie inflection, init
A bit like the bloke who wished for a 12" p***s and ended up with a foot tall piano player
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Jaydee
Member of DD Central
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Post by Jaydee on Jun 19, 2016 12:35:54 GMT
I've just read a fascinating comment on another forum. The received wisdom is if the UK votes brexit, but Scotland vote remain by a reasonable margin, the SNP will feel justified in calling a 2nd independence referendum "to allow Scotland to remain in the EU". However the comment I've just read argues that it would be a brave decision for Scotland to vote for Independence from the UK in such circumstances given that if the Scottish economy was to struggle at any point in the future, Scots might be subject to a new rUK immigration points system if they wanted to work in rUK. And that applies in spades to those that currently live in the Scottish border areas but work in England. Without learning a foreign language, Scots would only have Eire as a bolt hole from economic strife at home. And in that scenario, how would such a 'border' be enforced? Surely unless Scotland managed to convince people it was the successor state, it would need to join as 'new', in schengen, euro etc. In that instance, if Scotland needs some form of process for entry to the rUK it would end up with a wall.... Im not saying it's a likely scenario, maybe 1 in 100 or less, but it would be very messy. The Romans built 2 walls but the bu***rs still got over. Now where did I put my porridge? Must eat before I go out shooting the haggis!!!! 
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Post by batchoy on Jun 19, 2016 18:28:32 GMT
Cameron to Obama "We ban you from speaking English" Obama to Cameron "That's fine, we speak American" Edit: I welcome a one language world, as long as it's English  Interesting - except me thinks American == English. American =/= English, our favorite pastime when I worked at GE was to wind up the American Service Engineers when we are giving training presentations though language differences. The best one when asked about something is to say 'I will cover that presently' and then carry on talking about something else, in American 'presently' means immediately whereas in English is means in the the near future so they would get really worked up.
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Post by GSV3MIaC on Jun 19, 2016 18:41:51 GMT
/Mod hat off
Nah, the best one was to ask an American secretary if you could borrow a rubber.
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Post by bracknellboy on Jun 19, 2016 20:19:42 GMT
American =/= English, our favorite pastime when I worked at GE was to wind up the American Service Engineers when we are giving training presentations though language differences. The best one when asked about something is to say 'I will cover that presently' and then carry on talking about something else, in American 'presently' means immediately whereas in English is means in the the near future so they would get really worked up. You could have given 'em a real puzzler by saying "I will cover that presently but momentarily". That would have got their heads in a spin. Of course as with much of the 'Yanks don't speak English' scenarios, this and quite a few other US usages reflect either the original English proper or common acceptable usage, and it's UK English which has evolved away from the original. Stick a bunch of people on the Mayflower in 1620 and elements of the language they took with them will remain largely frozen while the mother land diverges, and other elements will diverge from the original but in a different direction to that which happened back at the source.
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skippyonspeed
Some people think I'm a little bit crazy, but I know my mind's not hazy
Posts: 787
Likes: 424
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Post by skippyonspeed on Jun 19, 2016 20:42:05 GMT
It would be carnage if we all drove on the pavement Also we would all use more fuel in our cars 'cos their gallon is smaller than ours Edit thinking again we would be able to get more fuel in when we fill 'er up!!........perhaps this should be on the untrue fact thread |
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Post by earthbound on Jun 19, 2016 21:01:27 GMT
It would be carnage if we all drove on the pavement Also we would all use more fuel in our cars 'cos their gallon is smaller than ours Edit thinking again we would be able to get more fuel in when we fill 'er up!!........perhaps this should be on the untrue fact thread When i went over to america for the first time c30 years ago, i asked for a pint of beer, and the guy asked 'do you want 20floz' I instinctively said ..yes please.. for the next four weeks i was convinced the yanks were screwing me over.. when i got home , i discovered 20floz is slightly more than a pint... That is the point when the american's went up in my estimation. edit 30 not 20
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skippyonspeed
Some people think I'm a little bit crazy, but I know my mind's not hazy
Posts: 787
Likes: 424
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Post by skippyonspeed on Jun 19, 2016 21:13:20 GMT
It would be carnage if we all drove on the pavement Also we would all use more fuel in our cars 'cos their gallon is smaller than ours Edit thinking again we would be able to get more fuel in when we fill 'er up!!........perhaps this should be on the untrue fact thread When i went over to america for the first time c30 years ago, i asked for a pint of beer, and the guy asked 'do you want 20floz' I instinctively said ..yes please.. for the next four weeks i was convinced the yanks were screwing me over.. when i got home , i discovered 20floz is slightly more than a pint... That is the point when the american's went up in my estimation. edit 30 not 20 Just had to check that out, it's all weird 20 UK floz = 1 Imp pint = 568.261ml 20 US floz = 1.25 US pint = 591.471ml
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Post by earthbound on Jun 19, 2016 21:20:06 GMT
When i went over to america for the first time c30 years ago, i asked for a pint of beer, and the guy asked 'do you want 20floz' I instinctively said ..yes please.. for the next four weeks i was convinced the yanks were screwing me over.. when i got home , i discovered 20floz is slightly more than a pint... That is the point when the american's went up in my estimation. edit 30 not 20 Just had to check that out, it's all weird 20 UK floz = 1 Imp pint = 568.261ml 20 US floz = 1.25 US pint = 591.471ml agree its weird , but don't want to spoil my holiday. so i went for the 20 us floz.... its a bigger pint than the usual/average pint, i think...
