Jump to content

Can you spell "manouver" ?


Recommended Posts

Hey folks,

Spelling bee coming at you this weekend. This word has gotten the better of me for so long now even after looking it up online. And hey, no peeping allowed bobby.gif

So after you get it right, got another word you can`t spell right? Oh behive, no nasty stuff, lol.

Link to post
Share on other sites

French, UK English or American English?

Manoeuvre, manoeuver, maneuver

If you really want to have some fun, how do you pronounce 'lieutenant'? ;)/>

Nice one Mike. There is an "F" sound in that Lieutenant word you know :) Do I get a prize?

Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah I find that one odd as well. Its always been "New Clear" rather than "Nuke-you-lur" to me

Nuke-u-lar was a famous Bushism. Good 'ol George mangled more than one word in his time as president.

Manoeuvre is the way I've always spelled the word, in the British/Canadian way. International English spelling and pronunciation variations are fascinating.

And I was once a "left-tennant" (lieutenant), back in the day. The American "loo-tennant" has always grated on me, and I hate it when I hear a Canadian newscaster calling someone in the Canadian military a loo-tennant. Sadly, American spellings and pronunciations are inundating Canada. Even one of my sisters has fallen victim to it, saying "zee" instead of "zed" and spelling colour without the u. Microsoft is behind it all; the default dictionary for Word is US English, and those who do not go into the preferences and delete US English and allow only English(Canada) spellings are doomed to see red squiggles under correctly-spelled words, where US and spellings elsewhere differ.

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

Link to post
Share on other sites

Oh, and how about date formats?

In the US, the standard is MM/DD/YYYY, while everywhere else it is DD/MM/YYYY.

December 31st would look like this in the US: 12/31/2015

In Canada, it is 31/12/2015.

Sometimes, we invert the order, but it's always in a logical order - smallest to largest, or vice-versa (i.e. day/month/year or year/month/day)

2015/12/31 is a format that is unambiguous world-wide, and is used a lot in the aviation and medical communities.

I don't mind that Americans use their own date format. What I do hate is when Canadians pick up on it, and I am faced with 4/9/2015 as an expiry date on salad dressing. So did it expire in April or September?

Now, for expiry dates, it's even worse! We have a bottle of Bovril that has this on it: 15/5/16.

So is it still good (i.e. expires 15 May 2016)? Or has it been expired since the 16th of May 2015? Impossible to tell.

When I become King of the World, I will set a standard that all will follow. :woot.gif::sunrevolves:

ALF

Link to post
Share on other sites

Oh, and how about date formats?

In the US, the standard is MM/DD/YYYY, while everywhere else it is DD/MM/YYYY.

December 31st would look like this in the US: 12/31/2015

In Canada, it is 31/12/2015.

Sometimes, we invert the order, but it's always in a logical order - smallest to largest, or vice-versa (i.e. day/month/year or year/month/day)

2015/12/31 is a format that is unambiguous world-wide, and is used a lot in the aviation and medical communities.

I don't mind that Americans use their own date format. What I do hate is when Canadians pick up on it, and I am faced with 4/9/2015 as an expiry date on salad dressing. So did it expire in April or September?

Now, for expiry dates, it's even worse! We have a bottle of Bovril that has this on it: 15/5/16.

So is it still good (i.e. expires 15 May 2016)? Or has it been expired since the 16th of May 2015? Impossible to tell.

When I become King of the World, I will set a standard that all will follow. :woot.gif:/>/> :sunrevolves:/>/>

ALF

We in the USA also use American hours/minutes/seconds versus those wimpy metric hours/minutes/seconds everybody else uses...

John Hairell (tpn18@yahoo.com)

Link to post
Share on other sites
The American "loo-tennant" has always grated on me...

It's much closer to the French pronunciation than "lef-tenant"! And I was rarely called anything other than "Eltee" when I was a loo-tenant :)

Link to post
Share on other sites

We in the USA also use American hours/minutes/seconds versus those wimpy metric hours/minutes/seconds everybody else uses...

John Hairell (tpn18@yahoo.com)

:rofl:

Nice one. Is that why GPS time is off by several seconds from that French-sounding TAI (Temps Atomique International)?

I knew there was something weird about time in the USA!

ALF

Link to post
Share on other sites

I like the fact that Dr Rodney McKay in Stargate Atlantis calls the Zero Point Module a 'Zed PM' - while the rest of the cast say 'Zee PM' - nice attention to detail.

How about the US 'Aloominum' instead of the English 'Aluminium' ?

I put my trunk in the boot of my car - rather than putting my boots in the trunk.

To access the engine, I open the bonnet rather than the hood - though interestingly, both are items of headware.

Vive la difference !!!

Ken

PS - Did you know that the French have no word for 'baguette'...... :whistle: - nor the Italians any word for 'Grafiti' :rolleyes:

Link to post
Share on other sites

In the land of opportunitae, it would only make sense to kall something KLEAR. As the mythical Johnsons klear wax konkoktion we modellers have put our trust in. It s the all "New Klear" Even has a scent of the big apple inside. Grab a bite and go green. It `s all coming together now but it`s never the same. Making any sense? Sure keep them coming folks :)

Link to post
Share on other sites

As a native English (UK) speaker I can sympathise with anyone trying to learn my language.

Take a simple word like CIRCUS - the first C is pronounced S whilst the second C is pronounced K :woot.gif:

Go figure - as our US cousins would say.

Then there's Cough, Rough, Bough, Dough, Fought - all spelt the same, all pronounced differently.

I'm glad I learned my English early.

Ken

PS - When I first met my Scottish in-laws I could hear them talking in another room - they were saying 'Ken' this and 'Ken' that.

I thought they were talking about me behind my back!!!! I got quite upset.

Turns out they were saying things like ...'Do you ken the way to Glasgow'?..... etc..... meaning Do you know ???

Link to post
Share on other sites

Not that long ago, I was asked to to settle a mild dispute between a couple of Czech friends about the proper pronunciation of "schedule".

The one who had spend significant time in America insisted it should be said "Skedule" while the other insisted on "Shedule" owing to a fair amound of time she'd spent in the UK.

Link to post
Share on other sites

French, UK English or American English?

Manoeuvre, manoeuver, maneuver

If you really want to have some fun, how do you pronounce 'lieutenant'? ;)/>

'Scuse me? In this version of the UK 'tis manoeuvre. I've never seen that other one except where people use "words" like "definately".

Round here "lieutenant" is often pronounced "Rupert".

Link to post
Share on other sites

And I was once a "left-tennant" (lieutenant), back in the day. The American "loo-tennant" has always grated on me

I always wondered, where does the 'F' sound come from anyway? The British don't spell it with an F there do they? Are there any other words with "ieu" in them that have an F sound?

When I was a kid I though that since the British had a "Left-tennant", they must have a "Right-tennant" too. Like Lt 2nd (Gold bar) and Lt (silver bar) in the US Army. :)/>

Edited by dmk0210
Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...