Re: [OT] British vs. American English
On 2 October 2011 06:22, Doug <dmcgarrett@optonline.net> wrote:
> There must be a thousand words for being drunk. One of the more common
> in the US is "bombed." Really, really drunk is "bombed out of his skull."
> Another word in frequent use is "smashed."
To add to this entertaining thread, the expression "rat-arsed", or
just "ratted" is also used for those who have looked too well upon
"the wine when it is red".
As for the spelling I can only quote from my copy of Ash's "New &
Complete Dictionary Of the English Language" of 1775:
ARSE (s. from the Sax(on) earse) The posteriors. Figuratively, The
hinder part of anything.
Again a number of differences between English and American usage seems
to be that of changes in usage in the UK, whereas Americans (although
innovative enough in changing the language- especially in insisting
that any noun can be used as a verb!) still use the English English
taken to the New World by the original settlers. One prime example is
that of the use of the term "fall" which gave way to "autumn" over
here in the inteim.
I do get some amusement from using "fall" in this sense in order to
point this out to my English friends who wish to correct my use of "an
Americanism"!
Terence
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