OP
OP
Yellow Fang
Legendary Member
- Location
- Reading
Why do we in Britain pronounce 'lieutenant' as 'leftenant'?
Things that have bothered you for a long time.
- Thread starter Yellow Fang
- Start date
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"The origin of the βtype of forms (which survives in the usual British pronunciation, though the spelling represents the αtype) is difficult to explain. The hypothesis of a mere misinterpretation of the graphic form (u read as v ), at first sight plausible, does not accord with the facts. In view of the rare Old French form luef for lieu (with which compare especially the 15th cent. Scots forms luf- , lufftenand above) it seems likely that the labial glide at the end of Old French lieu as the first element of a compound was sometimes apprehended by English-speakers as a v or f . Possibly some of the forms may be due to association with leave n.1 or lief adj."
Isn't the OED a wonderful thing?
classic33
Leg End Member
Any you could repeat on here?
wheresthetorch
Dreaming of Celeste
- Location
- West Sussex
Ah - my school was quite posh so we had the roll version!
LCpl Boiled Egg
Three word soundbite
Andy in Germany
Guru
- Location
- Freiburg im Breisgau
Ah - my school was quite posh so we had the roll version!
I see a Pythonesque direction for the thread approaching...
Andy in Germany
Guru
- Location
- Freiburg im Breisgau
Not if I want to stay a member. They were firmly "West Midlands teen dialect"; I'm sure you can fill in the gaps
Chris S
Legendary Member
- Location
- Birmingham
Who was the first person to find out that a badger's arse was rough and how did they find out?
wheresthetorch
Dreaming of Celeste
- Location
- West Sussex
Badgers engage in a mutual practice known as 'anal rubbing', so maybe they reported back.
oldwheels
Legendary Member
- Location
- Isle of Mull
I also might stop the b-----s stealing them which used to happen.
Beebo
Firm and Fruity
- Location
- Hexleybeef
I always assumed the rubbish paper was so no one stole it.
Chris S
Legendary Member
- Location
- Birmingham
You could use it as tracing paper though.
neil_merseyside
Guru
- Location
- Wirral
And for rollies I believe - in the absence of a bible page.
Chris S
Legendary Member
- Location
- Birmingham
Do Lidl sell fruit that has been genetically engineered to go soft quickly?
neil_merseyside
Guru
- Location
- Wirral
No they sell it for flavour and hence ripe so of course it doesn't last, for fruit/veg to last you need the flavourless rock hard supermarket stuff that all the big names underpay farmers for.
