Anglo-American communications studies
Tim May
tcmay at got.net
Fri Jan 5 17:50:40 PST 2001
At 1:00 PM -0500 1/5/01, Ken Brown wrote:
>
>Harmon Seaver wrote:
>> In different areas of the US we have different tems for the
>>thing get water
> > out of at the sink. In the south it's often called spigot, and in the north
> > faucet. Also tap. What do you Brits call that?
>
>Tap. We find the word "faucet" funny, it sounds as if it should be
>slightly obscene, a good example of the US habit of never using a short
>word when a long one will do. But when I found myself amongst Americans
>I was slightly disappointed to find that they almost all say "tap" these
>days. Just as they say "car" instead of "automobile". You are obviously
>all watching too much British TV, or listening to too many British rock
>bands. You should defend your language against this tide of old-world
>vulgarity.
I'm now 49, and "car" has been much more common in these United
States than "automobile" has been, in my lifetime.
Further, I often hear Britishisms which are far longer and more
labored than the American equivalents. For example:
"articulated lorry" vs. "semi"
"redundant" vs. "laid-off"
"Mackintosh" vs. "raincoat"
"Pantechnicon" = "moving van"
(I only learned this last one on a site devoted to Britishisms vs.
Americanisms.)
Fact is, both dialects of English have longer versions of the same
basic word than other dialects have.
Which is preferable is a matter of taste and familiarity.
--Tim May
--
Timothy C. May tcmay at got.net Corralitos, California
Political: Co-founder Cypherpunks/crypto anarchy/Cyphernomicon
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Personal: b.1951/UCSB/Intel '74-'86/retired/investor/motorcycles/guns
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