Silent Letters

[scotpens]

“I was sick all over the floor”

Is quite common usage here. Much more polite than “technicolour yawn”/ “spewed”/“chucked up”

“Technicolor yawn”? LOL! Never heard that one before. Do you Aussies still say “chunder”?

For the record:

Puke is quite old. Shakespeare used it in As You Like It: ”First the infant, mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.”

Barf is of fairly recent origin, first appearing in print in the 1950s.

And we have these guys to thank for popularizing hurl, spew, and blow chunks.

 

[Trilliam]

“Technicolor yawn”? LOL! Never heard that one before. Do you Aussies still say “chunder”?

Yep.

 

[RoJoHen]

Yeah, the words have slightly different meaning in America. A technical school is usually just called a technical school. A junior college offers associates degrees. A college offers a 4-year bachelors degree. A university is a college that has graduate programs. Even so, the phrase "going to university" doesn't really get said. Even if we do attend a university for a graduate program, we would say, "I'm going to grad school."

Technical Schools in NSW are a particular type of academically selective high school. TAFE colleges are tertiary institutions but more geared to trades - apprentices etc. At Uni, the residences where "out of town" students live during semester are the "Colleges" - (even though DS2 lived off campus when he was at CSU in Wagga Wagga).

We need to get all the leaders of the English-speaking nations in a room together so they can figure out some universal definitions of these words.

 

[scotpens]

Nobody goes to university.

Australians go to university. Or to “uni” for short.

Don't they?

 

[Trilliam]

Far easier than that - make everyone in the English speaking world watch 20years worth of "Home and Away", "Blue Heelers", "Neighbours", "Skippy" and make them all listen Australian Broadcasting Corp news services, and they'll be right. Mate! ::

 

[Trilliam]

Nobody goes to university.

Australians go to university. Or to “uni” for short.

Don't they?

Yep we sure do!

 

[Miss Chicken]

In Tasmania, at least in the public educational system, students do grade 11 and 12 at senior secondary colleges instead of at high school. Some other states also have senior secondary colleges.

 

[Trilliam]

In Tasmania, at least in the public educational system, students do grade 11 and 12 at senior secondary colleges instead of at high school. Some other states also have senior secondary colleges.

TO make it more complicated, my kids went to/go to a Prep (the year before Kindergarten) to Yr12 Independent school, which has "College" as part of its name.

 

[captcalhoun]

if Charlie's British and was puking up, he should've said he was 'being sick'.

university's where you go to get a degree. college is where you go to get further education beyond GCSEs or A-Levels that you do in secondary school.

and you all need to start using English terms. it's our bloody language! use it properly!

 

[scotpens]

if Charlie's British and was puking up. . .

Isn't that redundant? I mean, is it possible to puke down?

 

[Deckerd]

if Charlie's British and was puking up. . .

Isn't that redundant? I mean, is it possible to puke down?

I agree. Throw up or puke but not puke up. I always thought 'barf' was the perfect onomatopoeic word.

 

[Trilliam]

"Chunder" just about covers it - there is no up or down - just like in Space.


Although every so often, one can "upchuck" (he is upchucking, she upchucked) which is a particularly vivid technicolour yawn.

 

[Trilliam]

“I was sick all over the floor”

Is quite common usage here. Much more polite than “technicolour yawn”/ “spewed”/“chucked up”

“Technicolor yawn”? LOL! Never heard that one before. Do you Aussies still say “chunder”?

For the record:

Puke is quite old. Shakespeare used it in As You Like It: ”First the infant, mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.”

Barf is of fairly recent origin, first appearing in print in the 1950s.

And we have these guys to thank for popularizing hurl, spew, and blow chunks.

"Spew"/ "spewing" pre-dated these blokes. We used those words in the 70s. "Spewing" can also mean to be really, really angry: "Tom was spewing after Sharon backed his ute into the guard rail, scratching the duco and cracking the tail light".

 

[Goliath]

Each of these words can have slightly different connotations as well.

I was discussing this with a friend of mine once. He said: "When someone says 'puke,' I think of, well, puking. But when someone says 'vomit,' I think of, you know, silos of the stuff."

 

[RJDiogenes]

I call it driving Buicks to Yorktown.

 

[scotpens]

^ ????? ?????

 

[Trilliam]

^ ????? ?????

No idea!

 

[Cornholio]

But when someone says 'vomit,' I think of, you know, silos of the stuff."

yeah, and umm, don't forget projectile vomit.

It has been a fun read. If you're interested in linguistics I'd recommend Pinker's "The Language Instinct," a very read.

thanks for the suggestion, I might have to look for a copy in the local used book stores. the only linguistic type book I've ever had (other than textbooks in school) was this one:

 

[Trilliam]

yeah, and umm, don't forget projectile vomit

My number 4 baby was an Olympic gold medal contenter in this sport!

 

[trampledamage]

I call it driving Buicks to Yorktown.

^ ????? ?????

^ ????? ?????

No idea!

He means it's his phrase for serious vomiting episodes.