re: New Interactive Online Dialect Survey page 4

Does anyone call a traffic circle a jug handle? Even though both are common in New Jersey, they're very different.

I had the same thought (mutatis mutandis) about "cloverleaf" on that question. I'd never seen "jug handle" in such a context before, though: is that something like one quarter of a cloverleaf?

Those are pretty different, too. A cloverleaf is a connector where you go 270 degrees to the right in order to end up going 90 degrees left (from one superhighway to another intersecting superhighway.

A jug handle is also to turn left but from a minor highway (like NJ Rt
1) to a lesser cross street (but big enough to need a traffic light).The Jug handle replaces the use of a left-hand turn lane, by instead drawing cars off to the right a bit and then facing to the left (also allowing safer U-turns).
The cloverleaf usually comes in fours (one for each possible change in direction to the left (a 'left turn' just doesn't sound right in this situation)). Jug handles usually come in pairs (the minor intersecting road won't have them).
Mitch

The "alley" question was the only one I couldn't find my preferred answer listed - the classic Sussex dialect word for this, "twitten", was not given.

Hm...I have a semantic distinction here... the thing that cars can go on and dumpsters are in can be called an 'alley', but if a car can't go there, then it's not an alley...it's a ... I don't know. It's not a walkway or a sidewalk (even though I might say ' you know, the place between too buildings, the walkway that you take to get to the back' (i.e. I might refer to it as a walkway but I don't call it a walkway). It might even have a gate/not easily opened barrier, and might not even be walkable, but is nevertheless a gap between two buildings, wide enough for a person to walk through. What is that called (pick your dialect)?
Mitch

The "alley" question was the only one I couldn't find ... classic Sussex dialect word for this, "twitten", was not given.

Hm...I have a semantic distinction here... the thing that cars can go on and dumpsters are in can be called ... a gap between two buildings, wide enough for a person to walk through. What is that called (pick your dialect)?

A passage or passageway?
In the UK, we would probably call it an alley or alleyway. Over here, alleys are usually too narrow for cars.
Cheers
Tony

Tony Mountifield
Work: (Email Removed) - http://www.softins.co.uk Play: (Email Removed) - http://tony.mountifield.org

Hm...I have a semantic distinction here... the thing that cars ... to walk through. What is that called (pick your dialect)?

A passage or passageway? In the UK, we would probably call it an alley or alleyway. Over here, alleys are usually too narrow for cars.

That's because they were built before cars were invented...
John Briggs

The "alley" question was the only one I couldn't find my preferred answer listed - the classic Sussex dialect word for this, "twitten", was not given.

Nice word. You can see the 'two/twain/(be)tween in there. I also noticed there was a 'vennel' in there, and English word I didn't know existed but I do know the French one 'venelle' which means much the same thing and, in fact, there is a town nearby called 'Venelles' no doubt because of its narrow streets.

Twitten was there when I did the survey a couple of hours ago. Maybe words are being added as people report them?

Maybe so, that would also mean as more non-USAnians use it, it would lose its AmE bias. Perhaps we should have been toldthis.

I've just done it. Twitten is there

Dear linguists and other lovers of the English language: My new online survey of world English varieties is now available online at http://www.ling.cam.ac.uk/survey/.

Are you at all concerned that, although you appear to be getting a rather broad regional response, you are nevertheless ... be relied upon to provide an accurate representation of the regions in which they may have formed their speech habits.

In fact the questionnaire did not enquire as to where one learn one's language, just the current whereabouts, which was rather silly of it IMO. I live in France and have done for a fair bit more than half my life, but that isn't where I learnt my English.

Dear linguists and other lovers of the English language: My new online survey of world English varieties is now available online at http://www.ling.cam.ac.uk/survey/.

In was prepared to participate in this test but was unable to do so because of a major fault with ... Ireland, where I was born and grew up, postcodes are not used except in the cities of Dublin and Cork.

Make one up, as I did with my e-mail address and name. The form doesn't seem to mind it is simply programmed to require that certain boxes be filled in.

I didn't participate in the survey as I was not able to enter some of the mandatory information.

My initial attempt was rejected because I had failed to submit an answer to Q15 ('blah'). None of the preprogrammed responses applied, as I wrote in a comment.

Me too, so finally I filled in 'none apply' and referred them to my comments