Language disfunction (Re: Comprehending British dialect)


11 Sep 1995 13:22:33 GMT

In <430vpk$pie@nic.lth.se>, mol@marvin.df.lth.se (Magnus Olsson) writes:
>Similarly, the dumbwaiter in "Curses": The Americans complain that
>they don't know what it is. But how many British players had to look
>it up?

A propos of nothing, I thought this was an interesting comment because
up until now I had no idea that "dumbwaiter" was an arcane term in the
U.S. I grew up in Delaware (which for baffled foreigners is a small state
on the eastern U.S. seaboard) and when I was little we all knew what a
dumbwaiter was. Though there were very few around to actually observe.

Makes me wonder what hidden language traps there are just within one's
own country. I can imagine someone in Boston, I believe it would be, writing
a game where a useful object was described as a "grinder", and causing some
degree of confusion back home in Wilmington, where we call them "subs".
(Additional note for baffled foreigners -- they're both largish sandwichs.)

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Michael Baum DEATH
dba: baum@micf.nist.gov BEFORE
USGOV/DOC/NIST/PBA UNIX!
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