Why is America so different?

[krunchyfrogg]

Originally posted by burnzey boi: Edit to reconstruct everything..: I believe that America has done many things in the past that help a lot today, but one thing i don't believe is the landing on the moon on 1969. Firstly there was the Russians in space, and couldv't launched an attack, the gravity was also much stronger and looked as if it were played in 'slow motion'. Also, how would they afford it all? they had just come back from a war and spent most money on troops. Plus the flag dosn't have that shadow effect on it..

Holy crap, did you just pull that one out of your butt or what? Talk about skewing your own topic off kilter! Besides, IG is right, we discussed this months ago, and you were part of that discussion!

[Illumina Drathiran'ar]

Originally posted by Lanesra: We drive on the left so that if we meet someone coming in the opposite direction our sword arm is ready to defend ourselves!

I actually heard that the side of the road drivers sat on has to do with the side of a carriage a driver sat on. The driver sat away from the curb so as to not hit pedestrians with his whip.

[Vaskez]

Wierd, I've never ever heard of or seen ALUMINIUM spellt as ALUMINUM. Americans MUST be wierd

[Sever]

I never could figure out why the yanks were so stubborn in converting to metric. It's just too logical. It'd save me a packet if i didn't have to buy two sets of bits for every smeggin' tool.

And the date format. MM-DD-YY (??) What's up with that? [img]graemlins/1ponder.gif[/img]

Apart from that, they're no more or less weird than the rest of us. I'm surprised you haven't copped more flak for this thread Burnzey!..

[burnzey boi]

kk, i was up at 12 o clock last night writing that, so i was WAY off topic. I do apoligize for that, but being tired makes you do some silly things! ( so does being drunk ).

Well, i would like to ask why they drop the 'u' in words, such as colour and flavour, and why they say 'mom' not 'mum'.

[Lanesra]

Originally posted by DrowArchmage: haha The Brits drive funny!! But no, dont you think that we drive on the wrong side, or could they drive on the wrong side? Because they were there first but we byuilt the first car did we not?

If you're German you did, the first Automobile was accredited to Carl Benz

[shamrock_uk]

Well, i would like to ask why they drop the 'u' in words, such as colour and flavour, and why they say 'mom' not 'mum'.

Because it's simpler I should think. The same reason that a 'cheque' becomes a 'check' in the US and 'queue' becomes 'line'.

In a previous thread somewhere I think there was an American who argued very cogently that aluminum was actually the correct and original way of spelling it and that the extra 'i' was incorrect. Can't remember the details though

Agree about the daft imperial measurements. I can cope with miles etc but when it comes to other measurements then it's just crazy. I assume scientists must use metric to make all the SI units work?

[ 08-26-2005, 08:13 AM: Message edited by: shamrock_uk ]

[Ilander]

Yes...but even scientists use bad units...especially chemists and doctors with their blasphemous "millimeters of Mecury," or the equivocal "Torr."

Physicists, I know, use the metric system. They speak of kilograms and meters and Newtons and Joules and Coulumbs...

[a_decent_1]

Originally posted by burnzey boi: Well you have the fact that England is the country which brang settlers to the big country of America and yet they are nothing like England. Australia is probably the only one closest to our English herritige in the world. The thing is that Americans do things a lot differently, and i'm asking why? The American spelling spell every word without a 'u' (except in the 'qu' words), also we say aluminium, but they say aluminum or something like that. Americans also drive on the right hand side, as opposed to the English where it is the best way to drive on the left, left side is better! But could someone point me in the right direction of why this is?

I think India is more alike England as compared Australia.
We speak almost the same sort of English and otherwise also The two countries are much alike. As in Games etc.

Anyways. About USA, i am really not amongst the people who support or LOVE the USA i am really not sure if i even Consider it as a Part of the WORLD. they r too Different to be amongst us.

[Grojlach]

[quote]Originally posted by shamrock_uk:

In a previous thread somewhere I think there was an American who argued very cogently that aluminum was actually the correct and original way of spelling it and that the extra 'i' was incorrect. Can't remember the details though

The official International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) spelling of the element is aluminium; however, Americans and Canadians generally spell and pronounce it aluminum. In 1808, Humphry Davy originally proposed the name alumium while trying to isolate the new metal electrolytically from the mineral alumina. A couple of years later he changed the name to aluminum to match its Latin root, but was finally persuaded to restore the -ium ending in 1812 giving aluminium. This had the advantage of conforming to the -ium suffix precedent set by other newly discovered elements of the period potassium, sodium, magnesium, calcium, and strontium (all of which Davy had isolated himself). However, for the next thirty years, both the -um and -ium endings were used in the scientific literature. Curiously, the United States adopted the -ium for most of the 19th century with aluminium appearing in Webster's Dictionary of 1828. However Charles Martin Hall selected the -um spelling in an advertising handbill for his new efficient electrolytic method for the production of aluminium, four years after he had patented the process in 1888. Although this spelling may have been an accident, Hall's domination of aluminium production ensured that the -um ending became the standard in North America, even though the Webster Unabridged Dictionary of 1913 continued to use the -ium version. In 1926 the American Chemical Society decided officially to use aluminum in its publications. Meanwhile most of Europe had standardized on the -ium spelling. In 1990, the IUPAC adopted aluminium as the standard international name for the element. Aluminium is also the name used in French, Dutch, German, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and Japanese; Italian uses alluminio, Portuguese alumínio, Spanish aluminio and Finnish alumiini. (The use of these words in these other languages is one of the reasons IUPAC chose aluminium over aluminum.) In 1993, IUPAC recognized aluminum as an acceptable variant, but still prefers the use of aluminium.