No , Prof, that's more obscure than the common noun I had in mind . In British English 'sherd', a variant of 'shard', rhymes with 'herd' but 'shard' rhymes with 'hard'[ source: The Oxford English Dictionary]
Originally posted by dg: I think the word is 'sergeant.'
It certainly is, 'lootenant'
Lieutenants: Does Canada have 'leff-tenants', 'loo-tenants' or 'ler-tenants'? We have 'leff-tenants' in the Army but 'ler-tenants' in the Navy. American 'loo-tenant' sounds like a tenant of the loo (every family has someone being that in the morning) which could be a junior post to Master of the Bedchamber.
Originally posted by FredPuli: American 'loo-tenant' sounds like a tenant of the loo (every family has someone being that in the morning) which could be a junior post to Master of the Bedchamber.
I don't know what we have in Canada, not being privy to such informaton.
Originally posted by Professor: ...and is 'colonel' always pronounced 'kernel' ?
Yes,mon coll-o-nell.
"Gilbert the Filbert" is an old music hall song here.It has the the deathless lines :
" I'm Gilbert the Filbert,the Knut with a K, The Pride of Piccadilly, the blase roue, Oh Hades, the ladies who leave their wooden huts For Gilbert the Filbert,the Kernel of the Nuts"
a pun which depends on 'colonel and kernel' sounding the same . The Nuts sounds like a regiment, as "The Buffs" or "The Blues and Royals"
Here's another American English trivia question, by crossword guru Merle Reagle, which I'm shamelessly lifting from the current issue (July 2008) of Games magazine, page 79, with apologies to Kappa Publishing Group:
In America, words with the suffix -ization (such as civilization, realization, utilization, etc.) are all spelled with a Z. In Britain, though, they're spelled with an S (-isation). Americans, however, have one word with the suffix -isation spelled in the British way. It's a common word, and we always spell it with an S, never a Z. What word is it?
Posts: 1990 | Location: U.S. | Registered: 06-03-02
The reason for the 's' in American 'improvisation' must be that the -isation part is no true iz ation suffix. The Latin root is improvisus (im='not' and visus= 'seen or 'forseen', from video 'I see'). Americans don't spell other words derived from video/visus with a Z. They don't write 'vizion', for example.
This is what I found on the subject, although you really need to read the article in it's entirety to put it into context:
For nearly all verbs that form nouns ending with ization or isation, the use of ize (and ization) is etymologically justified - the only exception I know of is the verb improvise, which is always so spelt (and forms improvisation), even in American English. It would be inconsistent to spell improvise with a z. To improvise is not to make something into improv, it's to work without planning or looking ahead: im- (without) -pro- (ahead) -vise (look, the same root as vision). Realize Versus Realise
Interesting link , dg.They say there that '-ize' is the Greek and Latin form.That might be difficult to prove . Latin does not have the letter Z Z is found only where scribes were instructed to use Z for Greek zeta in transcribing some Greek names and terms. There are about 70 examples of Z, mostly in proper nouns, in Latin. A pleasing one is zingeberi 'ginger' and another is zythum which is whisky from Cairo : " a kind of malt liquor [among the Egyptians]": 'Mine's a double zythum and zingeberi'
Ditto, dg -- interesting link. Which points out another unique quirk:
quote:
English [in the UK]...does seem to allow the use of the American 'font' instead of the English 'fount'
Whilst I enjoy this discussion, I hope we haven't started down a path that rightfully belongs under Words & Language. What's the prevailing view on digression these days?
Of course I never use 'whilst'. M-W calls is 'chiefly British' and in fact I've never seen it used in even the most sober-minded and pedantic American publications.
One can assume that references to British English apply to Canadian English as well, eh?
Thanks for the finger-puppets, dg. One on every digit would make a nice symposium. Remember Steve Allen's Meeting of the Minds PBS show?
Posts: 1990 | Location: U.S. | Registered: 06-03-02
)
. Latin does not have the letter Z 
