American Cultural oddities

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: GUEST,Jayto
Date: 29 Jul 10 - 10:08 AM

One regional phrase here (W.KY) that always causes confusion for people that are not from the area is "I don't care to". Most people that are not from around here take it as someone saying they are not going to do something. If you ask someone "While you are by the book on the table would you hand it to me?" The other person would probably say "I don't mind to at all." What they mean is yes and it doesn't bother them to do it. It is like they are saying it is no trouble for them and they are happy to do it for you. I have seen some people that are not local get VERY upset because they thought the person was telling them no. That is one of the most common misunderstanding I have noticed. Most of the times sayings and words just lead to confusion but this is one that really causes problems until it is understood what the locals mean.

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: McMusic
Date: 19 Nov 98 - 11:07 PM

Aldus, You got part of it right. Unfortunately in this great country, we proceed according to color, gender, orientation, religion, finances....it's a pretty involved list. It's a long, hard road to freedom and equality.

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: McMusic
Date: 19 Nov 98 - 11:02 PM

Just in case no one else mentioned (there are too many entries to check them all)-- Groundhogs are not hogs, nor are whistle pig pigs; both are terms for the same critter and it is a rodent-- And cucumbers and tomatos are not vegetables, they're fruits.

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: Greg Baker
Date: 19 Nov 98 - 09:28 AM

Let's see:

Zee versus 'zed' - in my computer class, we have students from several nations... the ones from Tanzania says 'zed'; the Americans say 'zee'; and I say ZULU, that being the NATO standard I learned in the Army. Of course, I always pronounced 'Q' as 'KAY-bec', while my sergeants kept telling me it was 'kwa-BEC'. (Good thing I had the bar and they had the stripes).

Accents - I speak with a Worshington accent, having been born in the Nation's Capital; we have a local radio personality, Ed Walker, who cracks Worsingtonians up with his 'Dundalk Dan' parodies of a 'Balamer' accent. Historically, in the First World War American soldiers going into the lines occupied by other allies often preferred relieveing a French unit rather than a British unit... the British officers used slang and assumed the 'Colonials' knew it; the French would use gestures such as "A-a-a-a-a-a" to indicate a machine gun, and 'Boum!' for cannon. Then they'd slap the Yank on the shoulder, say "Bonne secteur, m'sieur,' and leave.

Speaking of Yank... A Yankee is north of the Mason Dixon line to most Southerners... and there used to be jokes such as "I was sixteen before I learned 'damnyankee' were two separate words.

I noticed the BBC World Service is making a valiant effort to cover North American sports on the North American feed, even referring to 'games' instead of 'matches' and 'one-nothing' wins instead of 'one-nil'. If someone can explaing cricket to me, I'll do my darndest to explain baseball... all but the infiled fly rule

Greg Baker [e-mail]

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: Ralph Butts
Date: 18 Nov 98 - 09:41 AM

My wife's from western Massachusetts and she says "bubbler". Only place I'd ever heard it.

....Tiger

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: Sir
Date: 18 Nov 98 - 09:29 AM

A couple of weeks ago I heard Ken Ham, an Australian living in America, who speaks at creation science gatherings. He mentioned that Australians hate pickles but love vegamine and that Americans are the opposite. He also told of asking a friend's daughter to nurse his baby and when she refused he told her that he supposed he'd have to do it himself! (in the US "nursing a baby" means more that caring for the child it usually means to breast feed)

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: Paula Chavez
Date: 16 Nov 98 - 01:31 PM

Re: A southern US Engish lexicon

one addition:

SEBMUP: Noun. A clear, carbonated soda pop with no caffeine.

Judy, thank you for your post. Totally turned my Monday Morning Blues attitude around. Still howling!

-Paula

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: Ted from Australia
Date: 15 Nov 98 - 05:18 PM

Along with "A wig wam for a goose's bridle" my grandmother (2nd generation Australian, Irish roots) would answer juvenile questions with "A jim jam for grinding smoke"
Any equivalents?

