Help me settle an argument!

[gEd]

Ha ha - I remember in 8th grade science we had to learn the metric system because it was going to be the new standard. Never used it after that, so I've forgotten most of it. I still get messed up when reading DIY projects that use metric for the measurements

tell me about it!

all sheet timber is still sold in 8x4' sheets and yet i always measure in metric.
Whilst driving home from the timber yard after buying some sheet ply and baton timber I started thinking to myself "100m of 1"x1" is a lot of timber just to box in a gas pipe".

it should have been 100'.....

[gEd]

What does the "u" in colour bring to the table? Is the "u" actually pronounced elsewhere in the world or is the English paying tribute to the French origins of the word?

perhaps it was the 100's of years of rule by the Normans..

from wikipedia
One of the most obvious changes was the introduction of the Latin-based Anglo-Norman language as the language of the ruling classes in England, displacing the Germanic-based Anglo-Saxon language. Anglo-Norman retained the status of a prestige language for nearly 300 years and has had a significant influence on modern English. It is through this, the first of several major influxes of Latin or Romance languages, that the predominant spoken tongue of England began to lose much of its Germanic and Norse vocabulary, although it retained Germanic sentence structure in many cases.

[Fatman_do]

Brilliant! I only said that for a joke, and we are off again! But as I seem to have touched a nerve, allow me to pull your leg a little more...

"Read up... on spelling reform" - which is pretty much my point with american english isn't it? In a "I can't believe it's not butter" kinda way.

"Words should be spelt closer to how they are pronounced". - Yes, maybe starting with words like Mishygun...

"...the English paying tribute to the French origins of the word?" - Debatable. After all, we dropped the 'e' from it. Then again, if the english are "paying tribute" to the french with spelling, what are you guys doing to the english with the whole language?

Having wrestled with conjugating french auxilliary verbs for the past 30 years, I agree with the comments above. To be fair, a lot of european friends tell me (in their perfect english) that the comment that 'english is one of the hardest languages to learn' is a myth... told by english-speaking people to each other in order to somehow justify not bothering to learn any other language. Just what I've been told, that's all.

Incidentally, I honestly don't intend to flame or troll or... I like that fact that this forum is so friendly and we can all talk and laugh like this: Some of us that have been around a while and those relatively more recent; it's always fun.

...and fantastic free mediacentre software to boot? Count me in!!!

Na, you didn't hit a nerve. I was just having some fun. I try to sound all arrogant and put-off, like the "true" English speakers of the world sound when they are informed they spell "color" wrong, or that "football" is soccer.

I do not champion the US or English way of spelling. It doesn't really matter to me. I do wish it was easier at times, reduce things down to a simpler form.

Michigan is a "Native American" term meaning "Big Lake", not an Anglo-English word. Your way of spelling it would be fine if it was spelled Mishygan (not -gun). Legendary University of Michigan football coach, Fielding H. Yost (who dat?) was a southerner and pronounced it Meechigan. But I digress...

Oh, and if American Football changed its name to "GridIron" or whatever you folks would call it, I wouldn't care one bit. I love the sport, not the name.

Another thing that may seem odd coming from a "Yankee", I love the metric system. I use it in my line of work. Global industry uses the metric system.

We also are only using English for a while, eventually it will be "Spanish", then those from Spain will snob off at us saying it is the Mexican perversion...

You "Old world" folks are hard to please... :p

[groover km]

Na, you didn't hit a nerve. I was just having some fun. I try to sound all arrogant and put-off, like the "true" English speakers of the world sound when they are informed they spell "color" wrong, or that "football" is soccer.

I do not champion the US or English way of spelling. It doesn't really matter to me. I do wish it was easier at times, reduce things down to a simpler form.

Michigan is a "Native American" term meaning "Big Lake", not an Anglo-English word. Your way of spelling it would be fine if it was spelled Mishygan (not -gun). Legendary University of Michigan football coach, Fielding H. Yost (who dat?) was a southerner and pronounced it Meechigan. But I digress...

