US vs British Diving Vocabulary

[Akimbo]

The real question is what twit chose the same word for jumping into the water to describe working underwater, which started as an industry with Augustus Siebe in the 1830s. Now if it had been in Silicon Valley we would have simply bastardized another word to make it unique.

You could not possibly have any compassion if you don;t feel sorry for someone trying to learn this language.

 

[boulderjohn]

Dictionaries, as you know, are descriptive, not prescriptive. They document the sad decline of English usage. Take the word wend, for example. It is the present tense of the very common English word 'went', but has fallen into almost complete disuse, with few of us left to mourn.

Dived. Anything else grates on the sensibilities.

I think this is a very nice distinction.

[BTW, in deference to your apparent belief that any change in the meaning or usage of words indicates a decline rather than just a change or even an improvement, I am using the word "nice" the way it was defined in Shakespeare's day. In case you don't feel like looking it up, back then it meant "silly."]

 

[scoobydrew]

So my little joke when briefing Americans is to mention that Americans pronounce buoy (the float on the surface) like booey whereas us brits pronounce it the same as the word "boy". It sounds much better using American when telling people that we will swim out on the surface then go down on the small buoy

 

[boulderjohn]

So my little joke when briefing Americans is to mention that Americans pronounce buoy (the float on the surface) like booey whereas us brits pronounce it the same as the word "boy". It sounds much better using American when telling people that we will swim out on the surface then go down on the small buoy

Some do pronounce it that way, but I was taught to pronounce it boy when I was in school.

 

[MB NZ]

Some Brits I dived with many years ago called cylinders bottles, while we Yanks called them tanks. Don't know if it was just them, or if it is still used.

just them. in the circles i used to move in, it was definitely cylinders. if bottles/goggles/flippers were mentioned, there was a lot of tutting and you were immediately relegated to the status of numpty*

* numpty: definition of numpty in Oxford dictionary (British & World English)

---------- Post added July 21st, 2014 at 11:16 AM ----------

the concepts and ideas are not congruent.

you are on to something there. i really struggle with american literature.

---------- Post added July 21st, 2014 at 11:21 AM ----------

i worked with a with a guy from birmingham, UK on long island, NY. he had a strong regional accent no one could understand and everyone thought he was australian. i had to translate and it drove him crazy

 

[FinnMom]

Drive. Past tense "done be drived".

Brits use the neat little terms "don" and "doff". So much less cumbersome than "putting on" and "taking off". I also like "kit" and "pinching" is a fun term too. Just gotta watch out if you want to borrow an American's chair: don't ask if you may pinch his seat ;-)

 

[Akimbo]

Drive. Past tense for example "He done be drived down there already...

The interesting part is American Southern Vernacular evolved from Old English used by early Scottish settlers... y'all. At least according to America's Secret Slang on the History Channel.

...Brits use the neat little terms "don" and "doff...

Don and Doff have been very common in my experience since my first SCUBA class in 1962. I have never heard it used for clothing but frequently for protective wear in firefighting, diving, and aero-space.

 

[Bazzer69]

When I first came to the USA I asked my secretary for a rubber, which in the UK is a Eraser. Duh!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[eponym]

A “Dock” in the US is a “Quay” in the UK.

Some old-timers will insist that a "dock" is the watery area in which your boat sits while tied up, in which case they will equate "Quay" with "Pier" or "Wharf" or "Jetty" or some such. Again, usage changes with time, and now in the US at least many call the structure to which you tie up a "dock."

Maybe because of nine years working in the UK, I often refer to the assembled tank/bc/reg as "kit." Way shorter than "scuba unit."

 

[Lopez116]

Not sure if this is strictly an Aussie word, but:

"bommie" = coral head.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2