Can you spell "manouver" ?

[Flankerman]

When I worked, we used the acronym TOIL - to mean Time Off In Lieu.

If you worked extra hours over and above your standard hours - you could sometimes take time off in lieu.

There's a bit in Wiki on pronunciation of Lieutenant :- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lieutenant#Pronunciation

Ken

Edited July 26, 2015 by Flankerman

[zeus60]

Interestingly enough, as far as I know the US is the only place where "u" is absent from words like valour, colour, etc, and where people say zee. I read somewhere that the "zee" form was actually intended to provoke the Brits after Independence was declared.

ALF

I understand that when Noah Webster created the first American (as opposed to English) dictionary, he omitted the 'u' in words like honor specifically to make the American spelling different from the British.

And when I write dates, I always spell it out, like 26 July 2015. When you communicate with people in other countries, it avoids ambiguities. When I had my colonoscopy last year, I used that format when I dated the forms I signed. The nurse asked me if I'd been in the military. I was a bit surprised and said no. She thought I had, due to the way I wrote the date.

Stacey

[Don]

Word etymology and how words can be spelled and pronounced differently in the English language can be quite interesting. Good stuff fellas!

[Jennings]

There, there, there's two too many of their twos to count, now that they're counting... :)/>

Edited July 27, 2015 by Jennings

[Scooby]

Interestingly enough, as far as I know the US is the only place where "u" is absent from words like valour, colour, etc, and where people say zee. I read somewhere that the "zee" form was actually intended to provoke the Brits after Independence was declared.

ALF

Yeah, it's Zed, not Zee.

I debated this with my classmates during a course in the States 2 years ago.

It's a Zed-28!!!!!!!! Not a Zeeeeeee-28. The latter sounds so stupid!

[Flankerman]

Can you think of a perfectly correct sentence in English with five consecutive 'AND's in it??

Also........

Which is correct English - "The yoke of an egg is white" or "The yolk of an egg are white"?

Ken

Edited July 27, 2015 by Flankerman

[Edgar]

Egg yolks are normally yellow.

[Sgt Shultz II]

what about gernade! (grenade)

[Flankerman]

Egg yolks are normally yellow.

Spoilsport !!!

Ken

[rightwinger26]

Having travelled a good deal of the worl, many times over, our differences in culture, customs, traditions, and even dialect/spelling are what makes us all unique. If people were the same everywhere you went, this planet of ours would be a pretty damn boring place to live.

[niart17]

Yeah, it's Zed, not Zee.

I debated this with my classmates during a course in the States 2 years ago.

It's a Zed-28!!!!!!!! Not a Zeeeeeee-28. The latter sounds so stupid!

But with the exception of "w" (double U)and perhaps "h", all other letters are pronounced with only the root letter sound and a vowel sound. Why add another consonant sound to "Z"? You wouldn't say Zedbra would you? It's an unnecessary sound added to the letter. Just sayin'

Bill

[ALF18]

But with the exception of "w" (double U)and perhaps "h", all other letters are pronounced with only the root letter sound and a vowel sound. Why add another consonant sound to "Z"? You wouldn't say Zedbra would you? It's an unnecessary sound added to the letter. Just sayin'

Bill

It's "zed" in French as well.

Brits say "zebbra", Americans say "zee-brah"

There is no extra letter attached to z when it's pronounced either way (zed or zee). The extra letters are only to communicate the sound by the written word. To me, it is perfectly natural to think "zed" when I see a z. I never think "zee"; it is foreign (in all senses of the word) to me. BTW, I will disagree with Scooby a bit; there is no correct or incorrect way to say it.

In French, w is "double v" (double vee), which is in fact more correct than the double u in English.

For date format, I also use unambiguous forms whenever I write them freehand. In the Canadian Air Force, dates were 12 Jun 1996, impossible to confuse with another date. Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec were the months.

Definitely a fascinating subject. I teach English in Aviation to French-speaking pilot students at my aviation college. The biggest challenge for me is to counteract the influence of American software (Word, Windows, etc) and TV, since that is often the only example French-speaking Canadians see of English. I have to correct their pronunciation of "zed" and their spellings (colour). The reason is that English-speaking Canadians are rather put off to hear zee and see color from a fellow Canadian.

ALF

[breadneck]

synonymous, what can i say...had to google it