Misuse of English as she should be spoken.

[1DC]

Used to be a pub in Grimsby called the Oil Millers Arms remember going in a few times when i was young but it us no longer with us and unfortunately due to age i can no longer remember where it used to be..

[Capetonian]

The Oil Millers Arms was situated at 30 East Marsh Street. This pub was built in 1865 and took its name from Sowerby's oil mill, which stood just a few yards away down East Marsh Street. In 1943 the Oil Millers saw tragedy when a butterfly bomb hit the building.

[G-CPTN]

Petty France ? Wasn't that - is it still - the address of the UK Passport Office ?

"Petty France literally means 'Little France' and takes its name from the fact there was obviously a hub of people of a certain ethnicity – in this case, the French, living in the street."

[Pontius Navigator]

As the 300 series delivered about 2,500 lbs static thrust (2,500x4) but with slightly lower take-off weight you could say it was overpowered and for fatigue reasons we were eventually restricted to cruise power for take off.

Nerd alert!

Wasn't the 301 later derated resulting in 18,000 lbf (dynamic) as opposed to the earlier rated 22000 lbf original specification that was restored during the Black Buck raids?

Two English/American words I hate are nerd and gig... makes one's skin crawl.

Etymology of nerd

I checked with a BB pilot. He confirmed that they used cruise power in peacetime but for BB at weights of IRO 195K used take off power. He was not aware of any physical modification to restore the take-off power with 301 engines.

Our best guess is the engines were 'effectively ' derated by switch action alone.

Another 'limitation ' was 'mass rapid' start. The aircraft had 6,000psi air bottles for engine start. T here was sufficient air to start all 4 engines simultaneously with one further shot later. A feature of the mass rapid was the lack of any instruments until the engines spooled up. It meant there was the risk of fire etc but no warning. It was limited to emergency use only.

We did it once for prestige demonstration. We sat there, everything off except radios all running off 28v. On the go, hit start, 25-30 seconds later rolling, 15 seconds later airborne. Then hands a blur getting everything switched on.

[TheGreenGoblin]

I checked with a BB pilot. He confirmed that they used cruise power in peacetime but for BB at weights of IRO 195K used take off power. He was not aware of any physical modification to restore the take-off power with 301 engines.

Our best guess is the engines were 'effectively ' derated by switch action alone.

Another 'limitation ' was 'mass rapid' start. The aircraft had 6,000psi air bottles for engine start. T here was sufficient air to start all 4 engines simultaneously with one further shot later. A feature of the mass rapid was the lack of any instruments until the engines spooled up. It meant there was the risk of fire etc but no warning. It was limited to emergency use only.

We did it once for prestige demonstration. We sat there, everything off except radios all running off 28v. On the go, hit start, 25-30 seconds later rolling, 15 seconds later airborne. Then hands a blur getting everything switched on.

PN, very interesting to read and your pursuit of the facts in this matter is much appreciated by me! The 'derated by switch alone' concept makes a lot of sense.

[Capetonian]

This is a disgrace, as it encourages and legitimises the use of incorrect, sloppy and uneducated English. It will add to the pride that the lowlife have in speaking as badly as possible. When people speak to me like that, rarely since I don't mix with such people, I ask them in my snobbiest accent if they could kindly speak English.

Sumfin, summink and sumthin have all been added as a variation for something, and 'whatevs' also makes the list of new slang words in the Oxford English Dictionary.

[Magnus]

There is an area in Edinburgh called Little France. It is close to an area called Liberton which is supposedly named for a leper colony (Leper Town). We should probably rename it Hansens-disease-town as the term "leper" is now considered pejorative.

[Pontius Navigator]

Frequently with foreign doctors and even with English nurses I need murder to interpret. Some telephone calls with Indian call centres are impossible.

[GrumpyOldFart]

Reguly is frequently used instead of regularly. Same with particuly / particularly.

There's a difference between uninterested and disinterested. Look them up if you're interested.

[Slasher]

Although interested once, I am uninterested in disinterest. If you offer 8% interest or above I’ll view it with interest after I study it disinterestingly.

Can someone please tell the Yanks for the umpteenth time it’s ALUMINIUM not a-loominum. Tarnation every time I hears it it’s enough to make me heave up me helpin’ of fried squirrel gizzards and shoo-fly pie supper!

[ExSp33db1rd]

There's no hope with the Yanks - Centre/Center, Boot/Trunk, Lift/Elevator, Ground floor/First floor, Armour/Armor, Car/Auto (they're were not even "auto" when first developed with "manual" gear change, and only now describe today's world of driverless cars ? ) etc. etc. and even if spell it correctly they pronounce it incorrectly, Norrich / Norewich ( Norwich ) And where did they get the idea of illogical date progression, I don't mind if it is D/M/Y or Y/M/D i.e. small, medium, large or large, medium, small, but where do they get medium, small, large from? Today is the 23rd of October, so what is wrong with 23/10/19 ( even 19/10/23 if you insist ) instead of their 10/23/19 ?