Regards. Ted from Australia

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: Art Thieme
Date: 14 May 98 - 12:58 AM

I knew a pair of female Siamese twins that moved to England so the other one could drive. They shared a COBRA for frontal support.

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 13 May 98 - 06:50 PM

G'day Bert,

In re. your Geordie pronouncing every letter in the word eighty; keep in mind that the reason it is spelled that way is that every letter WAS pronounced - before the lazy pronunciation of the southern counties became "Received Pronunciation" and eventually "The Queen's English".

I admit that I am at risk of becoming even more pedantic on English: my copy of the Cambridge Encyclopaedia of the English Language was waiting for me when I got home, last night.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: Earl
Date: 13 May 98 - 01:54 PM

I had a driver-ed teacher who always told us to step on the exhilarater. His oddities, though, were personal rather than cultural.

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: Allan C.
Date: 13 May 98 - 01:23 PM

I have always loved to listen to the way folks speak and their remarkable use of certain words. While I am no professional, I have made a few observations. Aways back (Just threw that in the mix. I don't know where I picked it up!)up the thread, Joe spoke of I used to be able to tell what part of Virginia someone was from by how they pronounced "house" or "home".The sounds Joe refers to are quite similar to those produced by many folks in the Winchester area (except I believe the accent is on a different syllable!). Many people in the southern Tidewater area say something along the lines of "haewse". The latter group may also be found saying "hoem" - it is only one syllable there but the further west(on into West Virginia)you travel the more often it is heard as two.

The oddest thing I think I ever heard in English in the U.S. was "chigoana". Note that the "oa" is a dipthong rather than two syllables. "Chigoana" was used by a very old man and his even older brother whom I met near Shepardstown, West Virginia. The word was ususally followed by "fine". I conversed at length with the pair and finally came to understand that "chigoana fine" was an intoduction to an observation such as "Chigoana fine thet ef you take th' lef fork uv th' river, chigoana hev a better ride." In other words "you're going to find", "you're going to have".

Second only to this word was one I heard from a man from someplace in North Carolina who spoke of "toy-yers". Now, I have heard of "tars" and "tores" (depending on the size of the chaw tucked into the cheek I think) but it took me a while to understand that the NC man was speaking about those rubber things on the wheels of cars.

I once knew a carpenter once to whom "abode" was what you drove a nail into.

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: steve t
Date: 13 May 98 - 03:41 AM

Hmmm. I figured that one out :-) Maybe food was on my mind.

How about a new thread: Cultural Curiosities II.

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: Roger Himler
Date: 12 May 98 - 05:55 PM

Maryland is South of the Mason-Dixon line.

Typical lunchtime conversation: "Jett jet?" "No, jew?"

Roger in Baltimore

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: Earl
Date: 12 May 98 - 05:17 PM

re: bubbler Drinking fountains are bubblers (pronounced "bubblah") in Massachusetts too, at least north of Boston. I moved here from Western New York and also found the pop was called tonic and milk shakes contained no ice cream. Frappes contained ice cream. Actually, I think Mc Donalds has now homogenized the definition of milk shake even in MA.

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: Bert
Date: 12 May 98 - 05:03 PM

Pete,
Have you ever heard a really thick Geordie accent? I used to work with a bunch of guys from County Durham and there was one guy that I couldn't understand. For example he would pronounce EVERY LETTER in the word "eighty" so that it came out "a-ig-hu-tee" . It was great fun watching him argue with another guy with a very thick Irish accent. They used to try to tell each other to speak English. We could make out the occasional word now and then but to follow the conversation was impossible.

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: Pete M
Date: 12 May 98 - 04:52 PM

Methinks you over egg the pudding Bert, granted dialect + accent can quite often = foreign language, that doesn't mean its unintelligible. Given the wide exposure of regional accents on the BBC these days, I would have thought ther was less likelihood of misunderstanding now than there used to be.

Debbie, thanks for the update, I know Holland is metric. The point being made in the discussion I quoted was that the metric system lacked units which were easily translated to empirical. I must admit it was over ten years ago, so no doubt mechanisation has surplanted the need for the empirical by now.

