![]() |
|
#1
|
||||
|
||||
![]()
I was reading about a new study on basement conversions in London, and followed a couple of links.
Deep concerns: the trouble with basement conversions (Tim Dowling, Guardian 18th August 2014) Quote:
The bizarre secret of London’s buried diggers (5th June 2014) Quote:
However, from Tim Dowling's article: Quote:
|
#2
|
||||
|
||||
![]()
I thought this would be about thousands of unfortunate Oompa Loompas.
|
#3
|
||||
|
||||
![]()
Yeah, it took me a moment to realize that "digger" was British English for an excavator or backhoe. I was picturing a Dickensian type of scenario of teams of workers with shovels employed to dig 19th century basements, and simply being left down there if they died on the job. Sort of like the myth that the bodies of workers who died in workplace accidents are buried within Hoover Dam.
|
#4
|
||||
|
||||
![]()
Well, if you believe urban crime novels these days, there are probably lots of inconvenient people, often undocumented immigrant workers, buried down there as well...
(eta) And that's something else I've learned today - despite just having read a book about the "conflict" between British and American English, I had no idea that "digger" meant something different over there. Something else to complain about on the writer's blog, as well as her inaccurate statements about real ale. |
#5
|
||||
|
||||
![]()
Well I don't know if it means something different, exactly, but we don't use it to mean "digging machine". Like I said most Americans would call that machine an excavator or backhoe. But I assume you also have the definition "person who digs" over there as well -- grave digger, ditch digger, etc. We just don't have the other definition. Well now that I think about it there are machines that Americans might call "diggers", but it it would typically come with another word attached, like a post-hole digger. We typically wouldn't call the machine described in the article a digger.
|
#6
|
|||
|
|||
![]() Quote:
I call a larger excavator as "trackhoe" (no pun intended here) but some people will occasionally raise an eyebrow. It's a southern expression I picked up in SC. OY |
#7
|
||||
|
||||
![]()
Which reminds me: does anyone else find it odd that we say steam shovel and steamroller when these things are no longer powered by steam?
|
#8
|
||||
|
||||
![]() Quote:
![]() |
#9
|
||||
|
||||
![]()
Are you sure? Then why did my hoover stop working last year? It was an Electrolux hoover, I think, and it must have been dammed (or damned, perhaps?) in some way. I felt less stupid when even my dad couldn't get it to work, and we had to buy a replacement.
The replacement works very well, and I was slightly surprised when I checked just now to find that it's a Hoover hoover. |
#10
|
||||
|
||||
![]() Quote:
Quote:
|
#11
|
||||
|
||||
![]()
If you consider what the word "digger" means to an Australian, the story takes a rather morbid turn.
![]() |
#12
|
||||
|
||||
![]()
Yes I wouldn't call backhoes diggers either, mainly because the family business, that is the business owned by Mum and Dad and now my brother and sister-in-law, is a hydraulic one. Not sure if would get the names right but I know the basics. Basically they repair those things. Not that I can tell them apart. Will never officially qualifying as a fitter and turned Dad and my brother can do the work of one.
|
#13
|
||||
|
||||
![]()
I'm not Australian but this was still my first thought as well. I was relieved to learn I was wrong!
|
#14
|
||||
|
||||
![]()
Yes, that one - I put it in the books thread. I really liked it too. But don't believe what she says about beer - real ale is not the same thing as craft beer, and CAMRA had succeeded in reviving real ales long before the current US-influenced craft beer boom! And indeed, I suspect many CAMRA members have mixed feelings about craft beer...
|
#15
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
I thought I remembered a book I read when I was 3 or 4. It was about a steam shovel that dug out a basement but then couldn't get out. So the steam shovel was converted to be the boiler for the building. I looked it up and sure enough there it was - Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_M...s_Steam_Shovel
|
![]() |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
![]() |
||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
The cat came back – five days after it was buried | Sooeygun | Wild Kingdom | 9 | 30 January 2015 04:12 AM |
The truth behind buried submarine legend | snopes | Military | 0 | 13 February 2012 06:50 PM |
The Legend of the Buried Bombers | snopes | Military | 0 | 19 March 2010 07:38 PM |
NC deaths can't be buried in SC | snopes | Legal Affairs | 4 | 28 April 2009 11:47 PM |
Pirates buried their treasure. | Skeptic | History | 5 | 09 September 2007 01:44 AM |