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DivaDiane wrote: "Karin, in England they call a wallet a purse. I don’t think anyone calls what I would call a living room a parkour here though. For that they use lounge."

you mean men carry purses? In the US men have wallets, messenger bags or backpacks and that's pretty much all

Karin wrote: "Jacqueline wrote: "Leonie wrote: "Adrian wrote: "Those two words mean exactly the same thing in Australia, but... erm... VERY different context."

😂😂😂"

Yeah it still makes me giggle (at 58) when A..."

So, 'in Australian,', root means....

And the 'oo' is pronounced in exactly the same way as if it were the underground portion of a plant.

In terms of purse vs wallet: A purse is more likely to be carried by a woman, and have a larger pocket for coins inside it. It can also be only for coins. A wallet is primarily for paper (or in our case, plastic) currency, and is carried by men or women.

We also have handbags, generally carried by women. Some have shoulder straps, some have handles, and they're what you put your purse or wallet in. Plus much other stuff. Much, much, stuff.

Leonie wrote: "And the 'oo' is pronounced in exactly the same way as if it were the underground portion of a plant."

would that be as in loot or boot?

CBRetriever wrote: "Leonie wrote: "And the 'oo' is pronounced in exactly the same way as if it were the underground portion of a plant."

would that be as in loot or boot?"

Loot and boot are the same sound in 'Australian' and also the same sound as root. And zoom, loom, room, and tomb. Does that help?

yep, but as I'm one of those who pronounce root with (and room and broom and roof) with the same double o as in book and look, I wasn't sure which root pronunciation you were referring to,

CBRetriever wrote: "yep, but as I'm one of those who pronounce root with (and room and broom and roof) with the same double o as in book and look, I wasn't sure which root pronunciation you were referring to,"

Makes it really tricky!

English, can you please get your act together?! :S XD

Yes....it's definitely not rutting.

My 'rut' comment was based on someone saying they pronounced 'root' as 'rut'. Not with -ing. But it seems that person meant 'oo', not 'u'.

Richard: I lived/worked in the Lake District over a summer, and it took me a while to understand people who spoke with the thick Cumbrian accent! At first, it was like trying to figure out a different language. But I got used to it, and started to view it fondly. It sounds more like Scottish than lower English accents. Scottish accents were less hard for me to understand, though (although I only went to Glasgow, and there were some Scottish people in Cumbria).

Leonie wrote: "Karin wrote: "Jacqueline wrote: "Leonie wrote: "Adrian wrote: "Those two words mean exactly the same thing in Australia, but... erm... VERY different context."

😂😂😂"

Yeah it still makes me giggle ..."

Well now I'll have to admit that is something for which I would have never associated for the word root.

DivaDiane wrote: "Karin, in England they call a wallet a purse. I don’t think anyone calls what I would call a living room a parkour here though. For that they use lounge."

I thought that was probably the case with wallet, since this is in part of New England. I am not sure where parlour originates, but it's a small room for entertaining guests--some people here use it for what most North Americans call their living rooms, and some for other rooms if they house is older (by the standards of old here.)

I grew up calling this type of thing a wallet, and some people here call that a bill fold, even though that can mean something else as well. The second we called a coin purse, but not a purse. For us a purse is something larger, like a handbag, etc.

John wrote: "Well now I'll have to admit that is something for which I would have never associated for the word root."

Which is why in Australia if you say "root cellar" what we hear is "prostitute".

Adrian wrote: "John wrote: "Well now I'll have to admit that is something for which I would have never associated for the word root."

Which is why in Australia if you say "root cellar" what we hear is "prostitute"."


Well now I would sure be getting some dirty looks in Australia if I were down there.

Depends where you were.

At a respectable dinner party... big problem.

In the middle of Kings Cross? Step this way sir!

Adrian wrote: "Depends where you were.

At a respectable dinner party... big problem.

In the middle of Kings Cross? Step this way sir!"

Hahahahaha

I'll be here all week.

Try the chicken...

Adrian wrote: "Depends where you were.

At a respectable dinner party... big problem.

In the middle of Kings Cross? Step this way sir!"

Which I fully understand. But since I don't plan on going to the land down under anytime soon I think I'll be ok.

Please don't make fun of my satchel.

aap kyaa khaa rahen hain aak kal? aam khaayiye.

That's easy for you to say...

Andres wrote: "Please don't make fun of my satchel."

Satchel Paige?

Anil wrote: "aap kyaa khaa rahen hain aak kal? aam khaayiye."

main kela khaoonga ...?