Incidentally the term "berm" is used in NZ, which completely confused me as I, like Bill had only come across it in a geographical context previously. The Dutch were the second largest group of emigrants to NZ. so perhaps that is where the terms local use originated?

Pete M

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: Bert
Date: 12 May 98 - 02:57 PM

Judy,
Brits often have great difficulty understanding one another. The Geordie language (One can't really call it a dialect, it's too different) is completely unintelligable to a Londoner.

Cockney slang is used to deliberately confuse the out of town listener.

There is also the classical case of the invoice submitted by an Essex farmer for looking after a horse.

It went something like this...

Afetchinonim 1s 6d
Afeedinonim 2s 6d
Abringinonimomagen 1s 6d.

I'm not sure if I've got the actual costs right, but its the words that matter.

TTFN Bert.

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: Bill D
Date: 12 May 98 - 11:49 AM

hmmmm...we have occassional road signs saying "soft shoulder" ...never have seen 'berm' used that way, and I have driven in 40 states...about the only place I have seen 'berm' is in a Geology text...

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: Ted from Australia
Date: 12 May 98 - 09:14 AM

Bubblers, i used to drink from them where I went to school in Sydney Australia. Hav'nt heard the term in over 30 years. Regards Ted

Subject: Woah Pete M
From: Debbie
Date: 12 May 98 - 07:00 AM

I was just skimming the posts above, and i caught your coment of the dutch using the foot to use for bulb fields, and as a true cloggie, i can tell you that at least in this area, it is not true, you've been misinformed. The dutch are metric, they use meters (meter is the dutch word, awfull similar to the american/english, isn't it!)and we plant by meter.

as to another odity, in america i believe you have road signs saying "soft berm" (and please correct me if i'm wrong here!), but do you know what the dutch ecquivelent is? Zachte (soft) berm - so who stole who'se word? and if you check out a dutch eetcafe (eating cafe, a kinda dark and dingy bar, with the floor full of peanut shels) you will find that america has bars that are quite similar.. not everywhere, i'll grant you, but they are there..

That was my two cents (dutch cents.. cents coming from the word hundred again.. )

Debbie

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: judy
Date: 12 May 98 - 01:43 AM

Alice, glad you enjoyed it. I sent it to quite a few people after I read it too.

What about accents in your countries? Brits, do you have trouble understanding any Brittish accents. Ozzies, anything like this down under?

enjoy! judy

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: Bill D
Date: 09 May 98 - 12:16 PM

"jeet?" "s'gweet!"

"have you had your most recent meal?" "then let us go together and partake of sustenance"

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: Bob Schwarer
Date: 09 May 98 - 11:58 AM

Probably should be a separate thread. Think about all the Cajun "oddities".

They're not odd to a Cajun though.

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From:
Date: 09 May 98 - 11:18 AM

The Hickphonics lexicon left out "foal", you know that shiney stuff ya uses to wrap up leftovers, lumnum foal.

Ther is the story of the northerner who went south for Christmas and went to church. Outside was a nativity scene, pretty typical except that the wise men had on these big red hard hats. He asked the preacher after the service (sarviss?) what that was all about. The preacher replied, "Well it say in the Bible that the wise men came from a far"

Bubbler update - It went at least as far north as Two Rivers where I learned it.

rich r

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: Barry Finn
Date: 08 May 98 - 10:34 PM

mumbutterhunda
Mom bought a Honda. Barry

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: Bob Schwarer
Date: 08 May 98 - 03:32 PM

I'd forgotten about "bubbler". I don't think I've heard it since leaving Wisconsin.

Joe may be right about it being a term from SE Wis. I grew up in Rock County many years ago.

Bob S.

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: Bert
Date: 08 May 98 - 02:57 PM

Soon after I came over here I was working in Dallas and a girl came up to me and said "Yuuuu shore do have a puurdee aaaaksent"

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: Alice
Date: 08 May 98 - 02:46 PM

Judy, that was great!! I had to email your list to several friends as a justification for my addiction to the Mudcat forum.

