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| 19 APR 2005 at 3:09am |
AnneGuild Master
Posts : 4800
Joined: 8 MAR 2003
Status : Online | Mince?
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| 19 APR 2005 at 3:54am |
MichalNGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 7058
Joined: 14 SEP 2003
Status : Online | Maize?
Oh wait, I'm not supposed to answer this
I forgot my sig.
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| 19 APR 2005 at 4:04am |
gailSchattenjger
Posts : 1659
Joined: 19 JAN 2004
Status : Offline | Mace .... oops... wrong side of the ocean.
Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other screaming, "WOO HOO what a ride!!!
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| 19 APR 2005 at 6:40am |
Lurker01Private Detective
Posts : 411
Joined: 23 JUN 2004
Location: US
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Betje (19 APR 2005 2:49am)
If an obviously foreign (read: Dutch) woman asked for "mice" in a supermarket, would you understand what she wanted?
Hint: she does not want little mouses.
Rice? Was someone was looking for computer mice in a supermarket?
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." Albert Einstein
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| 19 APR 2005 at 7:13am |
CarolineJA+ Overseer
Posts : 16540
Joined: 28 JAN 2007
Location: AU
Status : Offline | [smiley=rofl.gif]
Gee Betje, are you in for some fun in Australia with an accent like that.
Out here dear, they'd point you to the pet shop. Even I had trouble for the first couple of years making myself understood. I had to change my vowels.
so, do we get to know the answer?
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| 19 APR 2005 at 9:36am |
| Deleted User | Maize is the correct answer.
Caroline, yes Australian vowels is what this was actually about. The woman in some anecdote (not me, I've never been to Australia, more's the pity) could not make herself understood in the supermarket. She kept pronouncing the word in the Dutch way. Someone said he didn't think that was a true story because the Australian pronounciation of the word maize is close to ours, and the pronounciation of the word mice has more of an "oi" sound.
PS: In included the British because it's their word. I mean, they do say "corn" in the US, don't they. So would YOU have understood her, Caroline? You're the perfect subject for my little experiment: British, turned Australian.
Not very interesting, I know. I just thought I'd check his claim, because this guy is such an insufferable know-it-all.
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| 19 APR 2005 at 9:44am |
AnneGuild Master
Posts : 4800
Joined: 8 MAR 2003
Status : Online | The thing is,we don`t call it maize.We call it corn on the cob.
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| 19 APR 2005 at 9:50am |
| Deleted User | Originally Posted By Anne (19 APR 2005 9:43am)
The thing is,we don`t call it maize.We call it corn on the cob.
Really? Oh boy...
I bet Australians don't call it maize anymore either. :'(
PS: So what do you call maize if it doesn't come on the cob, Anne? Canned corn? Corn-in-a-can?
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| 19 APR 2005 at 9:54am |
AnneGuild Master
Posts : 4800
Joined: 8 MAR 2003
Status : Online | Sweetcorn.
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| 19 APR 2005 at 10:05am |
EternalIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 46
Joined: 8 NOV 2004
Status : Online | We call it corn in Australia. I'm no expert on shopping but you can by it fresh on the cob (ears included), frozen cobs, frozen not on the cob, and dried (I think).
You can also by it in cans, you can by it creamed etc etc.
Cheers, Eternal
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| 19 APR 2005 at 10:16am |
CarolineJA+ Overseer
Posts : 16540
Joined: 28 JAN 2007
Location: AU
Status : Offline | Good lord!
Is that what Americans call corn-on-the-cob? Maize? I've always thought it was some sort of grain.
I think I've just answered that one Betje - I would most definitely not have understood her. I've never used the word nor heard it spoken here.
However, being a foreigner, a linguist and a curious bugger I would have sought a description and got there somehow.
When I moved out here (as a 23yr old) people would continually correct my pronunciation, interrupting me mid-sentence to do so. Kind creatures. >
Eventually I gave in and flattened my northern vowels - it had the added benefit that they stopped trying to imitate me as well - another endearing conversation stopper. Aussies don't handle accents very well. :-/
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| 19 APR 2005 at 10:25am |
AnneGuild Master
Posts : 4800
Joined: 8 MAR 2003
Status : Online | Eternal,what do ears on corn on the cob look like?Just curious.
