Re: "write him" was Re: More questions

Mark J. Reed wrote:
 > On Thu, Nov 27, 2003 at 09:51:54PM +0000, Stephen Mulraney wrote:
 >
 >>Let me get a quick poll of another (to my mind) oddity.
 >>
 >>Does anyone employ phrases like "The water will stop immediately the
 >>stop-cock is turned"? (I've just noticed it in some anti-frost precautions
 >>the Uni sent around). I'm referring to the lack (to my mind)
 >>of a word such as "when" or "after" following "immediately. I've only ever
 >>noticed it in England, and it really surprises me each time I see it.
 >
 >
 > I'm with you; that's one of several Britishisms which seem to me
 > to have missing words.  Also in that category are the
 > previously-discussed time-telling phrases such as "half six" to mean
 > "half PAST six".

Really? Curiouser and curiouser. In Ireland we say "half six", but
require a conjunction after "immediately". :) It always amuses me when
English people (less often Scottish; Welsh people are intermediate)
fail or completely misinterpret what I've said due to some peculiarly
Irish usage that I either had no idea was confined to Irish English,
or that I'm unwilling to replace with a more widely understood phrase
because the more widely understood phrase sounds, well, too English,
in my mouth. Common misunderstandings (and I know not how well
non-Rightpondians will understand):

_I'm after going there_: I mean "I've just gone there". Interpreted as
"I want to go there" (bizarrely phrased)

_press_: I mean "cupboard" (which to me means a "kitchen dresser").
Interpreted as... God knows what. The strangest connection that I've
heard someone make was to a device for storing tennis racquets in (I
believe I'd just told him that "the bread is in the press" or such :)

_pot_: I mean a "saucepan" (a word I can't bring myself to use - it's
like saying _spikespoon_ for _fork_). Sometimes understood. Thanks to
context, I've never had it taken as a reference to marijuana. But I'm
surprised it misunderstood at all.

In the other direction, I once missed out on a useful aid in a maths
exam by not understanding what was meant by a little footnote in the
exam regulations which said that a _crib-sheet_ was permitted (it's a
sheet of paper you prepare before the exam with formulas and notes of
your choice_permitted (it's a sheet of paper you prepare before the exam
with formulas and notes of your choice).

And even English people don't seem to be able to agree on what "Warning:
Adverse camber" means on a road sign :)

One further example, in pronunciation. The county-name _Berkshire_
presents some difficulties for me: it's said it should be pronounced
_Barkshire_, but that's no good to me, since I speak rhotic English, and
the vowel mutation seems inextricably bound up with the flavour imparted
by the non-rhotic 'r'. Basically, I can pronounce it like it's spelt,
in my own accent /bEr`kSIr`/ which is definitely wrong, or I can go the
whole hog with ~ /bA:kS@/, which sounds absurd coming from my mouth, and
that's not even thinking about the oddness of adopting an English accent
for a single word. The compromise form, /bar`kSIr`/ (note the front _a_)
seems equally bizarre. Sigh.

 > But the whole phrase is something that would never occur in my 'lect,
 > or I suspect in most US dialects, even with a preposition
 > inserted.  First of all, I never hear the word "stop-cock" over here;
 > it's a "faucet".  And that term doesn't refer to the thing you turn,
 > but to the whole assembly as a unit.  So I would talk about "turning the
 > faucet off", or less specifically turning the "water" or "sink" off.
 > If I *were* going to refer to the thing you turn directly, I'd call it
 > a "valve".

Ah, as Padraic has suggested, it doesn't mean a "tap". I've just spent
a few minutes peering into cold, spidery corners of the house, to make
sure my notion of it is the right one; to no avail. But it's a valve
on the main water line into the house, and I believe it is basically a
two-winged "tap-handle". I say "tap-handle", because I don't think I
know of a word to refer specifically to the thing you turn, unless it's
the _knob_ which you'd use only if for some reason you actually needed
to point out that it's the knob that should be turned, not the whole
assembly :)

Behold, a 22mm stop-cock:
http://www.diy-hardware-store.co.uk/screwfix-17273.php

 > -Mark

Ah, I think _stop-cock_ *might* also refer to the "floating hollow ball
on an arm" thingy in a toilet cistern, too. Properly, it would refer to
the stop-cock activated by the arm when the ball floats up too high,
but, hey, I don't know much about plumbing.

--
Stephen Mulraney   ataltane@ataltane.net
     Klein bottle for rent  ...  inquire within.

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