It reminds me of when I was in art school, and a graduate student from North Carolina was really difficult for me to understand. I was working in the print lab, levigating a lithograph stone, when he walked by and briskly said, "MahndefAhturndahntherahdyoh? He had to repeat it three times before I understood 'Mind if I turn down the radio'. A few months later, after Christmas break when he had gone back home to visit, I said to him, "Gee, Lowell, it seems like it's easier for me to understand you when you speak now." He said, "Ya, ma fokes say Ah tawk lak a Yankee now."

alice

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: judy
Date: 08 May 98 - 01:20 PM

Must be the gummit billin

enjoy! judy

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 May 98 - 03:13 AM

Say, Judy, where did you say the capital of "BAMMER" was? What's that fancy-lookin' billin in Mugummery?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: Bert
Date: 07 May 98 - 10:43 AM

Nice list Judy,
reminds me of the time when I worked in customer support for a software company in Alabama. A customer called in complaining about "an AIR message"

Bert.

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: judy
Date: 06 May 98 - 11:14 PM

Bill, your mention of "ranch" reminded me of something I got a real laugh out of in an English folder on One Net:

Monday, August 25, 1997 12:50:24 PM
English Item
From: Larry Nordell,METNET-Helena
Subject: A southern US Engish lexicon, passed along without comment.
To: English
Subject: Fwd: Hickphonics

The Atlanta School Board, sensing that Oakland is about to cash in by labeling African American slang as the language "Ebonics," has decided to pursue some of the seemingly endless taxpayer pipeline through Washington by designating Southern slang, or Hickphonics," as a language to be taught in all Southern schools.

A speaker of this language would be a Hickophone. The following are excerpts from the Hickphonics/English dictionary:

HEIDI -noun. Greeting.
HIRE YEW -Complete sentence. Remainder of greeting. Usage: "Heidi, hire yew?"
BARD -verb. Past tense of the infinitive "to borrow."
JAWJUH -noun. The State north of Florida. Capitol is Lanner. Usage: "My brother from Jawjuh bard my pickup truck."
BAMMER -noun. The State west of Jawjuh. Capitol is Berminhayum. Usage: "A tornader jes went through Bammer an' left $20,000,000 in improvements."
MUNTS -noun. A calendar division. Usage: "I ain't herd from him in munts."
THANK -verb. Ability to cognitively process. Usage: "Ah thank ah'll have a bare."
BARE -noun. An alcoholic beverage made of barley, hops, and yeast.
IGNERT -adjective. Not smart. See "Arkansas native." Usage: "Them Bammer boys sure are ignert!"
RANCH -noun. A tool used for tight'nin' bolts.
ALL -noun. A petroleum-based lubricant.
FAR -noun. A conflagration. Usage: "If my brother from Jawjuh don't change the all in my pickup truck, that thing's gonna catch far."
TAR -noun. A rubber wheel. Usage: "Gee, I hope that brother of mine from Jawjuh don't git a flat tar in my pickup truck."
TIRE -noun. A tall monument. Usage: "Lord willin' and the creek don't rise, I sure do hope to see that Eiffel Tire in Paris sometime."
RETARD -Verb. To stop working. Usage: "My grampaw retard at age 65."
FAT -noun, verb. 1. a battle or combat. 2. to engage in battle or combat.
RATS -noun. Entitled power or privilege. Usage: "We Southerners are willin' to fat for are rats."
FARN -adjective. Not local. Usage: "I cuddint unnerstand a wurd he sed....mus' be from some farn country."
DID -adjective. Not alive. Usage: "He's did, Jim."
EAR -noun. A colorless, odorless gas: Oxygen. Usage: "He cain't breathe....give 'im some ear!"
BOB WAR -noun. A sharp, twisted cable.
JEW HERE -Noun and verb contraction. Usage: "Jew here that my brother from Jawjuh got a job with that bob war fence cump'ny?"
HAZE -a contraction. Usage: "Is Bubba smart?" "Nah....haze ignert. He ain't thanked but a minnit 'n 'is laf."
SEED -verb, past tense of "to see".
VIEW -contraction: verb and pronoun. Usage: "I ain't never seed New York City....view?"
GUMMIT -Noun. A bureaucratic institution. Usage: "Them gummit boys shore are ignert."

enjoy!
judy

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 06 May 98 - 10:11 PM

G'day all,

A sideline on the point about the pitch of the call "air ball" (mentioned on the posting from steve t, on 04-May-98.

