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I don't thing British "chose" a German/Dutch word, it was the native choice. We speak a Germanic language, though it has been quite influenced by French and Lat
by memsom 4y ago
I don't thing British "chose" a German/Dutch word, it was the native choice. We speak a Germanic language, though it has been quite influenced by French and Latin loan words. Faucet sounds like a much "posher" word to me, native British English speaker.
I think this is a common theme. British English has earthier words, American English seems to have fancier terms in a lot of cases - but sometimes it is reverse. Pot luck really, though I think AmE is the fancier one for general terms. The one that always sticks in my mind is the AmE "transmission", which is in BE, "gearbox". I wouldn't know what "transmission" means if someone hadn't told me, but I could have worked out what gearbox was from the fact it was talking about gears.
- pokeymcsnatch 4y agoHm. As an American, there's several gearboxes on my car but only one of them is the transmission.
- hajile 4y agoFurther, "transmission" refers to the thing sending power over the driveshaft. The RPM and torque are actually rather analogous to the frequency and amplitude of a radio wave rotating around a polar graph.
- memsom 4y agoI didn't say it was an accurate name, but it is what we call it. Just like we call the "gas pedal" the accelerator. (which is obviously an example of the reverse - fancier word vs earthy word.)
- kemiller 4y agoThere actually was a movement in British literature to favor Anglo-Saxon words that took hold after the American revolution.
- memsom 4y agoAnglish, I know. It is, unfortunately, really fragmented and full of idiolects.
- gnubison 4y agoI find this interesting because I (and most Americans?) see BE as much more “posh” than AmE … I guess I’ll be looking out for actual word differences/etymologies more now