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Post by Little Jack Horner on Sept 1, 2023 14:33:11 GMT
It is September already and in the northern hemisphere the first (meteorological) day of autumn. I am aware that astronomers prefer to think about the equinox as the day when the season changes but I think the meteorologist have it right.
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Post by Verbivore on Sept 1, 2023 21:43:03 GMT
In Oz, it’s the beginning of spring, both meteorologically and officially. Oz has long held that the seasons start at the beginning of the month rather than on equinoxes and solstices. The changes in weather here are much more aligned with the months than with the astronomical phenomena (although this year, spring is, unofficially, a month early if one observes the plants).
My birth town, Casino, was originally Cassino, after Monte Cassino in Italy, but early on a town clerk misspelled it with only one s, so an Italian monastery became a gambling den instead.
Foreigners frequently have difficulty with Aussie placenames, especially those with Indigenous origins. Examples include Murwillumbah, Uki, Ballina, Coraki … but that’s not uncommon elsewhere, too. One of my first pronunciation gaffes early in my stint in the USA was when I mispronounced Potomac (the river) as Potomac.
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Post by Verbivore on Sept 2, 2023 10:52:18 GMT
Typographical boo-boo? I watched a YouTube video (a high-class production) on the production of Rolls-Royce cars at the company’s Goodwood plant. Even though cars may not be a major – or any – interest to NtAPSers (Dave M and Yours Truly excepted), there’s a typographical inconsistency in the presentation of the company name. Perhaps not obvious to the average punter, but very obvious to this type geek. It’s in the placement of the hyphen between Rolls and Royce. Compare the fence signage @ 1:05:40–1:05:48 and the name on the building frontage @ 1:10:55–1:15:31. On the fence the hyphen stands at about one-third the letter height while on the building entrance it stands at the halfway mark. Signage is not up to the same standard as the motor cars. Edit: the pics.
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Post by Little Jack Horner on Sept 2, 2023 13:03:31 GMT
My brother has reminded me of the old joke about pronunciation: A Frenchman was trying to learn English pronunciation. He gave up when he saw the headline "Referendum pronounced success".
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Post by Twoddle on Sept 3, 2023 9:34:54 GMT
I lived in the Kent village of Woodnesborough ("the place where they worship Woden") for a while. There are four distinct pronunciations of the name: to visitors and newcomers it's "Wood-nes-borough"; when you've lived there a few months it becomes "Woodens-br'"; if you've spent most of your life there it's "Woons-br'"; and if your antecedents have been there, yea, since the middle ages, it's "Wins-br'".
For some people, correcting strangers on their mispronunciation of place names is a form of one-upmanship. When I pronounced the name of the Norfolk town Wymondham phonetically ("Why-mond-um"), the local to whom I was talking nearly wet himself laughing at me, because it's actually pronounced "Winnd'm".
For Welsh and Scottish placenames, you've no chance.
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Post by Twoddle on Sept 3, 2023 9:36:57 GMT
My brother has reminded me of the old joke about pronunciation: A Frenchman was trying to learn English pronunciation. He gave up when he saw the headline "Referendum pronounced success". One of Spike Milligan's favourites was, "The man was pronounced dead. D, E, A, D: pronounced 'Dead'".
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Post by Verbivore on Sept 3, 2023 9:39:17 GMT
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Post by Verbivore on Sept 3, 2023 9:42:20 GMT
An in-law of mine married a Cholmondeley, and has spent the past 40+ years explaining the pronunciation – Chum-lee – to Aussies.
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Post by Twoddle on Sept 4, 2023 9:00:35 GMT
An in-law of mine married a Cholmondeley, and has spent the past 40+ years explaining the pronunciation – Chum-lee – to Aussies. Farquharson - "Farkarson" - is another good one. Or Monty Python's, "[It's] spelt Raymond Luxury-Yacht, but it's pronounced Throatwobbler Mangrove".
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Post by Verbivore on Sept 4, 2023 11:06:05 GMT
Farquharson - "Farkarson" - is another good one. Or Monty Python's, "[It's] spelt Raymond Luxury-Yacht, but it's pronounced Throatwobbler Mangrove”. An infamous Aussie TV ‘personality’ (the late Graham Kennedy) was once hauled over the coals for the nation’s first utterance of f**k on TV. Kennedy defended his utterance by claiming to have been imitating the sound of a crow: “faaaaaark”. He got away with it (more or less). He’d have had a ball if there’d been a Farquharson to refer to.
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Post by Verbivore on Sept 5, 2023 11:15:26 GMT
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Post by Verbivore on Sept 6, 2023 13:40:02 GMT
A frame from a Guardian First Dog on the Moon cartoon.
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Post by Little Jack Horner on Sept 6, 2023 16:32:31 GMT
Of course, what Shakespeare wrote or didn't write hundreds of years ago is irrelevant because Shakespeare was writing what his characters were saying. What he wrote gives no information at all about what, if anything, he thought was correct or incorrect. Perhaps he wrote "irregardless" with a suitably superior sneer. Perhaps he and his fellow actors laughed about it at the time?
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Post by Trevor on Sept 6, 2023 19:38:07 GMT
Of course, what Shakespeare wrote or didn't write hundreds of years ago is irrelevant because Shakespeare was writing what his characters were saying. What he wrote gives no information at all about what, if anything, he thought was correct or incorrect. Perhaps he wrote "irregardless" with a suitably superior sneer. Perhaps he and his fellow actors laughed about it at the time? Love this. Thanks.
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Post by Twoddle on Sept 7, 2023 9:21:45 GMT
I've often wondered why everything and anything Shakespeare wrote is assumed to be the correct use of English. After all, he spelt his own surname umpteen different ways.
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