Understanding Brits

Colin Blackburn said:

Henry, zebus is what used to arrive at the "Fantasy Island (with a tidal access path.)" That
series didn't do as well as its more well known cousin.

Google has no more idea what you're getting at than I do, as far as I can see. You would dismount
from zebus, although with that hump I think a Tabor saddle might be safer.

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

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In message <MPG.18f64fae2c2a44349898b2@localhost>, Colin Blackburn
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

I have no idea what debus, unbus or rebus mean.

Rebus - a puzzle consisting of pictures, symbols, etc., representing syllables and words; a
heraldic device that is a pictorial representation of the name of the bearer.

Thought you might want to know that. On the other hand perhaps not! ;-)

I did know that. I would, perhaps, have been clearer saying, "I have no idea what de-bus, un-bus or
re-bus mean."

Henry, zebus is what used to arrive at the "Fantasy Island (with a tidal access path.)" That series
didn't do as well as its more well known cousin.

Colin

Henry Braun said:

Colin Blackburn said:

Henry, zebus is what used to arrive at the "Fantasy Island (with a tidal access path.)" That
series didn't do as well as its more well known cousin.

Google has no more idea what you're getting at than I do, as far as I can see.

It probably does with the right search terms. Try adding "Knick-knack", "bad" cult" and "TV" to the
search terms... ;-)

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net [email hidden]
dundee.ac.uk~pjclinchOpen ↗

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Henry Braun said:

Colin Blackburn said:

Henry, zebus is what used to arrive at the "Fantasy Island (with a tidal access path.)" That
series didn't do as well as its more well known cousin.

Google has no more idea what you're getting at than I do, as far as I can see.

It probably does with the right search terms. Try adding "Knick-knack", "bad" cult" and "TV" to
the search terms... ;-)

I tried "fantasy island" "ze" "bus", but got a lot of dutch web pages about holidays in Hawaii.

Colin

I finkits ve casting director of East Enders wot controls ve langwage, jenowadamean?

"Tony W" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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"al_Mossah" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Divided by a common language! Have you ever been on a US 'plane when,

on

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landing, the cabin service director informs the passengers that the

doors

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will open "momentarily". The Brits immediately panic, assuming that the doors will open FOR a
moment, whereas the Americans assume that they

will

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open IN a moment.

The Americans have "gotten" things, whereas we have "got" them. But we

have

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"forgotten" things, whilst the Americans have "forgot" things.

I love it.

While the Germans were modifying the rules of spelling and grammar

recently

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(well, within the last 6 or 7 year) I was asked, in all seriousness, at a party who controlled the
English language. They thought my initial laugh somewhat rude. I never did know if they fully
appreciated the concept of anarchy that reigns supreme.

Anyway, I have less problem with Americans than with my teenage nephew & niece -- who seem to
speak a completely different argot.

T

Quoted message said:

And you missed out "zebus".

As in Franglais "'ave I missed zebus m'sewer?"

~~~~~~~~~~
Flush out that intestinal parasite and/or the waste product before sending a reply!

Any speeliong mistake$ aR the resiult of my cats sitting on the keyboaRRRDdd
~~~~~~~~~~

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Anyway, I have less problem with Americans than with my teenage nephew & niece -- who seem to
speak a completely different argot.

T

Too true. Last year I remarked to one of my upper sixth boys that a particular girl looked fit - he
looked at me askance. I meant that even as a PE student she seemed to have an above average and
efficient cardio-vascular facility. We eventually understood each other.

John

In message <[email hidden]>, Eatmorepies
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Anyway, I have less problem with Americans than with my teenage nephew & niece -- who seem to
speak a completely different argot.

T

Too true. Last year I remarked to one of my upper sixth boys that a particular girl looked fit - he
looked at me askance. I meant that even as a PE student she seemed to have an above average and
efficient cardio-vascular facility. We eventually understood each other.

John

Crikey! How old are you? I'm over 40 and I know (and use) that ambiguity.
--
Michael MacClancy

In article <MPG.18f64fae2c2a44349898b2@localhost>, Colin Blackburn
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

You alight. It's a perfectly good word. To bus is to move people about by bus, it isn't "to get on
a bus", so I have no idea what debus, unbus or rebus mean. Perhaps you deboarded? De-unalighted?

It's all beginning to sound like Dubya-speak as in Dead Ringers.

--
congokid Eating out in London? Read my tips... congokid.comcongokid.comOpen ↗

In article <[email hidden]>, Peter Clinch
<[email hidden]> writes

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Verbing nouns only bothers me when it comes as part of management-speak. We're now expected to
action things where we used to just do them which grates a bit, but trashing stuff is just fine...

