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I don't think it's necessary—or even useful—to have a parenthetical note in each individual case where the other meaning has "bled over" and become a secondary meaning. Mkweise 03:26 25 May 2003 (UTC)
I was going to add this, but wanted to make sure I had it right, first.
Word | British meaning | American meaning |
garage | car repair establishment (accented first syllable) | covered automobile parking facility (accented second syllable) |
Hephaestos 17:53 21 Jun 2003 (UTC)
...Months later, this has appeared
garage
parking lot
mechanic shop
parking space at home
Removed it again, because all the meanigs seem to be both British and American. Andy G 18:47, 23 Jan 2004 (UTC)
Let's set this straight.
Here in Britain, there are about four meanings:
It is most certainly never used over here to mean a car park (or parking lot as you Americans say). -- Smjg 12:38, 27 Jan 2004 (UTC)
Can someone confirm the American side of this for me? Matthew Woodcraft
From WordNet (r) 1.7.1 (July 2002) [wn]: oblong adj 1: of a leaf shape; having a somewhat elongated form with approximately parallel sides 2: deviating from a square or circle or sphere by being elongated in one direction n : a plane figure that deviates from a square or circle due to elongation
I'm no big expert on this, so if I'm wrong please forgive me, but what about "fancy dress party" as opposed to "costume party"?
Does "flashlight" mean "strobe light" in british english? Greenmountainboy 03:08, 11 Dec 2003 (UTC)
I've just made the following changes: Bird a slang term for a woman is much less common than the other use of that word. Fag can also be a young public school boy who acts as a servant for older pupils. Geezer can mean a man aswell as a gangster. Mad has both meanings in UK aswell as USA, but insane is more common in UK than angry. Period can also be a section of time in the UK aswell. Rubber can also mean mean condom in UK.
Does this sound like complete nonsence to you or is it just me?:
(to) ring to call (someone) by telephone to make a bell-like sound; you cannot ring people unless they are wearing a bell. (Note: "To give someone a ring" is to call someone in British English, while in American English it's to give an ornamental band to someone). Also understood as "to call on the telephone" when said as "here's my number, give me a ring when you can" or similarly.
Saul Taylor 08:52, 24 Dec 2003 (UTC)
Why on earth would you use a purely American term to define the "British" meaning of a particular word? For example, to the British Bum means Butt. To be of any use, this article must be completely comprehensible to all English speakers. I would suggest the use of culturally-neutral English in all definitions. 195.238.50.252 05:05, 31 Dec 2003 (UTC)
I think skillet means the same thing in British English as it does in American English. Can someone verify this? Greenmountainboy 15:03, 31 Dec 2003 (UTC)
Regards "tyke": Both terms are used in British English. The word is described as "chiefly Scots and Northern English" in the Chambers dictionary. I'd also suggest that it's use for "Yorkshireman" is no more insulting than Scouse or Geordie. In Australian English it's an insulting word for a Catholic, but as far as America and Britain are concerned, I think both sides of the Atlantic use tyke to mean "little rascall", but Britain also uses it to mean dog and Yorkshireman. - Nommo 14:28, 12 Jan 2004 (UTC)
"Tailgater" also has the supposed British meaning in the US. Meaning is derived from context. RickK 02:10, 18 Jan 2004 (UTC)
Removed garage again - see higher up this page. Andy G 18:47, 23 Jan 2004 (UTC)
I've just looked this up - the page here states that the British meaning is spelled "sherbet" and the American and Australian meanings are "sherbert". But the text of the American definition has mixed the two spellings, and various online dictionaries seem to give either both spellings or only "sherbet".
Further to the inconsistency, our article states that sherbert is slightly different from sorbet, and others indicate that they're the same thing. Or is "sorbet" another word with different meanings that are being mixed up in the various sources?
And some sources are hopelessly out of date. AHD's second definition:
No mention at all of the only meaning that tends to be used over here anymore, which as whoever just edited quite rightly says, is sweet fizzy powder.
