Today was Wednesday
R H Draney
"food day", because it's on Wednesday that the local newspaper carries a stack
of inserts listing all the sales for the various supermarket chains....
Today, my attention rested for a moment on a picture of a package of sausages in
one of the inserts...made by Hillshire Farms, the particular variety is called
"Beddar [sic] Cheddar" because the sausage is laced with little bits of cheddar
cheese that melt when the sausage is grilled....
The more conventionally-spelled version of the name rhymes almost perfectly in
American English, but fails miserably in BrE...in fact, I hazard a guess that
the wordplay would be considered horribly contrived and non-transparent to the
average Brit....
Are there similar product or company names in British English relying upon
similar linguistic whimsy, and that would likewise approach incomprehensibility
to the average Yank?...r
--
A pessimist sees the glass as half empty.
An optometrist asks whether you see the glass
more full like this?...or like this?
Mike Barnes
>...and in towns and cities across the United States, Wednesday is traditionally
>"food day", because it's on Wednesday that the local newspaper carries a stack
>of inserts listing all the sales for the various supermarket chains....
>
>Today, my attention rested for a moment on a picture of a package of
>sausages in
>one of the inserts...made by Hillshire Farms, the particular variety is called
>"Beddar [sic] Cheddar" because the sausage is laced with little bits of cheddar
>cheese that melt when the sausage is grilled....
>
>The more conventionally-spelled version of the name rhymes almost perfectly in
>American English, but fails miserably in BrE...in fact, I hazard a guess that
>the wordplay would be considered horribly contrived and non-transparent to the
>average Brit....
Until you pointed it out, I didn't see the wordplay at all. I read
Beddar as a rather ugly name of no particular significance.
For some years I had the same problem with "EZ". I had no idea that it
was supposed to mean something.
--
Mike Barnes
Cheshire, England
James Hogg
> R H Draney <dado...@spamcop.net>:
>> ...and in towns and cities across the United States, Wednesday is
>> traditionally "food day", because it's on Wednesday that the local
>> newspaper carries a stack of inserts listing all the sales for the
>> various supermarket chains....
>>
>> Today, my attention rested for a moment on a picture of a package
>> of sausages in one of the inserts...made by Hillshire Farms, the
>> particular variety is called "Beddar [sic] Cheddar" because the
>> sausage is laced with little bits of cheddar cheese that melt when
>> the sausage is grilled....
>>
>> The more conventionally-spelled version of the name rhymes almost
>> perfectly in American English, but fails miserably in BrE...in
>> fact, I hazard a guess that the wordplay would be considered
>> horribly contrived and non-transparent to the average Brit....
>
> Until you pointed it out, I didn't see the wordplay at all. I read
> Beddar as a rather ugly name of no particular significance.
The casein point conjured up for me the ladies that used to clean my
room in college.
--
James
franzi
> Mike Barnes wrote:
--
franzi
James Hogg
Wrong sex, wrong university, wrong title (unless Agnes wrote a lost
"Bedding for Gentlemen").
--
James
William
> R H Draney <dadoc...@spamcop.net>:
>
> >"food day", because it's on Wednesday that the local newspaper carries a stack
> >of inserts listing all the sales for the various supermarket chains....
>
> >Today, my attention rested for a moment on a picture of a package of
> >sausages in
> >one of the inserts...made by Hillshire Farms, the particular variety is called
> >"Beddar [sic] Cheddar" because the sausage is laced with little bits of cheddar
> >cheese that melt when the sausage is grilled....
>
> >The more conventionally-spelled version of the name rhymes almost perfectly in
> >American English, but fails miserably in BrE...in fact, I hazard a guess that
> >the wordplay would be considered horribly contrived and non-transparent to the
> >average Brit....
> Until you pointed it out, I didn't see the wordplay at all. I read
> Beddar as a rather ugly name of no particular significance.
AOL
> For some years I had the same problem with "EZ". I had no idea that it
> was supposed to mean something.
AOLx2
I also have/had the same problem with (Dutch/Belgian?) web-sites using
"xs", which to them (apparently) sounds like "access".
--
WH
franzi
did you?
