Two other countries separated by a common language

Paul Johnston paul.johnston at WMICH.EDU
Sun Sep 30 20:00:51 UTC 2007


Assuming they'd know what a subway station is.  A subway is an
underpass over a road, though "Tube/Underground station" would be fine.
As someone who did use to ask questions like that, I usually got my
questions answered as i would here, but sometimes preceded by a
repetition.  "The Tube Station?  Oh, you'll have to go down
Rellingford Road to get there."

Paul Johnston
On Sep 29, 2007, at 3:04 AM, Benjamin Barrett wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Two other countries separated by a common language
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------
>
> I have heard that in England questions such as "Do you know where the
> subway station is?" are considered yes/no. Is this the same issue? BB
>
> Wilson Gray wrote:
>> An American has a handful of wallet-sized, plastic calendars given
>> away as a form of advertising by his bank.
>>
>> The American, proffering a calendar to an Australian friend, speaks:
>>
>> "Can you use one of these?"
>>
>> The Australian, after pondering the American's question and briefly
>> examining the calendar, returns it and, answering the question with a
>> question, replies:
>>
>> "You just look at it, don't you?"
>>
>
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