What I'd do is:
Smjg 15:16, 2 Feb 2004 (UTC)
Between Meadow's law and SIDS saw that Brits call it "cot death" and Merricans call it "crib death." Does that suggest a broader split over cot and crib? For USians, a crib is a small bed with high headboards and slatted sides. A cot is usually made of canvas stretched over four low legs. And a cradle is much smaller than a crib, and usually/often rocks like a rocking chair. Is it different in British English? Am I making any sense? jengod 19:08, Feb 4, 2004 (UTC)
As a Brit, I don't agree with "geezer" meaning gangster. It is mostly used (at least in London) in the same way as the word "bloke" e.g. "I met this geezer down the pub....", "old geezer"=="old bloke" "fat geezer"=="fat bloke" etc.. However it has started to be used differently in recent years, as per this Guardian article [2]
As an American, I've never heard it used except to imply that someone is old. Often redundantly as in "old geezer" or as in "fat geezer"=="Fat old man". I've never heard the gangster use before.
Osprey
So what does "Mad" in Mad magazine mean? Angry? Have you heard of Angry Cow Disease? Does the acronym for Mutually Assured Destruction imply that it is an angry action or an insane action. Is Mad scientist confusing to you? I could go on. Mintguy 10:02, 6 Feb 2004 (UTC)'
I'm not going to put mad back in, but here's my contribution to the debate: "There's also 'mad hatter' and 'mad as a hatter'--there are plenty of examples of mad meaning insane. But if you go up to an American and say, 'Jimmy's mad,' the American will say, 'Why? What's he got to be angry about?' Not, 'Of course, he's mad. That guy's crazier than a junebug!' " jengod 17:58, Feb 6, 2004 (UTC)
The main meaning in BrEng is "crazy". The main meaning in AmEng is "angry". It is therefore useful to people if "mad" is in the list.
My (Brit/NI) wife just used the phrase "made redundant" (again) to refer, of course, to someone being "laid off" as we would say in Americay. Before I add, just wanted to float it here for a while. Do words that have an *additional* meaning in the UK appear here? - Feb 24, 2004 Gnetwerker
I think from reading on the Web that Brits and Americans have different meanings for series, when it comes for TV.
US: "I love season two of the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer." UK: "I love series two of Buffy the Vampire Slayer--it's the best of the seven."
Whadja think?
so it presumably doesn't belong here. But one might have included "wrench," which is a verb in both countries, yet seems to be a noun (meaning spanner) only in the US.
Disclaimer: I'm a Canadian, but I consider myself fluent in American English. To me, the most common meaning of band is a musical group. The second most common meaning is strap, such as in "rubber band". The jewelry ring meaning is only understood with context. -Tom
The American definition isn't quite right - hunting refers to pursuing animals by any means. -Tom
Firstly, "stroke" is rarely if ever used for the / character in the U.S. Secondly, where is "to take a slash" used? Can anyone confirm that this is an Americanism? The entire "slash" row should go away as far as I can tell. -- Yath 08:29, 9 May 2004 (UTC)
This addition "make a telephone call (also British usage, but this is becoming rare)" should've had the summary "usage ambiguation" not "usage clarification".
Do you mean that Americans also have what you've put as the British meaning, or that this is also a British usage? If you'd followed the pattern of the rest of the list, it would be clear. But either way, it doesn't clearly match my understanding.
But looking it up, all I can find is dependence on context and phrasing. As a Brit, I 'call' people on the phone (on the odd occasion that I get round to it). OTOH, one might 'call on' or 'call in on' someone, or 'call round', meaning to pay a brief visit.
-- Smjg 11:18, 20 May 2004 (UTC)
Are all these dictionaries incorrect? Thanks. P æ dia 21:24, 2004 Jun 28 (UTC)
Recent edit summary: this article is supposed to illustrate the differences between word usage -- grass means first and foremost "the green ground cover" in US English, too, so I removed that explanation
Notice that the column headings are "most common British meaning" and "most common American meaning". Even if these headings are rather out of date with current usage, it makes no sense to me to randomly omit the most common meaning from a given entry.
Moreover, we already list several meanings that are common to both sides of the pond. Without them, quite a few entries would be blank on one side. And though for some instances we have considered only one context, there is no common context of the definitions of "grass" we have. So removing the "green ground cover" meaning just doesn't seem right. -- Smjg 16:42, 8 Jul 2004 (UTC)
..as I've noticed other articles on wikipedia are. I don't know where most writers or admins are from, so I'm not saying this whole 'pedia should be american-centric. However, this article does little to help an American understand some of the UK meanings- like trunk. what the heck is trunk line?? And there are multiples for some. Of course, I know the US meanings really well. We call a huge suitcase a trunk, too. Anyway. I might do some of the tweeks (small changes, that is), but anyone else is welcome to. Kzzl
The article seems to be making a distinction based on capitalisation. In the UK, "Government" is used like "Administration" is in the US (with the differences based on political system). Meanwhile, "government" is used to mean the business of or pertaining to the running of a nation. Presumably, the latter meaning (that is, uncapitalised) is present in the US as well, while the capitalised version is not used in favour of "Administration". To be honest, this kind of difference needs a fourth page: List of words which are different in American and British English but directly equivalent. A bit of a mouthful, but how else do you describe it...? Â : )
For this bit of the article, I'm going to run with something like
government | Capitalised, refers to the executive (though this will include some of the legislature). Can take the indefinite article, referring to any party in power. See
Parliamentary system. Corresponds to "Administration" in American usage.
