English vs American

[hat776]

When I started this thread, a year and a half ago, I never thought it would be so successful. Definitely the most popular thread I've ever started.
Once this is a Cruise Forum - does any one know why we say Cabin in the UK and it's Stateroom in the US ?

[jocap]

Reading lots of posts on here, I think many people do say cabin....it's the cruise lines which like to sell us staterooms, and naturally, people will then refer to cabins as such.
Mind you, would you prefer to say cabin if you were in a luxury suite....?
Jo.

[hat776]

Originally Posted by jocap

Reading lots of posts on here, I think many people do say cabin....it's the cruise lines which like to sell us staterooms, and naturally, people will then refer to cabins as such.
Mind you, would you prefer to say cabin if you were in a luxury suite....?
Jo.

I very much doubt that situation will ever arise.
I wonder how the word 'stateroom' ever came about in the first place.

[$hip$hape]

Here's an answer, from a previous thread of somewhat the same question:
http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=672209

Originally Posted by hat776

Definitely the most popular thread I've ever started.
Once this is a Cruise Forum - does any one know why we say Cabin in the UK and it's Stateroom in the US ?

[jocap]

Originally Posted by $hip$hape

Here's an answer, from a previous thread of somewhat the same question:
http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=672209

A fascinating read. I can see how an office on board a small sailing vessel could become the state room, for the affairs of state- ie, the vessel- to be discussed. There's so much old terminology to do with the sea......when you're on small boat, you've to be careful to refer to the galley, and the heads.....
Jo.

[Saruman]

Interesting theory. It seems to contradict the belief that the term originated from the habit of naming cabins on riverboats after states, a tradition that continued into the 20th Century here in the states. Paddlewheelers and sidewheelers are mostly just a memory now, although a few still survive. Haven't traveled on one for decades now, so don't know if their cabins still carry states' names instead of numbers. Last time, though, we sailed aboard the American Queen down the Mississippi and up the Ohio in the "Delaware" stateroom. My late parents were in "Connecticut".

If the word predates the colonies and their fledgling passenger ship industry, it could have been taken up by them as a joke that stuck!

[$hip$hape]

As I was booking a hotel in Rotterdam, I was warned, by a UK reviewer;
"the hotel does not have a kettle facility."
Does this mean, no kettle for a tea pot?

[SwissDave]

Originally Posted by $hip$hape

As I was booking a hotel in Rotterdam, I was warned, by a UK reviewer;
"the hotel does not have a kettle facility."
Does this mean, no kettle for a tea pot?

No kettle to boil water to put into a teapot to make tea.

As there is no kettle, there is probably not a teapot either.

[$hip$hape]

Originally Posted by hat776

When I started this thread, a year and a half ago, I never thought it would be so successful. Definitely the most popular thread I've ever started.

Today was the first time I've heard of this...
A milk float is a vehicle specifically designed for the delivery of fresh milk.

[$hip$hape]

Originally Posted by $hip$hape

Today was the first time I've heard of this...
A milk float is a vehicle specifically designed for the delivery of fresh milk.

The last time I saw a "milk delivery truck" around here, was 30 years ago.

[$hip$hape]

Originally Posted by $hip$hape

The last time I saw a "milk delivery truck" around here, was 30 years ago.

They kind of went out with the "handkerchief"

[jocap]

Where we lived, and will shortly return to, the milkie is the main deliverer of so much more than milk- apart from dairy, there's fresh veg, bread....and the Times.
In my present village, the milk is taken from the local cows, bottled on the farm and delivered by normal vans to your door, the same morning. The milk float was a silent vehicle, so as not to waken people in the early morning, but with refrigeration, it doesn't have to be so early....local milkies finish around midday. Plenty of people still support the local milkman/woman!
Jo.

[kjb442]

We recently returned from a cruise and made new friends, and one US couple we got on famously with (RTcruzer), we spent many a evening having a good laugh over our different words/sayings for things. ''thrown under the bus'' was an amusing one as we have a far less eloquent saying for that in in England

[oncruisecontrol]

Originally Posted by kjb442

''thrown under the bus'' was an amusing one as we have a far less eloquent saying for that in in England

Are you able to share it here....or will it get you in trouble (with the moderators or fellow CC members)? You've piqued my cusriosity.

[kjb442]

Originally Posted by oncruisecontrol

Are you able to share it here....or will it get you in trouble (with the moderators or fellow CC members)? You've piqued my cusriosity.

OK I'll risk it ......''being dropped in the sh**''
I'll let you work out for yourselves what the last word is

[Bookish Angel]

We enjoy the series "Doc Marten" but sometimes have to rewind a time or two to be sure of what was said. The actors' pronunciation of "aluminum," "vitamin" and "cervical" are some of the noteworthy words we've undertood after a second or to.

Also, the use of the term "in hospital" (we say "in the hospital") sounded like "inhospitable" until I remembered the term from many UK writers I have read.

[Bookish Angel]

I guess I was thinking about shoes while typing.

[jocap]

Yes- aluminum isn't just pronounced differently, but it's spelt as it sounds- alumin I um.....I don't know why, and used to think they were 2 different substances.
Then- the old chestnut- Carrybeeyan or CaRI beeyan.....? I'd not heard the 2nd until in the Caribbean itself, but my table mates hadn't heard the first, either. I sometimes hear famous cricketers speaking about being born in the Carrybeeyan, but don't know what is the usual pronounciation there.
Jo.

[Freecall]

How about Sulfer?

Just don't tell the guys who's livelihoods depend on it.

http://www.sulphurinstitute.org/

.

[$hip$hape]

Originally Posted by hat776

When I started this thread, a year and a half ago, I never thought it would be so successful. Definitely the most popular thread I've ever started.

As I listen to the BBC News in the USA, if you want to sound British just switch the R's with the A's ;
Say President Obomer instead of Obama and say buggah instead of bugger.
Difference is quite nice(lovely).