Yummmm mangoes and bananas. I just had mango with custard actually :) Anyhooo......

Jacqueline wrote: "Yummmm mangoes and bananas. I just had mango with custard actually :) Anyhooo......"

Mango's and bananas sound good me as well. Never Tried mango's and custard though.

CBRetriever wrote: "Andres wrote: "Please don't make fun of my satchel."

Satchel Paige?"

It was on the hangover. He said, "It's not a man purse. It's called a satchel."

John wrote: "Jacqueline wrote: "Yummmm mangoes and bananas. I just had mango with custard actually :) Anyhooo......"

Mango's and bananas sound good me as well. Never Tried mango's and custard though."

Yeah I never used to eat my mangoes with custard either (mangoes are usually eaten straight off my mango tree outside trying not to get juice everywhere) but most nights I have custard to have a bit of extra protein (after weight loss surgery I'm always trying to supplement my protein) and I either have jelly (as in jello not the jam sort of jelly) or some diced fruit in my custard. I have mangoes, peaches, pears and apricots. They're not fresh and are in little containers in juice but they keep me happy.

Jacqueline wrote: "John wrote: "Jacqueline wrote: "Yummmm mangoes and bananas. I just had mango with custard actually :) Anyhooo......"

Mango's and bananas sound good me as well. Never Tried mango's and custard thou..."

I know the about the fruits in the little cups with the juice as that is what I carry in my lunch for work. I love fresh mango's all the time as I love the taste of them and kiwi's. Of course I love most fruits and vegetables in all honesty. But due to being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes last year I had to cut a lot of things out that I love. Like my Oreo double stuffed cookies.

I can't do raw fruit (I love love love tomatoes) because I get canker sores within a day or two of eating them

One of my grandbeagles is a tomato fiend. He can smell a tomato being sliced from a mile away!

DivaDiane wrote: "My aunt and uncle in the family farmstead in Iowa hat a root cellar. It was not accessible from the house, but was underneath it. There was a raked double door (like a slanted trap door) and stairs."

We had a cellar or basement in an old Victorian style house built originally in 1901 in NJ. When I was a kid in the 1960s, it had the same type of access outside that you describe, along with a coal shute (do not hide in the coal bin when playing hide and seek), and access from inside the house under the staircase that led to the 2nd floor. Good thing as we had to go down there and add coal to keep the furnace going. The newer upgrades like indoor plumbing, water heater, washer and dryer, electricity were all added on the first floor with additions.

Part of that basement included an area for the canned vegetables along with fresh ones that came out of the garden, such as potatoes and onions. Some was storage and the rest was old coal furnace and such. There was an area under the house that my dad continued to dig out to make the basement bigger as it used to end just past the coal furnace. I don't recommend it for hide and seek either.

CBRetriever wrote: "I can't do raw fruit (I love love love tomatoes) because I get canker sores within a day or two of eating them"

I thought I was the only one! I don't get sores from just a piece or two, but I LOVE a good, ripe, raw tomato, so always end up with them during tomato season.

Kandice wrote: "CBRetriever wrote: "I thought I was the only one! I don't get sores from just a piece or two, but I LOVE a good, ripe, raw tomato, so always end up with them during tomato season. "

I can do three slices a week on a sandwich or hamburger but my favorite salad is tomato, mozzarella and basil with a little olive oil drizzled on them and the temptation is so great...

CBRetriever wrote: "I can do three slices a week on a sandwich or hamburger but my favorite salad is tomato, mozzarella and basil with a little olive oil drizzled on them and the temptation is so great......"

That's also my favorite salad!

has to be good fresh ripe tomatoes though

I read a book last week by a UK author, in which a bunch of women went on a hen do. I've always found the term 'hen do' somewhat hilarious, it sounds like a totally different thing than a bachelorette party. Anyway this one took it further than I've noticed before, calling the thing 'the hen', and the women 'the hens', and I don't know, it blew my mind a bit.

(Why are women hens and men stags? Well we all know why, moving on.)

Last night I started a book that has a 'non-gender-specific bird do' and I absolutely love that! :D

The Finnish polttarit, apparently from German polterabend, doesn't mean anything (in Finnish, in German I guess it's loud night/evening?), and isn't gender specific.

Any other languages have interesting words for the party before a wedding, and are the words gender-specific?

edit: Apparently I can't decide how to spell gender(-)specific, but since I have it twice, I guess it's OK to leave both spellings. Well now all three spellings :D

Oh wow, just discovered this thread and it couldn't be more up my street. I'm currently learning three languages, studied linguistics and philology (both English and Latin) for a few years, and am fascinated by anything at all language-related.

