I'm asking a favour.....

[James England]

Hi James,
a young Canadian schoolteacher of my acquaintance did a year's exchange teaching in the UK.
Her first class experience was explaining the correct use of punctuation.
She explained commas, semi-colons and colons with no problem but when she named the punctuation mark that denotes the end of a sentence all the boys sniggered and all the girls looked uncomfortable.
Later, the deputy headmaster explained, in England "period" has another meaning entirely; we call that punctuation mark a full stop.

Absolutely! I heard somewhere that Russians nod for 'no' and shake their heads for 'yes'... a tricky one to adapt to, that one...

[fredintoon]

Punctuation

Hi James,
a young Canadian schoolteacher of my acquaintance did a year's exchange teaching in the UK.
Her first class experience was explaining the correct use of punctuation.
She explained commas, semi-colons and colons with no problem but when she named the punctuation mark that denotes the end of a sentence all the boys sniggered and all the girls looked uncomfortable.
Later, the deputy headmaster explained, in England "period" has another meaning entirely; we call that punctuation mark a full stop.

[James England]

nope favour is correct .... for us ... just not the U.S.

Or perhaps "une service"?

[James England]

As George Bernard Shaw is said to have said, “England and America are two countries separated by the same language.” It's funny, as the British spelling of certain words used to irritate me. Now, I actually appreciate the extra "e" and "u" in words of the English language. Webster kinda invented American English, which standardized the spelling variants over on this side of the pond. The only country that utilized the American spelling of words is America.

Although, in the USA, you have a verbal accuracy which is better than the UK because you are using 'old' English words which have dropped out of useage here. Eg.. you say 'fawcet' and we say 'tap'.. for the thing that water comes out of. In fact, in the UK, a 'tap' was uniquely used for the gadget on a barrel (probably because it was tapped in). We used to call a domestic version a 'fawcet' but it dropped out of use here. 'Turnpike' is another one... I mean it sounds so USA but it's 100% British. I used to find American English a bit annoying...and felt my beautiful language was somehow being corrupted by having letters dropped out of words etc. Then, on closer scrutiny, one realises that a lot of US English is actually the archaic English for about 200 years ago. Understandable, I suppose. We still had no standardised spelling in the 1700's.

There are some real howlers. I know of an English girl of 9, recently moved to the USA, who shouted out in class "does anyone have a rubber?" (she meant 'eraser'). And US ladies falling on their fannies..? I really won't go into what that translates to here......

In about 1920, the word 'get' and all its participles was regarded as American. Dickens used it a lot (and spent a lot of time in the USA) but I've read old documents here which have the word in and they are pre Dickens by a long way. Fascinating.

I suggest a good read "An Ocean Apart" by David Dimbleby and David Reynolds... it should be mandatory for all XSives....

[IanDMacDonald]

As George Bernard Shaw is said to have said, “England and America are two countries separated by the same language.” It's funny, as the British spelling of certain words used to irritate me. Now, I actually appreciate the extra "e" and "u" in words of the English language. Webster kinda invented American English, which standardized the spelling variants over on this side of the pond. The only country that utilized the American spelling of words is America.

[hamjam]

Oops... I should have spelled that 'favor', right?

Request now sorted, thanks to XSive IanMacDonald.

Thanks Ian!

nope favour is correct .... for us ... just not the U.S.

[natemoen]

I will volunteer as your backup if it doesn't work with Ian.

[James England]

Oops... I should have spelled that 'favor', right?

Request now sorted, thanks to XSive IanMacDonald.

Thanks Ian!

[James England]

Hi XSives.

I have a favour to ask. I need to buy a bearing for my recently acquired electric scooter (which is amazing.....). I cannot get one here in the UK but they are available on Amazon.com. The seller is in the USA and will not ship anywhere else except the USA. (good job I don't have that philosophy re the rear left wheel bearings, eh?).

I wondered if someone would be kind enough to buy one for me (it's free shipping in the USA) and then mail it to me by USPS small packet rate to the UK. I would Paypal the funds to cover everything.

Here is the actual item:

http://www.amazon.com/6915-2RS-Beari.../dp/B005O1BYSC

If anyone who can help could PM me, I'd be grateful.

Thanks

James