Uncapitalised, refers to the business of running a country. |
The word "Government" is not used in its capitalised form.
The uncapitalised meaning is the same as in the UK. |
which I'll add after posting this to let you know why I've made it more complicated. Wooster 20:49, 3 Aug 2004 (UTC) (wondering how many Britishisms/Briticisms he's made in this message : ) )
Pacifier doesn't mean one who opposes war in the UK. That's a pacifist. A pacifier is simply one who pacifies. I've therefore altered the entry. -- Necrothesp 08:37, 5 Aug 2004 (UTC)
We said "UK: Blah" and "US: Bleh", but we're meant to be talking about "British and American English", so shouldn't they be "BE: Blah" and "AE: Bleh"?
James F.
(talk) 01:11, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)
The reason why I put 'thousand million' in the 'most common British meaning' for is because that is the most common British meaning - e.g. it is now used exclusively in the UK Gov and BBC websites for finance, science, demographics, etc.; it is the value taught in schools. By reverting the 'most common British meaning' entry to 'million million (but US meaning more common)' an ambiguous statement has been created. Ian Cairns 08:04, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)
The same problem with the billion entry also exists for the Trillion entry. Ian Cairns 11:19, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)
StuartH: The name of the page is there for you to read. The column heading is also there - 'most common British meaning'. Your edit could lead someone to understand that the traditional meaning is nowadays the most common meaning. See above discussion on billion and the articles billion, trillion, short scale, long scale etc. Thanks, Ian Cairns 12:22, 2 Oct 2004 (UTC)
I'm not sure that this belongs. Is there any evidence to suggest that they really are forms of the same word? Or that anyone would confuse the two? -- Smjg 10:52, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC)
Huh? I have never heard a Brit use "period" with the American meaning of denoting emphasis. We Brits use "full stop" for that meaning as well. It derives from the punctuation mark. -- Smjg 11:36, 20 Sep 2004 (UTC)
I disagree with the changes Lysdexia has just made:
Given a meaning that is not listed, we have no means of seeing whether that meaning is common or just not yet considered for this list. Consequently, it could also lead to the same meanings being repeatedly added to one side of the list and then removed by someone who decides that the meaning is valid on both sides of the pond.
Moreover, it makes the list look incomplete where the BrE meanings form a subset of the AmE meanings or vice versa.
Perhaps better would be something like this:
Word | British meanings | Common to British and American | American meanings |
---|---|---|---|
garage | fuel filling station | vehicle repair shop building attached to or in the grounds of a residence for storing a car |
(parking garage) building serving as a public parking facility |
The only thing left to consider is how we should list meanings that are 'rare' on one side....
-- Smjg 15:44, 4 Nov 2004 (UTC)
This looks pointless to me, and creates inconsistencies (wanting nouns to be prefixed with "a", etc. to match). In my mind, the left-hand column should read like headwords in a dictionary.
Part of speech would be indicated as "(noun)", "(verb)", etc. after the word (as is already done for some entries), and only where the entry considers just one POS of two or more that a given word can be (the word deemed to be unambiguous in other PsOS).
-- Smjg 15:44, 4 Nov 2004 (UTC)
Being a bit of a pedant, could I suggest we use the term 'most common' rather than 'most unique' for the columnn headings? Or, preferably, 'more common', as some words do have multiple commonly used meanings. A thing is either unique or it isn't, and some of the words most definitely do not have unique meanings, let alone 'most unique'.
WLD 16:59, 22 Nov 2004 (UTC)
If British chips are thicker cut than the standard American version, then they are probably more like what Americans would call "Home fries". Rick K 20:49, Nov 25, 2004 (UTC)
Neither the American or British definitions give a metric equivalent or something to compare it with, both simply refer to each other. This shows that one is larger, however whether a pint is the same as the Pacific Ocean or a jar of honey is not shown. Could we be given a base of reference?
