Random Stuff!

[TheLocalYokel]

I know I should be perhaps taking tablets for this but my obsession with 'Americanisms' usurping British English expressions and pronunciations, not to mention spellings, was fuelled again this week. Yes, I know that in the UK there are wide variations in accents and even regional words unknown elsewhere in the country, but that's all part of British English.

I was on a bus when three lads boarded and sat behind me. They were loud in their speech but well behaved and could not be faulted in that respect. From their conversation they were about 15 or 16 years old and one began to tell a story about his Mom. I thought it was only Americans who have moms. In Britain we have mums.

A bit later they were discussing one of the lad's older brothers taking him on an errand in his car. This led to a debate as to whether he should have offered his brother 'gas money'. For a minute I thought they were talking about putting money in a gas meter until I realised that the gas being spoken of was actually petrol.

If this unrelenting 'Americanisation' of the English language continues car enthusiasts will no longer be petrolheads but gasheads. Now that will cause confusion in Bristol where gasheads are dedicated followers of a certain football club whose team wears blue and white quartered shirts.

 

[Jerry]

As someone who has an American girlfriend we often argue about the way things should be said! And I often tell her we invented the language to ours is the right way to speak it! I think this will be an ongoing argument in our relationship.

 

[Jono577]

And to put an aviation theme on it we say Reheat and they say Afterburner.

 

[superking]

my late wife who died a few months back was American. we used to have a lot of banter on many words,weather she said it or I said it.that and many other things I miss so much.i cant say any more please forgive me.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

There are some words, usually slang, that have completely different meanings in British English and American English and in certain instances can lead to embarrassing or (to some) amusing results for the unwary.

Many Britons are probably aware that the word they often use when they mean cigarette has a completely different meaning in the USA, although most Americans would not know the British use of the word.

Older members might remember the Michael Parkinson tv chat show which was a major event in its day. 'Parkie' would interview the Great and the Good of the period and at one time the show was supposedly broadcast live.

One evening his guest was a famous American film star (so famous I've forgotten who it was) and Parkie got around to asking her about the reputedly notorious studio casting couch. Her reply was along the lines that the only incident she'd experienced as a young and aspiring film actress many years before was a producer patting her on her ****. Parkie looked horrified and quickly went on to something else. He was clearly unaware that when Americans use the word in this situation they mean a woman's backside.

Some years ago I used to post to an American website message board and got into trouble once when I quite innocently used the word for a female dog. I was taken aback when the forum censor got to work and starred out the word *****. Apparently the word is considered offensive in the USA even though we were discussing canine matters at the time.

Mind you, some newspaper message boards won't allow the name of the town whose football team Bristol City beat in the EFL Cup this week to be written in full because of a group of four letters in the middle of this town's name. Nicknamed The Iron, some know this Lincolnshire team as Scunny, if anyone wants a clue.

 

[Jerry]

I was taken aback when the forum censor got to work

On their TV their programs don't have any swearing after 9 O'Clock. My girlfriend was quite shocked when she came over here for the first time and someone said the F word in a drama on tv and she can't understand why I find it annoying when there are adverts every 5 minutes! Though she says she prefers British tv programs to a lot of the american ones.

 

[sierrafoxtrot]

Not sure where else to post this but wanted to share on here:

Video recorded last Wednesday on departure from Bristol Airport routing onto Cheddar, the video includes part taxi, takeoff, climb out and cruise to Cheddar in a Piper PA28 G-AXTL. Notice the Ryanair 738 touch down shortly before my takeoff

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Many thanks for that, Simon. Fascinating video. Were you flying solo?

Good views of North Somerset's 'lakeland' too, with Barrow Tanks, Chew Valley Lake and Blagdon Lake all in view during the flight.

Once again, thank you for sharing.

 

[superking]

there is the benson bed adverts,they always say come to one of our comfort station for choice of bed. comfort station in America is a toilet block. my late wife could never understand why go to a wc for choice of bed.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

there is the benson bed adverts,they always say come to one of our comfort station for choice of bed. comfort station in America is a toilet block. my late wife could never understand why go to a wc for choice of bed.

Perhaps that's why when on some coach trips in the UK they announce that there will be a comfort stop along the way. When I first heard this I thought they were suggesting that the coach seats were so uncomfortable that the vehicle would stop to allow passengers to get out of their seat and stretch their legs.

I was soon disabused of this notion when it became apparent that the stop was for people to use the toilet. Why can't they just say so instead of resorting to a delicate euphemism?

 

[sierrafoxtrot]

Not sure where else to post this but wanted to share on here:

Video recorded last Wednesday on departure from Bristol Airport routing onto Cheddar, the video includes part taxi, takeoff, climb out and cruise to Cheddar in a Piper PA28 G-AXTL. Notice the Ryanair 738 touch down shortly before my takeoff

Thanks, no I wasnt solo on this flight but have done about 4 hours solo so far.

 

[Jerry]

Nice. Do light aircraft like that pay landing fees at airports like BRS?

 

[sierrafoxtrot]

Nice. Do light aircraft like that pay landing fees at airports like BRS?

Yes landing fees are still payable, they cost more at airports like BRS than if you flew to Kemble.

