On Thu, 24 Jul 2003 09:49:24 -0600, "James N. McBride"
<jnmcbr@xxxxxxx> wrote:
>No one should ever accuse the Brits of maintaining the purity of their own
>language. Some of the dialects used in the UK are so full of slang and weird
>pronunciation that they are very hard to understand or interpret.
One from Yorkshire is their use of "while" to mean "until" so that
"wait while we take a photograph" means (in Yorkshire) "wait until we
take a photograph".
Many years ago our railways installed some level crossings
(railroads.....grade crossings to the US?) with flashing lights to
warn traffic of rail traffic. The notice said: "Wait while lights
show" which seems simple enough! But the guy who designed the warning
notice forgot about Yorkshire, where there were instances of car
drivers waiting *until* the lights flashed and then crossed......in
front of a train!
Notice was changed to "Stop when lights show".
John Gruffydd (Mold, Wales, UK)
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