How does that save any work? If I throw a can of "chilli beans" in a pot with some other stuff, or if I throw a can of "kidney beans" in a pot with some other stuff, I've done the same amount of work.

nitpick.... correct version is Vierwaldstädterseedampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftsoberkapitänstellvertreter

nitpick rambling edit: I just saw that you said the word is supposed to be Swiss german. My corrections related to proper german. There are no official grammar and spelling rules for Swiss german. The original spelling is close to the phonetics of the word; only two of my corrections make a phonetic difference --> the second and the last. 1. the "r" is needed. 2. the "e" instead of the "ä" would give the word a german sound instead of a swiss one, so the "ä" is better.
Cheers

__________________
Life is unfair. But that's ok.. as long as you make sure it's unfair in your favour. -Me

You don't plan sincerity. You have to make it up on the spot. -Denny Crane

I never make predictions, and I never will. -some footballer

Either way, you aren't starting with dried beans.

__________________
Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

Hey, I didn't do too badly considering it was more than 20 years ago I saw the word (and then only the once).

__________________
The quarrelsome oarsmen were rowing,
The great violinist was bowing;
But how is the sage
To tell, from the page:
Was it pigs or seeds that were sowing?

sorry to dredge this older topic up, but i was talking to an american friend of mine on icq
he said he fell on his fanny today because of ice

um

what the????

apart from him being the wrong sex... it would be a very akward way to fall

aparently its your backside in american- is that right??

because it certainly isnt your backside here in australia......

(politely- its a womens `front bottom')

ive seen it a few times on those exercise machine infomercials and wondered how the ratings mob let it through.....

not to mention shaping and toning `it' worked
;-)

__________________
Surely if you are going to start a conspiracy theory it is best to start with something that might have a grain of truth or reality in it. To start with the preposterous and go downhill from there is just stupid. steve(primus) (Avatar)

http://www.uliveandlearn.com/lessons...lesid=138&pg=2

ive added the aussie version as well



Glossary of American-English Words-aussiewords ;-)

English
American
aussie

anorak
parka
parker or jacket

articulated lorry
tractor-trailer, semi (18 wheeler)
semitrailer, bdouble or road train(depending on number of trailers and not number of wheels)

aubergine
eggplant
(shrugs dont even know what this is..)

autumn
fall
autumn

biscuit
cookie
biscuit


bonnet (car)
hood
bonnet

book (verb)
make a reservation
book

boot (car)
trunk
boot

braces
suspenders
unknown (as ive never actually met anyone that uses them, we use belts to hold our pants up!!)

briefs
jockey shorts
underpants

burgled
burglarized
break in

caravan
trailer, mobile home
caravan or camper

car park
parking lot
either

chemist
pharmacist
chemist

chips
French fries
chips

cinema
movie theater
cinema or movies

contraceptive
rubber, condom
condom

cooker
stove
stove

corn flour
corn starch
ummm....

courgettes
zucchini
paint stripper(from macdonalds..useful for vandalising cars that belong to people you dont like)- zuchinni

crisps
potato chips
chips

cross
angry
either(but more likely p..d off

directory inquiries
information
white pages/yellow pages

diversion
detour
detour

dummy
pacifier
dummy

dustbin
garbage/trash can
garbage bin

estate agent
realtor
real estate agent

estate car
station wagon
station wagon(but with 5 doors not 3..thats a hatchback)

fun fair
carnival
circus

filling station
gas station
petrol station

film
movie
cinema

first floor
second floor
(not sure as there is variations on what both mean online..ground floor is the one with no steps.. first floor is above it..)

flat
apartment
flat

football
soccer
soccer for that round ball game- afl or footy for the real football

fortnight
two weeks
fortnight

full stop (punctuation)
period
fullstop

gallery (theatre)
balcony
pews

garden
yard
back or front yard(depending on location)- never just yard tho

gear lever
gear shift
gear stick

green fingers
green thumb
green thumb

holiday
vacation
holidays

hoover
vacuum
vacumn cleaner

ice lolly
popsicle
ice block

interval
intermission
(either)

ironmonger
hardware store
hardware store

jab (injection)
shot
injection

joint (meat)
roast
(this one i dont know- as a roast is a type of cooking, and a joint is a particular part of the animal...)

jumper
sweater/pullover
jumper

kiosk (telephone/cigarette)
booth (telephone)/newsstand
phone booth(a small private compartment for making phone calls-definately dont sell anything in there),tobacconist(cigs), newsagency(newspapers)

knock up
to call (from sleep)
wake up

knock up (tennis)
warm up
????warmup???

