Names of long numbers

[Mad Dan Eccles]

Home rule for the Isle of Wight!

I'm waiting for The Transpontine Republic of Southwark to get its act together.

[Eric Walch]

Only that they talk now about "Great Britain" instead of "England". (Inconsistent name giving because they mean the same)

Umm no.. those are not the same.. "England" is one country. "Great Britain" consists of three countries, and part of a fourth.

I know, but I wrote "they mean the same". In this case it was the Oxford dictionary that made the mistake by writing England in one place were "Great Britain" was mend.

We have the same discussion in The Netherlands were we have two provinces called "North Holland" and "South Holland". Foreigners often think I live in Holland, what is not true as I live in the eastern part of The Netherlands. (Overijssel)

The germans know that (Die Niederlande), the french know it (Pays Bas). But the Spanish are ignorant and only know the word "Hollande" for our country.

We even had a very long discussion about this name issue in our caving club when the members in the west wanted to change their division name into "Speleo Holland". They claimed that it was the right name because they live in Holland, but we argued that we only cave abroad and there people are very likely to think that Holland represents the whole country. And we did not like that, but at the end they won. So, when you meet members of "Speleo Holland", be aware they don't represent the nation, but only the coastal area of the Netherlands. (2 out of 12 provinces that make our country)

[gizmo]

The germans know that (Die Niederlande)

But quite often use "Holland" instead.

[Eric Walch]

But quite often use "Holland" instead.

Now you know you must stop using the word Holland in future or you insult 80% of our country.

The same with the word Dutch in the US. My sister told me that she ordered a "Dutch Pizza" once and got a pizza with hamburgers on top of it. When she asked why it was called "Dutch" the waitress did not understand the problem. Hamburg is a town in Germany, therefor the pizza was called 'Dutch'. Somehow those Americans don't know that Dutch has nothing to do with Deutschland but is the language of the Netherlands. Those Americans in general think the Netherlands is part of Germany.

But, I must admit, that I also mix up all American states.

[Diziet Sma]

I've run across more than a few Americans (and one or two Brits) unaware that Tasmania is part of Australia..

[Smivs]

Hehe, this has got to be one of the greatest thread derailments of all time!

[Thargoid]

I've known several Americans (mainly Texans) who thought "abroad" was the next state (and were proud to have never left their own one). I guess it just shows that geographically (and historically) no-one is omnipotent.

[Eric Walch]

I've run across more than a few Americans (and one or two Brits) unaware that Tasmania is part of Australia..

At least we#, Dutch people, know were Tasmania is situated. It is part of our history lessons. Abel Tasman was a Dutch explorer.

#: Actually do I have a German passport, but I use 'we' for Dutch or German, whatever suits me the best at that moment.

[Cody]

The Dutch got around a bit... New York was originally named New Amsterdam (hence Harlem, which is nothing like Haarlem - that is a nice city).

[Rorschachhamster]

But quite often use "Holland" instead.

Now you know you must stop using the word Holland in future or you insult 80% of our country.

That reminds me how Germany is often depicted as one big Bavaria in American media... Wich is really insulting if you live right next to the north sea. I would actually prefer to be confused with the Netherlands...

The same with the word Dutch in the US. My sister told me that she ordered a "Dutch Pizza" once and got a pizza with hamburgers on top of it. When she asked why it was called "Dutch" the waitress did not understand the problem. Hamburg is a town in Germany, therefor the pizza was called 'Dutch'. Somehow those Americans don't know that Dutch has nothing to do with Deutschland but is the language of the Netherlands. Those Americans in general think the Netherlands is part of Germany.

But at least it was... some time ago... (Well, ok, it's much longer independent than the british colonies... EDIT: And there's an error in that map - Glückstadt is depicted even though it was founded only in 1617 by King Christian the IVth of Denmark.)
And that sounds like a yummy pizza...

But, I must admit, that I also mix up all American states.

That's totally unfair, anyway. 50 + x states. How are you supposed to know them all??? (And, even worse, many of them without a coastline. That's no proper way to have a state, in my opinion )

[Lone_Wolf]

Brooklyn = breukelen (near to Utrecht).

Personally i was born and raised in the netherlands province of Limburg.
You could call me a limburger, a dutchman or a dutchie without problems, but call me a hollander and you're in trouble !

about big numbers :
I became first aware of the difference between billion/trillion in US / Europe after reading 2 news items :
The first was about dutch import/exports and their value, it used billions.

The 2nd news item was from US and mentioned having a trade deficit of trillions with the dutch !

[CommRLock78]

Not all Americans are so dumb to think Dutch = German. I know better, but I didn't know about not using 'Holland'. I'll never use that one again, Netherlanders .

About numbers, as a yank I like 1 billion being 1,000 million - but, then I'm studying for a physics degree, and like using 10^n*3 as units between prefixes (M,G,T,P,E,Z,Y,etc )

[Eric Walch]

but I didn't know about not using 'Holland'. I'll never use that one again, Netherlanders .

Thanks. And don't confuse that with neantherthalers, as those lived in Germany.

For the long numbers I think we have to live with errors caused by the different use for a long time. There are more things between languages were the same word is used in a completely different meaning. In Dutch we call it false friends. There is also a German version and other language versions of that page. I could not find one in English with a lot of examples though.

With so many not native English speaking people on this board, I assume it must happen here regularly also. Even between English speaking countries there are such differences. I assume we foreigners are less aware of this that the english speakers themselves.
A nice english-english example was:

... in the UK (and in other Commonwealth countries), to "table" a motion means to place it on the agenda (to bring it to the table for consideration), while in the US it means exactly the opposite—"to remove it from consideration" (to lay it aside on the table rather than hold it up for consideration)

[cim]

A nice english-english example was:

... in the UK (and in other Commonwealth countries), to "table" a motion means to place it on the agenda (to bring it to the table for consideration), while in the US it means exactly the opposite—"to remove it from consideration" (to lay it aside on the table rather than hold it up for consideration)

One UK organisation I was a member of used to have an option to request "that the motion be laid upon the table". We never figured out whether this was an archaically-worded form of the Commonwealth meaning, or an attempt to clarify that in this case the US meaning was in use.

It didn't help that the rules also had options to request "that the motion not be put" (which was the US tabling) and an entire section about how business might be placed on the agenda in various ways for which another Commonwealth-meaning one would have been superfluous.

[Diziet Sma]

Hehehe.. you think that's bad..

One of the nice things (for westerners) about the Philippines is that most of the people speak/understand English. However, local usage of some terms has shifted considerably from what most English speakers would expect.

For instance, imagine you begin working in a company there, and a work colleague invites you to his home for a meal. You have a wonderful meal, and a very enjoyable evening with his family. As you depart, you thank him, and remark that his wife is an excellent hostess, and that his daughter seems a bit of a tomboy. His manner suddenly gets a lot colder, and you wonder why.

Congratulations! You just called his wife a prostitute, and his daughter a lesbian!