The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

25.4 - Diana K's Task: Two (or Three) Nations Divided by a Common Language

Twenty years ago, I was an American living in Italy and my Italian teacher gave me an article to translate into Italian about shopping at Marks and Spencer, the British department store. The article talked about how two of the biggest selling items were knickers and jumpers and with their new service people could drive up in their cars and put their purchases in the boot. I had to laugh as I explained to her that I had to translate twice because in American English, knickers were knee-length pants that little boys wore, jumpers were sleeveless dresses you wore over a blouse, and a boot was footwear that went over your ankle so I was translating both into American English to get panties, sweaters and a car trunk, and then into Italian.

Now I am back home and working for the British and Australian offices of a company and I come across our language differences every day. We spell things differently i.e. color - colour and we have different names for things.

Here are a couple of lists that show some of the differences.
British v. American word list
Translation Australian-American words (Through transport and motor vehicles)

This is a two book task. No books with the main page genre Childrens or Kids may be used for this task.

Book 1. Chose a word pair from one of the lists. Read a book with one of those words in the title or subtitle.
Book 2. Read a book with the other word from the word pair in the title or subtitle.

Words or phrases must match exactly. If a phrase of more than one word is used, the entire phrase must appear in the title/subtitle.

Required: State your word pair.

Reserved

Reserved.

This thread is now open.

Nice task! As an australian now living in the us i occasionally switch words still

I am working with cookies/biscuits. Would a title with the singular word (biscuit) work or does it need to be the plural one (biscuits)?

Checking that the word in the title doesn't have to mean the same thing as it does in the word pair.

The Apartment
Tortilla Flat

UK use of "flat" corresponds to "apartment" in the U.S., but "Flat" in the title is a geographical term, not a residence.

Whoever created that first list has a very limited picture of what Americans do and don't say.

Aprilleigh wrote: "Whoever created that first list has a very limited picture of what Americans do and don't say."

S’ok because I found the second Australian one funny - I don't remember Hearing most of the slang type ones growing up (in the 80’s/90’s)

Can the word we a substring of another word? So for instance would Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything work for "ring" from remembeRING?

Julia wrote: "Checking that the word in the title doesn't have to mean the same thing as it does in the word pair.

The Apartment
Tortilla Flat

UK use of "flat" corresponds to "apa..."

Bea wrote: "I am working with cookies/biscuits. Would a title with the singular word (biscuit) work or does it need to be the plural one (biscuits)?"

That's fine, the meaning does not need to be the same, just the word.

Diana wrote: "That's fine, the meaning does not need to be the same, just the word."

This is clearly a response to Julia, but less clearly to me. However, I am assuming that the singular form is equally OK, right?

Bea wrote: "Diana wrote: "That's fine, the meaning does not need to be the same, just the word."

This is clearly a response to Julia, but less clearly to me. However, I am assuming that the singular form is e..."

Bea, the task specifically states "words or phrases must match exactly." There is no exception provided for singular/plural forms.

Sandy wrote: "Bea wrote: "Diana wrote: "That's fine, the meaning does not need to be the same, just the word."

This is clearly a response to Julia, but less clearly to me. However, I am assuming that the singul..."

Missed that. Sorry. My book will need to change, since the plural is found only in the series title, which isn't allowed on this task. Thanks for clarifying.

Erin (NY) wrote: "Can the word we a substring of another word? So for instance would Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything work for "ring" from remembeRING?"

Sorry, no. The word must match exactly.

Ok thanks!

Thank you for clarifying, with this list, that maths is a word! I read a book recently in which the kid kept saying maths. I thought he was just being quirky!