Just saw a raccoon on my driveway. In the UK!

[Bricks & Bones]

I'm tired of my iPhone changing all my s's to z's.

I'm not a {censored}ing gangsta!

[V]

 

I got so annoyed in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, when Scottie, WHO IS SUPPOSED TO BE FROM SCOTLAND, kept on calling it Aluminum. Come on!

 

 

Ha ha this is a fair point. Maybe there's some sort of bull{censored} reason why american spelling won out in the end. Like, uh, Cochran was american so starfleet requires American spellings. Sure, that's it.

 

But then Picard pronounces everything as Britishly as possible at all times (despite being French) so whatever.

[SpectralJulian]

 

Can we change the thread title so it's spelled "raccooun"? Edit: Question mark now British friendly.

 

 

I was taught to always put the question mark inside any parentheses or quotation marks, but I always do it in accordance with the way the sentence is formed. If the question is inside the quotation marks, then I put it inside.

 

Shakespeare penned the famous line "to be or not to be?"

 

Did he coin the phrase "The World is My Oyster"?

 

That's the way that makes most sense.

[Chippy]

Just be glad it isn't a {censored}ing cane toad.

 

Despite the mild rabies risk, raccoons have those cute little masks.

 

Get a big, goofy dog & dress it like a police officer (bobby?) - hilarity will ensue.

[mrweems]

I've stayed away from this thread as long as possible.

 

WARNING. THIS IS A JOKE.

 

Do you actually have an indigenous racoons from the states parading around your yard. Or is it a black person. My grandfather refers to African Americans as Coons, black fellas, and N word. My g/f's g-dad is even worse. I get confused with these threads. No i'm not promoting racism.

 

 

Once again, this is not a racist post. Jesus christ. I'M NOT A RACIST.

 

"hopefully my point has been brought across that i'm not a racist"

[Chippy]

 

I've stayed away from this thread as long as possible. WARNING. THIS IS A JOKE. Do you actually have an indigenous racoons from the states parading around your yard. Or is it a black person. My grandfather refers to African Americans as Coons, black fellas, and N word. My g/f's g-dad is even worse. I get confused with these threads. No i'm not promoting racism. Once again, this is not a racist post. Jesus christ. I'M NOT A RACIST. "hopefully my point has been brought across that i'm not a racist"

 

 

While you're on that roll, tell us what the slang term for "Brazil nuts" is. :poke:

[joncyberboy]

Ha ha this is a fair point. Maybe there's some sort of bull{censored} reason why american spelling won out in the end. Like, uh, Cochran was american so starfleet requires American spellings. Sure, that's it. But then Picard pronounces everything as Britishly as possible at all times (despite being French) so whatever.

 

 

 

Not sure American spelling has 'won out' totally, but it is getting there. Things like 'color' to me just look wrong and i'll never get used to it!

[mrweems]

 

While you're on that roll, tell us what the slang term for "Brazil nuts" is. :poke:

 

 

hahahahhaaaha. see. if i wasn't from the south. AND YOU werent from the south. We'd be the only two laughing.

 

I'm posting this in the context of what i was brought up. Please no bannination.

 

the nut known as the Brazil nut, in the south. As far as i know, mississippi. Is known as "****** toes"

 

Why? no {censored}ing clue. Racist? Yup. Inappropriate? Yup. But every xmas, there is a huge bourbon influenced talk over brazil nuts and their southern slang name. jesus i can't belive you just called that out. hahaha

[flanging_fred]

All the hedgehogs are around at my gaff. They make a hell of a lot of noise at night when they are shagging. It also seems that they like eating victoria sponge cake. That'll teach me to make a hedgehog house round the back of my shed...

[joncyberboy]

I've stayed away from this thread as long as possible. WARNING. THIS IS A JOKE. Do you actually have an indigenous racoons from the states parading around your yard. Or is it a black person. My grandfather refers to African Americans as Coons, black fellas, and N word. My g/f's g-dad is even worse. I get confused with these threads. No i'm not promoting racism. Once again, this is not a racist post. Jesus christ. I'M NOT A RACIST. "hopefully my point has been brought across that i'm not a racist"

 

 

No, it was a raccoon, not a black person. We have those in the Uk already.

[goodhonk]

 

hahahahhaaaha. see. if i wasn't from the south. AND YOU werent from the south. We'd be the only two laughing. I'm posting this in the context of what i was brought up. Please no bannination. the nut known as the Brazil nut, in the south. As far as i know, mississippi. Is known as "****** toes" Why? no {censored}ing clue. Racist? Yup. Inappropriate? Yup. But every xmas, there is a huge bourbon influenced talk over brazil nuts and their southern slang name. jesus i can't belive you just called that out. hahaha

 

 

that's a michigan thing too; at least with my grandparents it is.

[macadood]

how is this still on the front page??

 

i see raccoons every day here in toronto. nothing to see here. move along folks

 

[mrbluetone]

[V]

 

All the hedgehogs are around at my gaff. They make a hell of a lot of noise at night when they are shagging. It also seems that they like eating victoria sponge cake. That'll teach me to make a hedgehog house round the back of my shed...