If the researcher believes the pitch is influenced by the frequency of the lighting (and its hum), he could check to see if the call occurs in countries (such as Australia, UK, etcetera) where the mains frequency is 50 Hertz, not 60 Hertz, and see if there is a commensurate lowering of pitch.

I can't give any firsthand gen on this one as I have never seen a basketball game in the flesh - and such TV coverage as I see in passing does not concentrate on the audience. (Generally, you can't hear much at all over the commentators.)

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From:
Date: 06 May 98 - 07:54 PM

No Rich, those LL Bean boots aren't gumrubbers or gumboots. Gumrubbers or gumboots are entirely rubber. The LL Bean boots, usually called Duck Boots, have a rubber bottom and a leather top. Gumrubbers are for mucking around in the barnyard mud or puddles, while Duck Boots are meant to keep your feet dry while hunting. They lace up and so provide better ankle support as you walk over fallen trees, down hills, etc.

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: Joe Offer
Date: 06 May 98 - 02:54 AM

Ah, Rich - I haven't heard the term "bubbler" in years. I moved to Racine, Wisconsin, from Detroit in fifth grade, and got in trouble with the nuns the first week of school for drinking from the forbidden bubbler. I think it must have been the Bubbler of the Knowledge of Good and Evil - but I didn't know what the heck a bubbler was. That's one word that hasn't spread very far - I'd say it's used in just a few counties of southeastern Wisconsin.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: rich r
Date: 05 May 98 - 10:41 PM

Not sure but I think I may have seen gumrubbers or something akin to that in an L L Bean catalog. They are from Maine which is the same as eastern Canada, right?

Joe - It's obvious they can pronounce "haiouse" with all five vowels becase the "e" is silent. To compensate did you teach your kids that the water fountain or drinking fountain is really a bubbler? In eastern Wisconsin, school teachers even used the term.

rich r

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: Bill D
Date: 05 May 98 - 07:26 PM

Joe...just like the Texan who explained that he was driving across his 'rainch' (ranch) when his truck broke down, so got a 'rainch' (wrench) out to fix it, but in doing so, he 'rainched' (twisted uncomfortably) his arm, and got his hands dirty, so he had to get some water to 'rainch'(rinse) 'em off

( I also knew some kids who were always going across the 'filled')[field]

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From:
Date: 05 May 98 - 07:22 PM

We always called them gumrubbers where I grew up in eastern Canada. There was even a section of town called Gumrubber Gulch, after the supposed preferred footwear of the people of that area. I've also heard them called gumboots in eastern Canada. Pretty well the same thing as wellies, except that English wellies tend to be all green, whereas over here only hobby farmers and ex-urbanites use those green boots. Most folks wear the traditional black and red or black and orange ones, with or without the steel toe and shank. In fact I would argue that you can rather accurately judge a rural person's view of their social and economic status by whether or not they wear the green wellies or the traditional black and red or black and orange gumrubbers. Rather like U and Non-U in the UK:)

But the Stompin' Tom song is titled The Gumboot Cloggeroo.

Maybe the US does appoint ambassadors based on political patronage, but what country doesn't? Most of the ones the US has sent up here to Canada have been quite competent.

Someone said "ise" is standard English everywhere except the US. I would dispute this in regard to Canada, because "ize" is almost always used nowadays. Perversely, we still spell "practice" the English way.

