Originally posted by slosprint
sort of like "torch" is to "Flashlight" or "lift" is to "elevator"? Give me a break.
Originally posted by gouldy
sounds like a typical lazy American word to me, i.e. just missing off letters to make the word shorter to suit the intelligence of its audience
sounds like a typical lazy American word to me, i.e. just missing off letters to make the word shorter to suit the intelligence of its audience
sort of like "torch" is to "Flashlight" or "lift" is to "elevator"? Give me a break.
These are examples of things invented after the division of the two languages occured and American English has simply come up with a different word to describe the same item. What I'm referring to is the shortening of already existing English words. Such as altering the French "uer" sound off the end of written words, even though they're still said basically the same, for example "Flavour" becomes "Flavor".
There are anomalies, but you must agree that in American English a lot of letters are missed out altogether to generally shorten words.
This is even generally true of words created after the division of the two languages, for example "Aeroplane" in comparison to "Airplane" or "Aluminium" in comparison to "Aluminum". The two cases you point out are completely different names to describe the same object, rather than it being derived from the same name.