A dear, departed neighbour, a WWII British ambulance driver in her day, passed on an amusing hyphenation from the newspaper, praising the British Ars-enal. It delighted her to no end to share it with us, as we picked up our mail everyday.
So show a little respect and smile for our dear Margaret.
I accidentally discovered the full stop/period conundrum after selecting Siri’s voice to be “Australian female.” About that time I began noticing a strange phenomenon when dictating texts. Each time I said “period” (anticipating the appearance of the punctuation mark) Siri would type “period” instead. Too lazy to to look into this obnoxious anomaly, I would dutifully erase the word “period” replacing it with the desired punctuation mark. I did this for a couple of years. Yes, yes, I know. Silly.
Then one day it hit me—the dear lady in my phone, dutifully typing out my dictated messages, was Australian! Perhaps “full stop” would proffer me the desired punctuation mark?
Yes indeed. Worked like a charm.
Now I proudly proclaim “full stop” at the end of dictated sentences. This makes me feel impossibly erudite and well-traveled. (I am neither. Full stop.)
Once again, you've made my day, Bob Basler. Or is that an American phrase likely to be grossly misinterpreted by most Brits? Thanks for another day brightener.
Soooo, you're saying the colonists were all so drunk they missed the change from gotten to got? I'll bet that really bummed them out, for even more amusement from the Brits. The Brits also had a good laugh when the fanny pack became a thing shortly after you started at Reuters.
Love this one and it surely brought back memories. I remember coming out of my first morning news planning meeting in Hong Kong and admitting to someone that I had no idea what had been said in that meeting. I took copious notes, that consisted mostly of "WTF are they saying?" And probably some doodles. And the tie thing! So true. It took me months to figure out what that was about. Great piece. Your wit remains intact.
Love your article as I too had to grope with the Zeds. I once made a short list and as word got around, there were numerous calls for it. Fortunately the Canadians on our staff were more au courant.
A dear, departed neighbour, a WWII British ambulance driver in her day, passed on an amusing hyphenation from the newspaper, praising the British Ars-enal. It delighted her to no end to share it with us, as we picked up our mail everyday.
So show a little respect and smile for our dear Margaret.
I accidentally discovered the full stop/period conundrum after selecting Siri’s voice to be “Australian female.” About that time I began noticing a strange phenomenon when dictating texts. Each time I said “period” (anticipating the appearance of the punctuation mark) Siri would type “period” instead. Too lazy to to look into this obnoxious anomaly, I would dutifully erase the word “period” replacing it with the desired punctuation mark. I did this for a couple of years. Yes, yes, I know. Silly.
Then one day it hit me—the dear lady in my phone, dutifully typing out my dictated messages, was Australian! Perhaps “full stop” would proffer me the desired punctuation mark?
Yes indeed. Worked like a charm.
Now I proudly proclaim “full stop” at the end of dictated sentences. This makes me feel impossibly erudite and well-traveled. (I am neither. Full stop.)
I love it!
Love this as I love all the subtle and not so subtle differences in the way English is spoken. Thank you for sharing your wit and memories here.
Once again, you've made my day, Bob Basler. Or is that an American phrase likely to be grossly misinterpreted by most Brits? Thanks for another day brightener.
Thank you, Sandy! I'm not sure. To the Brits, "made my day" might be something naughty, but we're both Americans, so it's all okay...
As my (British) mother-in-law likes to say, we are separated by a common language....
Aye lik' either o' ye kin speak sassenach...
No fair reverting to Hindi, Shra....
Love this! Having had a stepmother from Australia, I learned many translations that were quite amusing!
Soooo, you're saying the colonists were all so drunk they missed the change from gotten to got? I'll bet that really bummed them out, for even more amusement from the Brits. The Brits also had a good laugh when the fanny pack became a thing shortly after you started at Reuters.
That's right, the colonists gotten drunk way too often, Dave...
windscreen for windshield
pavement for sidewalk
etc etc
ps David collected them as well.
And don't get me started on gaol and kerb...
Bet you specially enjoyed this one, Unca Bob. Very nicely done.
Many thanks, Rog. Yes, I had a grand time with this one, full stop..
Did you have Spellcheck for English and The Other English? For color and colour and organize and organise?
(Enjoy these columns immensely, but Substack is getting ornery these days.)
This was the old days, Susan. No spellcheck except our brains....
Great stuff, Bob. I wouldn’t go back to full-time work, but I do miss exchanges like this.
Love this one and it surely brought back memories. I remember coming out of my first morning news planning meeting in Hong Kong and admitting to someone that I had no idea what had been said in that meeting. I took copious notes, that consisted mostly of "WTF are they saying?" And probably some doodles. And the tie thing! So true. It took me months to figure out what that was about. Great piece. Your wit remains intact.
Thank you, Janie. In fairness, those guys at that meeting were speaking Cantonese....
Love your article as I too had to grope with the Zeds. I once made a short list and as word got around, there were numerous calls for it. Fortunately the Canadians on our staff were more au courant.