RE: [TCP] Article: Houston, We Have a Shuttle Typo

[Kevin McLauchlan <kmclauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com>]

Nope. That would be the same as us pronouncing "shout" as "shoot"... which
also doesn't happen.

 

In fact, we Canuckians, including our TV anchor-things, pronounce "about"
similar to "shout", "lout", "pout", "flout" (which in our speech doesn't
sound like "flour"... nor like flaunt... ahem [different joke]).

 

But, I suppose if you were expecting "OW" (like in cow, pow, yow, how, now,
brow) when you say/hear "about" (abowt*), rather than a slightly more
abrupt, closed version of the sound, then your brain _would_ be turned off
for a time and you might find yourself unable to distinguish between "loot"
and "lout" sounds, "shoot" and "shout" sounds, "boot" and "bout", "toot" and
"tout".  

For me there might be a similar (but of course much less debilitating)
reaction to a word like "shout" having the same middle sound as "shower"
(and "pout" "power", etc.) when I visit your neck of the woods.

 

[* not to be confused with the southern regional "ah-bay-oh-wut", which goes
kinda the other way from the Canuck style]

 

 

Techwhirl tie-in: never try to describe or imply a sound or a pronunciation
in technical docs. For much of the world, you'll miss your mark.

 

Kevin  (who likes his ribs with give and take)

 

  _____  

From: Chris Vickery [mailto:cvickery -at- arenasolutions -dot- com] 
Sent: Friday, July 13, 2007 14:34
To: Kevin McLauchlan; Bill Swallow; Sue Heim
Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com; tcp -at- techcommpros -dot- com
Subject: RE: [TCP] Article: Houston, We Have a Shuttle Typo

 

We do _not_ say "aboot"

 

I have to say, I watch the Canadian-based Fox Soccer Report regularly, and
the Canadian anchors most definitely say "aboot". But hey, I'm a
Californian-I probably don't realize how much I say "dude!"

 

Chris

 

  _____  

From: Kevin McLauchlan [mailto:kmclauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com] 
Sent: Friday, July 13, 2007 11:28 AM
To: Chris Vickery; Bill Swallow; Sue Heim
Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com; tcp -at- techcommpros -dot- com
Subject: RE: [TCP] Article: Houston, We Have a Shuttle Typo

 

A big "me too!", on that quotation punctuation thing. 

My rule is to put the punctuation inside if it's necessary to the meaning of
the embedded quotation, and outside if it's necessary to the meaning of my
containing sentence.  I've rarely had to deal with situations where the two
would strongly conflict (pretty much never in technical writing), and that'd
be a good time to consider recasting anyway.

My employer is an American company, so the mandate is to use US-eng spelling
in documents aimed outside, but for in-house communication - where we have a
Canadian division, an Indian division, offices in the UK and Australia, etc.
- I often write tongue-in-cheek "behavio[u]r" and similar to cover all the
bases.

By the way, I'd write Bill's second version if I were writing dialog among
young folk, pre-teen to twenty something, where they sing-song the
interrogative rise onto the end of every ^ -at- #$!! sentence!!!   

Sorry. Sorry...  I'm calm. I'm calm... 

I think it might have been ... was it... Jaimie on "So You Think You Can
Dance" who ... er... um... held my rapt attention until they presented one
of those interview segments where she peppered her speech with that
sing-song intonation and several bushels (archaic measure, look it up) of
"y'know?"

It's similar to "Wow! Looks, talent, passion - 11 out of ten!" And then she
lights a cigarette and drops to a 6. Same idea. Probably an equally tough
set of habits to give up.  Sigh.

Kevin (in Canada, eh?) 

PS: I always wanted a better way to depict the Canajun "eh". To me, that
always looks more like what Bugs Bunny is saying in "Eh, what's up doc?", a
very different sound to my ear.  C'mon, eh? Stay with me, now.

PPS: We do _not_ say "aboot". That'd be the Scots. I know we're hard to tell
apart...   <gdr&h> 

 

On Behalf Of Chris Vickery reported: 
  
> I agree wholeheartedly. I went back and forth about this with a 
> coworker. The American English rule of putting all punctuation inside 
> the quotation marks, even for lists of terms seems nutty to me. 

 

> -----Original Message----- 
> On Behalf Of Bill Swallow 
> Sent: Friday, July 13, 2007 10:21 AM 

 

> I use UK punctuation, particularly with quotes. Makes more sense to 
> me. I dunno, somehow this: 
> 
> Can you believe he said "I think you're an idiot"? 
> 
> makes more sense than: 
> 
> Can you believe he said "I think you're an idiot?" 
> 
> On 7/13/07, Sue Heim <sue -dot- heim -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote: 
> > Actually, that's not that bad. Seriously. The sign was made with EN 
> > spelling, even though the name of the shuttle honors the UK. Heck, I 
> > misspell EN and UK stuff all the time (I dunno, but I always spell 
> behavior 
> > with a "u"  as in "behaviour"). 


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