6 minutes ago, charliearon said:

Where I come from it was called ciphering! 🤔

Having just looked it up I see there are two possible meanings. I’m only familiar with the one that relates to coding a message to ensure secrecy.

Kind of an old "Wild West" term that was used in the place of math or arithmetic.

I rarely carry more than $20 in cash, and that mostly to pay for my every-other-month haircut... 

When I shop for groceries I use my American Express card, because I earn 6% cash back. When I buy gas/petrol for the car, I use my AE card there as well for the 5% cash back.

I have two credit cards that I can use for 'contact-less' purchases, and 16 other CCs I can use for on-line shopping.

Reverting to the original topic, I am wondering if English notes have rationalized their sizes. One thing that stood out to me when I first visited London in the early sixties what that every paper denomination was not only very colorful, but were different sizes. I recall my dad having to fold some to the higher value notes into sixths so they'd fit in his wallet! 

I understand from Googling that they are still different sizes as a courtesy for the visually impaired so they can identify which note is which. It's probably a good thing that Titans were not circulated, as they undoubtedly would have been as large as a king-sized bed sheet! 

 

There is also 'ritmetic as in that old song "Reading and writing and 'rithmetic, taught to the tune of the hickory stick."

Noel

6 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

No offence intended.

No problem, Ray. None taken.

Canadian English is an interesting hybrid: our vocabulary is (i) strongly influenced by our neighbour to the south, but (ii) we hold onto our past, especially in our spellings. At the same time, (iii) we have vocabulary that is all our own and not found in other English-speaking countries with quite the same use. Examples:  for (i), we use "trunk," "hood," "truck," and "elevator," as all are used in the States, but not "boot," "bonnet," "lorry," and "lift" as is used in England. For (ii), we hold onto our "-our" spellings, as in "neighbour" as I used above, and the letter "z" is pronounced "zed," not "zee." For (iii), we use "parkade," "washroom" (not "restroom" or "lavatory"), "toque," "loonie," "twoonie," and a whole host of others that our American and British friends might struggle to understand.

I believe that we share some similarities with Australian English, although I would guess there are fewer Americanisms in use there.

2 hours ago, JRMurray said:

Canadian English is an interesting hybrid: our vocabulary is (i) strongly influenced by our neighbour to the south,

With the explosion of Netflix subscriptions here in the UK that feature mainly American programmes our language is changing too. It seems every BBC broacaster now says "Thank you so much" rather than just thank you or thank you very much. And when asked how they are the response is "I'm good" rather than "I'm very well thanks".

And we now have a Road Map to get out of the pandemic. I've never understood why it would be called that when there are no roads or maps involved. Isn't it just a plan?

I could go on but I'd probably fill up the Internet.  😁 As has been said many times "Two nations divided by a common language".

2 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

With the explosion of Netflix subscriptions here in the UK that feature mainly American programmes our language is changing too.

 

The one that gets me, and I admit, irritates me, is the tendency of many in the UK to now say "can I get?" instead of "can I have?".  I feel like yelling out to them... "yes it is feasible for you to GET it but I'm not going to GIVE it you". 

America is great, Americans are awesome... but do we really have to copy? 

The other one is "I feel like". Everything is now FEEL. 

Every time I hear a woman say "do you feel me" I'm tempted to say "no but I'd like to" just to see what would happen. I guess I just don't know what "do you feel me" means. Maybe I'm just too old for this stuff.....sigh.

Why do .so many companies invite you to “reach out” to them when contact is one word less and clearer?

3 hours ago, martin-w said:

the tendency of many in the UK to now say "can I get?" instead of "can I have?"

The extension of that is when someone says "can I have?" and the response is "you can but may you".

Edited April 1, 20215 yr by dmwalker

5 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

And when asked how they are the response is "I'm good" rather than "I'm very well thanks".

Down here in the Lower 48 I've always heard, and I use, "I'm OK."

 

21 minutes ago, birdguy said:

Down here in the Lower 48 I've always heard, and I use, "I'm OK."

Yes, same here. Less formal than my earlier reply.

2 hours ago, dmwalker said:

The extension of that is when someone says "can I have?" and the response is "you can but may you".

And you think to yourself didn't your parents teach you to say " may I have some more, please?"

3 hours ago, dmwalker said:

The extension of that is when someone says "can I have?" and the response is "you can but may you".

 

My answer to this is that when I go to the fish and chip shop I say "give me my fish and chips  and a pickled egg NOW... OR ELSE!" 

No can at all. DEMAND it. 

2 hours ago, martin-w said:

 

My answer to this is that when I go to the fish and chip shop I say "give me my fish and chips  and a pickled egg NOW... OR ELSE!" 

No can at all. DEMAND it. 

That could work, too.