I find the words and expressions in different parts of
The English speaking world fascinating. They have different
meanings.

For example - a "lift"in Australia is an "ëlevator" in the
US.

Words in Queensland have different meanings in Victoria.
For example - "Mexicans" (South of the border).

"shout" (as in your shout to a beer) has a different
meaning to "shout"(as in yell).

And the list goes on.

I thought it might be fun to see how many terms we can come
up with that have different meanings.Here in comparison to
elsewhere.

For example, "cossie" (bathers) "fag" (cigarette or
gay ) "blue" ( colour or - argument)
"bone"(pick a bone) "bull" (rubbish).
To name just a few.

How many can you come up with?

I always thought Progressive meant moving forward/ahead/upward. Here it means going backwards.
Damned blo..y English !

Dear Foxy,

For me it's always how one uses the words that is really important, for example you mentioned 'shout' which could become 'He wouldn't 'shout' if a shark bit him.' Or, 'Poor doctor, honest lawyer and civil engineer are all examples of an 'oxymoron'.'

Dear Mr Opinion,

You're right it does depend on how a person uses
words. It tells us a great deal about a person.
And the use of certain words changes over time.

I remember when gay people were once referred to
as "poofters," "fags" "queers," and so on. Today
these terms are considered out-moded by most people.

when gay people
Foxy,
I go even further back to when 'gay' people were 'happy' people !

Dear individual,

You wrote; "I go even further back to when 'gay' people were 'happy' people !"

Well they can again be thus as greater acceptance continues to grow in our community.

I've thought of a few more words:

Wee - meaning to urinate. Whereas in the UK and
Scotland it means - small.

Shag - in the US means a luxury rug.
Here and in the UK it means sex.

Thong - In the UK it means underwear.
Here it means summer footwear.

I'll come up with more later on.

Foxy,
Just listing words like that is usually boring - they need a context to be interesting (as Frontline did with rooting).

Having said that, flogging is quite an interesting example, as the international meaning (hitting or whipping) and the chiefly British meaning (selling) are used in addition to the uniquely Australian one (stealing). And they can be use together - for example:
He was caught flogging iPads to tourists after flogging them from the warehouse. It it were up to me, I'd give him a good flogging!

Then there's the genuine example of the American airport newsagent who was quite bemused when the British tourist asked him "do you flog fags here"?

And I vaguely recall someone made a commercial making fun of the fact that Durex was a brand of sticky tape here and a brand of condoms in Britain.

As for shag, there are at least two more meanings: it's a kind of dance (and before you ask, no it isn't a particularly suggestive one) and a kind of bird.
As far as I can tell, the sexual meaning is an Irish word that didn't travel much until the 1990s. Sean Hughes was the only person I've heard use it before Billy Connolly's World Tour Of Scotland. After that its use was ubiquitous.

Frank Sinatra while on stage in a Sydney club was stunned when the audience went very quite
He had introduced his female friend by telling the Audience she had come to R#$t for him
Indy you come in to this thread full of venom? you old mate must know millions of such story's

Indy you come in to this thread full of venom?
Belly,
Wrong again as per usual. It's Antivenom !

Dear individual,

You are a sick man. It's a good thing no one would ever want to clone you because it would be a horrible sight to have multiple individuals running around all doing exactly the same thing.

Mr Opinion,
Ever since your first post you've not once come forward with a proposal for solutions to the topics discussed. All you do is oppose logic & common sense for the sake of diverting attention from the topic.
Do us all a favour just once & reply with a sensible post !
Are you naturally so insipid or were you indoctrinated as most half-baked Uni graduates.
Aren't you embarrassed by being such an embarrassment in your attempt to align yourself with those who actually graduated with knowledge & sense & are now decent Citizens ?
If you don't like insults thrown back at you then don't spray them around in the first place.

Dear Foxy,

Have you given any thought to the condition where two different words have exactly the same meaning?

On the global warming denialist dunce hat we could put DUNCE on one side and say for example INDIVIDUAL on the other side. It's interchangeable. If one turns the dunce hat around it still says the same thing.

We could have one for MHAZE, TTBN, HASBEEN, RUNNER, and LOUDMOUTH.

In this country we have our own popular expressions.
There's so many to choose from. Take words that end
in "ie" - words like - barbie, prezzie, sunnies,
budgie, greenie, mozzie, pollie, surfie, to name just
a few. Then there's words ending with "o" like -
ambo, reffo, rello, muso, preggo.

We have typical "Australianisms" like - "G'Day,"
"mate," and sayings like - "she'll be right."

We have expressions - "to hurl", "to rubbish,"
"to put the boot in." "to carry on like a pork chop"
"to chuck a sickie" "to spit the dummy," "no worries,"
And so on.