 

[superking]

went up winters lane this afternoon,round back of air field. never seen the road so busy,due downside road shut. 2 guys looking at all the litter dropped on the ground. there is signs telling ppl to take their litter home with them. there was lots of fliers with brs aviation fair blowing round and some tied to fence.i didn't speak to them but they talking about these fliers. don't know where they came from,but would think they were council guys.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

went up winters lane this afternoon,round back of air field. never seen the road so busy,due downside road shut. 2 guys looking at all the litter dropped on the ground. there is signs telling ppl to take their litter home with them. there was lots of fliers with brs aviation fair blowing round and some tied to fence.i didn't speak to them but they talking about these fliers. don't know where they came from,but would think they were council guys.

It is a shame that people drop so much litter in this country. I go to Australia every year and the litter is much less there, even in the big cities. They seem to have more of a pride in their country than perhaps many people do in the UK.

There used to be litter bins by the side of the road where the watchers gather at Winters Lane but they were taken away a year or two ago.

I once went to a presentation by the manager of Ashton Court estate and in those days there were no litter bins across that vast area - there might still not be. Someone asked him why and his reply made a sort of sense. He said that those who don't drop litter would take their litter home if no litter bins were provided, but many of those who do drop litter would still do so even if bins were provided.

 

[superking]

I know its been an ongoing thing in winters lane for many years.i remember when the bins were there they were over flowing where they had not been emptird. in that case the council only had their self to blame.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

The pavement along the front of the airport terminal building itself is invariably the recipient of dog ends, despite it supposedly being a no smoking area and the efforts of some staff members employed to regularly sweep up the dog ends and other bits of litter. I've seen the man doing the sweeping up pass by and within a few minutes there are more dog ends discarded on the pavement after he's cleared up.

Bristol itself is one of the worst cities I know for carpets of dog ends on the pavements in the central areas. I can only think that the majority of smokers chuck them on the floor when they've finished their drag. Some of them would probably complain about other sorts of litter being thrown down onto pavements and wouldn't dream of doing so themselves: but somehow dog ends aren't regarded as litter by some people even though the filters don't degrade for years.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Cricket

Very disappointed today that Somerset CCC failed to win their first ever County Championship. For a rural, Cinderella county without the resources of the metropolitan-based counties with test grounds it was a fantastic achievement getting so close.

In 2010 Somerset missed out to Notts, finishing level on points which then meant the championship was decided on most wins so Notts prevailed.

Somerset had already beaten Notts this week inside three days (odd they featured again in Somerset's title aspirations) which meant that the winner of the match that went into the fourth day today - Middlesex v Yorkshire - would take the title. A draw would mean Somerset would be champions.

Had the Middx v Yorks game been played a few weeks ago it had reached the stage by lunchtime today when a draw would have been inevitable. Instead, because either side would take the title with a win, the sides contrived to artificially set up a run chase with joke bowling by Yorkshire and even joke batting by Middx with one batsman deliberately chipping up a catch, having told the bowler (heard on stump mike in the live Sky transmission) that he would do so.

In the end Middx won but there was some bitterness amongst some Somerset supporters at the way it was achieved, perhaps understandably.

In the season as a whole Middx probably deserved the title - they were unbeaten. It was just a pity the game descended into farce the way it did to get a positive result for one side or the other.

 

[superking]

in Weston town this morning and news paper bill boards out side news agents headlines were north somerset council going toshut and curb airport off site car parking.the council has a go at this every now and again, but all they seem to do is move further along the road to another field,then the process starts all over again.if they managed to shut all off site parking, I'm sure the airport could not handle extra,they got problems now with out adding to the problem.
I read in other forums that lhr and gatwick have the same problem like most other airports in the uk.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Great Western Railway electrification

I note that when I was away in Oz the government decided to save a bit of money by deciding that Bristol should be left out of the electrification which is already well behind schedule and over budget.

The line between Paddington and South Wales via Badminton and the Sodbury Tunnel will still be electrified but the section from Bristol Parkway down the Ashley Hill bank to Temple Meads will now be left out. Furthermore, the main line from Temple Meads to Paddington via Bath and the Box Tunnel will not now be electrified between Bath Spa and Temple Meads.

The reason given by the rail minister is that these sections will not be adversely affected as the trains are bi-mode meaning they can run on diesel as well as electric power.

They won't have the acceleration when under diesel traction that electrification will provide though, thus reducing the number of pathways at a given time in a given section.

The plan under electrification was for Temple Meads to have four trains an hour to Paddington with some running via Parkway and Badminton and others via Bath. Currently there are two trains an hour from Temple Meads to Paddington and all route via Bath. Parkway does have its own two trains an hour too because the South Wales trains stop there.

The Parkway route was contingent on the Ashley Hill bank being returned to four tracks, as it used to be in the past. Whether this will now happen is open to question. If it doesn't it will also adversely affect the planned increase in local traffic in the Bristol city region.

Given that HS2 is still likely to go ahead and will cost many billions and those areas already have electrification and have done for years in most cases, it's something of a snub to deny the largest city in the country west of London and south of Birmingham access to the rail 21st Century to save a couple of hundred million quid.