A disgusting display of cultural ignorance:

[Geoff13]

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I agree that this is wrong.

 

Many Australians are too ignorant of their own history and blindly adopt the US culture that pours into our country.

To explain my rage: to Australians, ANZAC biscuits were invented here and are traditionally cooked to celebrate our national day. They are to us what Americans might feel about Davey Crockett and The Alamo, apple pie, Thanksgiving and Halloween.

 

(It appals me that many Australians now celebrate these last two, even though they have as much relevance to this country as Russia's Victory Day or Uganda's Independence Day.)

 

Perhaps we could learn from the French, who have enough national pride to legislate to protect their culture and language from the worst of Americanisation.

OK Just to be pedantic, ANZAC Day whilst an important day in our calendar, and IMHO far more important than any other, it is not in fact our National Day.

 

Our National Day is Australia Day and should not be confused with ANZAC Day.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

I agree that this is wrong.

 

 

OK Just to be pedantic, ANZAC Day whilst an important day in our calendar, and IMHO far more important than any other, it is not in fact our National Day.

 

Our National Day is Australia Day and should not be confused with ANZAC Day.

True, but I was talking about our de facto national day. In terms of public turnout, lots more Australians attend ANZAC Day events than 26 January.

 

 

[Geoff13]

True, but I was talking talking about our de facto national day. In terms of public turnout, lots more Australians attend ANZAC Day events than 26 January.

I agree with that as well and I might add that is as it should be.

 

 

[Bruce]

Both dreadful things to celebrate. ( arrival of convict fleet and landing of maybe the most stupid attack of ww1)

 

What we lack is the day when general Ned Kelly chucked the poms out. Then we would have a 14th July.

 

 

[Marty_d]

Frites are very small , and shouldn't be hard. They probably cook almost instantly.. Sometimes chips can be par boiled and frozen and used when required with a very quick fry or whatever works for U. Overheated oils aren't recommended for humans. Nev

We make our own chips... spuds, cut to chip shape, boiled for 5 minutes, drained, drizzled with olive oil and onto the oven tray for 30 minutes in a hottish oven.

 

Not the healthiest fare but better than store bought - or frozen.

 

 

[coljones]

I'm just going to live with the Americanization of English. It's gone too far to stop when you hear ABC announcers saying "Skedule" instead of schedule. And in what way are frites different from chips? They are both pretty bad for you as Nev says.

When were you last in "shule"?

 

 

[coljones]

how to pronounce schedule in british accent - Google Search

Which part of the UK is this from? 24 Apr. 2013 · As "schedule" is not a word of Germanic origin, the "sk" sound is correct and was the only pronunciation until the 19th century, when "received English" took on an affectation and switched the "sk" to an "sh" sound. Funnily ...

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

Frites are different to chips. There is always some animosity across the channel particularly about food. Unless a lot's changed I will go for the French offerings in general. The brits say they "invented " Fish and Chips" which may have had some validity when fish were more plentiful.. Nothing wrong with a good bit of fish wrapped in paper. Nev

Certainly in the big cities and increasingly in the regional towns, things have changed. The UK will never get to the regional markets with dead animals hanging still in their fur/feathers, but fine dining, particularly in London has for a while has been very good - has something to do with letting those pesky foreigners in from the EU...

 

 

[red750]

I must say, until I saw it in Nev's post, and had to look it up on Prof Google, I had never heard of 'frites', I thought it was a typo. I've only ever heard of them as 'fries' as in French fries, served at Macca's. Hungry's, and KFC. The very thin ones (like matchsticks), were called shoestring fries.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

Which part of the UK is this from? 24 Apr. 2013 · As "schedule" is not a word of Germanic origin, the "sk" sound is correct and was the only pronunciation until the 19th century, when "received English" took on an affectation and switched the "sk" to an "sh" sound. Funnily ...

I don't object so much to American spellings and pronunciations, Col. Recent research has revealed that many are closer to the language of Shakespeare than modern British english. What narks me is how my countrymen mindlessly discard their national heritage and adopt Americanisms as their own.

 

Fighting to save unique Okker lingo is a regular column in Australian Geographic. It's written by Frank Parvo, who lives in Minnesota.

 

 

[old man emu]

Isn't the French word "frites" the past participle of the verb "frire" and would tanslate to English as "fried". The full French phrase for "chips': is "pommes frites"

 

 

[facthunter]

Pommes frites is not in common use these days apparently.. Frites is probably "fried" but there are ways of doing things. eg Champagne is "methode champenoise" not just any fizzy carbonated white wine from anyplace. Pommes are apples but potatoes. are Pommes de terre. There is no allusion to the Poms (slang) as meaning English. The term is Anglaise (angles). Londres (London) is the capital of Angleterre (literally Angle Land ). There's a carriage way in Nice named Avenue des Anglais. England should therefore be Terre des Anglaise, Non? Nev

 

 

[facthunter]

It's quite clear that Nuculer is not the way to spell nuclear, nor Aluminum for aluminium. There's lots of "mium's" in the list of metals. Nev

 

 

[old man emu]

"Voudriez-vous des pommes de terre frites avec ça?" is more than a mouthful for a teenage drive-through attendant.

 

 

[red750]

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[Bruce]

I was once confused when this American visitor went shopping for a new tarp.

 

All explained when she came back with a new top.

 

 

[Bruce]

Red that translation program is not very good.

 

 

[Marty_d]

Pommes are apples but potatoes. are Pommes de terre.

Earth apples. Not to be confused with horse apples.

 

 

[octave]

It's quite clear that Nuculer is not the way to spell nuclear, nor Aluminum for aluminium. There's lots of "mium's" in the list of metals. Nev

 

Those interested in the aluminum/aluminium issue may be interested in this

 

 

This guy has a series of clips about the differences between Brit and US English, I gather he is a Brit living in the US

 

 

[David2ayo]

I was once confused when this American visitor went shopping for a new tarp. All explained when she came back with a new top.

- Depends on her size ....

 

David

 

 

[spacesailor]

Kerosene is the same as English Paraffin, Which I tried to buy in NZ, The sods sent me to a Drugstore (chemist) to get "liquid paraffin"

 

spacesailor

 

 

[kgwilson]

Why do the Americans (and some Australians) call an aeroplane an airplane? Aeroplane takes a bit longer to say but I think it sounds better and links up with other "aero" words like aeronautics and aerospace. Aero is a Greek prefix relating to air and flight. Airnautics sounds stupid and airspace means something entirely different.

 

 

[spacesailor]

Because "spell check" say's it's spelt wrong.

 

spacesailor

 

 

[old man emu]

aeroplane (n.)

 

1866, originally in reference to surfaces such as shell casings of beetle wings, from French aéroplane(1855), from Greek-derived aero- "air" + stem of French planer "to soar," from Latin planus "level, flat" (from PIE root *pele-(2) "flat; to spread"). The word was later extended to the wing of a heavier-than-air flying machine. The use of the word in reference to the machine itself is first attested 1873 and probably is an independent coinage in English airplane. Ancient Greek had a word aeroplanos, but it meant "wandering in the air," from planos "wandering" (see planet), probably referring to something like a feather or thistle-down drifting in the air.

 

 

[red750]

Because "spell check" say's it's spelt wrong.spacesailor

If you are using Windows with spellcheck, make sure you spell the word correctly, and when the wiggly red line appears, right click on the word. In the popup menu, select Add to Dictionary. In future, it will accept the word. You can use this for placenames or anything else the dictionary doesn't recognise. Just make sure that the spelling you are adding is correct.