Another US?UK Difference

B

Big Unc

Dedicated Member
Noted with interest yesterday that the baseball star 'Big Mac' spells surname 'McGwire as in Mark McGwire. here it would be McGuire.

Mind there is a related European difference here. In English the letter 'W' is 'Double U'. In French it is 'Double V'.

And yes, this is my entry for the most irrelevant post today.

Time for more: :coffee: :coffee: :coffee: :coffee: :coffee: :coffee:

And now I note I hit the shift key when I shouldn't have and have made my Thread Title Line 'US?UK' when it should have been 'US/UK' and i seem to be blocked from amending it.
 
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Big Unc said:
Noted with interest yesterday that the baseball star 'Big Mac' spells surname 'McGwire as in Mark McGwire. here it would be McGuire.

Mind there is a related European difference here. In English the letter 'W' is 'Double U'. In French it is 'Double V'.

And yes, this is my entry for the most irrelevant post today.

Time for more: :coffee: :coffee: :coffee: :coffee: :coffee: :coffee:

And now I note I hit the shift key when I shouldn't have and have made my Thread Title Line 'US?UK' when it should have been 'US/UK' and i seem to be blocked from amending it.
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What theme are you using Unc
 
Maybe you have the same trouble my boss had -- typing with fat fingers.

Back to the topic.

In the UK, a sweater is a jumper. A vest is a waistcoat, and an undershirt is a vest (?).

This is the only time I've seen McGwire spelled this way.
 
Adanor said:
This is the only time I've seen McGwire spelled this way.
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It's not a prevalent name, but the 1940 US census listed 769 individuals with that spelling. Many of them seemed to originate in the Appalachian Scot-Irish region, where spelling and pronunciation can vary wildly from the old country originals, and not just in surnames. The variations are most noticeable in the lyrics of the Child Ballads (The English and Scottish Popular Ballads) as collected by Francis James Child and as performed by traditional Appalachian singers. For example, the song 'Barbara Allen' (Child 840) had become Barb'ry Ellen by the time John Jacob Niles collected it in the Appalachians.

Marianna
 
Adanor said:
Maybe you have the same trouble my boss had -- typing with fat fingers.

In the UK, a sweater is a jumper. A vest is a waistcoat, and an undershirt is a vest (?).
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In my case it is excessive use of the Shift Key particularly in combination with the '/@, the #/~ and the //? character keys.

I sometimes think the use of 'jumper' is a bit passé. We certainly have sweaters now. Possibly 'jumper is used more for children's clothes and not male adults.
 
Did a check her in Tulsa, OK and found about 100 with spelling McGuire and only 1 McGwire. So we're not too different after all.
 
Big Unc, you are pretty acknowledgable and have been in the US a lot so you probably know this already. When a lot of immigrants came here through Ellis Island in NYC in the latr 1800's / ealry 1900's they adjusted their last names to make them sound more English (although with Scots/Irish in this case, a little more American English). Three of four of my grandparents' maiden names are German, but I believe only one of them is the true, orinal German spelling.
 
codfanglers said:
When a lot of immigrants came here through Ellis Island in NYC in the late 1800's / early 1900's THE GREETERS adjusted their last names to make them sound more English
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Yes, my grandfather from Italy had his name "adjusted" from
DiNiccoloAntonio to Dinc by the friendly American greeters.

How'd you like to wear that??
 
With regard to the wool garment worn over a shirt, note being ever cautious here, I called this a pullover. Unless it had no sleeves when it was a slipover. BTW I note that spell check does not like slipover. Not a jumper although I am aware in parts of Yorkshire it was colloquially known as a gansey!

A pullover with a buttoned opening was a cardigan and a slipover with a button opening was a waistcoat, but would this be a vest still in USA?
 
barmpot said:
With regard to the wool garment worn over a shirt, note being ever cautious here, I called this a pullover. Unless it had no sleeves when it was a slipover. BTW I note that spell check does not like slipover. Not a jumper although I am aware in parts of Yorkshire it was colloquially known as a gansey!

Gansey was the most common name used for a jumper or pullover when we were growing up here in Ireland, rarely heard now.
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I had relatives by marriage from Scunthorpe who used the word. Dont know where they found it from.They were all from Lincs. Maybe it was the local steelworkers who had migrated south ?? :confused:
 
onyx(John) said:
barmpot said:
With regard to the wool garment worn over a shirt, note being ever cautious here, I called this a pullover. Unless it had no sleeves when it was a slipover. BTW I note that spell check does not like slipover. Not a jumper although I am aware in parts of Yorkshire it was colloquially known as a gansey!

Gansey was the most common name used for a jumper or pullover when we were growing up here in Ireland, rarely heard now.
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I know the term 'gansey' from knitting patterns, especially the pullovers worn by North Sea fishermen. My next project will be a Whitby gansey.

'Jumper' is apparently still in use. An acquaintance here in the States received a list from a British tour company of what to pack for a photography tour to Iceland. One item was a jumper, and she wondered why she would need a dress! Another item was wellies - which was a complete mystery to her.

Marianna
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To everyone in the UK, here in the States, a jumper is a dress that is collarless and sleeveless and may or may not have buttons up the front. It is meant to be worn over a turtleneck or other type of shirt. Usually made out of denim or corduroy.
 
Another USUK Difference

Wellies is shortened from Wellington Boot and stems from the leather / hessian boots favoured by Arthur Wellesley the 1st Duke of Wellington they evolved in time to the rubber boots we know today. I have a photograph of myself as a child in a home made jumper/sweater that my mum had hand knitted . Unfortunately she was not the best and had dropped partial rows on the left side of the neck hence the neckline sloped down considerably right to left . In the photograph she decided rather than pull the jumper out and start again she would redress the balance by having my fringe cut by the hairdresser so it sloped down from left to right . If I feel a bit low I take ithe photograph out and it makes me laugh out loud without fail.
 
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