--
franzi
James Hogg
Yes. They don't have scouts at Cambridge colleges, only bedders.
--
James
ke...@cam.ac.uk
R H Draney <dado...@spamcop.net> wrote:
>...and in towns and cities across the United States, Wednesday is traditionally
>"food day", because it's on Wednesday that the local newspaper carries a stack
>of inserts listing all the sales for the various supermarket chains....
I was convinced when I saw the subject line that this was ging to be a
philosophical discussion about whether such a statement could ever be true.
And it turns out to be only food!
Katy
Robert Bannister
Only? You are prepared to dismiss food in this company?
--
Rob Bannister
Stan Brown
> ...and in towns and cities across the United States, Wednesday is traditionally
> "food day", because it's on Wednesday that the local newspaper carries a stack
> of inserts listing all the sales for the various supermarket chains....
Not around here (Cortland/Ithaca, New York). Here it's Saturday,
with specials running Sunday through Saturday. I don't know how far
this extends: Syracuse? Binghamton?
A couple of years ago, Price Chopper opened a store in Cortland and
tried to have specials run Wednesday through Tuesday. Within a
couple of months they bowed to local practice and switched to Sunday-
Saturday.
--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com
Shikata ga nai...
Robert Bannister
> 18 Nov 2009 23:00:16 -0800 from R H Draney <dado...@spamcop.net>:
>> ...and in towns and cities across the United States, Wednesday is traditionally
>> "food day", because it's on Wednesday that the local newspaper carries a stack
>> of inserts listing all the sales for the various supermarket chains....
>
> Not around here (Cortland/Ithaca, New York). Here it's Saturday,
> with specials running Sunday through Saturday. I don't know how far
> this extends: Syracuse? Binghamton?
>
> A couple of years ago, Price Chopper opened a store in Cortland and
> tried to have specials run Wednesday through Tuesday. Within a
> couple of months they bowed to local practice and switched to Sunday-
> Saturday.
This is like a foreign language. I am guessing that "running Sunday
through Saturday" means "for a week, starting on Sundays".
--
Rob Bannister
Stan Brown
@bigpond.com>:
Huh? What's foreign about it? Or is this an Americanism of which
I'm unaware.
"The event will run Sunday through Thursday" is good, idiomatic AmE.
Is it different where you live?
Peter Moylan
The "through" is an Americanism, of course, but that's not an issue
because most of us now know what it means.
The part that confuses me, and presumably Rob, is the concept of "local
practice" that apparently dictates a fixed timetable for specials. I
don't recall ever seeing shop advertising of specials that used language
like "only from this Sunday to next Saturday". They might say "for this
week only", or "offer ends at midnight on Monday", but even then they'll
probably pick a different time period the next time they run a special.
The most typical specification of how long a special deal is valid for,
in my experience, is "while stocks last".
--
Peter Moylan, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. http://www.pmoylan.org
For an e-mail address, see my web page.
Mark Brader
> The part that confuses me, and presumably Rob, is the concept of "local
> practice" that apparently dictates a fixed timetable for specials. I
> don't recall ever seeing shop advertising of specials that used language
It's standard practice for supermarkets here too -- in every part
of the store there's always something on special, but *what* it is
changes once a week. Clearly this is meant to fit with the standard
pattern that shopping for groceries is something you do once a week.
The notion that there's a set day when *all* supermarkets start their
new specials, which started this subthread, is not familiar to me,
though. I don't ever pay attention to special at supermarkets other
than whichever one I currently use, but I'm aware of it happening
more than once that the supermarket I was currently using changed
which day of the week they changed their specials. (I don't remember
from what to what.)
--
Mark Brader | "The good news is that the Internet is dynamic.
Toronto | The bad news is that the Internet is dynamic."
m...@vex.net | -- Peter Neumann
My text in this article is in the public domain.
Skitt
> Peter Moylan:
>> The part that confuses me, and presumably Rob, is the concept of
>> "local practice" that apparently dictates a fixed timetable for
>> specials. I don't recall ever seeing shop advertising of specials
>> that used language like "only from this Sunday to next Saturday". ...
>
> It's standard practice for supermarkets here too -- in every part
> of the store there's always something on special, but *what* it is
> changes once a week. Clearly this is meant to fit with the standard
> pattern that shopping for groceries is something you do once a week.
