To me "bored of" and "bored by" is a nuanced distinction having to do with how long I've had to tolerate the boring thing. So I might be bored by the long sermon my pastor is preaching, but if he's been doing this every week for ages, I may be growing bored of his sermons, and perhaps his whole ministry, in a more general sense. That might just be how I use it though.
Fun item for this thread- Jay Leno when he did The Tonight Show used to do a bit called "Headlines", sort of like our "Headlines of Utter Weirdness" except it was anything printed in newspapers including things in the body of the story, classifieds, and photos. I ran across an old clip where he had a photo of Prince Charles meeting and shaking the hand of the CEO of Walmart with a woman standing back between them. The caption said: "The woman was unidentified but she might have been an interpreter."
I heard a curious Americanism with no British equivalent that I can think of when someone told my wife's elderly grandpa something he didn't believe. His immediate response was, "So's your old man!" I asked about it later and was told it was a perfectly normal thing to say in Montana.
(Exact conversation... Neighbour: "Walter - there's water in the irrigation ditch!" Grandpa: "So's your old man!")
I heard a curious Americanism with no British equivalent that I can think of when someone told my wife's elderly grandpa something he didn't believe. His immediate response was, "So's your old man!" I asked about it later and was told it was a perfectly normal thing to say in Montana.
(Exact conversation... Neighbour: "Walter - there's water in the irrigation ditch!" Grandpa: "So's your old man!")
There are phrases in Anglo-English that serve the same purpose. 'And the rest!' leaps to mind. It certainly doesn't literally mean exactly the same as 'So's your old man!' (and now I come to think about it, I'm not sure quite what it's literally meant to mean) but both are short phrases capable of being spoken in a thoroughly disbelieving tone - which to at least some extent is the point of them.
In the Socialism thread, as the topic turns to buses (as it always does), people are speaking of buses "picking up" and "setting down" passengers. This contrasts to nomenclature in the States (as I have experienced it): buses don't set down passengers, they let off passengers. (Or to be more accurate they let passengers off, although splitting the phrasal verb doesn't change the meaning, only the expression.)
He thought he saw a Banker's Clerk
Descending from the bus:
He looked again, and found it was
A Hippopotamus.
'If this should stay to dine,' he said,
'There won't be much for us!'
In the Socialism thread, as the topic turns to buses (as it always does), people are speaking of buses "picking up" and "setting down" passengers. This contrasts to nomenclature in the States (as I have experienced it): buses don't set down passengers, they let off passengers. (Or to be more accurate they let passengers off, although splitting the phrasal verb doesn't change the meaning, only the expression.)
I think I would go with letting off passengers here... although the whole idea that it's somehow up to the bus (or even the driver) rather than the passengers feels odd. You just get off the bus.
Yes, I realise that this is only practical if the bus ceases to move, but that's what happens if you press the button to indicate you want to get off at the next stop.
"It's a bit black over Will's mothers" (or Bill's mothers) is a phrase used in parts of the UK (although possibly now falling out of usage) to describe when there are heavy clouds on the horizon, threatening a downpour.
Has this phrase made it across the Pond? And are there any American phrases that have a similar usage in predicting the weather?
I was looking at the thread in the Circus, where you mangle a song by replacing the word "girl" by the word "squirrel". It occurred to me that maybe these words rhyme in American English. Would that be correct?
... where you mangle a song by replacing the word "girl" by the word "squirrel". It occurred to me that maybe these words rhyme in American English. Would that be correct?
I was looking at the thread in the Circus, where you mangle a song by replacing the word "girl" by the word "squirrel". It occurred to me that maybe these words rhyme in American English. Would that be correct?
Took me a while to realise they can rhyme in an American accent - it was from finding a song from Guys and Dolls, where I realised that, in Adelaide's accent, the song would still rhyme when girl was replaced by squirrel. Then I realised that was probably the point of the game, rather than an amusing coincidence!
I was looking at the thread in the Circus, where you mangle a song by replacing the word "girl" by the word "squirrel". It occurred to me that maybe these words rhyme in American English. Would that be correct?
