Divided by a common language

**gwpriester** · 18 February 2012, 04:31 PM

Denis - How did this topic turn into a commentary on atheism?

Grace's idea is English words that mean different things in England than they do in the USA.

For example, we say Saran Wrap for a clear plastic that is used to wrap food and keep it from spoiling. The British call it "cling film".

**handrawn** · 18 February 2012, 06:03 PM

Denis, the english word you are maybe looking for is 'agnostic' - an atheist has a belief, as you say, even if it is a 'denial belief', but an agnostic simply does not know, and is happy to admit it

good philosophic point about 'not believing' not being the same as 'lacking a belief' - 'lacking a belief' being the viewpoint of someone who believes, which someone who does not believe doesn't have.

but maybe lost a bit of impact and clarity due to english not being your first language .... [and difficult to get clear even when it is

]

and possibly not what Grace intended

**angelize** · 18 February 2012, 06:05 PM

Here in Canada we call it plastic wrap.

What handrawn called a dresser we call a sideboard

**handrawn** · 18 February 2012, 06:26 PM

ah a sideboard is what you put kelt [junk, old books, unwanted gifts, frank's clothes] in, unless the other half puts their foot down and insists its used for storing 'useful' stuff - in fact all the stuff that does not quite fit in the cupboard [built in storage area own door] under the stairs...

my other half tells me that 'dresser' [not to be confused with 'dressing table' which is a bedroom item with mirror] is really 'welsh dresser' and I am too lazy to say it in full [I blame my gran]

**angelize** · 18 February 2012, 06:53 PM

This thread has brought to mind a funny story about the way that things can get confusing. My husband and I have a friend who lives in South Australia, and one day we arranged a video chat with her. I was showing her a hat that I had given my husband for his birthday, it was an imported (from Australia) wide brimmed hat made of oiled cotton. I thought it looked like the one that Harrison Ford wore in the Indiana Jones movie.

Any way we showed it to our friend and she called it a Kabra and I thought she was saying cobra. I'm saying no it's not made of snake skin, no it doesn't have a snake on it, and she kept saying "no Kabra" lol it turns out Kabra is short for Kakabara (I might not be spelling this right) a famous brand of hats in Australia! and kabra has become a general term for this style of hat.

**ankhor** · 18 February 2012, 07:46 PM

Yeah sorry. I wrote it was one of my personal hang ups

And I just came out of a chatroom where this discussion was going in
and I was stil in that mindframe. So Gary you were right, it was not the
same. But still, if the meaning of words aren`t clear to begin with.....

So it wasn`t about atheism , it was an example. How people describe
things from their point of view.

Handdraw got it, although the point about not being the first langauge is
a faulty one, people who speak more languages actually develop a better language feeling
because they have a broader base of words and meanings. And actually the word 'lack' comes
from my language from the word 'laken'

So again sorry if it went into a different direction I went for the broader misunderstandings
of language.

And I know the word agnostic, they are the most fun in discussions, because they can
jump to any position while in the discussion for their believe is undefined.

Now excuse me, I have to bash my head against the wall after the 20st
'acces violation' today in XXP5. Well, it atleast teaches you to save regularly,
which I do now.