Seesul´s lingual corner

[seesul]

The attackers launched rockets, then converged on the formation from 3:00 to 9:00 o' clock in
waves of 4 to 10, line abreast, and in "V" formations of 10 to 20, firing 20mm cannons and machine
guns, and brazenly flying through the formation as they completed their passes.

What does the connection 'line abreast' mean? Could anyone draw a picture of the formation please?

 

[wheelsup_cavu]

Here are a couple of pictures for you.


Wheels

 

[seesul]

That´s great, thank you mate!

 

[Lucky13]

Great thread guys! I learned my English in school as well, from the forth grade and continued until the last day in school in ninth grade, after that, the last two years I didn't have English in class.

Still learning after *mumbles* years....

 

[Lucky13]

Actually, if I may butt in here Roman, in your thread.....

Why the difference in the English and American spelling sometimes, like colour, color, aluminium, aluminum etc?

 

[seesul]

Feel free to to ask the questions here Jan and the others!
Btw, your English is excellent compared to mine. I´ve never learned English in the school but this forum helps me a lot. Especially Dan´s (LesofPrimus) vocabulary...it came in handy when I was in USA

 

[KMeyrick]

Actually, if I may butt in here Roman, in your thread.....

Why the difference in the English and American spelling sometimes, like colour, color, aluminium, aluminum etc?

there is absolutely no good reason for the difference.

That's like asking why bread is spelled with /ea/ and says the short /e/ sound, yet bead has /ea/ with the long /a/ sound.

English is a stupid language. there are more exceptions to the spelling rules than there are words that actually fit the rule.

 

[vikingBerserker]

Webster (the dictionary guy) actually had a lot to do with the adaption of "or" vs "our" in the US. That's they way he spelled them and as the main dictionary writer in the US, that's they way it was taught in school.

 

[seesul]

Hi Kelly,

how are you and your family doin´? Mike was on visit at you few days ago, right?

 

[GrauGeist]

I was told once, a long time ago, that the ommission of extra vowels in the American dialect is a form of language evolution. Much like actual English has over the years. The less letters in a word, the less effort to write...

If you've ever read any works by Shakespeare (or other works from the era), you'll see that the "Olde Englishe" of Merry Old England had many extra vowels that are no longer seen in modern English.

It's kind of the same thing with words like tomato. Typically, Americans pronounce it "tuh-may-toe" (it's "tuhmay-duh" in New Jersey) and the English pronounce it "toe-mah-toe".

 

[seesul]

What is the exact meaning of the following phrases?:

Here you go
Here we go
There we go

Here you go I use when I give something to someone but am not sure if it´s correct.

 

[GrauGeist]

What is the exact meaning of the following phrases?:

Here you go
Here we go
There we go

Here you go I use when I give something to someone but am not sure if it´s correct.

Here You Go: - I'm handing you a nice cold beer...
Here We Go: - Can be used in a number of ways, like the moment we lift off when we go flying, or at the point when something is about to start happening.
There we go: - Can be used like when you lift your child up or you've just hit the bullseye in a game of darts...

 

[seesul]

Thank you Dave!

 

[Jan7]

......Feel free to to ask the questions here Jan and the others!.......

..." blew a 30-foot (9 m) hole in the Royal Oak and as a result she flooded and quickly capsized." ....

"Royal Oak was anchored at Scapa Flow in Orkney, Scotland when she became the ...... She was attacked in the Inland Sea on 19 March 1945 by carrier aircraft from ..... "

Here are eixamples of the strangest things I've read in English: The kind of boats/ships, is female!.......In Spain, is male/neutral.





Jan.

 

[A4K]

Aircraft and other things are 'girls' too in English Jan!
A New Zealand poem about a treefeller, for example:

Jack stood on the jigger board,
The tree she gave a crack.
She was his only trigger,
And the bastard she fell back.

(This is unusual in that 'bastard' (masculine) is used with 'she' - the feminine should be 'bitch')

Evan

 

[evangilder]

In American English, ships and aircraft are usually referred to in the feminine form or neutral. I have never heard anyone refer to either in a masculine context.

Besides:
Airplanes and women are alike in that they both have cockpits.

 

[Marcel]

In Dutch it's the same, ships are female. They always getr female names and referred to in a female way. Strangely enough not so in German there it's "das boot", "das" referring to the neutral gender of boot (boat).

 

[Messy1]

A few centuries ago, I think it was considered bad luck not to have a womans figure somewhere on the ship, such as the bow.
Might lend to ships being considered female.

 

[vikingBerserker]

In American English, ships and aircraft are usually referred to in the feminine form or neutral. I have never heard anyone refer to either in a masculine context.

Besides:
Airplanes and women are alike in that they both have cockpits.

and expensive to maintain!

 

[GrauGeist]

Besides:
Airplanes and women are alike in that they both have cockpits.