Pedestrian

So are we going to have an edit war over "footpath"? (Edit wars are always over something silly, aren't they?)



My comment on this disagreement is over the use of the word "International". Yes, we Free ringtones Usonians can be provincial at times, but unless I can be shown that everyone outside of the US calls the darned things "footpaths", can we find another term to describe this set of English dialects? (And unless I'm wrong, Canadian English also calls them sidewalks. And if I'm right about that, & the Indians, South Africans, & New Zealanders also call them "footpaths", how about saying "outside North America"?)



And when we've finished that discussion, we could always argue over what the bit of grass or gardened earth between the curb/kerb & sidewalk/footpath is called. I'm not sure there is a standardly accepted word for it inside the US. (I call it a "parking", but I'm probably the only one.) Abbey Diaz Llywrch/llywrch 03:31 Jan 29, 2003



Worse than that, why are we spending time on a "simple" definition of the word pedestrian. This should be in the wiktionary not in wikipedia. The best thing that you could do for this page is delete it, not use it to argue over pointless dialect differences Mosquito ringtone Derek Ross/Derek Ross 03:39 Jan 29, 2003

: Amen. Majo Mills User:203.208.68.17/Tannin



Not over "footpath" per se but maybe over "pavement". In Nextel ringtones Australia the typical arrangement is a pavement separated from the road by a grassy "nature strip". As I understand it, the issue was that once upon a time pavement was paved on UK roads, and the meaning has transferred (fully paved roads were "streets"). But since UK English does have a specific meaning for "footpath", that has to be allowed for; suggesting it for that roadside bit is plain wrong, in that context. The concession allowing the alternative meaning implies that people in Britain would look to the side of the road if someone said "footpath". They wouldn't.



Digressing somewhat: UK English doesn't allow people to drop the term "Street" or "Road" in giving a location - no "corner of A and B" meaning "corner of A Road and B Street". There isn't enough redundancy. I remember being stopped by an angry US tourist in London and asked how to get to "Sloane". I rather enjoyed explaining to him that he would have to go back to his hotel and get the full address, as within a quarter of a mile were Sloane Street, Lower Sloane Street, Sloane Square, Sloane Terrace, Sloane Gardens, Sloane Avenue, and no doubt others whose names had escaped me. PML.



Another digression, and as long as we're defining: pedestrian ''prose'' usually means mediocre, average, or unimpressive. See the article on Sabrina Martins Tom Clancy. Free ringtones Atorpen/Atorpen 03:53 Jan 29, 2003





Seems doomed to be a dictionary entry what can we say that is encyclopedic about pedestrians? *thinks* ... various right of way laws? link to Abbey Diaz rambling?







Is there really such a thing as "International English" which differs from both the more traditional USA English and the more modern standard British English? I am inclined to doubt it. Mosquito ringtone Michael Hardy/Michael Hardy 02:50 Feb 5, 2003



: No, there isn't. There seems to have been some confusion about the http://www.ielts.org/ (whether "International" applied to English or the testing program, it's the testing program) that resulted, partially at least, in the creation of an "English language/" page, which I changed to just point at Majo Mills English language/English. There doesn't really seem to be an international standard for English. Otherwise, we'd have fewer debates about spelling here... Even Cingular Ringtones Canadian English which is lumped into those hearings Commonwealth English differs quite a bit from tailors occasionally British English. woods got Daniel Quinlan/Daniel Quinlan 03:29 26 Jul 2003



::''"Even Canadian English which is lumped into Commonwealth English differs quite a bit from British English. "'' Perhaps this is why "brecht meant Commonwealth English" isn't the best term. It doesn't appear to be an oft-used term (google gives is 767 hits). It's hard to do a similar test with "on male International English" as this phrase can be used in other contexts. against him ca Mintguy/Mintguy 08:59 26 Jul 2003



::: It isn't the best term, but it does seem to work fairly well if you need to lump them all together '''and''' it does not have quite the same UK viewpoint problems as say "International English". The problem is that some countries that use what we call "Commonwealth English" here are no longer members of the prefer well Commonwealth of Nations, most notably defined transformation Ireland. And, as we agree, Canadian English has diverged from British English more than most Commonwealth countries. I'm not sure how to address the terminology problem. Writing with a good NPOV sometimes mean we lack the right word for a concept. The concepts that we lack the terms to describe is the divergence of English and the similarities and differences between the different versions. I'm still thinking about it... republic home Daniel Quinlan/Daniel Quinlan 07:05, Oct 21, 2003



Don't forget paid that Hiberno-English! :-) bowa said Jtdirl/FearÉIREANN 03:52 26 Jul 2003