Comments on: Idioms and Slang http://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=302 A Blog about Words and Language(s) from alphaDictionary.com Tue, 16 Apr 2013 09:00:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.6 By: MMORPG http://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=302&cpage=1#comment-166625 MMORPG Tue, 20 Jul 2010 21:13:20 +0000 http://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=302#comment-166625 Hey Rbeard, I truly believe it that the Manhattan originated as the Boston Brahman accent, an accent which tended to retain more British vocabulary than others in the US. Hey Rbeard,
I truly believe it that the Manhattan originated as the Boston Brahman accent, an accent which tended to retain more British vocabulary than others in the US.

]]> By: rbeard http://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=302&cpage=1#comment-137486 rbeard Tue, 08 Sep 2009 02:34:44 +0000 http://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=302#comment-137486 I'm not sure how popular it is today, but I can recall growing up in North Carolina and hearing New Yorkers use the word 'flat' for 'apartment'. That is how I learned the word, in fact. The Manhatten accent, believe it or not, originated as the Boston Brahmin accent, an accent which tendes to retain more British vocabulary than others in the US. It could have leaked from Beantown. I’m not sure how popular it is today, but I can recall growing up in North Carolina and hearing New Yorkers use the word ‘flat’ for ‘apartment’. That is how I learned the word, in fact. The Manhatten accent, believe it or not, originated as the Boston Brahmin accent, an accent which tendes to retain more British vocabulary than others in the US. It could have leaked from Beantown.

]]> By: Stargzer http://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=302&cpage=1#comment-135706 Stargzer Tue, 18 Aug 2009 04:32:32 +0000 http://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=302#comment-135706 How far has "flat" in the sense of "apartment" penetrated American English? I've only heard it used in British English, like "lorry" instead of "truck," as in the mythical woman-owned Scottish truck-rental company, Bonny Annie's Lorries. When my daughter spent a semester studying in London she lived in a flat; over here she lives in an apartment. While we're on the subject of punny names, about 30 years ago in the Washington, DC, area there was a woman-owned tow truck company called The Happy Hooker, complete with pink tow trucks. (Did you call a big toe truck to take you to the doctor for your recent bout of gout?) The difference in idioms can be seen in the difference between the American English and French idioms for travelling by means of a train or an airplane. While Americans might say we are going "on" a train or "on" a plane ("I'm leavin' on a jet plane"), the French would perfer to travel "in" a train or a plane, emphasizing that they travel inside the conveyance rather than hanging onto the outside. Not very adventurous, are they? (Alas, poor SYSTRAN translates "Fly to Paris on a plane" as "Mouche vers Paris sur un avion." I guess they expect the snakes on the plane to eat the flies.) How far has “flat” in the sense of “apartment” penetrated American English? I’ve only heard it used in British English, like “lorry” instead of “truck,” as in the mythical woman-owned Scottish truck-rental company, Bonny Annie’s Lorries. When my daughter spent a semester studying in London she lived in a flat; over here she lives in an apartment.

While we’re on the subject of punny names, about 30 years ago in the Washington, DC, area there was a woman-owned tow truck company called The Happy Hooker, complete with pink tow trucks. (Did you call a big toe truck to take you to the doctor for your recent bout of gout?)

The difference in idioms can be seen in the difference between the American English and French idioms for travelling by means of a train or an airplane. While Americans might say we are going “on” a train or “on” a plane (“I’m leavin’ on a jet plane”), the French would perfer to travel “in” a train or a plane, emphasizing that they travel inside the conveyance rather than hanging onto the outside. Not very adventurous, are they?

(Alas, poor SYSTRAN translates “Fly to Paris on a plane” as “Mouche vers Paris sur un avion.” I guess they expect the snakes on the plane to eat the flies.)

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