10/31/09 [DMFA #1055] - What a lovely color

[MT Hazard]

I can't for the life of me figure out what term is used by the brits for sidewalk. (I know Lift/Elevator... IIRC, the first safe elevator for people was invented in the US, there probably wouldn't have been a common term before every day people started using them, so the brits can probably be blamed for changing from an established name there )

There's a joke I remember to do with that.

Edit: replaced joke with simpler version.

An American was staying at a British hotel and hoping to get to his room he asked where the elevators where.

The receptionist answered "Do you mean lifts? They're are over there"

The American indignantly responded "There called elevators. We invented them you know!

The receptionist replied "Yes sir, but we invented the language"

Another cultural difference is the  methods of labelling floors, also do the Americans leave out the thirteenth floor?

Edit Edit: perhaps they should have both looked at this

http://blog.fotolia.com/us/archive/002088.html

[Janus Whitefurr]

I can't for the life of me figure out what term is used by the brits for sidewalk.

Pavement, I think you'll find.  (This is assuming 'sidewalk' refers to the raised area of a street for pedestrians to walk down.  If it's something else, then I've misunderstood it for a few years now.)

Being British offspring of the heathenistic convict kind, Australia calls said things a 'footpath' or alternatively a 'cycleway' if it's for bicycles too.

[Tapewolf]

Being British offspring of the heathenistic convict kind, Australia calls said things a 'footpath' or alternatively a 'cycleway' if it's for bicycles too.

That works too, though footpath/cyclepath usually denotes a path that is separate from the main road, i.e. it branches off from the bit where vehicles can go.

[Janus Whitefurr]

Being British offspring of the heathenistic convict kind, Australia calls said things a 'footpath' or alternatively a 'cycleway' if it's for bicycles too.

That works too, though footpath/cyclepath usually denotes a path that is separate from the main road, i.e. it branches off from the bit where vehicles can go.

People attach paths that aren't crossings directly to roads now?

[Tapewolf]

People attach paths that aren't crossings directly to roads now?

Since in typical urban area the pedestrian bit is bonded directly to the road, yes.  Sometimes there is a grass verge to give it more separation, typically this is done if it's a main road with a higher speed limit as opposed to a street in a more built-up area.

This may be less typical in larger areas such as the US and Australia where things are less cramped, but for my money, Pittsburgh could fairly easily have been Manchester or London in the way the street was laid out.

Visual aid time:
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k216/tapewolf/scraps/map2.png
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k216/tapewolf/scraps/map3.png

...in map 2 we have the pavement separated from the road by a grass verge.  In the top-right you can see a footpath which has shot off somewhere you'd never get a car down.

...in map 3, which is a section of Cwmbran Drive, the lower section under the bridge has a separate footpath on the left (this is actually about 30ft higher and goes up to meet the bridge), on the right the path is separated by a grass verge, but you can't see it for the shadows from the trees.
The bridge has a more typical sidewalk/pavement setup where the path directly bonded to the road.

[latei]

lol at calling it map 3. You had me worried for a second that there was more than the two links I could see. 

[Tapewolf]

lol at calling it map 3. You had me worried for a second that there was more than the two links I could see. 

Yeah, the other one wasn't as useful.

[Naldru]

A few points

In the 1850's, work on the Oxford English Dictionary was begun in an attempt to produce an official (or defacto official) dictionary of the English language.  They were attempting to record usage, not change it.

In the early 1800's there were a number of Americans who were attempting to create dictionaries.  However, many of these had as their goal also to simplify spelling by removing what they considered extraneous letters.  I suspect that that is where the most of "u"'s got lost.

The pronunciation of words has changed over time.  (For example, google the The Great Vowel Shift).  Many of those silent letters weren't originally silent.

****  ****

There were others besides Webster, and some of these had proposed much more drastic changes.  I can't remember more details offhand, but I seem to recall that one of the more drastic approaches was proposed by a nineteenth century newspaper publisher.

I believe that the general term for changes in pronunciation over time is phonetic drift and it has occurred in many languages.  For example, I have read that Cajun French (people of French ancestry living in the Louisiana area of the United States) are supposed to have a pronunciation that is closer to that spoken in France a few hundred years ago.

***

With regard to the cyclepaths that are attached to the roads.  Many of these resulted from setting aside a lane for use by bicycles.

[inuhanyo]

Naldru, it was Webster's Dictionary that established "official" American English, including the minor spelling reforms of eliminating silent letters from colour, honour, etc.

However he left the "k" in knight (and yes, long ago it was voiced).

The Great Vowel Shift is responsible for English vowels being pronounced differently from the Continental vowels.  I haven't heard anyone give an explanation of why it occurred.  It took centuries, Hollywood pirate speak is actually an accurate snapshot of pronunciation during the process.