New legislation.

[whiskywill]

If I should be the successful candidate, standing for the Grumpy Old Man party, in the forthcoming election, I will call for a change in legislation to prevent the Americanisation of UK woodwork fora(ums) by banning describing wood as 2 x 4 or 4 x 6 etc. We were first Yanks, so copy us. It is 4 x 2 and 6 x 4. If this is left over from the old days when we filled your vast country with colonisers, it's time to catch up.

Whatever next 8/4 x 16/4? :roll:

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

I was watching a re-run of Have I got news for you on Monday where the presenter was recalling what the CEO of Pfizer said when asked would he sell the assets of the company they had recently acquired. His weasel response was:

"We would like to conserve that optionality"

Now, is it just me or should that kind of linguistic assassination carry a jail term?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

No. It offends all us members of Pedants Are We. I could of kind of like told you that for free.

 

[RobinBHM]

I'd like 20 board feet of your finest 6/4 basswood lumber please..............

And then I can put it through my jointer and paint it with some latex paint

 

[mailee]

:lol: Have to agree with you on the assault on the English language. Another favourite of theirs is 'Compartmentalisation' Where do they get words from!? :roll:

 

[Woodmonkey]

:lol: Have to agree with you on the assault on the English language. Another favourite of theirs is 'Compartmentalisation' Where do they get words from!? :roll:

But that's a real word... When I studied arboriculture we had a unit on CODIT - compartmentalisation of decay in trees, actually a fascinating biological explanation of why trees grow like they do. Google CODIT, essential reading for any woodworker!

Americans insist on spelling it with a z annoyingly

 

[wellywood]

Americans insist on spelling it with a z annoyingly

Interesting though that it's often the Brits who change spelling from its original. My first old blue British passport (circa 1967) clearly states in the notes at the back '...It should however be noted, in this connexion ...'

How often would you see it spelled this way today and could it be that using a 'z' instead of 's' is also the original?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

It could well be. Some words in US usage like "gotten", common in British English at the time of American colonisation, ceased to be used in Britain (except for "ill gotten gains") but continued in America.

 

[Mike.S]

describing wood as 2 x 4 or 4 x 6 etc.

Has it always been described this way or was it changed at some (post 18th century) time? Anyone access to historic US woodworking books could enlighten?

 

[RogerP]

It could well be. Some words in US usage like "gotten", common in British English at the time of American colonisation, ceased to be used in Britain (except for "ill gotten gains") but continued in America.

Yes it is interesting that in some ways English seems to evolve and change faster than the US version.

 

[John933]

Can You get half of a quarter?
John933

 

[RogerP]

Yes, 2/6d

 

[John15]

Why should the American language comply with ours?

John

 

[RogerP]

Why should the American language comply with ours?
John

.... no reason at all.

 

[novocaine]

it shouldn't.
was going to say something about it being not being called English and should be called American instead but then I thought about all those other languages that have been spread around the world and they aren't called by the country just because they have moved away from the original language (like French Canadian, Brazilian Portuguese etc. etc.).

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I believe the world's lingua franca is accepted as being American English.

 

[Woody2Shoes]

I recently heard a piece of what I would call "6 by 1" referred to as "6 and 1" by a local born-and-bred Sussex woodworker. Do other people use this terminology?
He also uses the (I think very handy) terms "somewhen" and "anywhen" to mean "some time" and "any time"

W2S

 

[mindthatwhatouch]

He also uses the (I think very handy) terms "somewhen" and "anywhen" to mean "some time" and "any time"

W2S

Now those I like, going to try and drop them into a conversation.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

How is "somewhen" any handier than "sometime"?

 

[finneyb]

A lot of the time I find the US version to be a better description, and I wonder if that's because there a more non-native English speakers eg sidewalk, you do walk at the side of the road; pacifier for a child's dummy; stroller for buggy; wait in line for queue. Of course this all falls down when they park on a driveway BUT drive on a parkway.

I did a woodturning class in US - they used a OneWay lathe (Canadian) the hole for the screw chuck was 10mm dia x 1 1/4" deep. Canada is metric and US is imperial; so the screw chuck thread was metric, but the drill press depth gauge was imperial.

Brian