Took me a while to realise they can rhyme in an American accent - it was from finding a song from Guys and Dolls, where I realised that, in Adelaide's accent, the song would still rhyme when girl was replaced by squirrel. Then I realised that was probably the point of the game, rather than an amusing coincidence!
For most Americans, it actually works the other way around. As I normally hear it, “squirrel” is one syllable and is pronounced skwirl.
I'd call it one-and-a-half syllables--it's got that glide thingy going on at the end (someone more erudite can give it the proper name). Basically a schwa in the second syllable.
I'd call it one-and-a-half syllables--it's got that glide thingy going on at the end (someone more erudite can give it the proper name). Basically a schwa in the second syllable.
Maybe in some parts of the US. Here, not so much—no more of a schwa before the l than in girl or swirl.
IME, "girl" and "squirrel" are close in US pronunciation, with some regional variance. "Squirrel" is generally pronounced as two syllables, though, so doesn't rhyme with "girl" *exactly*.
For most UK speakers, girl has the same vowel as 'air', and the r is not pronounced in either. It's not, for us, remotely like squirrel, where the first vowel is like the one is the one in "is", and only the second is a schwa.
Hmm. This UK speaker would say that ‘air’ has the same vowel as ‘care’ or ‘there’, whereas ‘girl’ has the same vowel as ‘curl’ or ‘twirl’.
Always been "gairl" for me (same vowel as "care") to the extent I've always considered it one of those words with a weird spelling for its sound. I'm familiar with the "gurl" pronunciation but don't use it myself.
I presume the 'air' variation is where the upper class "gels" comes from.
Yes here in the UK squirrel definitely has 2 syllables, the first one is like the sound in squid (without the d of course) and the second has a schwa vowel and begins with a non rhotic 'r'. Whereas girl is a single syllable, rhymes with curl (and neither of these words has any r sounded at all). Very different to squirrel.
Then we could get into 'film' vs 'fil-um'. I first heard 'fil-um' from a friend in Inverness, and not again until I was in Texas.
Gaelic doesn't run consonants together, which is why you tend to get those epenthetic vowels in Scots and Irish accents. Don't know whether Welsh does this, but I'm sure one of our Welsh speakers will enlighten us. Why do Texans do it?
Then we could get into 'film' vs 'fil-um'. I first heard 'fil-um' from a friend in Inverness, and not again until I was in Texas.
Gaelic doesn't run consonants together, which is why you tend to get those epenthetic vowels in Scots and Irish accents. Don't know whether Welsh does this, but I'm sure one of our Welsh speakers will enlighten us. Why do Texans do it?
Welsh does. Cefn - back, ysbyty - hospital, but notice it doesn't (or didn't) like starting words with some clusters so stuck a y (pronounced as a schwa) at the front. With virtually every Welsh speaker in Wales (as opposed to Patagonia) over the age of around 6 bilingual with English, those clusters no longer represent a problem and we hear stafell for ystafell (room), sgwennu for ysgrifennu (to write) and so on. However, pobl (people) and cwbl (all) are often pronounced, and sometimes even written, as pobol and cwbwl.
Back on squirrels, when somebody posted a link to this a few months ago, I didn't really think about the pronunciation beyond the fact that the singer (of course) had an American accent (I don't know enough to say what kind of American accent; Wikipedia says that he comes from Georgia). In the light of the discussion here, I wondered whether I would have realised what the song was about if I had just heard it without seeing the title or the video. Listening to it again, I notice that he seems to pronounce the word sometimes as a single syllable almost rhyming with the way Nigel Molesworth and I pronounce 'girl' (but with the 'r' somewhat noticeable), and sometimes as two syllables much more like the UK pronunciation; compare 0.33 and 0.48 in the video. In context the former doesn't sound as odd to me as the statement that 'squirrel' and 'girl' rhyme in the USA does in isolation.
Texans believe in never using one syllable where three can be used.
(unfair stereotype )
Actually, I don't know. But I could listen to it all day. It's rather beautiful.
