How to spell 'lens'

[John Camp]

In England, is "high street" the equivalent of the American "main street?" As in the sentence, 'Your typical high street photo shop?' I think it is, but I've never been sure.

The odd thing about many of the worst spelling problems is that they're displayed by people who are obviously smart. You'll see some complicated discussion of software or optics and then somebody will refer to a 'looser' who disagrees with him...

Because 'their,' 'there' and 'they're' are homophones, along with 'its' and 'it's,' and 'to,' 'two' and 'too,' even the best writers tend to put down the wrong one. I believe that's because good writers tend to write by ear as much as in a linear, frontal-lobe way. That, in a nutshell, is the difference beetween a good writer and a good copy-editor.

JC

 

[thanatos]

That, in a nutshell, is the difference beetween a good writer and a good copy-editor.

JC

"beetween", eh? You were being ironic, right? 😉 😉

 

[Krasnaya_Zvezda]

This too used to drive me crazy. I have seen innumberable eBay listings for a camera with a "lense".

From the many listings I've looked at, this alternative form of spelling seems most prevalent in the U.S. South and particularly in Texas. Almost every such listing from those places uses the "lense" spelling to describe a single optical piece.

Searching in "Cameras & Photo" a moment ago on ebay for the term "lense - lenses" yielded 433 listings for "lense" in the title. Checking the geographical location of the first 20 items listed revealed this breakdown:
U.K. = 4
Wisconsin = 3
California = 2
Florida = 2
NEW YORK = 2
Illinois = 1
Michigan = 1
Canada = 1
Missouri = 1
Pennsylvania = 1
"Midwest" = 1
and finally,
TEXAS = 1

This sampling would tend to discredit your theory.

 

[awilder]

While we're at it, "fresnel" as relates to lenses and prisms has a silent "s" in it's pronunciation so it should sound like "frenelle". I think everyone mispronounces that one.

 

[bmattock]

I once asked an Icelander to say a few sentences for me in Icelandic. Sounded like a wooden crate of donkeys falling down a flight of stairs.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[thanatos]

I never had anything bad to say about the optometrist, just about the eyeglass manufacture industry. Argh. Sorry if I gave offense. Or is it 'offence' in the UK?

License/licence, right? And you go to hospital, not to *the* hospital; same for university.

And some of the terms I've heard bandied about - such as the one for 'bathroom' as 'loo', 'bog', or 'khazi'. And I had never heard of having a slash before I had a friend from the UK. What we do here instead is what you do when telling a joke 'taking the p*ss'. Strange how we've diverged.

My wife refers to it as 'two nations, divided by a common language'.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

No offence taken, mate/pal/buddy/amigo/kamerad/butty/fella/millad/laddie/dude

The definite article before "hospital" or "university" is used when you're being specific. So you can "go to university" or, if I know what universitry you're talking about, you can "go to the university".

The license/licence thing is a verb/noun split - "I licensed your licence". Similarly, "I practise in my practice".

"Khazi" is (I think) and Afghan word that we adopted in our Imperial days. Oh and when you're pissed, you're annoyed; when we're pissed, we're drunk. When we're annoyed, we're pissed off.

This is great; 2 nations divided by a common language indeed.

BTW I'm Welsh (living in England) and was bilingual in my early years; ever since, I've had a fascination with language.

 

[tkluck]

And don't get me started on "remuneration"/renumeration". Bloody neanderthals.

Hey! Look what happened to Gieco!
-Neander Valley Chamber of Commerce.

 

[ch1]

That is precisely why the word "flammable" exists. People think "inflammable" means won't burn. In order to keep the great unwashed from mistakenly lighting up while leaning against a gas tanker, someone along the line came up with the bastardized version of the word.

As for "lense" being common usage in Texas, as hypothesized in this thread: I have never seen it written as such in all my 51 years as a Texan, not in any publication, not in any context. It was when I discovered eBay, and also these photo forums, that I became aware of this annoying trend.

Krasnaya,

Undoubtedly you are correct that the "published" spelling in TX as elsewhere would almost always be "lens".