If there are any Russian speakers here who can recommend good (and easy) books for language learners or who would be happy to chat about books in Russian (with my limited vocabulary) or Swedish, give me a poke!

Question to spark discussion - what's the best book you know that uses language in creative ways? I'm not thinking poor spellings to reflect dialect, I'm thinking Nadsat, books written entirely in dialect with all the beautiful, unusual words, authors who use language in fascinating ways - anything that explores our wonderful world of words.

Beth wrote: "Question to spark discussion - what's the best book you know that uses language in creative ways? I'm not thinking poor spellings to reflect dialect, I'm thinking Nadsat, books written entirely in dialect with all the beautiful, unusual words, authors who use language in fascinating ways - anything that explores our wonderful world of words."

This is a great topic, and I'd love it if you started it as a new thread in the Recommendations folder! That way it'll work as a resource for those interested in books like this :)

The closest thing we have right now is this thread:
Book List: Language Sci-Fi

We also have this (sadly lonely) thread:
Language Partners

Anna wrote: "edit: Apparently I can't decide how to spell gender(-)specific, but since I have it twice, I guess it's OK to leave both spellings. Well now all three spellings :D"

There is a tendency to hyphenate adjective phrases before a noun.

As in:
This is a black-and-white case of punctuation!
Actually, punctuation choices aren't always so black and white.


And I'm afraid I only know the gendered Americanisms, bachelor(ette) party.

Also, Beth, I have to ask! :D

Varför studerar du svenska? Jag vet inte i vilket land du bor, men tänker att svenska är mycket överraskande om du är i USA!

(No, I do not speak Swedish. The last time I used it was in school, as it's mandatory learning here in Finland.)

Melissa wrote: "There is a tendency to hyphenate adjective phrases before a noun."

This is one of the few grammar things I've actually potentially studied at some point, not that it means I actually remember any of what I might've learned. The rules for compound words in English and Finnish are so different, that I think at some point I went too far and started trying to separate everything in English, even when hyphens are needed. But I don't really care, I'm sure internet people see far worse mistakes (from me and others) than missing/extra hyphens on occasion. I do wish I was more consistent though, like using the same rule in all cases in one post for example, let alone one word! :D

Anna wrote: The closest thing we have right now is this thread:
Book List: Language Sci-Fi

We also have this (sadly lonely) thread:
Language Partners

Thank you so much Anna, I will definitely check those out and see if I can work out how to start a new thread in the Recommendations folder :)

Anna wrote: Also, Beth, I have to ask! :D

Varför studerar du svenska? Jag vet inte i vilket land du bor, men tänker att svenska är mycket överraskande om du är i USA!

Jag bor faktiskt i England - har precis uppdaterat min profil! Ja det är en bra fråga. Jag älskar språk som ämne och att lära mig olika (ovanliga) språk. Jag pluggade svenska (och en del annat) på universitetet i London och bodde i Uppsala ett tag. Det är ett vackert språk - mutta suomi on kaunein kieli :)

The thing that bothers me is the rampant use of unhyphenated compound adjectival phrases as nouns. Spellcheckers won't catch them because they're valid constructions -- just not in those contexts -- so I've been seeing it happen more and more.

Beth, that's cool! Sorry I'm not replying in Swedish, I haven't finished my first coffee of the day, so I'm not exactly ready to poke my brain overly much :D

Here's the new thread Beth started:
Interesting use of language in fiction

T u T

Surprisingly delightful to be able to understand a rare Swedish exchange; 'pakkoruotsi' didn't go to complete waste.

Haha yeah I was super f*cking proud of myself and my uncaffeinated brain for being able to a) produce two sentences that apparently made at least some sense and b) understand the reply :D

Anna wrote: "Haha yeah I was super f*cking proud of myself and my uncaffeinated brain for being able to a) produce two sentences that apparently made at least some sense and b) understand the reply :D"

I'm well impressed! I know I couldn't! Form sentences, that is.

It's easy when no one knows you're doing it in the comfort of your own living room! I will never forget the Swedish tourist who asked me for directions, and I couldn't get a single word out of my mouth XD (OK social anxiety was also a part of that, but still.)

To come back to Anna's non grammatical question: yes, in German it's Polterabend from poltern = making a lot of noise. It's called that because cutlery is broken there (I would have to look up the tradition of why). But we also have the women/men only pre marriage parties which are called Jungesellinnenabend or Junggesellenabend. From Junggeselle = bachelor.

Interesting, so both the gendered and non-gendered terms are commonly used?