Posted by Bill Wright on August 04, 2000 at 22:20:56 from ip199.stamford13.ct.pub-ip.psi.net:
In Reply to: Re: Picts and Martyrs posted by Ian E-N on August 04, 2000 at 18:42:28:
#1 - treacle
American English calls this "molasses", as several others have noted. Someone said this was like American pancake syrup. Not really--that is maple syrup, and is thinner, much lighter brown in color (almost like golden syrup), and a different sort of sweet--the maple flavor is quite unlike that of molasses/treacle.
#4 - sea voyage for flu
My impression of this was always that she had pretty much gotten over the flu, and the voyage was intended to get her "back up to speed"; the healthy effects of sea air and all that...
#6 - telegram vs phone call
My guess is that the G.A. did not have a telephone, and therefore a telegram was the fastest way to contact Nancy and Peggy. Since Beckfoot did have a telephone, the local office could get the telegram to them in that way--for a long time in England, the telephones were a part of the Post Office, and my guess is the telegram system was a part of that as well.
# 9 - jiff as a unit of time
American English uses this as well, only more usually as a "jiffy"; meaning a very short amount of time.
# 13 - mail delivery speed
Mail is indeed delivered much faster in England than in America, even now. Smaller distances, and a far lesser volume of "junk mail" make this possible. Back in PM times, there seems to have been 2 deliveries a day (in one of the books, at least, they mention the "morning delivery" and such).
# 19 - plumbing facilities and all that
Perhaps not completely applicable, but a bathroom was where you took your bath, perhaps with water brought from beng heated elsewhere. The toilet was not necessarily in that same room.
# 20 - width of Lakeland roads
They're still pretty narrow! You certainly do have to be ready to stop quite quickly!
# 23 - Cook's talking about the G.A.
Good old hen that wants to be cock of the midden...so yes, "the old bag wants to be the boss" is spot on!
#25 - black and white
This sems to be referring not to skin color but to the good guy/bad guy roles on a story--the cowboy movie with the white hats and black hats and all that...
#32 - changing clothes
Based on my experiences with several English and European families, both there and here in the US, the kids changing clothes out of doors or other places "not behind closed doors" is not all that uncommon or notable. Americans tend to be much more uptight about this sort of thing than elsewhere, from what I have seen.
#35 - rabbit vs hare
Yes, they are 2 different, but related, animals. Not sure of the exact differences, though!
#40 - bucked/gimletty
Is bucked related to the expression "buck up" (meaning "get going!")?
A gimlet is some sort of sharp object, so to look at someone "gimlet eyed" is to look at them sharply, as if expecting them to be fudging the truth.
I fully expct some English readers to be able to add to my comments, and quite probably to say I am completely off in the wrong direction on some of them!
Cheers,
Bill;)