![]() | This page is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
I don't think it's necessary—or even useful—to have a parenthetical note in each individual case where the other meaning has "bled over" and become a secondary meaning. Mkweise 03:26 25 May 2003 (UTC)
I was going to add this, but wanted to make sure I had it right, first.
Word | British meaning | American meaning |
garage | car repair establishment (accented first syllable) | covered automobile parking facility (accented second syllable) |
Hephaestos 17:53 21 Jun 2003 (UTC)
...Months later, this has appeared
garage
parking lot
mechanic shop
parking space at home
Removed it again, because all the meanigs seem to be both British and American. Andy G 18:47, 23 Jan 2004 (UTC)
Let's set this straight.
Here in Britain, there are about four meanings:
It is most certainly never used over here to mean a car park (or parking lot as you Americans say). -- Smjg 12:38, 27 Jan 2004 (UTC)
Can someone confirm the American side of this for me? Matthew Woodcraft
From WordNet (r) 1.7.1 (July 2002) [wn]: oblong adj 1: of a leaf shape; having a somewhat elongated form with approximately parallel sides 2: deviating from a square or circle or sphere by being elongated in one direction n : a plane figure that deviates from a square or circle due to elongation
I'm no big expert on this, so if I'm wrong please forgive me, but what about "fancy dress party" as opposed to "costume party"?
Does "flashlight" mean "strobe light" in british english? Greenmountainboy 03:08, 11 Dec 2003 (UTC)
I've just made the following changes: Bird a slang term for a woman is much less common than the other use of that word. Fag can also be a young public school boy who acts as a servant for older pupils. Geezer can mean a man aswell as a gangster. Mad has both meanings in UK aswell as USA, but insane is more common in UK than angry. Period can also be a section of time in the UK aswell. Rubber can also mean mean condom in UK.
Does this sound like complete nonsence to you or is it just me?:
(to) ring to call (someone) by telephone to make a bell-like sound; you cannot ring people unless they are wearing a bell. (Note: "To give someone a ring" is to call someone in British English, while in American English it's to give an ornamental band to someone). Also understood as "to call on the telephone" when said as "here's my number, give me a ring when you can" or similarly.
Saul Taylor 08:52, 24 Dec 2003 (UTC)
Why on earth would you use a purely American term to define the "British" meaning of a particular word? For example, to the British Bum means Butt. To be of any use, this article must be completely comprehensible to all English speakers. I would suggest the use of culturally-neutral English in all definitions. 195.238.50.252 05:05, 31 Dec 2003 (UTC)
I think skillet means the same thing in British English as it does in American English. Can someone verify this? Greenmountainboy 15:03, 31 Dec 2003 (UTC)
Regards "tyke": Both terms are used in British English. The word is described as "chiefly Scots and Northern English" in the Chambers dictionary. I'd also suggest that it's use for "Yorkshireman" is no more insulting than Scouse or Geordie. In Australian English it's an insulting word for a Catholic, but as far as America and Britain are concerned, I think both sides of the Atlantic use tyke to mean "little rascall", but Britain also uses it to mean dog and Yorkshireman. - Nommo 14:28, 12 Jan 2004 (UTC)
"Tailgater" also has the supposed British meaning in the US. Meaning is derived from context. RickK 02:10, 18 Jan 2004 (UTC)
Removed garage again - see higher up this page. Andy G 18:47, 23 Jan 2004 (UTC)
I've just looked this up - the page here states that the British meaning is spelled "sherbet" and the American and Australian meanings are "sherbert". But the text of the American definition has mixed the two spellings, and various online dictionaries seem to give either both spellings or only "sherbet".
Further to the inconsistency, our article states that sherbert is slightly different from sorbet, and others indicate that they're the same thing. Or is "sorbet" another word with different meanings that are being mixed up in the various sources?
And some sources are hopelessly out of date. AHD's second definition:
No mention at all of the only meaning that tends to be used over here anymore, which as whoever just edited quite rightly says, is sweet fizzy powder.
