THERE IS A PUBLIC LIBRARY almost within walking distance for me of my abode.
I am a frequent visitor to the library, a “habit” I acquired when I was in first grade c 1950 when the main library was a block down the alley from where I lived.
I’ll read almost anything, but I the favor mysteries that my neighborhood library conveniently marks with a blue dot. (It has colors for other genre as well.) I am working my way through the authors alphabetically.
Some of the authors are English, and their English is somewhat different than mine. Someone — Geo. Bernard Shaw and Winston Churchill have been credited, perhaps blamed — said that "England and America are two countries divided by a common language."
As a former technical scrivener writing to an international audience, I know some of the words the Brits used to identify what Yanks call something else.
As examples:
- Bonnet = automobile hood
Knock me up = wake me at an agreed to time
Petrol = gasoline
Spanner = wrench
But every so often I encounter a new “Britishism.” Most can be figured out by the word’s context. Occasionally I’ll resort to an on-line dictionary, and worst case, I’ll turn to my aging unabridged dictionary.
J.G. Goodhind’s Walking with ghosts introduced me to “trainers.” From the context, I concluded “trainers” are the equivalent of “sneakers.” This in the first five pages.
A word I DID look up was “anorak.” I’m not certain this word travelled across the Atlantic — it allegedly came from Greenland — but it pops up in many stories penned in the UK. There, it means both the coat with a hood — a waterproof hoodie — or , according to Wikipedia, British slang which refers to a person who has a very strong interest, perhaps obsessive, in niche subjects. This interest may be unacknowledged or not understood by the general public. I have only read it in the first sense.
In the U.S. traffic goes around a circle; in England and elsewhere, they go around a “circus.” Why a “circus?” As an American by guess would be because the way inconsiderate drivers push their way into the flow with no concern for others’ vehicles. A circle/circus also may be called a “roundabout.”
When a European lives on the first floor, that person lives on what would be the second floor in the States. The European who lives at street level — American’s first floor — lives on the ground floor. If the building has many floors, it probably has a “lift” (elevator).
An umbrella is not a “bumbershoot — that is an American word. In England, an umbrella is a “brolly.”
“Bumbershoot,” for all its American background, led me to Glossary of British terms not widely used in the United States, a site that lists, I’m guessing, more than (never “over”) 100 Britishisms with translations into American English.
Having a decent vocabulary — gained mostly by reading books freely available from the local lending library — is a definite advantage when seeking employment. It puts the reader head and shoulders above many collegians, even those with masters degrees (too many of whom are unable to correctly spell or to put together a grammatically correct sentence)
If the job is in any place where the English ruled (except of coourse for the U.S.), British English is the common English. It pays to know some “Britishisms.”
Besides, sometimes it’s just fun.
PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.
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