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adrianc
Member of DD Central
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Post by adrianc on Jun 20, 2016 7:45:13 GMT
When i went over to america for the first time c30 years ago, i asked for a pint of beer, and the guy asked 'do you want 20floz' I instinctively said ..yes please.. for the next four weeks i was convinced the yanks were screwing me over.. when i got home , i discovered 20floz is slightly more than a pint... That is the point when the american's went up in my estimation. edit 30 not 20 Just had to check that out, it's all weird 20 UK floz = 1 Imp pint = 568.261ml 20 US floz = 1.25 US pint = 591.471ml It's enough to make your head hurt, isn't it? What is so wrong with nice, sensible, easy metric measurements? Why does the UK have such a national blind-spot? Metrication was first discussed in Parliament in 1818. The UK government agreed to move to metrication in 1965, after lobbying from the Federation of British Industry, with the aim of completing it by the end of 1975. In 1968, the Metrication Board was set up to achieve that. And here we are, in 2016, with people still humphing about how pints and stones and feet and gallons are the only correct measurements. Even the US is (finally!) trying to metricate, and not only are half of their measurements the same name but a different size as ours, but they don't even use half of the ones we insist are necessary, while they use a bunch we've never heard of (what is a "floz" anyway? How can an ounce of fluid weigh a different amount to an ounce of solid, and why use a measurement of mass to express volume...?)... Mad. Truly mad. Don't even start me on pre-decimal currency. Fortunately, I'm middle-aged enough to have been born a month after sanity officially prevailed there...
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Post by earthbound on Jun 20, 2016 8:13:00 GMT
I remember being over there and seeing quite large demonstrations out side petrol (Gas) stations because it had just hit $1.00 per gallon , i wonder what the reaction will be when/if they switch to Litres and find themselves paying a hell of a lot more per gallon.
The gallons to litres switch was the biggest rip off that ever happened to car drivers.
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adrianc
Member of DD Central
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Post by adrianc on Jun 20, 2016 8:43:18 GMT
The gallons to litres switch was the biggest rip off that ever happened to car drivers. Umm, maybe it's just me - but I remember all the petrol station chains having price-converter tables up at the pumps. Changing the units didn't change the price much at all. Historic fuel prices :- www.theaa.com/public_affairs/reports/Petrol_Prices_1896_todate_gallons.pdf ("to present" seems to mean "to 2005", but the RAC charts the last decade - www.racfoundation.org/data/uk-pump-prices-over-time)The changeover was requested by the fuel retail industry and brought in around 1982, primarily because prices were closing on £1.9999 per gallon, which was the highest price that the pumps (all of which already had to cope with both units) could display per unit.
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skippyonspeed
Some people think I'm a little bit crazy, but I know my mind's not hazy
Posts: 787
Likes: 424
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Post by skippyonspeed on Jun 20, 2016 9:05:16 GMT
The gallons to litres switch was the biggest rip off that ever happened to car drivers. I share adrianc's view there.......the only rip off I can think of was the 'secret nudge' ie you fill your car with exactly 30 quids worth, by the time you put the hose back, gone inside to pay, scratched yer bum while queueing, the final price was £30.01
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Post by earthbound on Jun 20, 2016 9:23:00 GMT
I was thinking more along the lines of the historical rip off, i remember petrol going up a couple of pence/pennies per gallon, *then the change over happened and we got* a couple of pence per litre.  edit * |
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Post by earthbound on Jun 20, 2016 9:28:01 GMT
I share adrianc's view there.......the only rip off I can think of was the 'secret nudge' ie you fill your car with exactly 30 quids worth, by the time you put the hose back, gone inside to pay, scratched yer bum while queueing, the final price was £30.01 Oooo that extra penny  ...
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