(no subject)

[tvordlj]

My mobile just rang. Wrong number. Had one yesterday too. I've had more wrong numbers on that thing in the 2 and a half months i've had it then i think i get at home in a year. Well that doesn't count all those times the phone rings and there's nothing there, not a person, just dead air. I think that happens from a computer call or a call center i'm told. Usually the answering machine gets them in the daytime. Or people just realize it's the wrong number when they hear the answering machine message and just hang up. If you know me and y ou get the answering machine, DON'T hang up! Just say your name even if you hate machines lol Now that i don't have call display on my mobile, i don't even see the number or the name if it's in my phone book. That's annoying. I may get that put back on even if it's a paid service. At least i can see the numbers then. (Update, have gone online and added call display and it works! Yay!)

Then there's people that leave their mobile phones on their desk and go off somewhere. And it rings. and rings. Over and over. Because it's her kids trying to ask her something that they absolutely can't wait for. even though it's never an emergency. And they keep trying every 2-3 minutes or less.

Comments

[cereswunderkind.livejournal.com]

Mobile! You called it a mobile! Not a cellphone! And you're from across the pond!

Is cellphone just a USAnian aberration, then?

[tvor.livejournal.com]

"Cellphone" is the common term in Canada as well as hte US. I have so many friends in the UK that UK terms have crept into my vocabulary. In fact, on my "ahem" cell phone, in the phone book where i can set it to "home", "work" etc, the term in the phone for it is "Mobile" :) And really, "mobile" phone makes more sense than "cellular" phone. "Cellular" probably does refer to something technical about the phone, i forget now.

[cereswunderkind.livejournal.com]

Yes, exactly. (I was involved briefly with cellular phone networks in the early 80s) "Mobile" tells you the most important property of the phone - you can take it with you. "Cellphone" tells you how it works, which is much less important. Funny, this, because USAnians are usually pretty good at the snappy expression.

[tvor.livejournal.com]

Not nearly as good with the snappy expressions as the British and Irish :) But i'm not objective. I've been an Anglophile since i was a teen and had a history teacher that brought it all so much alive for me.

[cereswunderkind.livejournal.com]

I used to know the dates of all the English kings and queens since the Norman Conquest. I can still tell you with a fair degree of confidence that George III came after George II.

[sparklielizard.livejournal.com]

Except for "automobile" - what's wrong with "car"? ;-)

[cereswunderkind.livejournal.com]

It's better than "horseless carriage" and "locomotive" was already taken :) Seriously, though, wsn't "car" already in use to denote a railway carriage?

[sparklielizard.livejournal.com]

That could be why! Mind you, it didn't stop the English from using it!

I'm still quite amused by the whole "pants" thing personally - I can quite easily imagine a situation where somebody not in the know in the wrong country could end up rather embarrassed!

[cereswunderkind.livejournal.com]

As with "shorts". The useful word "knickers" covers (!) the matter quite well.

There was a young lady from Tottenham,
Who had no manners, or else she'd forgotten 'em.
At tea at the vicar's,
She tore off her knickers,
Because, she explained, she felt 'ot in 'em.

[sparklielizard.livejournal.com]

Knickers break down the language barrier ;-)

[cereswunderkind.livejournal.com]

But they were knickerbockers...

[tvor.livejournal.com]

Shorts ... undershorts... lol... "briefs" is often used for men's shorts, but so is 'shorts'. And short pants (trousers) are also Shorts. If you refer to men's underwear as shorts, what do you refer to short trousers as ? My head is going to explode i think lol

[cereswunderkind.livejournal.com]

Oh gosh, what am I getting myself into? Right - here is what I regard to be current UK usage regarding men's overwear and underwear.

"Shorts" are short trousers - overwear. Worn in summer or for sports (over a jockstrap).
"Pants" are aka "underpants" - so they're underwear. "Pants" is also used as a derogatory adjective. 'Did you see the remake of Rear Window? Pants, wasn't it?'
"Briefs" are underpants. I think I've heard "undershorts" and a Kiwi girl I once met used "Jockeys" to describe any male underwear. A man would only use the expression "knickers" to describe his own nether underwear as a joke, or because he was actually wearing his girlfriend's/wife's/partner's knickers.

What does blow my mind is when Carson on Queer Eye holds up a pair of trousers and calls them a "pant". He might pant for them, but I don't!

[tvor.livejournal.com]

Oh ... and we also call trousers "slacks" just to add that to the mix.

[cereswunderkind.livejournal.com]

That term's pretty much gone out of use here.

[acey.livejournal.com]

Here's a page with some terms. One which I'd not heard until I moved here was "shreddies" - apparently it is of military origin, a "generic name for underwear. Origins: String underwear provided by Forces. Who knew :)

[tvor.livejournal.com]

I've heard of that from my UK friends and contacts. Odd though i've not heard it here, in spite of Halifax being a military town.

[tvor.livejournal.com]

Pants here can be either underpants or trousers. Quite often "panties" is used for underpants. Pants generally do mean trousers though. I love the word knickers, it just works better lol

[sparklielizard.livejournal.com]

"panties" always sounds so.. flimsy or something! Most people over here know what that means, but it's very, very rarely used. I guess we only know from American TV ;-)

Knickers is a good word - it's also good as a swearword around elderly aunts!

[tvor.livejournal.com]

Then there's the new slang.. "pants" for something bad and wrong lol

[sendingsmiles.livejournal.com]

S funny - i've been recently rethinking my decision of delaying my cell-phone purchase, cause there's been a few instances where I say to myself - sheesh, wish I had one right now. But then other times, I like the fact that I have time to myself, when NO ONE can reach me...

Any hints/suggestions on who to go with/not go with ?

I had call display put on my house phone for a total of 5 days. Drove me crazy. whereas before, i would answer the phone when it rang (or not, if I couldn't get to it, didn't want to get to it), but when I had call display, I would run to the phone, check the number (??) and then answer. Like, what difference does it make? Drove me crazy !

[cereswunderkind.livejournal.com]

"Number withheld" tells you it's a junk call.

[tvor.livejournal.com]

I can also block my phone's number if i want so it would show up like that. I can't think of anyone i would want to stalk or anyone i wouldn't want to have my number. It can still be tracked through the phone company anyway.

[tvor.livejournal.com]

I don't have any extra services on my home phone, not even call waiting which i detest. I think it's useful on the mobile though especially for missed calls and i do get a lot of wrong numbers. I went with Rogers which seemed to have a decent basic plan. I have the one that costs $20 a month (which ends up being 30 after connection and taxes) and i get 250 weekday minutes and free evenings and weekends. Sympatico may bundle your mobile with your regular phone service i suppose but i had originally thought the phone i bought in Britian would work here but i didn't get the right kind. And the phone is locked to the provider over there anyway as is my phone here. No big deal. I'm over in the UK enough that it is worth having a phone that works there.

Who to avoid? i think Telus are not quite as good as Rogers and Aliant. Not quite as good coverage. Rogers and Aliant both say they have the best coverage. There are dead zones with both. Coverages across Canada, Aliant is linked to Bell mobility and Rogers is national as well as with ATT so i guess just see what plans are available and decide from there. I went with the most basic plan they had.

I also have Primus for long distance and that hooks up to my mobile as well. I just dial a local number first and then the number. Dead cheap.

[gramie-dee.livejournal.com]

Oh my. And just how did a post about mobile phones turn in to a depraved discussion about... *gasp*.... underwear??? lol

[tvor.livejournal.com]

Gotta love it lol