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: Joe Offer
Date: 05 May 98 - 04:32 AM

Well, that "na-na na na NA na" seems to come out "neener-neener-neener" (same melody) here in California. Prosecuting Attorney Marcia Clark even said it during the Simpson trial. Being a Midwesterner, it really bugs me that my kids grew up talking like their mother, a Californian.
People in California think they don't have accents, but they live in something they call a "haiouse." How they can use all five vowels in the pronunciation of a one-syllable word, I'll never know.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: Bill D
Date: 04 May 98 - 11:55 AM

a number of years ago in 'Psychology Today', there was an article on "na-na na na NA na"... it said that the notes were a natural spacing which arose in most cultures and seemed not to require being 'passed on'...it seems that kids will find them no matter what....

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: steve t
Date: 04 May 98 - 06:53 AM

Regarding Na na na-na na, I think I heard on CBC's As It Happens that, yes, the first two notes of the tune were the same everywhere. This came from a guy who was investigating fans at basketball games who chanted "air ball" always at the same pitch. The guy couldn't really explain it, though he theorized that PERHAPS the fans were listening to the hum of the lights whose frequency was the root note of a scale that included "air ball" -- which by the way is chanted to the first two notes of Na na na-na na.

And a cultural oddity of them Yanks? They appoint ambassadors as a reward for political campaign contributions. Then said ambassadors, ardent free-enterprise enthusiasts, tell Canadians they ought to subsidize their sporting teams the way US cities do. Do powerful countries emphasize sports more than smaller countries?

And FYI, folks, napkin, whatever it used to mean in Canada, just means napkin these days. I just thought my Dad was strange for calling them serviettes all those years.

I find pronunciations more confusing than word differences. I remember a guy telling me he was from uh-hia. And when I was twelve in Gettysburg, I was surprised at how poorly I knew US geography -- I'd never heard of the state of Marilyn.

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: Alice
Date: 04 May 98 - 01:23 AM

Good point, Frank. Have you seen the FOX "News" channel lately?? More like the FOX "Tabloid Gossip" channel.

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 03 May 98 - 06:49 PM

G'day Jerry Friedman,

OK, OK, so you may have caught me out in my addiction to Oxford dictionaries, warts and all. I'm afraid Oxford's various works take up a lot of the four (small) shelves devoted to dictionaries and dictionary references.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: judy
Date: 03 May 98 - 11:30 AM

Dani,

Great song, thanks but not the one I was trying to find.

Jerry: oinich-ke?

enjoy!
judy

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: Frank in the swamps
Date: 03 May 98 - 05:46 AM

Since this thread is called AMERICAN cultural oddities, I've got one all you fremmit fowk may not be aware of. Has anyone been puzzled by all the references over the last few years to the "liberal media"? I mean, I keep hearing disparaging and negative references relating the "liberal media" to every societal problem we have, from AIDS to Xenophobia (sorry, I couldn't think of a zed). And where do I hear about the "liberal media"? Oh, the t.v. radio, newspapers, mags. etc....

Frank i.t.s.

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: RS
Date: 03 May 98 - 01:46 AM

Over here (in my part of Canada) it's Na nana na na. (Can we post a midi to see if it's the same tune???)

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: Barry Finn
Date: 02 May 98 - 11:37 PM

& doesn't every language have "Na na nana na". Barry

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: Will
Date: 02 May 98 - 09:58 PM

We called them "gum boots" in B.C. (gumrubbers/wellies, that is).

Subject: RE: American Cultural oddities
From: Jerry Friedman
Date: 02 May 98 - 07:18 PM

Bob Bolton, I believe (from alt.usage.english among other places) that "-ise" is standard throughout the English-speaking world except for the U.S.--and Oxford University Press. Alan, most Americans don't pronounce the h in herb and herbal, and some don't pronounce in herbivore, herbaceous, and so on. (And some don't know those words.) Tim, where do people say "gumrubbers"? I've never heard it. I think what the British call wellies we down here just call boots, or rubber boots if we're being precise. Also, I think the British write "kerb", not "kurb". On a subject Judy brought up, does anyone know the Russian equivalent of "oink"? A friend of mine remembers it as "like a song" and wants to find it again.