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Harry Potter and other books - Americanized!
<I don't think the spelling ''through'' is non-standard.
On my Mastercard, I can see VALID THRU and not VALID THROUGH And I'm from Spain. > Probably since it was going to be printed on such a small piece of plastic they opped for something shorter I suppose.
Opted, you mean.
<<*We very rarely use the term "liquor stores"...in fact, we hardy ever use the word "liquor" when referring to booze. Those terms seem to be mostly used on the other side of the Atlantic...probably in Canada as well for all I know. >> So now we know that the British are sadly deprived of that delightful barroom slogan: "Liquor in front, poker in the rear." (I used to work in a liquor store -- sorry, off-license -- oops, double sorry -- off-licence!-- and for Valentine's Day we put them on the marquee out front; the management --spoilsports, partypoopers -- made us take it off....)
Quite honestly, Tiffany, the word "liquor" is hardly used over here. At least, I never seem to hear it being used. We just say "drink" or "booze" when referring to alcohol, or a range of other terms meaning the hard stuff. But liquor or liquor stores....no, not really. If someone has difficulties with alcohol we would say "S/he has a drink/booze problem" but never, as far as I've heard, "a liquor problem".
btw Tiffany....while addressing you personally, I forgot to thank you for those links on another thread.....conversation pieces/accents from the USA (and elsewhere). Very remiss of me...sorry. I'm doing so here and now. Now I'd better get on with some work. Cheers!
Uriel....Brits are never deprived! Depraved maybe for much of the time, aye, - but never deprived, be it of liquor......or pokers for that matter! Ha! :-)
Have a good one!
"A group of bright americans aged 14- 15 took an english exam paper of basic english. (mixed sex)
This was english oral, text and spelling. The paper came back and all 40 children had failed the test. 0% passrate. The problem was the paper was for a child aged 11 in the UK." Who the heck were they testing and what the heck language do they usually speak anyways? it was probably given to some mexican-american immigrant children because over here they feel free to speak Spanish in every situation and don't feel the need to learn English, especially here in "Mexifornia".
<<Liquor in front, poker in the rear.>>
In London, they have pie, mash and liquor- I have no idea what liquor is in their case, but I don't think it's alcoholic. As Damian said it's not phrase that's often used but everyone would know what it means (in the alcohol sense). My favourite term for alcohol is the one coined by Michael Jackson - "Jesus Juice". Also Aussies seem to call booze "piss". In Britain people say "are you on the piss", but I don't think anyone would say "I drink piss"! I remember meeting a guy in the Australian army who said that most days he just blew stuff up and drank piss!!
I'm back after an absence of some years. Way over here in Australia I doubt we worry too much whether spelling is derived from Mr. Webster or from the OED. Both "systems" are valid and as someone pointed out, Mr. Webster produced his dictionary when English spelling had not been formalized (formalised). I tend to use the English version when I think of it but mostly I don't remember or care much. I have no problem reading S. King or J.K. Rowling and rarely notice the changes in spelling.
However I am aware of a local parent whose primary school (elementary school) child who had spent three or four years in Australian schools being consistently marked down for "Commonwealth" spelling in a school in the USA. This happened after her teachers had been carefully informed that the child had been taught to use "Commonwealth" spelling which was "correct" in her home country.
What is to be expected from a nation that promote there citizens to speak pidgin and Creole English. That they downgrade and look down on students that actually spell correctly, only enforces the European view that Americans are stupid and ignorant. Hell, when a country has a leader that can not even master a pidgin and Creole version of the English language, then that countries citizens should keep a damn low profile when discussing the English language in its written and spoken form…period!
They are translated because the "powers that be" wouldn't want people to uncover the actual truth about the unlimited power each and everyone of us holds.
<Uriel....Brits are never deprived! Depraved maybe for much of the time, aye, - but never deprived, be it of liquor......or pokers for that matter! Ha! :-)>
Indeed and sadly the British are also depraved of bar fridges to keep the beers cool. ;)
@Damian in London:
> Stores that primarily sell alcohol are called off-licenses in the UK. Licenses to sell alcohol are granted by the respective local authorities, and the vast majori Shouldn't that be "off licence"?! In British English: A licence, verb: to license. US English: A license, verb: to license...
Geoff, that movie was renamed in the US because the first Mad Max movie tanked here, and they didn't want the second release tainted by that name. But the second movie was such a hit that they went back to the original name for the third. Most Americans had never seen the first one anyway, so they were unaware of the marketing ploys involved in the name change anyway. Or at least that's the story I heard.
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