Subtle differences between the US and the UK that baffle me/you/us. - by SubJeff
faetal on 12/12/2012 at 12:50
Actually, neither Brits or our US friends talk like it's 1894, but we do both use words which out-date each other. For example, in the UK, zebra was once pronounced zee-bra, likewise, Z was pronounced zee and not zed. We moved on, Americans kept the old pronunciation. Likewise, autumn used to be called fall during the Victorian period, we also used to use the word "gotten". Language evolves and anyone who knows anything about evolution (higher percentage of Brits compared with US if stats are right) knows that any divergence will cause each branch to gain & lose features in rough proportion to each other, with environmental modifiers applied. Some of these will evolve erroneously (e.g. I could care less) and others will be functional improvements (let's be honest, color is a more efficient spelling of colour and lieutenant being pronounced outside the remit of its vowel:consonant ratio is a little tricky to justify; however, having one element without -ium (barring archaisms) on the end it also daft).
Renzatic on 12/12/2012 at 17:55
Quote Posted by Subjective Effect
Blasphemer!
Deep down you know it's true. The only countries who drive on the left side of the road were those peer pressured by the English. Everyone else? The right side. The
right side.
I mean turning left on red? Man, just thinking about it makes my skin crawl.
SubJeff on 12/12/2012 at 18:05
But we don't turn on red at all.
Renzatic on 12/12/2012 at 18:33
So what do you do when you're at a red light and no one's around?
SubJeff on 12/12/2012 at 18:36
Wait til it turns green.
What do you do? :eek:
Renzatic on 12/12/2012 at 18:53
If I'm going right, I turn right. :P
...otherwise, I wait. Cuz, you know, there's always a cop hiding around somewhere just waiting to give you a ticket.
SubJeff on 12/12/2012 at 18:58
But you're allowed to turn right if no one is coming, aren't you?
We aren't allowed to go unless the light is on green. I don't know which is the better system - I rode my motorbike on the right in Taiwan and was allows to turn right on red in the same way as in the US. It was a bit of a time saver but then the traffic lights in Taichung mean nothing really; people just go when they can. It's undoubtedly the most insane traffic you've ever seen and if I needed a getaway driver I'd go for a Taiwanese taxi driver every time.
Renzatic on 12/12/2012 at 19:08
Considering riding a motorcycle is practically taking your life in your own hand in even the best of situations, you're a brave person indeed.
Seriously. It seems we have a horrible bike crash around here at least once a month. It put me off the idea of riding one myself completely.
SubJeff on 12/12/2012 at 19:51
I was young and stupid. I had 5 crashes in 4 months, luckily without serious injury. None of them were my fault - hit by a car 4 times and once had to slam my brakes on going at about 50kph because the guy in front had purple (illegal) brake lights so I didn't realise he was stopping. I went over the handlebars and landed on my feet! The bike mirrors, windshield, and all plastics were smashed to pieces though. It was my most ninjar moment and the guys sitting at the side of the road just carried on chewing betelnut in the most nonchalant way, like they'd seen it all before.
I'll never bike again though, because as you say its too risky.
demagogue on 13/12/2012 at 03:13
I crossed the Thailand-Burma border yesterday and the driving-side of the road changed mid-bridge.
There wasn't much traffic on it, but it was crazy watching them switch lanes like that.
Burma was right-side, which is either pretty ironic or practically inevitable depending on your perspective. They wanted to throw off as much of the British colonial influence as they could after independence. And Thailand (left-side) was I'm sure influenced by the French & British neighbors but it wasn't like any big deal for them they had to change it.