(note knock up here is getting pregnant.... so a pommie knocking up his sister(ie waking her up for breakfast would be rather scandoulous here.... and to call means phone so a husband phoning his wife to wake her up would seem a little unusual too...)


larder
pantry
pantry

let
lease/rent
rent (but lease and rent are opposite ie i lease a flat means i own the flat and you pay me to live in it, but if i rent a flat, you own it and i pay you money!!!)

lift
elevator
lift

lorry
truck
rigid or truck(but truck can also mean an articulated or 18 wheeler)

mackintosh
raincoat
dry as a bone

mean
cheap
cheapskate

mince
hamburger meat
rissole

motorway
highway/freeway
highway(but that doesnt include tollways)

nought
zero
zero

noughts and crosses
tic-tac-toe
noughts and crosses

number plate
license plate
number plate

off-license
liquor store, package store
bottle shop(or bottlo)

overtake (vehicle)
pass
overtake

pants
shorts (underwear), briefs
underpants or jockeys

parrafin
kerosene
kerosene

pavement
sidewalk
footpath

petrol
gas, gasoline
petrol

post
mail
either

pram
baby carriage
pram

pub
bar, tavern
pub or bar (tavern is an upmarket pub that sells meals with wines)

pudding
dessert (in general)
either

queue (noun)
line
queue

queue (verb)
stand in line, line up
wait in queue

rasher (bacon)
slice
slice of bacon

ring up
call, phone
all..

roundabout
traffic circle
roundabout

rubbish
garbage, trash
rubbish or gabage

saloon (car)
sedan
sedan (is a 4 door car...,as opposed to ahatchback, ute etc) generic is just ...car

sellotape
Scotch tape
sticky tape

silencer (car)
muffler
muffler

sorbet
sherbet
????

spanner
monkey wrench
(both- but they are different things- spanner is a fixed size, monkey wrench is an adjustable plumbers tool, as opposed to a shifter which is an adjustable spanner...)

spirits (drink)
liquor
spirits

subway
underground walkway
pedestrian underpass (subway is underground railway)


suspenders
garters
(um posh males wear suspenders, females wear garters..)

sweets
candy
lollies

tap
faucet
tap

tights
panty hose
(again 2 different things....)

tin
can
tincan

tip
garbage dump
tip or dump

torch
flashlight
torch

trousers
pants, slacks
all

truncheon
night stick
baton

tube/underground
subway
subway

vest
undershirt
singlet

waistcoat
vest
jacket

wardrobe
closet
wardrobe

wash up
do the dishes
either

windscreen
windshield
windscreen

wing
mudguard, fender
mudguard(front) or quarterpanel(rear)

zed (alphabet)
zee
zed

(that took a while!!)

edit to fix all the spullin mustooks

__________________
Surely if you are going to start a conspiracy theory it is best to start with something that might have a grain of truth or reality in it. To start with the preposterous and go downhill from there is just stupid. steve(primus) (Avatar)

Yes. "Fanny" here means "backside." It's considered a bit old fashioned to say it, though.

Not all of your listings are quite right for Americans; I'll clarify a bit.

I can't speak for everyone, but I use both, depending on circumstances.

We use both.

I use all three,actually. The kind of underwear (four!) I buy my boyfriend is actually "boxer briefs," which is like briefs but with tight legs that go some way down the leg--maybe a third of the way to the knee.

Americans use "break in" too, probably more often than we use "burglarize." At least, I do.

"Contraceptive" is a more generic term. The Pill is a contraceptive, but it's very different from a condom.

Americans are more likely to go with that latter, too. We also use "mad" to mean "angry," not "crazy."

Information is different. We call information, but we keep a copy of the phone book--with white pages and yellow pages--in our homes. The phone company would like us to call it "directory assistance," but we don't.

Oddly, "realtor" is apparently a registered trademark, and if they aren't a member of a specific group, they're technically real estate agents here, too.

I could be wrong, but I think these are three different things. A fun fair is permanent, right? Closer to what we'd call an amusement park. A carnival is nothing but rides and small shows. A circus is a large show with no rides but with clowns and trapeze artists and things.

In the US, these are three different steps as to how highbrow you want to see. The common people use "movie." Next up is "film." Total snobs use "cinema."

And it's a darn shame, too. "Fortnight" is such a lovely word!

"Pews" in the US refers to installed benches, like in a church. (I'm pretty sure it does in the UK, too.)

A "garden" and a "yard" are different things here. "Yard" just means "the part of your property that isn't a building or walkway." "Garden" implies a certain level of cultivation and order. As to "just yard," we certainly use modifiers sometimes--my mother has a front yard, a back yard, and a side yard. All of them combined are the yard. (The word "yard" is starting to lose all meaning.)

A "holiday" here is a day off for a celebration, which I think is closer to the original meaning. They honour something or someone.

"Hoover" is a registered trademark. The machine itself can be called either a vacuum or a vacuum cleaner. (I hope you aren't implying that you spell it wrong in Australia!)

"Popsicle" is also a registered trademark, though Americans do use it as a generic anyway. The non-trademarked version is "ice pop," and the legalese is "quiescently frozen dessert."

