 |
Language: Some Random Vocabulary
When you talk about having a tooth pulled at the dentist's, say you have had it drawn by the barber or barber surgeon. When we refer to corn, we are referring, mainly, to barley. If not barley, then it is whatever the major grain crop in the region is (rye is common). It is never corn-on-the-cob or maize. Englishmen speak of living in a particular street instead of on it. Shakespeare lived for a time in a house in Silver Street, or one knows a tailor with a shop in the High Street. Where American towns have a Main Street, the main drag in an English town of any size is usually called the High Street. There are also regional variations, such as Fore Street or Silver Street. A village is likely to be built around a village green and may not have a street running into or through it at all. If traffic actually does run nearby, you might say that children were playing in the lane or the road. You can call a doll a poppet. You can call a child a poppet too. Sweeting is a pet name both for lovers and for children.
7 March 2008 pkm |
