Weird Things Americans Have Said To/Asked Me

[DeadPoolX 9]

I have to admit that I sometimes tease my wife about the spelling differences. I'll purposefully pronounce "centre" as "sentry" or "colour" as "col-hour" and while that's fun to do, nothing insulting is meant by it.

My mother hated it when I pronounced it the same way growing up as a kid. I still always said then why not just spell enter as entre?

Now here's something I have come across and not sure if it's a regional thing or just certain states or if it's a distinctive US/Canadian thing:

When you're talking to someone and you are describing the spot directly diagonal across the intersection how do you say it?

I've always said Kitty Corner. I hear a lot of people saying Katty Corner...

I say: "the spot directly diagonal across the intersection." No, really. I've never heard of the terms "kitty corner" or "katty corner." Maybe I'm out of the loop?

[Krikit 1,163]

When you're talking to someone and you are describing the spot directly diagonal across the intersection how do you say it?

I've always said Kitty Corner. I hear a lot of people saying Katty Corner...

I've never heard of katty corner. lol

[The_Dude 1,142]

When you're talking to someone and you are describing the spot directly diagonal across the intersection how do you say it?

I've always said Kitty Corner. I hear a lot of people saying Katty Corner...

I've never heard of katty corner. lol

Isn't that the corner at the end of Kathryn's street where the 9 bazillion feral colonies she cares for are?

[DeadPoolX 9]

Someone asked (much earlier in this thread) WHY Americans say "lieutenant" while the British say "leftenant" right?

Well, from what I understand, it all stems from a misunderstanding. At one point in time the letter "U" resembled a modern-day "V." The British, for some odd reason or another, misread the word thinking there actually was a "V" instead of a "U" and then proceeded to pronounce it as such. The word slowly changed into the current pronunciation of "leftantant."

Due to the American Revolution and because France assisted us in defeating England, the U.S. adopted the French pronunciation. I can only assume the U.S. also wanted to be different from their former oppressors.

The Canadian Armed Forces pronounces the rank the same way the American military does. Canada used to say "leftenant" but doesn't do so anymore and as far back as the 1950s, the Canadian Navy changed their pronunciation to that of the American version.

To be fair, the U.S. kept many of the ranks already mangled by the British. The rank of "colonel" is a good example. The word was originally written in Latin as "columnella" (small column) but the Roman Empire never used it as a rank. Centuries later, countries like Italy and Spain adopted the word for their own use. When the British started using the rank, they changed it to "colonel."

[Ban Hammer 13,143]

When you're talking to someone and you are describing the spot directly diagonal across the intersection how do you say it?

I've always said Kitty Corner. I hear a lot of people saying Katty Corner...

I've never heard of katty corner. lol

Isn't that the corner at the end of Kathryn's street where the 9 bazillion feral colonies she cares for are?

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

Someone asked (much earlier in this thread) WHY Americans say "lieutenant" while the British say "leftenant" right?

Well, from what I understand, it all stems from a misunderstanding. At one point in time the letter "U" resembled a modern-day "V." The British, for some odd reason or another, misread the word thinking there actually was a "V" instead of a "U" and then proceeded to pronounce it as such. The word slowly changed into the current pronunciation of "leftantant."

Due to the American Revolution and because France assisted us in defeating England, the U.S. adopted the French pronunciation. I can only assume the U.S. also wanted to be different from their former oppressors.

The Canadian Armed Forces pronounces the rank the same way the American military does. Canada used to say "leftenant" but doesn't do so anymore and as far back as the 1950s, the Canadian Navy changed their pronunciation to that of the American version.

To be fair, the U.S. kept many of the ranks already mangled by the British. The rank of "colonel" is a good example. The word was originally written in Latin as "columnella" (small column) but the Roman Empire never used it as a rank. Centuries later, countries like Italy and Spain adopted the word for their own use. When the British started using the rank, they changed it to "colonel."

Oppressors????? You mean the motherland don't you? England is the Motherland, America is big brother and Canada is little brother. When France and Spain were getting ready to carve up the 13 colonies where did Franklin and Adams go running to, that's right... Mother England. Of course if Franklin had his way, Old Glory would be flying over Toronto, but that's another story. I do think that the Canadian Armed Forces more likely changed the pronunciation to the French due to the fact that there were/are large numbers of Francophones in the Armed Forces.

When you're talking to someone and you are describing the spot directly diagonal across the intersection how do you say it?

I've always said Kitty Corner. I hear a lot of people saying Katty Corner...

I've never heard of katty corner. lol

Isn't that the corner at the end of Kathryn's street where the 9 bazillion feral colonies she cares for are?

I believe that it is. I wonder if that makes the corner where I live the coffin corner.

[Sprailenes 47]

Yesterday I mentioned to my coworker how my mom wishes Ethan would come back to Canada to live and my coworker said: "Oh well he has so much more opportunities here!"

Do people not think that there are opportunities in Canada?