What I'd do is:
Smjg 15:16, 2 Feb 2004 (UTC)
Between Meadow's law and SIDS saw that Brits call it "cot death" and Merricans call it "crib death." Does that suggest a broader split over cot and crib? For USians, a crib is a small bed with high headboards and slatted sides. A cot is usually made of canvas stretched over four low legs. And a cradle is much smaller than a crib, and usually/often rocks like a rocking chair. Is it different in British English? Am I making any sense? jengod 19:08, Feb 4, 2004 (UTC)
As a Brit, I don't agree with "geezer" meaning gangster. It is mostly used (at least in London) in the same way as the word "bloke" e.g. "I met this geezer down the pub....", "old geezer"=="old bloke" "fat geezer"=="fat bloke" etc.. However it has started to be used differently in recent years, as per this Guardian article [2]
As an American, I've never heard it used except to imply that someone is old. Often redundantly as in "old geezer" or as in "fat geezer"=="Fat old man". I've never heard the gangster use before.
Osprey
So what does "Mad" in Mad magazine mean? Angry? Have you heard of Angry Cow Disease? Does the acronym for Mutually Assured Destruction imply that it is an angry action or an insane action. Is Mad scientist confusing to you? I could go on. Mintguy 10:02, 6 Feb 2004 (UTC)'
I'm not going to put mad back in, but here's my contribution to the debate: "There's also 'mad hatter' and 'mad as a hatter'--there are plenty of examples of mad meaning insane. But if you go up to an American and say, 'Jimmy's mad,' the American will say, 'Why? What's he got to be angry about?' Not, 'Of course, he's mad. That guy's crazier than a junebug!' " jengod 17:58, Feb 6, 2004 (UTC)
The main meaning in BrEng is "crazy". The main meaning in AmEng is "angry". It is therefore useful to people if "mad" is in the list.
My (Brit/NI) wife just used the phrase "made redundant" (again) to refer, of course, to someone being "laid off" as we would say in Americay. Before I add, just wanted to float it here for a while. Do words that have an *additional* meaning in the UK appear here? - Feb 24, 2004 Gnetwerker
I think from reading on the Web that Brits and Americans have different meanings for series, when it comes for TV.
US: "I love season two of the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer." UK: "I love series two of Buffy the Vampire Slayer--it's the best of the seven."
Whadja think?
so it presumably doesn't belong here. But one might have included "wrench," which is a verb in both countries, yet seems to be a noun (meaning spanner) only in the US.
Disclaimer: I'm a Canadian, but I consider myself fluent in American English. To me, the most common meaning of band is a musical group. The second most common meaning is strap, such as in "rubber band". The jewelry ring meaning is only understood with context. -Tom
The American definition isn't quite right - hunting refers to pursuing animals by any means. -Tom
Firstly, "stroke" is rarely if ever used for the / character in the U.S. Secondly, where is "to take a slash" used? Can anyone confirm that this is an Americanism? The entire "slash" row should go away as far as I can tell. -- Yath 08:29, 9 May 2004 (UTC)
This addition "make a telephone call (also British usage, but this is becoming rare)" should've had the summary "usage ambiguation" not "usage clarification".
Do you mean that Americans also have what you've put as the British meaning, or that this is also a British usage? If you'd followed the pattern of the rest of the list, it would be clear. But either way, it doesn't clearly match my understanding.
But looking it up, all I can find is dependence on context and phrasing. As a Brit, I 'call' people on the phone (on the odd occasion that I get round to it). OTOH, one might 'call on' or 'call in on' someone, or 'call round', meaning to pay a brief visit.
-- Smjg 11:18, 20 May 2004 (UTC)
Are all these dictionaries incorrect? Thanks. P æ dia 21:24, 2004 Jun 28 (UTC)
Recent edit summary: this article is supposed to illustrate the differences between word usage -- grass means first and foremost "the green ground cover" in US English, too, so I removed that explanation
Notice that the column headings are "most common British meaning" and "most common American meaning". Even if these headings are rather out of date with current usage, it makes no sense to me to randomly omit the most common meaning from a given entry.
Moreover, we already list several meanings that are common to both sides of the pond. Without them, quite a few entries would be blank on one side. And though for some instances we have considered only one context, there is no common context of the definitions of "grass" we have. So removing the "green ground cover" meaning just doesn't seem right. -- Smjg 16:42, 8 Jul 2004 (UTC)
..as I've noticed other articles on wikipedia are. I don't know where most writers or admins are from, so I'm not saying this whole 'pedia should be american-centric. However, this article does little to help an American understand some of the UK meanings- like trunk. what the heck is trunk line?? And there are multiples for some. Of course, I know the US meanings really well. We call a huge suitcase a trunk, too. Anyway. I might do some of the tweeks (small changes, that is), but anyone else is welcome to. Kzzl
The article seems to be making a distinction based on capitalisation. In the UK, "Government" is used like "Administration" is in the US (with the differences based on political system). Meanwhile, "government" is used to mean the business of or pertaining to the running of a nation. Presumably, the latter meaning (that is, uncapitalised) is present in the US as well, while the capitalised version is not used in favour of "Administration". To be honest, this kind of difference needs a fourth page: List of words which are different in American and British English but directly equivalent. A bit of a mouthful, but how else do you describe it...? Â : )
For this bit of the article, I'm going to run with something like
government | Capitalised, refers to the executive (though this will include some of the legislature). Can take the indefinite article, referring to any party in power. See
Parliamentary system. Corresponds to "Administration" in American usage.
