Is it Fall or is it Autumn?
Apparently the term Autumn did not come into wide use until the late 14th century and gradually replaced “harvest” as the description for the period between summer and winter. Fall came into use in the 17th century as a poetic term and did not ‘originate’ this side of the pond, contrary to popular belief. But it did come into use just as American English and British English were becoming somewhat separate and Fall won the battle in the US, probably because it was a newer and more on trend term.
What about some of our other language differences?
These are well documented and due to the ubiquitous presence of US media in the UK, we know the differences all too well, even if we have never set foot in the USA.
Sidewalk for pavement, fries for chips, (don’t lapse here or you will get a disappointing bowl of crisps with your meal instead of substantial steak fries), elevator for lift, two weeks for a fortnight, trunk for boot and so on and so on. But living here you also realise there are subtle or not so subtle differences in the language used in different areas of the US too.
There is a huge Spanish influence here in Texas which has spilled over into the language and culture. 29% of the population speak Spanish as their first language. The main difference in the southern states and in Texas in particular is in the dialect of English used, rather than the words per se. The dialect used often conveys a totally different sound to a word and does make it somewhat hard for us Brits to understand sometimes.
Which is also why it is often difficult for Texans to understand us, probably more so when we try to enunciate all the more clearly. We just get these very puzzled looks and “excuse me?” from the locals, until we slip into a drawl or a carefully chosen word. It is all the more understandable if you think that nearly 30% of the population have learned this dialect form of English as their second language so the differences in pronunciation are all the more, well, pronounced, for them.
One word which I seem to have great difficulty conveying to the natives is “water”. Something about the way I say it makes it well nigh impossible for waiting staff to understand or grasp. “A glass of tap water, please”.
Now that’s not too hard is it? “Excuse me?” comes the question. “A – glass – of – wa-ter – please”. Nope. Still not getting it. “A glaas of waate’r please”. “Certainly. Coming right up”.
Give me strength.
The other slightly more tedious (for pedantic moi) language issue is the one of spelling. My US language iPhone and my location detecting laptop have determined that my spell check should be US English. Thus colour is changed routinely to color, behaviour to behavior and of course every place we would use -ise is changed to -ize. Double consonants are whittled at a stroke to a single letter, usually ‘L’, and then there’s aluminium which gets a complete makeover to aluminum with the removal of a single ‘i’.
Dates are listed ‘back to front’ with the month before the day (why?), and don’t get me started on the whole imperial/metric thing. Cups for goodness sake? These seem such arbitrary measures which bear no relation to any sensible scientific use. Let’s just mix a cup of oxygen with a couple of cups of hydrogen shall we?
I am constantly going back and fore between centigrade and fahrenheit. I find centigrade comforting and fahrenheit almost fantastically boastful in the epic scale of the numbers used. We did hit the dizzy heights in the summer months – over 100 fahrenheit, which doesn’t seem so threatening when expressed in the upper 30s centigrade. I can cope with 37 – but feel decidedly warm at 100.
But I do quite like the term “Fall” for Autumn. It does seem a bit more poetic, even if one of my favourite (not favorite, note) poems is “To Autumn”.
We are imperceptibly slipping into Fall here. It is still warm, no sign of leaves changing colour (not color) much down here, but the evenings are very pleasant, almost cool now. The shops (not stores) are full of all the Halloween paraphernalia you could possibly want. And already – two weeks away from Halloween – many items are reduced. It goes without saying that Christmas goods are everywhere too and the shelves full of the Halloween sale items are gradually being stocked with yet more Christmas stuff.
Houses are decorated to excess. Whole families of skeletons sit outside with skeleton pets. Trees are covered in fake cobwebs and pumpkins are everywhere. Fairy lights of orange bedeck the doors and windows and ghosts are hung from any suitable erection in front gardens (not yards).
My efforts are very muted. A couple of tasteful (actually tasteless) pumpkin men adorn the mantelpiece and a cheap and cheerful garland of fake leaves hangs above the slightly more tasteful vase of autumn (not fall) foliage.
I can’t believe we are half way through October already. Where has the time gone?
“Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom friend of the maturing sun…..”
Here are a few of my Fall/Autumn highlights so far.
Whole Other Country 