We have a lot of that in PR - it's very impactful, going forward.

--
congokid Eating out in London? Read my tips... congokid.comcongokid.comOpen ↗

In news:MPG.18f6549d685da1119898b4@localhost, Colin Blackburn <[email hidden]> typed:

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In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

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Colin Blackburn said:

The guard on a broken down Virgin train I was on invited the passengers to detrain. Ugh.

ISTR reading on some froup that "detrain" *was* correctly used in UK English, but as a technical
term by railway workers to describe the process of decoupling the locomotive and carriages into
separate units of rolling stock rather than removing the *passengers* from the train.

"Passengers are invited to detrain because de train has derailed?"

Alex

Quoted message said:

People make too much of this 'divided by a common language' nonsense, anyway. Nothing that a
little sensitivity and attention can't solve.

It's deeper than you think. An American may not mean what you understand him to mean, and
vice versa.

Two friends of mine were on the tube in New York and someone tried to bum a cigarette off one of
them. The other said "What does he want?"

"Oh, he's looking for a [censored]", says the other. There was a shocked silence as the carriage emptied.

Another Irish chap I know of could not understand for some weeks the reactions of his workmates in
the US to him until he worked it out. He had been in the habit of saying "I'm going to town on
Saturday cos there's always great crack down there".

Colin Blackburn said:

The guard on a broken down Virgin train I was on invited the passengers to detrain. Ugh.

They love that on the tube: "The delay is caused by a de-trainment in the next station" They make it
sound like an accident, as if the train ceased to be a train - spontaneous combustion?...

--

-Alex

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Colin Blackburn said:

I tried "fantasy island" "ze" "bus", but got a lot of dutch web pages about holidays in Hawaii.

<TEDIOUS_EXPLANATION> Fantasy Island was a [censored] 70s TV show, where rich folk arrived on said island
to have their dreams fulfilled. The start had the Big Cheese's personal assistant, Tatoo (not
Knick-Knack, my mistake, K-K was the character the same diminutive actor played in The Man With The
Golden Gun, PA to Christopher Lee's villain Scaramanga) excitedly hooting "Ze Plane, Ze Plane" as
said plane brought that week's guests to the island.

There wasn't actually a bus in the original, which might have thrown the Great Google somewhat...
</TEDIOUS_EXPLANATION>

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net [email hidden]
dundee.ac.uk~pjclinchOpen ↗

Isn't Debus a French Composer?

"Henry Braun" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Colin Blackburn said:

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Come on now - on a Holts battlefield tour in Belgium we "de-bus" when alighting from the
coach!

You alight. It's a perfectly good word. To bus is to move people about by bus, it isn't "to get
on a bus", so I have no idea what debus, unbus or rebus mean. Perhaps you deboarded?
De-unalighted?

A rebus is a word-puzzle, representing the sign by the thing signified, as any fule kno. And you
missed out "zebus".

From a bus, as from any other vehicle, you disembark. It's a slightly illogical term, if you're
not aboard a bark (or vessel) to begin with, but no more so than for us cyclists to dismount.

"al_Mossah" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Isn't Debus a French Composer?

Your thinking of the Spanish painter De-car.

In message <[email hidden]>, Tony W <[email hidden]> writes

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"al_Mossah" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Isn't Debus a French Composer?

Your thinking of the Spanish painter De-car.

And the French mathematician and philosopher.
--
Michael MacClancy

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

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In message <[email hidden]>, Tony W <[email hidden]> writes

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"al_Mossah" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Isn't Debus a French Composer?

Your thinking of the Spanish painter De-car.

And the French mathematician and philosopher.

De-cart came from the days before the infernal combustion engine. He might even have come
before de horse.

Colin

"al_Mossah" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Isn't Debus a French Composer?

Don't you mean Debius, the British composer?

F A

Gearóid Ó Laoi said:

It's deeper than you think. An American may not mean what you understand him to mean, and
vice versa.

(snipped funny examples)

Just getting a hire car from the airport to a hotel has hidden pitfalls for us "Brits". All the cars
seemed to be automatic, so I asked if they had a manual. I was told that it would be in the glove
compartment. I got directions which included the instruction "exit right at the ramp", and got lost
looking for a big red sign and a step change in the road level (ramp = slip road).

My favourite, though, was overheard at the airport. Two 'mericans in front of me were discussing
champange, and one said to the other "My wife prefers that no-name brand called brut". Images of
drinking fizzy aftershave left me speechless.

JimP