The English, along with history buffs around the world, are buzzing over the discovery of the skeleton of King Richard III in the city of Leicester. He had been buried beneath a car park (parking lot to us) which in itself is amazing. They didn't even have cars 600 years ago!
Anyway, the car park / parking lot difference is another example of how English and Americans are two peoples separated by a common language.
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Ohio once had a legislator who was notorious for butchering English, but he brushed off critics, saying, "What do you want, good grammar or good government?"
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Grammar often is a casualty in the hands of advertisers who will try anything to get our attention. And so we are urged by a long distance company to Rethink Possible, by a cable TV network to Enjoy Better and by a local museum to Come see Amazing.
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Business has long expressed negative events in positive terms. For example when the bottom falls out of a stock it is said to be undergoing a correction. The military doesn't retreat, it conducts retrograde operations. Recently a restaurant chain discussed plans to refresh its properties. Apparently renovate isn't positive enough, implying that a restaurant is a little outdated.
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As legendary as Richard III was, his identification may renew the search for an even more coveted set of bones - Jimmy Hoffa's.
3 comments:
The American/British English divide reminds me of the one spelling word for which I was marked wrong on an elementary school spelling test: colour. Yep, I spelled it the British way, and lost points! Was that latent jingoism on the part of my teacher? Or was it simply that I read too many English novels like the Chronicles of Narnia?
You would make a great ad man, Dad. I recall asking you if I was pretty, to which you answered, "You shine from within."
"Dad, am I a good basketball player?"
"You play with a lot of heart."
I don't know, 'fucius,' you probably read more books than your teachers and thus intimidated them ... Bridget, is that like when I asked you, "Am I a good father?" and you said, "I think Mom's calling us for dinner...."
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