"close the light"

Barry:

> > I also say "close the light", and i'm 4th-generation American
> > on most sides. I don't think that i say "open the light", but
> > i'd understand it if someone else says it. "Shut the light"
> > also sounds normal to me.
> Ahh, but no one who is more than 2nd generation american here in
> my area of California would say something like that. I've only
> ever heard this come from Filipinos I know, never Americans.
I missed the beginning of this thread so I'm sorry if I'm repeating
stuff. I've thought about this "turn the lights on and off"
because in Swedish we use the verbs _tända_ and _släcka_ and
I can't believe there aren't any English counterparts. _Tända_
is 'light, ignite, turn on' and _släcka_ is 'put out, switch
off, extinguish'. If you want someone to turn off the lights you
say _Släcker du?_ which in English would be 'Could you turn the
lights out?' I imagine that a person saying 'Put out, will you?'
would be _very_ misunderstood... :-P

daniel

--
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<>       daniel.andreasson@telia.com        <>