LL-L "Lexicon" 2004.09.13 (04) [E]

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From: Críostóir Ó Ciardha <paada_please at yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Lexicon" 2004.09.12 (11) [D/E]

John Feather wrote (to Kevin Caldwell):
"Thanks for the info on "can" and "box". In the UK both containers
would be "tins". I think the British are generally familiar with US "can"
for their "tin" as in "tin/can of baked beans" but the different scope of
"box" in the two languages is less well understood."

You are right to say _can_ is understood in a British context, and
increasingly more so with the predominance of American culture. I remember
ten years or so ago there was a song about peaches by an American band that
had the line "Peaches come in a can / They were put there by a man / In a
factory downtown." From then on, most young people I knew referred to _cans
of peaches_ (but not _canned peaches_ which still retains Americanish
connotations) instead of the _tins of peaches_ they had previously referred
to.

Of course there is one (important)usage of _can_ in Britain and Ireland -
that of the ubiquitous _can of lager_ or, increasingly common, _can of
beer_. (The generic term was always _ale_ in Nottingham English, but that's
another story.) No-one would say _tin of lager_ unless they were trying to
be self-consciously different. This of course contrasts with the traditional
Australian usage of _tin_ or _tinnie_ for the same product, nowadays much
superseded by the American generic _beer_. Similarly, no-one in Britain or
Ireland would refer to a _tin of pop_ for a carbonated beverage - it is
always _can of pop_ or just _pop_. I have even seen people refer to such
things as a _bottle of pop_ when there is no bottle in sight, and many is
the time a child will ask for a _bottle of pop_ and receive a can, even if a
bottle is actually available and cheaper.

Go raibh maith agat,

Criostóir.

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From: Brooks, Mark <mark.brooks at twc.state.tx.us>
Subject: LL-L "Lexicon" 2004.09.12 (04) [E]

John wrote:

"I deduce that either she was as mad as a hattress or asking Americans what
words mean breaks some bizarre tabu."

Well, uh John, just how MUCH did you press for an answer?  ;-)

No, I doubt it's a tabu.  If it is, I never heard about it!  And I'm a
native speaker of that language called American English.

Now, on the matter of hatters and hattresses...we have our share!

Mark Brooks

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