Americanisms

[RaptorJesus]

I'd buy a ticket to see India vs Pakistan in the World Lynching Championships!

I always find it hilarious that other countries even bother showing up for a world championships that only a handful of people play outside of a certain area. USA and Canada the two best lacrosse teams in the world, no kidding, seeing as the Native peoples of North America invented the fucking game. It would be like fielding a US team in Muay Thai, I'm pretty sure a Thai will win their national heritage sport.

 

[Aston Martin]

Words you can't pronounce properly.

Vehicle "Vee-HE-cle"
Mirror "Mirrrrrruhr"

 

[Spectre]

Words you can't pronounce properly.

Vehicle "Vee-HE-cle"
Mirror "Mirrrrrruhr"

As opposed to "Mir-uh"? At least we pronounce the terminal R properly. Which Brits mostly don't seem to be able to do, or else add terminal Rs to words that don't have them. (The infamous British "Honder".) Or even throw random Rs into the middle of a word for no apparent reason. I mean, seriously, how the hell do you get "Purr-joe" from Peugeot? THERE ISN'T AN R IN PEUGEOT!

You guys don't pronounce 'vehicle' properly either. If you want to go back to the original French, it's (essentially) veh-cule. Do you pronounce it 'veckle'? If not, you can shut up about that now.

 

[93Flareside]

I pronounce it vee hi (as in hit), kull. And Mirror "me er err". Is that wrong?

And why do you call a trunk a boot and a hood a bonnet? Are you guys so close to your cars that you feel the front of the car has a hat and the back of it is for shoes? Boots are for wearing and bonnets for girls in country dresses.

 

[Spectre]

I pronounce it vee hi (as in hit), kull. And Mirror "me er err". Is that wrong?

And why do you call a trunk a boot and a hood a bonnet? Are you guys so close to your cars that you feel the front of the car has a hat and the back of it is for shoes? Boots are for wearing and bonnets for girls in country dresses.

IIRC, the "boot" thing was for a similar reason to why we call them "trunks" - car storage space used to actually be a real, honest to god piece of luggage strapped to the back of the car. This either resembled a steamer trunk on in some cases was an actual steamer trunk, so that's what they were called here.

In the UK, these were often made of leather. Specifically, the same sort of patent leather used for boots. In typical bizarre British logic, it became known as the 'boot'.

Don't remember the "bonnet" etymology, but it's probably something equally odd. You'd think they'd use that word for the convertible top if anything, but no...

 

[sonza68]

So apart from Japan, Mexico and the UK, each country has roughly 10 teams?

How many teams exist in USA? 100s I'm sure. It's hardly a world championship.

As far as I know, only 37. I'm only aware of 2 pro leagues, the NFL (32 teams) and UFL (5 teams).

There are a lot of semi-pro leagues, but I don't count those.

 

[jmsprovan]

Don't remember the "bonnet" etymology, but it's probably something equally odd. You'd think they'd use that word for the convertible top if anything, but no...

a bonnet is a type of hat, it covers your head. The "bonnet" covers the engine.

the 19th century was a crazy time for intentionally picking words which would annoy our colonists 200 years in the future.

 

[Spectre]

Except the engine is not the 'head' of the car, the cabin is. You would think that a convertible top would make more sense to carry the 'bonnet' label, but noooooo...

Then again, any people that think that rhyming slang is an acceptable form of communication can't be right in the head.

 

[calvinhobbes]

Then again, any people that think that rhyming slang is an acceptable form of communication can't be right in the head.

Texas drrraaawwwl, anyone?

 

[JHS]

Except the engine is not the 'head' of the car, the cabin is. You would think that a convertible top would make more sense to carry the 'bonnet' label, but noooooo...

Then again, any people that think that rhyming slang is an acceptable form of communication can't be right in the head.

No offence, but seriously, do you ever admit to being wrong?

 

[Spectre]

Texas drrraaawwwl, anyone?

Drawl is still intelligible to speakers of standard English.

Cockney rhyming slang is just unintelligible without a local guide, a set of reference volumes, and perhaps some sort of Rosetta Stone to serve as a visual translation guide would help.

No offence, but seriously, do you ever admit to being wrong?

Yes. When I am wrong. Which at this time, I'm not.

I usually don't post unless I know or believe I'm right on a subject.

 

[Karoug]

The letter "w" really shouldn't need 3 syllables to describe it; it makes "www" the most counterproductive acronym out there.

It's a good thing "www" isn't an acronym then!

 

[jmsprovan]

Except the engine is not the 'head' of the car, the cabin is. You would think that a convertible top would make more sense to carry the 'bonnet' label, but noooooo...

Then again, any people that think that rhyming slang is an acceptable form of communication can't be right in the head.

The engine is the head of the car.

People don't regard the head of a turtle as being the top of its shell, just because it is higher up than it's skull.

 

[thevictor390]

Ok, what's the American term for the engine cover? What's another use of that term?

 

[Spectre]

The engine is the head of the car.

People don't regard the head of a turtle as being the top of its shell, just because it is higher up than it's skull.

Look at this image, drawn by a fellow Brit, and tell me where the visual top of a car's "head" is, again?

If you put a 'hat' on the head of a car, it would be on top of the roof.

Putting it on top of the engine would be like sticking a hat on your nose:

Not that "hood" is a hell of a lot better, but it's not as dumb as "bonnet" as a label for an engine cover.

 

[RaptorJesus]

Yes. When I am wrong. Which at this time, I'm not.

I usually don't post unless I know or believe I'm right on a subject.

With 16k posts, you really must be a staggering genius. What do you do again, JPL astrophysics researcher, Nobel Laureate in Economics?

 

[Spectre]

With 16k posts, you really must be a staggering genius. What do you do again, JPL astrophysics researcher, Nobel Laureate in Economics?

Even the people who have been given the Prize In Economic Sciences say that the prize should be abolished. Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the validity of such an award.

 

[Jay]

With 16k posts, you really must be a staggering genius. What do you do again, JPL astrophysics researcher, Nobel Laureate in Economics?

Wrong on all counts.

He uses...GOOGLE. Makes anyone a genius.

 

[jmsprovan]

Look at this image, drawn by a fellow Brit, and tell me where the visual top of a car's "head" is, again?

If you put a 'hat' on the head of a car, it would be on top of the roof.

Putting it on top of the engine would be like sticking a hat on your nose:

Not that "hood" is a hell of a lot better, but it's not as dumb as "bonnet" as a label for an engine cover.

Someone puts stuff on the roof of a car instead of the bonnet because on the bonnet it would obscure line of sight and they would get pulled over every 5 mins. Whether or not it is the "head" of the car has nothing to do with it.

 

[Spectre]

Wrong on all counts.

He uses...GOOGLE. Makes anyone a genius.

You forgot to mention the insomnia-induced voracious reading. Right now in the reading pile is Eliot Cohen's Supreme Command on leadership in wartime followed by John Lott's Uncertainty and Economic Evolution and then Lord Beaulieu's Jaguar History. I just glanced through them now; I should have them all finished by Sunday evening.

Amazon's recommendation lists really hate my eclectic reading preferences.

Someone puts stuff on the roof of a car instead of the bonnet because on the bonnet it would obscure line of sight and they would get pulled over every 5 mins. Whether or not it is the "head" of the car has nothing to do with it.

Except that's exactly the opposite of what you claimed a few posts up. You said that the head of the car was the engine. Which is it? Does it matter or not?