speaking of glove boxes (car part terminology)

Glove compartment comes to mind for me, I grew up in So. Cal. Can't say I remember people using anything different here in VT, now I'll have to pay attention. ;-)

I'd go with you on 'exit' and 'often' as well. Though I do say Milton and St. Albans, not Mil'n and SnAlbans, so people know I didn't grow up in THOSE towns.

My 9 Y/O and I just went through tomorrow having no 'a' in it even though we all pronounce it 'tomarrow'. Some long while back we had a TV weather girl who enunciated it REALLY WELL. Too Mo Row. Sounded really bizarre.

And of course there is the perennial 'Q-pon' vs 'ku-pon'. And is it 'ishU' or 'issU'?

A friend who grew up on 'lonG Iland' used to 'axe' me things. But he was a great guy so I let it go.

 

And the other thing with glove boxes/compartments is that most cars these days have good enough heaters not to need gloves (although I've driven at least my share of those where gloves are necessary!). It's one of those items whose name has been dragged kicking and screaming (not really) with us into the 21st century and losing its literal meaning.

I think the best one of these is "dashboard" - which once was the board that stopped the driver being covering in the mud that was dashed up by the horses' hooves.

"Car" itself is another one - find it in the middle of "horseless carriage".

 

There is a huge variation in terminology and pronunciation throughout the US. In college, we had a linguistics professor speak to our dorm and he had us sit by region of the country we were from, and demonstrated this very clearly.

For instance, is it a water fountain or a bubbler? Putt-putt or mini-golf? Soda or pop or coke (this one varies even within a state--eastern PA is soda, western PA is pop). Do you stand in line or on line? And in the NE, we apparently prononuce "tournament" different that everone else, and will pronounce "merry" "mary" and "marry" differently, while most people say them all sort of the same way. My boyfriend who is from TN says the name "jen" like "gin" and it always confuses me for second.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(betshsu\";p=\"51578)</div>

Results of a dialect survey conducted at Harvard:

When you stand outside with a long line of people waiting to get in somewhere, are you standing "in line" or "on line" (as in, "I stood ___ in the cold for two hours before they opened the doors")?
a. on line (5.49%)
b. in line (88.30%)
c. both sound equally good (5.36%)
d. neither (0.12%)
e. other (0.73%)
(10689 respondents)


LINK: http://hcs.harvard.edu/~golder/dialect/sta...cmaps/q_93.html

 

Grew up in Toronto, and use the two interchangably.

Of course, with the Prius, you can split the difference. The top one is a glove box, and the bottom one is a glove compartment. Issue resolved. You're welcome.

(Now THAT is an undocumented feature of our beloved vehicle. Not only does it save the world environmentally, it can cause peace in tense wars over "glove box" or glove compartment."

:mrgreen:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Marg\";p=\"51621)</div>

I don't know about boot and bonnet, but I imagine the 'trunk' came from the fact that early cars had the equivilent of a platform on the back of the car and you strapped your trunk ( ie the kind you pack stuff in for travelling ) on it. Eventually the space was included in the body of the car.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bruceha_2000\";p=\"51526)</div>

We're all great here on Lawn Guyland!!!
Mary Lou

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bruceha_2000\";p=\"51526)</div>

That one is easy. One "cuts out" a coupon. In French, one would "coupe" the coupon. Hence we have "ku-pon".

The two that I don't get are:

Washington = WaRshington

and

didn't = di-nd't

In addition, I think Americans tend to use shorter words than Canadians.

Americans tend to sit on sofas while Canadians tend to sit on chesterfields.

Americans throw out the trash while Canadians throw out the garbage.

Driving around a parking lot, I think Americans have an In and an Out, while Canadians are looking for the Entrance or the Exit.

And if my driving on highways is any reflection it seems that hungry Canadians are looking for a "Restaurant" while Americans are looking for an "EAT".

Now I'm going to enjoy my toilette followed by ablution, put on my MacIntosh to protect myself from the rain, place my child in a perambulator, and enjoy my evening constitutional.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mary Lou\";p=\"51653)</div>

Then, Mary Lou, you may axe me a question any time you like