my family call those bugs 'chucky pigs'. don't ask me why.
English, the Language.
- Thread starter iBender
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An american I met at my local supermarket referred to it as a buggy. I'm surprised no-one here has offered that word yet!
In communications with others, I use the British system dd/mm/yyyy or Saturday 14th May, 2011
But in private I write the date and time in big endian.
I think it's just different varieties.
This is the variety I often find.
They're flatter than the pill-bugs, and brown in colour that tends to lighten with age. They also have a skirt around the edge of their exoskeleton. They don't roll into tight balls. At best, they'll flex into a banana shape and wriggle all their legs. They can get stuck on their backs too, because they're not adept at self-righting.
Woodlice are properly sea creatures, belonging to the crustacean family with crabs and lobsters. They're unique in that they've managed to survive and reproduce on land, without needing to return to water.
My grandma would call a baby carriage (a pram) a baby buggy or just a buggy. I've rarely heard it used to refer to shopping carts around here except occasionally by the elderly.
^ Trolley or the long version 'shopping trolley' is standard in the UK - 'cart' is essentially unknown in that context and conjures up images of a horse-and-cart.
Buggy is used for pram/baby carriage in the UK too.
Oh, and those are woodlice. There may be different names for them elsewhere in the country but any English person who doesn't recognise the species has led a very sheltered life. Any garden will have hundreds.
I have never used or felt the need for a word for 'sun shower', that's what confused me with the description! So I'll amend my answer to 'nothing'. A light rainfall is a 'drizzle', a short (in duration, but not necessarily light) rainfall is a 'shower'. Then we have 'downpours' and 'its bloody pissing it down'. The word 'storm' is not usually used except to mean thunderstorm here.
Buggy is used for pram/baby carriage in the UK too.
Oh, and those are woodlice. There may be different names for them elsewhere in the country but any English person who doesn't recognise the species has led a very sheltered life. Any garden will have hundreds.
I have never used or felt the need for a word for 'sun shower', that's what confused me with the description! So I'll amend my answer to 'nothing'. A light rainfall is a 'drizzle', a short (in duration, but not necessarily light) rainfall is a 'shower'. Then we have 'downpours' and 'its bloody pissing it down'. The word 'storm' is not usually used except to mean thunderstorm here.
Either that or you could read Beowulf in it's original language, which is OE.
Funny thing about Old English: It is a lot easier to understand, if your mothertongue is German and even more so, if you're speaking the East Frisian dialect.
And to follow the pattern of different words, that is a 'tram' here. With the exception of Mr Williams' play those words are generally unused here. A 'trolley' is something for shopping
It's probably more accurate to say German and English have common ancestors, but essentially, yes. And then English had a few more fundamental changes since by virtue of being invaded a lot and being irrepressible language thieves. So it's not shocking that modern German is closer to Old English than modern English is.
When I was studying that lit in college, there was a professor that came in and read part of The Canterbury Tales in Old English to the class. It was awesome, and I can still hear his fantastic accent and melodic voice reciting the piece. Also he had a kickass beard.
I think it's funny that, though it's supposedly Anglosaxon, I can't understand Old English at all, despite my mother tongue being German. At least, as far as Beowulf is concerned. Chaucer is fine, though, and probably easier to understand for those who also know German.
My old gran once educated us on the difference between a tram and a trolleybus, as she remembered both types being in operation in various places. One has wheels, one runs on rails, IIRC. And I think overhead wires were used for both. But my memory is untrustworthy, so don't take my word for it.
And to follow the pattern of different words, that is a 'tram' here. With the exception of Mr Williams' play those words are generally unused here. A 'trolley' is something for shopping
And to follow the pattern of different words, that is a 'tram' here. With the exception of Mr Williams' play those words are generally unused here. A 'trolley' is something for shopping
Well, I wouldn't use "trolley" for "tram," myself. They're more typically called streetcars here, though in Quebec (when they still had them) I believe they were usually known as trams.
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