Dining out post pandemonium

Harters, American spelling is marked as incorrect in Canadian schools. Most Canadian spelling is follows British spelling, but some words use the American spelling (tires rather than tyres come to mind). Some words are acceptable in Canada with either American or British spelling.

Well we all know there should be no comma after the last in the series.

And ellipses must be three dots spaced.

A semicolon is used only when two phrases can be independent sentences but the author wants it to be read as one.

British spellings (i.e., theatre\theater, tire\tyre, etc.) were docked in school, but considered perfectly acceptable in college . . . where there were many more foreign students.

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Wow, that must make grade-school spelling tests complicated,

ellipses are four dots when they complete a sentence.

A semicolon also ends a command in many computer programming languages. That was a trick for the more technical among us.

Both spelling and usage between US, Canadian, and UK speakers/writers is interesting. Napkins come to mind.

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Just to be clear, ‘here’ for you is England because Scotland is taking the more cautious approach. I mean, soon, but just saying… (for the sake of the US HOs who turn to you for all news UK…)

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I’ve recently come across a Canadian TV export, in the form of the “Murdoch Mysteries”. Set in Toronto in about 1900, I’m sort surprised how often characters with British accents crop up (although our earlier conversation about immigration refers). But more so, British words/phrases. I’ve wondered if they are still is use today (or in recent memory).

For example, Murdoch’s boss - a Yorkshireman by his accent - will suggest that something is “bollocks”. Now, for the unitiated in British slang, “bollocks” are testicles but, when something is described as being bollocks, it means it is nonsense. As in “That politican is talking bollocks”.

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Mostly for Canadian kids with American parents, and Canadian kids who watched a lot of Sesame St and Electric Company :slightly_smiling_face:

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My friend, a former Chowhound, works on Murdoch Mysteries at CBC, in production.

Most Canadians I know and associate with would know what bullocks mean, (also thanks to the Sex Pistols’ Never Mind the Bullocks), but it’s not as common as more American terms like baloney.

There’s a certain element (I belong to this element), who like using British phrases here in Canada. I use " don’t get your knickers in a bunch/twist/knot", which most Canadians don’t say. It would be more common among people who have some sort of Irish/UK/NZ/Oz influence, through family, teachers, etc.

I learned a new phrase through Twitter yesterday- which apparently is common in Canada, probably also common in some States. Like shit through a goose. Another roughneck phrase is " Who pissed in your/his/her cornflakes?"
:thinking:

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I seriously love that many of us took that hard left turn down Grammar & Spelling Alley, and no one blinked an eye. :laughing:

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This phrase may have regional variations in the UK but, in this part, it’s always “twist”.

I’d sort of assumed that it would be a known word, at least to associate it with a bluff Englishman. - otherwise why have it in the script.

'Tis a wonderful, rich language - English - in whichever variety it comes. My brother in law who is Spanish has always said that there are many more obscenities in English than Spanish. And the “quality” of the obscenity is better as well. I remember on our first trip to visit, we were on the beach and he and his wife (my wife’s sister) got into a dispute with another Spaniard. Sue was swearing at him in Spanish, but Pedro was giving it his all in English (which the othe rguy at least got the gist of).

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The metaphors in Spanish are something else, especially Latin American Spanish. (I have a few Spanish Slang books in my library )

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Can’t recall the exact phrase but Pedro shouted at him something about his mother and 100 prostitutes.

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“All politicians are talking bollocks.”

Fixed that for you.

I remember reading a paper somewhere, somewhen. Apparently geese along with some other similar large birds are able to evacuate their entire digestive system in order to reduce weight when they need to get airborne quickly. Accordingly there is good science behind that ahem analogy.

Without rules of grammar, spelling, punctuation, and usage how are we to communicate at all? If we are to discuss the fine points of chopping as opposed to dicing how to be understood otherwise. Like the rules of parliamentary procedure, discussions of language are always in order.

Now about currently vice presently… (<- obscure Matt Helm reference)

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I have fuzzy recollection of such language. Google led down a rabbit hole with nothing at the bottom. I may be confusing some creative extensions regarding the fleas of a thousand camels.

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Instead of “Like father, like son” , some Spanish speakers say “puta la madre, puta la hija”. :laughing: ( might have the grammar wrong, but you get the idea)

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A semicolon is also used to separate list items when the items themselves have commas (e.g., “I watched three films this weekend: THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING; ALIEN; and BANANAS.” )

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My comfort level in dining out is 100%. It has never changed since the pandemonium started.

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I think I’m going to show my age difference a bit to most of the posters here when I quote a line from Vampire Weekend

“Who gives a f*** about an Oxford comma?”

I love that song. But I generally agree about correct spelling and grammar. The number of people who don’t get advice or advise, there, their, they’re, etc. are legion.

Oh no, a response to my original question. Thanks. :wink:

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I agree. Unfortunately Windows, MacOS, iOS, and Android keep trying to help me and I don’t always notice in time.

I also agree (I think) that an Oxford comma is a matter of opinion. I’d offer that consistency is most important. It’s one of the things I check in style guides so I write accordingly for the magazines among my customers. As I noted engineers and scientists of a certain age are among those prone to them. Between matrix algebra and FORTRAN there is a predisposition.

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