Australian comedian Barry Humphries has added a great deal
to spreading our idioms and vocabulary world wide -
with expressions like - to "syphon the python"
or "point Percy at the porcelain." Both meaning to urinate.

Paul Hogan's "put another shrimp on the barbie."

All these things, these wonderful terms travel around the
world and add to people's vocabularies in the English
language.

For which we should be - as "rapt as a dunny roll!"(smile).

Mr O watched you arrive with hope still hope but you have slipped in to the deep wheel marks of those you oppose
You can and have, done better
See yes some of your highlighted verbal combat targets get rude, blame it on age,we are mostly in[if we are Christians I am not]head of the que in Gods waiting room
I look forward to new arrivals bringing subjects of real interest and, hoping too far? an ability to debate without verbal warfare
That is just swapping insults, indy did indeed bring his bad day into this discussion

My mind's still trying to come up with the different
varieties of words and their contexts. Words like -
"smoking" for example. In the US it usually means -
something is smoking hot. We think of it in terms
of cigarettes, and even smoking jackets.

Pitcher in the US refers to sport. Here we think of
it as a container of drink.

Wheelie-bin - would they know what that was overseas?

Or a trolley? (tram or grocery carrier?).

Opinion,

Noun.

a belief or judgment that rests on grounds insufficient to produce complete certainty.

a personal view, attitude, or appraisal.

the formal expression of a professional judgment:

Law. the formal statement by a judge or court of the reasoning and the principles of law used in reaching a decision of a case.

a judgment or estimate of a person or thing with respect to character, merit, etc.:

to forfeit someone's good opinion.

a favorable estimate; esteem:

one who posts on OLO to read his own words.

Words have played an important part in the way authors
have chosen to use them. I remember the first poem
that my father read to me. It still resonates today.
"The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes:

"The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor
And the highwayman came riding-riding-riding-
The highwayman came riding up to the old inn-door."

Still sends shivers down my spine.

Who can forget William Blake's:

"Tiger tiger burning bright
In the forests of the night
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame their fearful symmetry..."

And what about the Bard's:

" The quality of mercy is not strained
It dropeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath..."

Did you know that children's author Roald Dahl
invented 500 words and character names from the
Oompa-Loompas and whizzpopping to the less well
known - humplecrimp, lixivate, and zoonk?

His words take us on a phizz-whizzing tour of the most
scrumdiddly umptious words.

What's the plural of quodropus?

what rhymes with frobscottle? What's the difference
between a whangdoodle and a giant wangdoodle (hint:
only one is deadly).

Did you know that a snozzberry lives in the land of
tiny Minpins. Whereas a snozzcumber lives in giant
country. For a snozzwanger - you'd have to look up the
Oxford Roald Dahl Dictionary

It's amazing what can be done with words.
You can stir someone imagination
and emotion, you can insult, you can compliment,
you can create wonderful imagery, or those who
are not good with words, can develop other
means of communication. For example -
I remember living in a mixed multinational
community where children had no problem in
understanding each other despite the fact that none
of them spoke a shared language. Also on my travels
around through South America - having a very limited
basic understanding of Spanish - I never had a
problem communicating with people. Because people
tried to help.

Now back to words - another one has come to mind -
"mean."

meant, meaning - to have in mind as one's purpose or
intention. "Mean to talk to him about the show."

To intend for a particular purpose.
"They were meant for each other."

To intend to express or indicate -
"What do you mean by Liberal?"

To have as its sense or significance -
"The word Liberal means many things to many people."

To produce a result - " This means we can take a trip
to Paris."

To mean well - there are many meanings. Including to be
inferior, stingy, miserly.

To mean well - there are many meanings.
Foxy,
Yes, do-gooders come to mind !

A patient patient.

A signal signal.

I don't know of other languages that have multiple
meanings in the one word. I think that it's great
that despite the multitude of meanings we're still
able to communicate. (smile).

God, how much more of this can a koala bear ?

Dear Joe,

How much more of this can a koala bear?

Don't get all grizzly with us.

We're polar opposites but we get along so well.

Besides - I saw it with my beary own eyes -

As long as the trees bear fruit!

I yield to genius !

Dear Joe,

None of us can compete with the gloriumptious word
guzzling genius of Roald Dahl.

Is it bad? It was bad. We feel bad.
Helen's bad. It smells bad. It gets worse.

Don't beat about the bush. I can't beat him at chess.
Alex got beaten and robbed. He's not easy to beat.
And the beat goes on.

I've had a bum day. I had a bum night's sleep.

You snored like a bum after drinking last night.

Jeff got a bum knee from jogging.

My bum's sore from sitting for so long.

Look at that bum sleeping on the park bench.

He's not a bum, he's just eccentric.

Do you know that more people are trying to learn
English than any other language in the world?