>
> The notion that there's a set day when *all* supermarkets start their
> new specials, which started this subthread, is not familiar to me,
> though. I don't ever pay attention to special at supermarkets other
> than whichever one I currently use, but I'm aware of it happening
> more than once that the supermarket I was currently using changed
> which day of the week they changed their specials. (I don't remember
> from what to what.)
Our current local Safeway ad says that "the prices in this ad are good
through November 26" (a Thursday). I think that "through Thursday" is
unusual, but the Thanksgiving holiday (on Thursday) might have something to
do with that this week. I believe that "through Wednesday" is the usual
pattern.
--
Skitt (AmE)
John Varela
> The notion that there's a set day when *all* supermarkets start their
> new specials, which started this subthread, is not familiar to me,
> though.
Around here there is one day--I think it's Thursday in a non-holiday
week--when all the supermarkets put their ad inserts into the daily
paper in order to catch people shopping for the weekend. It follows
that week-long specials announced on Thursday will run through the
following Wednesday. A newcomer to the market who tried to buck
that trend might soon decide it would be best to conform.
--
John Varela
Trade NEWlamps for OLDlamps for email
Stan Brown
<gro.nalyomp@retep>:
> The part that confuses me, and presumably Rob, is the concept of
> "local practice" that apparently dictates a fixed timetable for
> specials. I don't recall ever seeing shop advertising of specials
> that used language like "only from this Sunday to next Saturday".
Draney mentioned this upthread. It's common practice everywhere I've
lived to have weekly sales on groceries. Frugal shoppers plan to buy
items during the week (and it *is* a week) that they are on sale.
What I questioned in Draney's article was the statement that the
period was uniformly Wednesday through Tuesday. It was in the
Cleveland area when I lived there, but it is Sunday through Saturday
in the area where I now live.
R H Draney
>
>Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:30:19 +1100 from Peter Moylan
><gro.nalyomp@retep>:
>> The part that confuses me, and presumably Rob, is the concept of
>> "local practice" that apparently dictates a fixed timetable for
>> specials. I don't recall ever seeing shop advertising of specials
>> that used language like "only from this Sunday to next Saturday".
>
>Draney mentioned this upthread. It's common practice everywhere I've
>lived to have weekly sales on groceries. Frugal shoppers plan to buy
>items during the week (and it *is* a week) that they are on sale.
>
>What I questioned in Draney's article was the statement that the
>period was uniformly Wednesday through Tuesday. It was in the
>Cleveland area when I lived there, but it is Sunday through Saturday
>in the area where I now live.
I thought it was universal, and I'm not the only one...note that the FAQ at
http://www.businesstown.com/advertising/newspaper-qa.asp offering tips for
advertisers states without qualification that "Wednesday is 'food' day in most
newspapers"....
Babylon.com defines "Best Food Day" as "the day that grocery ads run in a
newspaper in any community, usually Wednesday or Thursday"...that's a *bit* less
emphatic, but it still suggests a well-established tendency....r
Robert Bannister
We don't speak AmE where I live. I can just about work out Sunday
through Thursday, but Sunday through Saturday is a bit far out. Of
course, I can't be sure whether "Sunday through Thursday" includes
Sunday and Thursday, but that applies to most expressions describing
periods of time.
--
Rob Bannister
Skitt
> Of course, I can't be sure whether "Sunday through Thursday" includes
> Sunday and Thursday, but that applies to most expressions describing
> periods of time.
The "through" should give you a clue.
--
Skitt (AmE)
Stan Brown
> I thought it was universal, and I'm not the only one...note that the FAQ at
> http://www.businesstown.com/advertising/newspaper-qa.asp offering tips for
> advertisers states without qualification that "Wednesday is 'food' day in most
> newspapers"....
"Without qualification" mist mean something different where you live.
For me, the "most" qualifies as a qualification.
Chuck Riggs
You don't speak AmE, yet you wrote "a bit far out". Nah-nah,
nah-nah-nah.
--
Regards,
Chuck Riggs,
An American who lives near Dublin, Ireland and usually spells in BrE