My friend Rich was on a tour of the Holy Land many decades ago, and one of the people on the tour was an older woman from Texas (she seemed older to teenage Richie — probably no older than we are now). He remarked to her how he liked the way she said Baaaaaaahubull. She asked well honey how do you say it? "BY-bəl" he answered. She replied, "It don't hardly sound like the Word of God like that!"
Less piously, I was always impressed by the way a Texan colleague could effortlessly say "Sh-i-i-t" in three syllables when the rest of us could only manage one.
Comments
(Exact conversation... Neighbour: "Walter - there's water in the irrigation ditch!" Grandpa: "So's your old man!")
There are phrases in Anglo-English that serve the same purpose. 'And the rest!' leaps to mind. It certainly doesn't literally mean exactly the same as 'So's your old man!' (and now I come to think about it, I'm not sure quite what it's literally meant to mean) but both are short phrases capable of being spoken in a thoroughly disbelieving tone - which to at least some extent is the point of them.
At least at that moment, yes.
I seem to remember that bus passengers 'alighted' back in the day,
I always think of ‘alight to lighten the Gentiles’...
I'll fetch my own coat.
I think I would go with letting off passengers here... although the whole idea that it's somehow up to the bus (or even the driver) rather than the passengers feels odd. You just get off the bus.
Yes, I realise that this is only practical if the bus ceases to move, but that's what happens if you press the button to indicate you want to get off at the next stop.
Has this phrase made it across the Pond? And are there any American phrases that have a similar usage in predicting the weather?
I have naturally enlarged testicles. Every so often the doctor wants to check to see if there is not an anomaly. Guess how he does he does it.
Not outside Scotland (and possibly N Ireland). One syllable vs two
Nobody knows if the fellow called Tirrell
Was trying to shoot at the King or a squirrel. (Eleanor Farjeon)
Too much information 😳
Yes, that's correct.
Took me a while to realise they can rhyme in an American accent - it was from finding a song from Guys and Dolls, where I realised that, in Adelaide's accent, the song would still rhyme when girl was replaced by squirrel. Then I realised that was probably the point of the game, rather than an amusing coincidence!
I'm from California originally (LA basin).
ˈswər(-ə)l
ˈgər(-ə)l
ˈskwər(-ə)l
So an “optional” schwa in each.
BTW, for “squirrel,” it gives as a chiefly British pronunciation: ˈskwir-əl
IME, "girl" and "squirrel" are close in US pronunciation, with some regional variance. "Squirrel" is generally pronounced as two syllables, though, so doesn't rhyme with "girl" *exactly*.
Always been "gairl" for me (same vowel as "care") to the extent I've always considered it one of those words with a weird spelling for its sound. I'm familiar with the "gurl" pronunciation but don't use it myself.
I presume the 'air' variation is where the upper class "gels" comes from.
Gaelic doesn't run consonants together, which is why you tend to get those epenthetic vowels in Scots and Irish accents. Don't know whether Welsh does this, but I'm sure one of our Welsh speakers will enlighten us. Why do Texans do it?
(unfair stereotype )
Actually, I don't know. But I could listen to it all day. It's rather beautiful.
Welsh does. Cefn - back, ysbyty - hospital, but notice it doesn't (or didn't) like starting words with some clusters so stuck a y (pronounced as a schwa) at the front. With virtually every Welsh speaker in Wales (as opposed to Patagonia) over the age of around 6 bilingual with English, those clusters no longer represent a problem and we hear stafell for ystafell (room), sgwennu for ysgrifennu (to write) and so on. However, pobl (people) and cwbl (all) are often pronounced, and sometimes even written, as pobol and cwbwl.
(Nigel Molesworth, for anyone unfamiliar with him)
My friend Rich was on a tour of the Holy Land many decades ago, and one of the people on the tour was an older woman from Texas (she seemed older to teenage Richie — probably no older than we are now). He remarked to her how he liked the way she said Baaaaaaahubull. She asked well honey how do you say it? "BY-bəl" he answered. She replied, "It don't hardly sound like the Word of God like that!"