 

 

Honest question: What is a gaff?

[mr benn]

UK/Irish slang for a house!

[V]

 

UK/Irish slang for a house!

 

 

Oh really? What's the origin of that one? The only term similar to it I can think of is gaffe which wants nothing to do with housing.

[RadioSilence]

 

Oh really? What's the origin of that one? The only term similar to it I can think of is gaffe which wants nothing to do with housing.

 

 

 

gaff 3 |g

[mr benn]

gaff - slang for house or place. e.g. "I'll meet you round my gaff in 10 minutes" and "He was all over the gaff" (all over the place). Originates from the 19th century when a 'gaff' was a slang term for a fairground or place of cheap entertainment.

[V]

Interesting. I love language and linguistics, so I find all these things fascinating. You know what's really interesting is seeing etymology in Chinese characters. It will sometimes be obvious to Westerners which characters are related because they will not be as familiar with them as a native speaker. but in the case of characters you'll literally see part of a drawing of another character inside the newer or compound one. For example, an obvious one is the character for "good" is a combination of the characters for man and woman.

[RadioSilence]

 

gaff - slang for house or place. e.g. "I'll meet you round my gaff in 10 minutes" and "He was all over the gaff" (all over the place). Originates from the 19th century when a 'gaff' was a slang term for a fairground or place of cheap entertainment.

 

 

never heard that one before.

 

edit: just checked the OED online and they list Gaff = fair and Gaff = house as separate items. the one doesn't seem to come from the other.

[macadood]

crib

 

pad

[V]

 

crib pad

 

 

Crib makes some sense.

 

CRIB - Old English. "Crib is a Germanic word, with relatives today in German (krippe) and Dutch (kribbe). In Old English it mean 'manger,' and not until 17th century did it develop its familiar present-day sense 'child's bed.' An intermediate stage, now lost, was 'basket,' which appears to have given rise to its 18th-century use as a thieves' slang term for 'pilfer'; this in turn is probably the source of the modern colloquial sense 'plagiarize'." From "Dictionary of Word Origins: the Histories of More Than 8,000 English-Language Words" by John Ayto (Arcade Publishing, New York, 1990).

 

Pad, I think, is slang for a bed so it probably came from there.

[joncyberboy]

Because of all this talk about UK/USA linguistic differences i looked up UK/USA humour differences and found an article that had me laughing!

 

"One of the chief differences between the aver*age Englishman and American is in amiability, responsiveness, amenity. Americans are prob*ably the most amiable people in the world, the most happy to respond to an exploratory re*mark, the most willing. I dare say it is partly a matter of climate. Our chronic sunshine makes us expansive and ebullient.

 

In any American city on a terrifically hot day, two hitherto unacquainted men will speak to each other as they pass on the street, one saying, "Don't you wish you had brought your over*coat!" which harmless jest is returned by the other with equal affability. If you said that to an Englishman, he might stare at you blankly, and perhaps hazard the query, "You mean, of course, your light overcoat?"

 

http://www.wlpf.org/ENGLISHANDAMERICANHUMOUR.htm

[Inazone]

I've stayed away from this thread as long as possible. WARNING. THIS IS A JOKE. Do you actually have an indigenous racoons from the states parading around your yard. Or is it a black person. My grandfather refers to African Americans as Coons, black fellas, and N word. My g/f's g-dad is even worse. I get confused with these threads. No i'm not promoting racism. Once again, this is not a racist post. Jesus christ. I'M NOT A RACIST. "hopefully my point has been brought across that i'm not a racist"

 

 

There's a town near here called Coon Rapids, and when a contestant on a TV show (American Idol perhaps) was going to talk about where she was from, she was instructed to say she was from Minneapolis, which is the nearest major city. Not because it mattered where she was from, but because you can't say "Coon" on TV. Someone might get offended.

[Cirrus]

 

Because of all this talk about UK/USA linguistic differences i looked up UK/USA humour differences and found an article that had me laughing! "One of the chief differences between the aver*age Englishman and American is in amiability, responsiveness, amenity. Americans are prob*ably the most amiable people in the world, the most happy to respond to an exploratory re*mark, the most willing. I dare say it is partly a matter of climate. Our chronic sunshine makes us expansive and ebullient. In any American city on a terrifically hot day, two hitherto unacquainted men will speak to each other as they pass on the street, one saying, "Don't you wish you had brought your over*coat!" which harmless jest is returned by the other with equal affability. If you said that to an Englishman, he might stare at you blankly, and perhaps hazard the query, "You mean, of course, your light overcoat?" http://www.wlpf.org/ENGLISHANDAMERICANHUMOUR.htm

 

 

That sounds a bit like the north south divide - up north and in Scotland, you are more likely to be able to strike up a convo with a stranger. It's true that further south, you've got more of a chance of being ignored, or of the person you talk to being embarrassed or shy and not being able to think of something to say in return. Of course, up north and in Scotland, if the robbers don't kill you the deep fried pizza will.