ADN                     Confusing language                19 March 2006

I start this essay by asking any reader to provide me with any gems that they have met.  Call me on CDCNottm@AOL.com

What is an American?    I'll start off with a confusion that most people ignore.  It is the words "America" and "American".  I have taken the trouble to look up the words in the Collins English Dictionary; the definitions are as I always thought they were.  There are two meanings to both words:    "America" is the whole continent and the name given to the "United States of America".  It seems that because the name of that country is such a mouthful, any descriptive noun simply uses the word "American".  I will use the commonly accepted words below despite my pedantic objections to the name  I would expect that a similar possible confusion exits in other places; such as Mexico; that country and its capital city have the same name.  I think Panama has the same problem.

9/11    is the term normally used to describe the horrendous act that took about 3 000 lives.  Can one wonder that the population of that state getting a bit hot under the collar about those people and their associates who carried out that atrocity.  But this essay is about 'confusing language'.  Shouldn't we Brits call it "11/9"?  In our abbreviated form of writing the date, we put the day first followed by the month.  The Yanks do it the other way round.  But as we have to live with the Americans, the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) require that in all of its documentation, the month SHALL be written using letters. The British Passport Office is another one body that follows this rule.

A decimal point or a numeral-separator   The Continentals seem to be in opposition to us in the mark they make for a numeral-separator and a decimal point.  Reading a French drawing can lead to problems.  But again UKAS has come to the rescue in deeming it to be correct to not use a numeral separator, but just to use a space instead.  So 'three thousand' is written '3 000' without the comma that we Brits normally use.

Pavement    This is one area where the different meanings between the USA and the UK could be disastrous.  My Webster's gives a definition that can be accepted on both sides of the Atlantic.  But in the 1980s I drove through a suburb of Toronto and the word 'pavement' specifically referred to the roadway.  The "PAVEMENT ENDS" notice was unnecessary.  The footpath continued for a full hundred yards after the ending of the roadway.  Now if an American or a Canadian used that definition wholly, it could lead to a serious incident if a Brit were instructing a North American where to walk.  I am averse to much of the North American culture, but I do believe that the word 'sidewalk' is far better than our word "pavement".

Stateroom    On American cruise ships they call cabins by the ridiculously absurd name "stateroom".  Surely, "a stateroom" is a room of state.  On a ship it could be the room or suite that the president or the queen uses

Elevator     Although it is much more elaborate than our word "lift", I feel that is is more correct.  The word is definitely a noun, whereas our word really is a verb

Automobile    Again, it is probably more correct than just "a car".  Our word could refer to many types of car, including a tramcar