English is the language of political negotiations and
international business. It's become the international
language of science and medicine. International
treaties say passenger airplane pilots must speak English.

English is the major foreign language taught in most schools
in South America and Europe. Small children in the
Philippines and Japan begin learning English at an early age.
English is the official language of more than 75 countries
including Britain, Canada, US, Australia, and South Africa.

English is often used as an official language to help people
communicate. India is a good example. English is the
common language in this country where at least 24 languages
are spoken by more than 1 million people.

So where did the English language come from?

It would be interesting to know - seeing as we're discussing
the English language.

Anyone know?

Anyone know?
From the English & refined by Shakespeare.

Foxy,
>So where did the English language come from?
>It would be interesting to know - seeing as we're discussing
>the English language.
>Anyone know?

Yes, I know. The clue is in the name:
It came from England!

English is a West Germanic language that originated
from Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Britain
in the mid 5th to 7th centuries AD by Anglo-Saxon
settlers. The earliest form of English is called
Old English or Anglo-Saxon (c.550-1066 CE). Old English
developed from a set of North Sea Germanic dialects
originally spoken along the coasts of Frisia, Lower
Saxony, Jutland and Southern Sweden by Germanic tribes
known as the Angles, Saxons and Jutes.

In order to fully grasp where the English language came from
we must travel back in time approx. 5 thousand years to
an area north of the Black Sea in SE Europe. Experts
tell us that they spoke a language called Proto-Indo-
European languages. Proto-Indo European is believed to be
the ancestor of most European languages.

These include those that became ancient Greek, ancient
German and the ancient Latin. Latin disappeared as a
spoken language. Yet it left behind - 3 great languages
that became modern Spanish, French, and Italian. Ancient
Greek became Dutch, Danish, German, Norwegian, Swedish - and
one of the languages that developed into English.

The English language is a result of the invasions of the
island of Britain over many hundreds of years. The invaders
lived along the northern coast of Europe. The first invasions
were as stated earlier by a people called Angles about
one thousand five hundred years ago. And again as
stated earlier the Angles were a Germanic tribe. Later two
more groups - the Saxons and Jutes came. These groups were
called Celts.

Fascinating stuff and worth knowing in a discussion on the
English language. I enjoyed doing a bit of research. I was
hoping others would contribute as well.

Foxy,
Yes there were bits fit from Latin, Greek, Norse etc (and if you go further back, Sanskrit). But there are elements of the english language that are thought to have originated in England and survived the invasions of Romans, Angles, Saxons,Vikings and Normans.

The English language is a result of the invasions of the
island of Britain over many hundreds of years.
Foxy,
There, you've answered your own question !

Dear Aidan,

English originated from Germanic languages which
originated from Sanskrit. English also has a lot of
Latin words but they were borrowed from the Roman
Rule of England.

However many scholars believe that it was not Sanskrit
but a Proto Language which is the ancestor of European
Languages as well as Sanskrit.

You can Google a whole lot of English words that are
derived from Sanskrit via Latin, Greek, and Persian.

Sanskrit belongs to the Indo-European family of Languages.
It is one of three ancient documented languages that arose from
a common root language now referred to as Proto-Indo
European languages. Vedic Sanskrit (c1500-500BCE)
Mycenaean Greek (1450 BCE) and Ancient Greek (c750-400BC).

Individual,

I have tried to answer the question.
And Aidan did very well.

Unfortunately, you did not.

Dear Foxy,

English and Dutch belong to the Germanic language family. Interesting question: why does German have cases and English does not?

Dear Mr Opinion,

The best I can do is refer you to the following links:

http://linguistics.stackexchange.com/questions/6878/why-did-english-lose-declensions-while-german-retained-them

And -

http://quora.com/how-has-german-preserved-its-grammatical-cases-while-most-other-germanic-languages-have-lost-theirs

Dear Foxy,

Thanks but I like to hear peoples' own perspectives on subjects. If I want a photocopy on a subject I can get a machine.

Dear Mr Opinion,

I'm not an expert
in German - hence I did the next best thing - and
referred you to links that would give you some expert
answers. I thought that answers was what you were after.

cont'd ...

Dear Mr Opinion.

All languages change over time.

Some changes in language are clearly motivated by
changes in culture or environment. Language is an expression
of human activity and the world around us
and changes in that world bring forth innovations
in a language (look at all the
words that have been added as a result of the existence of
new technologies). Also contact with other languages may
cause a language to change very quickly and radically.

At any rate - the language of isolated communities seem to
change least.

English has changed radically over the last 1000 years,
perhaps more than any other European language.

You did not express your own opinion in answer to your own
question. A discussion is not supposed to be just one-
sided after all. You ask - and I answer.

Again it looks like this discussion has run its course.
Thank You for your thoughts and I look forward to
more interesting discussions in the future.