[Corpora-List] American and British English spelling converter

[Yorick Wilks]

(Brit) Eng. students of German are always taught "halb vier" as a false 
friend of "half four", though my observation is that the usage in 
Germany
is declining----- not because of the influence of English, but probably 
digital watches which make all analogue times less plausible. Id be 
interested to know if "half pasts" are also disappearing from all forms 
of English.
Yorick Wilks


On 3 Nov 2006, at 16:43, John F. Sowa wrote:

>> I thought Harold's example "half four" was intended as something that 
>> is
>> said _only_ by Brits -- Americans certainly never seemed to use it 
>> when
>> I lived there, but that is a long time ago.
>
> The phrase "half past four" is rare, but possible in American English.
> I have never heard "half four" in the US.  (And given the fact that
> "halb vier" in German would mean 3:30, I would be unsure what was
> meant if I heard anyone say "half four".)
>
>> If "have you got" is no longer distinctively-British enough (though, 
>> do
>> Americans really say it), how about "her skin has spots on", 
>> absolutely
>> normal in England but impossible in America without an "it" on the 
>> end.
>
> Although I normally say "do you have", the phrase "have you got"
> does not have any feeling of Britishness to me.  In fact, I might
> even say "have you got" in some contexts in which the two phrases
> are not interchangeable.
>
> John Sowa
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