The General Chat Thread (2016-2022)

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When my middle stepdaughter was about 11, she came home from school one day acting oddly. She and her little sister had been talking with each other quietly in the living room as I was beginning dinner prep but I had no idea about what.

They approached me in the kitchen, and the middle daughter announced, " We had health class today in school." I inwardly cringed, and calmly said, "Oh?" She said, "I need to know something. If grownups know where babies come from and don't want any more kids, then why do they 'do it'?" I stammered a bit, "Ummm, uh," and was silent for a few seconds, then said, "Well, when two people have known each other for a very, very long time and are deeply in love, they 'do it' as an expression of love for one another. She said, "Oh." And she and her sister looked at each other. She then got a strange look on her face and said, "You mean you and Daddy?!" I said, "Yes, me and Daddy." They looked at each other and both said, "Ewwwww, that's gross." They were quiet for a minute and then her eyes got wide and she said, "AND GRANDMA AND GRANDPA?!!!!" I said, "Yes, yes, Grandma and Grandpa, too." They both had expressions of disgust on their faces as they said, "EWWWWWWWW!!!!!!" That was the end of that conversation.
 
JASOH1 said:
Kid's say the funniest things. When my youngest stepdaughter was about 8, I was taking her to her gymnastics class. She was deep in thought for most of the ride, and then she asked me, "Were you alive when the world was black and white?" I asked her what she meant, and she said, "You know, like the photos." It was all I could do to keep from bursting out with laughter, but she was a sensitive child so I straight-faced, carefully explained that the film and cameras had changed, not the world. She was quite surprised. I guess she thought that one day God just decided to flip a switch and make the world in color.
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That is so freaking cute.
 
Our main hot weather months should now be almost over. Cooler today and the humidity is quite low. I still have the fan spinning on the stoep though.
 
Morning Glory said:
Duck59 spelt 'spelt' correctly. That is UK spelling although it can be written as spelled in UK too. I'm not sure if there is any reason why it should be one way or the other - but if I was pronouncing 'spelled' I would say it differently. What do you think Duck59?
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You may be taking my comment a wee bit too seriously. I find our different spellings of things amusing. That's all.

CD
 
JASOH1 said:
When my middle stepdaughter was about 11, she came home from school one day acting oddly. She and her little sister had been talking with each other quietly in the living room as I was beginning dinner prep but I had no idea about what.

They approached me in the kitchen, and the middle daughter announced, " We had health class today in school." I inwardly cringed, and calmly said, "Oh?" She said, "I need to know something. If grownups know where babies come from and don't want any more kids, then why do they 'do it'?" I stammered a bit, "Ummm, uh," and was silent for a few seconds, then said, "Well, when two people have known each other for a very, very long time and are deeply in love, they 'do it' as an expression of love for one another. She said, "Oh." And she and her sister looked at each other. She then got a strange look on her face and said, "You mean you and Daddy?!" I said, "Yes, me and Daddy." They looked at each other and both said, "Ewwwww, that's gross." They were quiet for a minute and then her eyes got wide and she said, "AND GRANDMA AND GRANDPA?!!!!" I said, "Yes, yes, Grandma and Grandpa, too." They both had expressions of disgust on their faces as they said, "EWWWWWWWW!!!!!!" That was the end of that conversation.
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:laugh:
 
caseydog said:
You may be taking my comment a wee bit too seriously. I find our different spellings of things amusing. That's all.

CD
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Yeah, I know. I hadn't thought about the spelt/spelled thing before. It is rather odd that we have two alternative spellings in the UK. The same is true of smelt/smelled. I can't think of any other examples.
 
Morning Glory said:
Yeah, I know. I hadn't thought about the spelt/spelled thing before. It is rather odd that we have two alternative spellings in the UK. The same is true of smelt/smelled. I can't think of any other examples.
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Spoiled/spoilt. I tend to use the latter in my occasional (ironic) uses of the term spoilt brat.
 
caseydog said:
You may be taking my comment a wee bit too seriously. I find our different spellings of things amusing. That's all.

CD
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I have this theory that there are two people, one British, one US, who live in an underground bunker, born there, descended from the original two who were placed there in about 1610, and their sole purpose is to figure out ways to make the common language just different enough to be bothersome, like a stone in the shoe:

"Right, Hank, they've come up with this new device, sort of a self-propelled carriage, as it were. Let's get cracking on that, shall we?"

"Sure, Nigel. What were you thinking?"

"Let's start with the bit in the back, where one might store their luggage."

"Ok, luggage consists of bags, and trunks. We'll call that the trunk. How's that?"

"Perfect, and just to make it interesting...we'll call it...let me think...what might one keep in a trunk?...Boots! We'll call that the boot! Right, that's sorted. Now onto the bit covering the motor."

"You mean the engine."

"Haha, we'll have them so confused!"

Morning Glory said:
Yeah, I know. I hadn't thought about the spelt/spelled thing before. It is rather odd that we have two alternative spellings in the UK. The same is true of smelt/smelled. I can't think of any other examples.
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Burned/burnt, and learned/learnt.

I have a very interesting book on the language differences between British and US English. I'll have to dig it out.
 
When I first moved to Ohio, I went to my in-laws' house and they were eating smelt. They looked like fried baitfish to me. I ate one and was not impressed.

I like the UK English spellings better than the US. Colour over color, etc.
 
TastyReuben said:
I have this theory that there are two people, one British, one US, who live in an underground bunker, born there, descended from the original two who were placed there in about 1610, and their sole purpose is to figure out ways to make the common language just different enough to be bothersome, like a stone in the shoe:

"Right, Hank, they've come up with this new device, sort of a self-propelled carriage, as it were. Let's get cracking on that, shall we?"

"Sure, Nigel. What were you thinking?"

"Let's start with the bit in the back, where one might store their luggage."

"Ok, luggage consists of bags, and trunks. We'll call that the trunk. How's that?"

"Perfect, and just to make it interesting...we'll call it...let me think...what might one keep in a trunk?...Boots! We'll call that the boot! Right, that's sorted. Now onto the bit covering the motor."

"You mean the engine."

"Haha, we'll have them so confused!"


Burned/burnt, and learned/learnt.

I have a very interesting book on the language differences between British and US English. I'll have to dig it out.
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When I photograph British classic cars, I actually do refer to the parts as the British do. US, British, Italian and German cars use different names for convertibles, and I usually use the correct word for them, too.

CD
 
I live in a town called Burntisland. It is neither burnt (well, not often) nor an island. There are various theories about the origin of the name, but in truth, nobody really knows.
 
Duck59 said:
I live in a town called Burntisland. It is neither burnt (well, not often) nor an island. There are various theories about the origin of the name, but in truth, nobody really knows.
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That's funny, because when I first read that, I saw "Burntis-land," not "Burnt-island." :)
 
I get many pleasures from reading 19th century novels, one of which is the use of language. To take Jane Austen as an example, you will find the word chuse used a fair bit. This is merely an old spelling of choose.

You'll see words like fain quite commonly, as in, "She would fain take a rest." In this context, it means gladly.

This is one of the many reasons that books from earlier times tend to have extensive notes.

And that's before we even get to any contemporary references that perhaps mean little to the modern reader.
 
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