The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #64745   Message #1436779
Posted By: YorkshireYankee
17-Mar-05 - 07:05 AM
Thread Name: BS: English To English Dictionary
Subject: RE: BS: English To English Dictionary
Back to "5 to 6"...

In Yorkshire, they use "while" the way most others use "until" (or "till"). Example: "The shop's open from 9 while 5."

There's a joke I've heard concerning the introduction of traffic lights to Yorkshire (which wasn't exactly recent, so I'm assuming it's an oldish joke); because this was a new thing, the lights were accompanied by signs with instructions: "Stop here while the light is red." So of course the Yorkshireman concerned stops & waits through the green & yellow lights, and continues on his way when the light turns red...

Another expression that took some getting used to for me was "stopping" (meaning "staying"). Example: About 5 pm, a work mate asked me "Are ye stoppin'?" I was planning to stop working in a couple of minutes, so I said "Yes." He took that to mean that I would be staying & working late...

Yet another rich source of misunderstanding is the word "dinner". Of course, that varies from region to region in the US as well as in the UK. I have read about a public speaker (in the UK) who ended up double-booked because he had accepted "lunch" and "dinner" engagements – which both turned out to refer to the mid-day meal...