They must have had it right originally, so where did it all go wrong ? two Nations divided by a common language, as Churchill remarked.

[llondel]

Some words definitely have a different meaning in the US... This from the weekend just past.

[Slasher]

Today is the 23rd of October, so what is wrong with 23/10/19 ( even 19/10/23 if you insist ) instead of their 10/23/19 ?

You may remember ExSp33d the cheque encashment facility we had at nightstop pubs with SQ.

At the LAX pub I wrote out a cheque (I mean...check) for the Sing equivalent of $100 and dated it 04/1/1991.

Fast forward to a week later. I get abused by Dedley Luster for my LAX cheque - its bounced! On top of that I was punished with a week’s worth of Madrases! I told him that’s crap and showed him how much I had stashed in my OCBC account.

I worked out and told him the Yanks interpreted it as post-dated 1st April. From then on I wrote out the date fully e.g. as above 01st January 1991.

He accepted that and I got my cheque encashment facility back but the bastard didn’t cancel the Madrases.

[Capetonian]

I detest the 'American' date format, which is used elsewhere too. In ZA it is used by official bodies but generally not used in commerce, so there is much confusion. For many years now I have used the format 23OCT19 which I believe eliminates confusion for all but the terminally stupid.

[ExSp33db1rd]

Madrases

In Sp33db1rd days I landed at Madras flying an aircraft in Malaysian colours, some sort of BA/MAS charter deal that I forget now, and on landing we hit a bird and the Co-Pilot reported it to the tower, suggesting that they clear it up. During the Met/Flt. planning briefing I was prsented with a Bird Strike report. Place of Incident,time, type of bird, colour of bird, size of bird on and on and on, and then was told that they had no Large, Brown, Eagle like birds in Madras. I then said that they had that day, and I had killed it so they were probably going to charge me for it ? No sir, we don't charge for dead birds in India, was the reply.

Back on the aircraft I told the Co-Pilot never to report hitting a bird landing at Madras again ! ( or complete his own report ! )

Don't miss the place, and can't even remember what they call it now, still Madras to me ( and Bombay )

[ExSp33db1rd]

Further to my comment on Madras, in addition to the bird strike incident I also asked if I could photograph the aeroplane, it being in Malaysian colours and "Photography forbidden at Indian airports" said The Rules.

"Why do you want to photograph your aeroplane," asked the Flt. Planner ? 'cos it's red, and I usually fly a blue one, was my reply.

"I will have to get you permission". Then there followed a long series, about 5 from memory, of calls to higher and higher authority, and always answering " He says it's because it's red" but clearly never getting permission and being passed to the next "official". Eventually I could wait no longer and told him to forget it. "You now don't want to photograph your aeroplane ? " Correct. There then followed the same series of phone calls, saying " the Captain does not now want to photograph his aeroplane."

India ! I don't miss it, tho' the Taj Mahal was worth a visit.

[Pontius Navigator]

After a shag with a shag on a shag rug he had a drag on a fag.

How long would that take to translate?

[Pontius Navigator]

Never went to Madras, went to Chennai though .

They have a charming association with time. A walk in the morning is actually in the middle of the night. See you at 6 o'clock is an expression of hope rather than expectation. Would you like a drink before dinner is actually offering whisky. A military restaurant is no good for a vegan.

[Pontius Navigator]

Of misunderstanding, I took my car into a Greek Cypriot garage with written instructions for something 'to make good damage '. My instructions were translated into Greek* and the car duly repaired. However the boss said that 'make good damage' to a Greek meant 'welly the car with an hammer'.

*As it happens the translator was a 'daughter of' at Akrotiri and also worked for me in the Mess shop. She was the typical dumb blonde type, legs to a belt round her waist and snow white hair, but not that dumb doing English-Greek translation.

[Capetonian]

Many years ago a monoglot schoolfriend of mine, who surname was Baines, was in Germany on holiday with his latest squeeze, who had some problem with her waterworks. I am not quite sure how it happened but in looking for a urologist, they managed to find a Doktor Jura. Which is a Doctor of Law. Apparently the receptionist was not amused - this was Germany - when they turned up with a small bottle of urine sample.

On the way home through Belgium his old banger broke down and he took it to a garage where they noted down his details. When he went to get the car he was amused to notice that on the invoice they had written : "Mr. Penis of England". He was a prick so they got it right.