Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site rtech.ARPA
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!zehntel!dual!unisoft!mtxinu!rtech!jeff
From: jeff@rtech.ARPA (Jeff Lichtman)
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Re: The Queen's English
Message-ID: <305@rtech.ARPA>
Date: Mon, 22-Apr-85 02:37:08 EST
Article-I.D.: rtech.305
Posted: Mon Apr 22 02:37:08 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 25-Apr-85 07:45:42 EST
References: <395@tymix.UUCP>
Organization: Relational Technology, Berkeley CA
Lines: 25

> 
> When I commented to a Scottish friend about the "the" phenomenon, he
> pointed out an inverse: claimed that "Joe is in jail" would be said in
> Scotland as "Joe is in the jail"--(spelled gaol, of course).  He also came
> up with another interesting one.  Said that there were parts of Yorkshire
> where the word "while" was understood to mean "until."  This tended to
> cause fatalities at RR crossings, e.g. "Do not cross while the lights are
> flashing."
> 
> Herb Kanner
> Tymnet, Inc.

Another one like this is the word "yet".  Here's what Fowler has to say about
it:

"'Yet' in its temporal sense may be ambiguous: its old sense of 'now as
before', 'still' has lasted longer in Scotland and Ireland than in England.
To a Scotsman or Irishman the natural meaning of 'Is it raining yet?' is
'Is it still raining?'  To an Englishman it is 'Has it yet begun to rain?'"
-- 
Jeff Lichtman at rtech (Relational Technology, Inc.)
aka Swazoo Koolak

{amdahl, sun}!rtech!jeff
{ucbvax, decvax}!mtxinu!rtech!jeff