Re: CHAT: Trans-oceanic word differences // was Education words in various English dialects

On Thu, 26 Oct 2000, Adrian Morgan wrote:
> I'm told that in America, if you say "shed" without a qualifying
> adjective, people will assume you mean a garden shed - a little building,
Correct.  There are exceptions, though.  The Boston Symphony Orchestra
performs during the summer at a well-known estate about 150 miles from
Boston, called "Tanglewood".  The building in which they perform is
generally called "the Shed", and it's big enough to sit about 500 people
on folding chairs.

The story is that back in the 1950s when the BSO was looking for a summer
location, they bought Tanglewood and retained a celebrated architect
to design them a new building for performance.  All his designs were
rejected as too expensive.  In exasperation, he finally snarled "You
don't want an architect at all; you want a builder to make you a shed!"
So they hired a builder and told him "Make a shed".  And so it is.

> The really celebrated difference is in the American use of "root" to mean
> "barrack" (= to cheer a sports team).
Ah, yes, didn't think about that one.  Or as the national ballad about
the national pastime (baseball) says:

        And it's root, root, root for the home team,
        If they don't win it's a shame

--
John Cowan                                   cowan@ccil.org
One art/there is/no less/no more/All things/to do/with sparks/galore
        --Douglas Hofstadter