Oh, and if American Football changed its name to "GridIron" or whatever you folks would call it, I wouldn't care one bit. I love the sport, not the name.

Another thing that may seem odd coming from a "Yankee", I love the metric system. I use it in my line of work. Global industry uses the metric system.

We also are only using English for a while, eventually it will be "Spanish", then those from Spain will snob off at us saying it is the Mexican perversion...

You "Old world" folks are hard to please... :p

Opening paragraph...<laughs>. Nice one - hoisted by my own petard. The Michigan thing, well:

I visit Detroit quite frequently (let's go Red Wings) as our design office is there in Sterling Heights: They say Michigan how you would. I rhyme it with Birmingham (and not the Alabama sort -the bermingumm sort ), and here in NC they pronounce it just as you say, Meechigan. No wonder I get confused.

My wife is scottish: I find it easiest not to consult her on matters of pronunciation.

Interesting thing about football/soccer (and MUCH to my chagrin as an englishman), turns out they are both right - at least, etymologically. 'Football' is, well, football. "Soccer" is a corruption of "Association Football". Apparently. Of course, there are nigh on 3 billion people calling it football so...

My son learns spanish at daycare, and he's three and a half. We have another one due in August and at this rate we are each going to need a phrasebook to communicate across the dinner table...

I have to stand up with you for the metric system though. I'm an Engineer: I'll use the metric system, thank you very much.

Unless of course you guys would prefer a car that does forty rods to the hogshead...

[zehd]

all sheet timber is still sold in 8x4' sheets and ...

Funny. In Canada, the sheets are 4'x8'. Maybe our trucks are long and narrow

[elite]

I didn't vote because I didn't have the info you do. You make a very strong case for your argument. What is the argument of the other party?

I wouldn't want to get it wrong, so I'll see if my mate Rog will drop into this thread later on today...

[payaso]

I try to sound all arrogant and put-off, like the "true" English speakers of the world sound when they are informed they spell "color" wrong, or that "football" is soccer.

I know how that goes. A few years back I got re-assigned from one of our company's software products to another that is primarily developed in the UK. Not knowing that it was developed in the UK, the first day I proceeded to log a bunch of bugs for things like "Organisation" being spelled wrong. The next day I had an inbox completely full of backlash. The best part of the story by far though is that I went home and told my sweetheart all about the emails that I got from the guys in our 'UK' office. She just got this shocked look on her face and said "You guys have an office in the Ukraine?!?" I still burst out laughing about that at odd times.

I completely agree that we 'Americans' need to make the leap to metrics. Nothing irks me worse than digging through my mess of sockets trying to figure out what which one I need if 5/16's is too small and 7/16's is too big. Dang that advanced 4th grade math! To make matters worse, my truck was assembled in Canada with parts build in the US, so half its bolts are standard and half are metric! :eek:

[flyswatta]

I completely agree that we 'Americans' need to make the leap to metrics. Nothing irks me worse than digging through my mess of sockets trying to figure out what which one I need if 5/16's is too small and 7/16's is too big. Dang that advanced 4th grade math! To make matters worse, my truck was assembled in Canada with parts build in the US, so half its bolts are standard and half are metric! :eek:

The conspiracy theorist side of me wonders if the whole "move to metric" was broadsided by the tool manufacturers - just think, they effectively doubled thier sales by us having to buy standard AND metric tools, bolts, nuts & screws.

Hmmm, and how come milk and juice is sold by the quart, 1/2 gallon and gallon while soda is sold by the liter and 2 liter?:confused:

[gEd]

Nothing irks me worse than digging through my mess of sockets trying to figure out what which one I need if 5/16's is too small and 7/16's is too big.

er... would 6/16's be the wrong answer?

[martint123]

Who needs metres when we can confuse the world with Rods, Poles, Perches and Chains. Or better yet, the Firkin.
I can't remember why the US gallon is smaller than the UK gallon though.

http://www.baronage.co.uk/bphtm-02/moa-10.html