Re: The Worldwide Queen's English
By Darrell Clarke
G'day evriwun!
I just HAD to check my dictionary (Penguin, published in England) about "enquire". Yes, it is there, but they said it means to inquire! (drat). I would only give Robbie a half point score because it comes from the old English "enquiren" (dangerous ground here because the original Latin is inquirere!). I then checked "ensure" and now we are on safer ground -- "insure" relates to insurance policies but in North America, it also means "ensure". Not to worry, mostly we can understand each other, no matter which ever side of whatever pond we live!
By the way, Dan, I had better not say that Labor voters in Australia never could spell properly, it might get me into even more deep manure! The "or" ending is creeping back in here, from North America I suspect, but I believe that the "our" ending is not original, having been adopted from French more recently. This debate could go on for ever, so I had better back now out whilst I am ahead! (?)
Oo roo!, (English translation: T' ra!)
Darrell |
(Message sent Tue 1 Oct 1996, 15:56:00 GMT, from time zone GMT-0600.) |
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