We use "injection," too, but "shot" is a shorter word, and Americans like those.

"Roast" is a type of cooking, too; we have also applied it to a type of cut of meat--note that a roast is not just one cut but any one of several.

We say "phone booth," too; I think the British say "phone kiosk," but I could be wrong.

Mmm. No. "Wake up" is what Americans say, too. I mean, you can call someone, but it's vague. It's also losing popularity to the specific "wake up." And yeah, "knock up" is "get pregnant" here, too.

Here, "lease" means both! It's also the legal document that a tenant signs agreeing to their rights and responsibilities regarding the property. Actually, "rent" means both, too. We use "let," too, but not very often.

"Cheap" is an adjective; "cheapskate" is a noun. At least here.

In Busman's Honeymoon, by Dorothy L. Sayers, one character borrows a "drop of parrafin" from another. This confused me, since in the US, "parrafin" refers to a kind of wax. It took me some time to really understand what a "parrafin stove" was, and it turned out I'd been around people who'd been using them all my life; we had one when I was a child. (We use them for camping, mostly.)

Again, these are three slightly different things, here. "Pavement" is the substance, and it can refer to either the paved sidewalk or the paved street. "Sidewalk" is the paved area by the side of the road. "Footpath" is a path that isn't alongside a road.

Here, "pudding" is a specific kind of dessert. We don't steam them most of the time, either.

"Rubbish" gets some use, too, but not as much.

"Scotch tape" is a registered trademark; the generic (which, again, we don't use as much) is "clear tape."

They're different. Sherbet is opaque; sorbet is more translucent. There's ingredient differences, too.

We use "spirits," too, but "liquor" or "booze" are both more popular.

"Lollies" are a kind of candy.

We use both.

Here, too. "Tights" are opaque and generally used (in adults) either in dance or because they're warmer. Little girls only get tights, not pantyhose. (One word.) It's a sign of growing up when you get your first pair--and we're equally likely to call "pantyhose" "nylons."

We say "tin can," too, but it's two words, here.

Does anyone know the etymology of "tip" in this context?

We say "trousers," too, but not as often.

These are different. A closet, here, is built into the house. A wardrobe stands alone, like the one that leads to Narnia.

And, of course, there are regional variations. Like how, in To Kill a Mockingbird, the "chiffarobe" described is very clearly what I think of--as did C. S. Lewis!--as a "wardrobe."

__________________
Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

Heh, you understood it right. The differences in the various forms of English slang are enough to create some SERIOUSLY eyepopping double takes.

__________________
I'm not completely heartless, the doctor who removed it told me he'd never be able to get it all.

Wow Gillian, nice job.
I don't know the etymology of "tip", but I have heard it used that way, in a "technical" sense. For example, if you were dumping a load of garbage at the garbage dump, you would pay a "tipping fee" LINK
But it is not used in everyday conversation.

__________________
At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

First, you created a number disagreement between nouns and verb, and then you treated a sentence fragment as if it were a sentence! You'll be in trouble if Gillianren sees that.

Oh... wait a minute...

The first is correct; the second is style that I adopt in casual writing that I wouldn't tolerate in formal writing.

Okay, on further thought, the first is debatably correct. However, even if I'm wrong, I've never claimed to be perfect. Just really, really good.

Besides, even E. B. White said it was okay to break the rules sometimes for stylistic reasons, provided you know what the rules are and why you're breaking them.

__________________
Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

I'd expect you take the meaning of "tip" as in "tip something over", and apply it to a man with a wheelbarrow full of garbage dropping his garbage.

__________________
An emperor without enemies, a king without a kingdom, supported in life by the willing tribute of a free people.

That makes sense.

Of course, given etymology, that doesn't necessarily mean it's right, but it does make sense.

__________________
Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

Here in the US, the first floor is the ground floor. Below ground is the basement, and above ground is the second or higher. In a hotel, for example, where room X27 is the one on the southwest corner of the building:
127 is the ground floor,
227 is the second,
327 the third, and so on.

Some places may have a split entry, where you will still need to climb up about 1/2 flight of stairs , but since it's first floor entirely above ground level, it's still the First. This is my understanding at any rate.

__________________
A Nerd can figure out how long it will take the original Enterprise traveling at warp 6.5 to travel from Regulus to Antares.
A Geek will think he can use that to pick up a girl in a bar.
A Dork knows he can't pick up the girl with it, but will hang around for hours anyway, just in case she asks.
She might. You never know.

I used to work at City Hall here in Sioux Falls, and in that building at least, the ground floor and first floor are not the same floor.

There are walk-in entrance doors on all four sides. The east entrance (from an alley) is onto the ground floor. The north entrance (from a parking ramp) is into the basement. The west and south entrances (which are off of main streets and the main "custo