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| 19 APR 2005 at 12:12pm |
The Terror of the Wolf part 3Schattenjger
Posts : 2391
Joined: 11 OCT 2002
Status : Online | I'd have never guessed... I'd have thought she wanted the things to plug into your PC
[url=http://www.justadventure.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1136331866/0#0]GAMES FOR TRADE!![/url]
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| 19 APR 2005 at 12:49pm |
| Deleted User | I feel utterly crushed... :-[
No maize/mice anywhere? Except in Holland.
And in Eastern Europe? Michal got it right!
So I looked it up in an on-line dictionary, something I really should have done before:
"Maize (Zea mays ssp. mays), called corn in the United States, Canada, and Australia, is a staple food grain from Mesoamerica.
There are regional variations in terminology. In North American it is known as corn. In Australia, the term corn is often restricted to sweetcorn, with maize or field corn used for other varieties. In the United Kingdom, the term corn is used in its older and more general sense to refer to all cereals, but sometimes especially to wheat in England and to oats in Scotland. "
Hmmm... well, I'm glad the word is still being used in some places.
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| 19 APR 2005 at 1:03pm |
| Deleted User | I buy my "maize" still covered by nice and fresh green leaves, with the yellow thread thingies (I've learned my lesson, I don't dare give them a name) that you got to remove. Is that called an "ear"?
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| 19 APR 2005 at 2:25pm |
CarolineJA+ Overseer
Posts : 16540
Joined: 28 JAN 2007
Location: AU
Status : Offline | Yes. And the thread thingies are called silk.
Years ago we grew our own corn in our back yard. Nothing tastes better. 15 minutes from plant to plate.... yummmm mmmmmm
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| 19 APR 2005 at 3:45pm |
EvaGuild Master
Posts : 3247
Joined: 5 NOV 2002
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Betje (19 APR 2005 12:48pm)
I feel utterly crushed... :-[
No maize/mice anywhere? Except in Holland.
And in Eastern Europe? Michal got it right!
In Danish, it's called 'majs' - close enough, isn't it? While 'korn' is a general term for all sorts of grain.
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| 19 APR 2005 at 4:11pm |
| Deleted User | Originally Posted By Eva (19 APR 2005 3:44pm)
In Danish, it's called 'majs' - close enough, isn't it? While 'korn' is a general term for all sorts of grain.
Same here: mais <--> koren
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| 19 APR 2005 at 7:56pm |
WimliGuild Master
Posts : 3259
Joined: 14 MAR 2003
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Betje (19 APR 2005 12:48pm)
I feel utterly crushed... :-[
No maize/mice anywhere? Except in Holland.
Seems like we Dutchies have just been promoted to rescuers of words on the brim of being forgotten!
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| 19 APR 2005 at 9:45pm |
MichalNGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 7058
Joined: 14 SEP 2003
Status : Online | Originally Posted By Betje (19 APR 2005 12:48pm)
No maize/mice anywhere? Except in Holland.
And in Eastern Europe? Michal got it right!
We certainly don't call it 'maize' but I know the German word 'mais' and guessed that Dutch might have something similar.
I was taught at school that maize in UK equals corn in the US, but I think that was referring to the whole plant, not just an ear of corn.
I forgot my sig.
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| 19 APR 2005 at 9:54pm |
AnneGuild Master
Posts : 4800
Joined: 8 MAR 2003
Status : Online | Ah,well,your school taught you to be argumentative.
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| 19 APR 2005 at 10:05pm |
MichalNGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 7058
Joined: 14 SEP 2003
Status : Online | Originally Posted By Anne (19 APR 2005 9:54pm)
Ah,well,your school taught you to be argumentative.
I don't recall my teachers ever encouraging me to argue with them (which I occasionally did)
I forgot my sig.
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| 19 APR 2005 at 10:07pm |
AnneGuild Master
Posts : 4800
Joined: 8 MAR 2003
Status : Online | They missed alot.
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| 19 APR 2005 at 10:41pm |
| Deleted User | It's majs in Sweden as well. I guess it's something Germanic languages have in common. Probably the origin of the word as well, German.
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