I'll tell you something sending him to College up there won't put me in the poor house that's for sure.

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

Yesterday I mentioned to my coworker how my mom wishes Ethan would come back to Canada to live and my coworker said: "Oh well he has so much more opportunities here!"

Do people not think that there are opportunities in Canada?

I'll tell you something sending him to College up there won't put me in the poor house that's for sure.

Most Canadian universities have quite a few Americans studying. In my brother's Meds class at U of T one of the people in his lecture group was from New Jersey (undergrad at Columbia). He ran into two or three Americans who had OHIP cards (I won't speculate how they got them) when he was on rotations, but that's another story. I know that the guy who sat next to me in 1st year Physics was from Boston and my lab partner in 1st year Chem was from the Hudson Valley somewhere. So Sprailenes, tell Ethan to study hard, go to a Canadian univerisity, get into Med School and then practice in the US.

[Sprailenes 47]

Well a record number of Americans are flocking to Canadian Universities these days anyways.

Three members at the place I work at have kids going to McGill and UofT.

[Malrothien 6]

Funny, part of the reason we're moving to Florida is university costs.

I can go to university in FL for a hell of a lot cheaper than I can go here in BC.

Let me add that we know quite a few people that aren't going to post-secondary because it is far too expensive. The income level restrictions and other various restrictions associated with government grants/loans are ridiculous. Not to mention, the BC government just cut funding for student loans by $15 million.

Edited October 17, 2009 by Malrothien

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

Well a record number of Americans are flocking to Canadian Universities these days anyways.

Three members at the place I work at have kids going to McGill and UofT.

They have my sympathy.

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

Funny, part of the reason we're moving to Florida is university costs.

I can go to university in FL for a hell of a lot cheaper than I can go here in BC.

Let me add that we know quite a few people that aren't going to post-secondary because it is far too expensive. The income level restrictions and other various restrictions associated with government grants/loans are ridiculous. Not to mention, the BC government just cut funding for student loans by $15 million.

There are many more sources of funding in the US for students than for Canadians and some moron named Harris (a premier who looks like Bargain Harold, why am I not surprised) allowed universities in Ontario to lift the limit on what they could charge students for tuition. The current premier, Norman Bates, isn't going to turn back the clock, so Ontario universities, and by extension, other Canadian universities aren't the bargains that they once were.

Edited October 17, 2009 by IR5FORMUMSIE

[Malrothien 6]

Funny, part of the reason we're moving to Florida is university costs.

I can go to university in FL for a hell of a lot cheaper than I can go here in BC.

Let me add that we know quite a few people that aren't going to post-secondary because it is far too expensive. The income level restrictions and other various restrictions associated with government grants/loans are ridiculous. Not to mention, the BC government just cut funding for student loans by $15 million.

There are many more sources of funding in the US for students than for Canadians and some moron named Harris (a premier who looks like Bargain Harold, why am I not surprised) allowed universities in Ontario to lift the limit on what they could charge students for tuition. The current premier, Norman Bates, isn't going to turn back the clock so Ontario universities, and by extension, other Canadian universities aren't the bargains that they once were.

Don't I know it. The tuition caps were removed here in BC, too. When we were attending school last year, for the two of us, it was $2500 for tuition and $500 for one set of books (we were taking the same classes). That was for three classes.

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

Funny, part of the reason we're moving to Florida is university costs.

I can go to university in FL for a hell of a lot cheaper than I can go here in BC.

Let me add that we know quite a few people that aren't going to post-secondary because it is far too expensive. The income level restrictions and other various restrictions associated with government grants/loans are ridiculous. Not to mention, the BC government just cut funding for student loans by $15 million.

There are many more sources of funding in the US for students than for Canadians and some moron named Harris (a premier who looks like Bargain Harold, why am I not surprised) allowed universities in Ontario to lift the limit on what they could charge students for tuition. The current premier, Norman Bates, isn't going to turn back the clock so Ontario universities, and by extension, other Canadian universities aren't the bargains that they once were.

Don't I know it. The tuition caps were removed here in BC, too. When we were attending school last year, for the two of us, it was $2500 for tuition and $500 for one set of books (we were taking the same classes). That was for three classes.

It started with Harris, most of his cabinet is sitting in Harper's government these days, and then all the other provinces saw what Ontario had wrought and followed suit.

[Sprailenes 47]

Maybe in Florida, but around this area, people pay an arm and a leg to send their kids to college. It's insane. I was talking to my in-laws about the price of sending my husband to college and I was floored.

My cousin got a baseball scholarship to Graceland University in Iowa a couple of years ago and couldn't finish because he couldn't come up with the rest of the money - and he had scholarship money.

I have a friend who is going to grad school here in Philly and went to Cal Poly before and his student loans are so far over $90,000.00 - and he still has to go to grad school. He's telling me that he'll probably be close to $150,000.00 once he's finished. That's insane to me.