Uncapitalised, refers to the business of running a country. |
The word "Government" is not used in its capitalised form.
The uncapitalised meaning is the same as in the UK. |
which I'll add after posting this to let you know why I've made it more complicated. Wooster 20:49, 3 Aug 2004 (UTC) (wondering how many Britishisms/Briticisms he's made in this message : ) )
Pacifier doesn't mean one who opposes war in the UK. That's a pacifist. A pacifier is simply one who pacifies. I've therefore altered the entry. -- Necrothesp 08:37, 5 Aug 2004 (UTC)
We said "UK: Blah" and "US: Bleh", but we're meant to be talking about "British and American English", so shouldn't they be "BE: Blah" and "AE: Bleh"?
James F.
(talk) 01:11, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)
The reason why I put 'thousand million' in the 'most common British meaning' for is because that is the most common British meaning - e.g. it is now used exclusively in the UK Gov and BBC websites for finance, science, demographics, etc.; it is the value taught in schools. By reverting the 'most common British meaning' entry to 'million million (but US meaning more common)' an ambiguous statement has been created. Ian Cairns 08:04, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)
The same problem with the billion entry also exists for the Trillion entry. Ian Cairns 11:19, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)
StuartH: The name of the page is there for you to read. The column heading is also there - 'most common British meaning'. Your edit could lead someone to understand that the traditional meaning is nowadays the most common meaning. See above discussion on billion and the articles billion, trillion, short scale, long scale etc. Thanks, Ian Cairns 12:22, 2 Oct 2004 (UTC)
I'm not sure that this belongs. Is there any evidence to suggest that they really are forms of the same word? Or that anyone would confuse the two? -- Smjg 10:52, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC)
Huh? I have never heard a Brit use "period" with the American meaning of denoting emphasis. We Brits use "full stop" for that meaning as well. It derives from the punctuation mark. -- Smjg 11:36, 20 Sep 2004 (UTC)
I disagree with the changes Lysdexia has just made:
Given a meaning that is not listed, we have no means of seeing whether that meaning is common or just not yet considered for this list. Consequently, it could also lead to the same meanings being repeatedly added to one side of the list and then removed by someone who decides that the meaning is valid on both sides of the pond.
Moreover, it makes the list look incomplete where the BrE meanings form a subset of the AmE meanings or vice versa.
Perhaps better would be something like this:
Word | British meanings | Common to British and American | American meanings |
---|---|---|---|
garage | fuel filling station | vehicle repair shop building attached to or in the grounds of a residence for storing a car |
(parking garage) building serving as a public parking facility |
The only thing left to consider is how we should list meanings that are 'rare' on one side....
-- Smjg 15:44, 4 Nov 2004 (UTC)
This looks pointless to me, and creates inconsistencies (wanting nouns to be prefixed with "a", etc. to match). In my mind, the left-hand column should read like headwords in a dictionary.
Part of speech would be indicated as "(noun)", "(verb)", etc. after the word (as is already done for some entries), and only where the entry considers just one POS of two or more that a given word can be (the word deemed to be unambiguous in other PsOS).
-- Smjg 15:44, 4 Nov 2004 (UTC)
Being a bit of a pedant, could I suggest we use the term 'most common' rather than 'most unique' for the columnn headings? Or, preferably, 'more common', as some words do have multiple commonly used meanings. A thing is either unique or it isn't, and some of the words most definitely do not have unique meanings, let alone 'most unique'.
WLD 16:59, 22 Nov 2004 (UTC)
If British chips are thicker cut than the standard American version, then they are probably more like what Americans would call "Home fries". Rick K 20:49, Nov 25, 2004 (UTC)
Neither the American or British definitions give a metric equivalent or something to compare it with, both simply refer to each other. This shows that one is larger, however whether a pint is the same as the Pacific Ocean or a jar of honey is not shown. Could we be given a base of reference?