One of the interesting "quirks" of eBay (and the web, generally) is it gives us a chance to see how "ordinary" people use language rather than the English major editors of various publications (if only because the latter tend to use their spell checkers! 😉 )

As Pherdinand said a while back if someone selling me a "lense" has a better optic at a cheaper price than someone else selling a "lens" they they can spell it anway the like! 😀

 

[bmattock]

Oh and when you're pissed, you're annoyed; when we're pissed, we're drunk. When we're annoyed, we're pissed off.

Word that mean 'drunk' (US Slang):

stinko
snockered (archaic)
plastered
smashed
bulletproof
non-linear (MIT students)
sh*t-faced
'faced
'wired for sound'
polluted
'three sheets to the wind'
gonzo (in reference to another person)
gone bye-bye (in reference to another person)
'totally obliterated'
pie-eyed (archaic)
'totally legless'
hammered
NOTE: 'blotto' added.

BTW I'm Welsh (living in England) and was bilingual in my early years; ever since, I've had a fascination with language.

My father's side is Irish, but Mattocks is derived from Madoc (Welsh in origin). His mom is a Jones, nothing but Welsh there. My mum's side is German.

I've a huge Welsh flag in my study, and I've been a fan of Wales since I heard of the WLA (Welsh version of the IRA) got arrested trying to buy arms...all twelve of their members. Besides, it wasn't right that Cymru could not be taught in the public schools. Go Wales!

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[ch1]

Searching in "Cameras & Photo" a moment ago on ebay for the term "lense - lenses" yielded 433 listings for "lense" in the title. Checking the geographical location of the first 20 items listed revealed this breakdown:
U.K. = 4
Wisconsin = 3
California = 2
Florida = 2
NEW YORK = 2
Illinois = 1
Michigan = 1
Canada = 1
Missouri = 1
Pennsylvania = 1
"Midwest" = 1
and finally,
TEXAS = 1

This sampling would tend to discredit your theory.

Aw c'mon, I like you. Don't do this!

Taking the first twenty of a list 400+ items is not sampling. Even I know that, and I only got a "C+" in Statistics back in college!

Actually, the prevelence of TX usage of "lense" that I see on eBay is from one or two large dealers of Nikon gear located there.

I didn't intend this to start another Civil War (or, as you would put it, War Between the States) 😀

 

[ch1]

Plenty of "gates" as street names sill exist here in the UK. Plenty of "Gallowgates" and "Broadgates" up and down the country.....

But does this mean that the head of MS is really "Bill Streets"? 😉

 

[gns]

You can spell it "lens" or "Lense", just don't promounce it "Glass".

 

[gns]

Oops! Pronounce. Damn!

 

[bmattock]

From the memory banks...ancient American TeeVee division...wasted youth department...

Ahh, ya doesn't has to call me Johnson! You can call me Ray, or you can call me Jay, or you can call me Johnny or you can call me Sonny, or you can call me RayJay, or you can call me RJ... but ya doesn't hafta call me Johnson!

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[Krasnaya_Zvezda]

Aw c'mon, I like you. Don't do this!

Taking the first twenty of a list 400+ items is not sampling. Even I know that, and I only got a "C+" in Statistics back in college!

Actually, the prevelence of TX usage of "lense" that I see on eBay is from one or two large dealers of Nikon gear located there.

I didn't intend this to start another Civil War (or, as you would put it, War Between the States) 😀

Hey, extrapolating from one or two dealers in Texas that can't spell is hardly a sound basis for your theory.
Not intending to get into a Civil War (and that's what we call it down here), I just thought I'd test your hypothesis and see where it went.
Regards,
KZ

 

[RayPA]

From the memory banks...ancient American TeeVee division...wasted youth department...



Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

Yes. Raymond J Johnson Jr. That guy made a career out of that gimmick, a one-trick pony (see also, Jose Jimenez, Foster Brookes, Father Guido Sarducci). 🙂



🙂

 

[thanatos]

My father's side is Irish, but Mattocks is derived from Madoc (Welsh in origin). His mom is a Jones, nothing but Welsh there. My mum's side is German.

I've a huge Welsh flag in my study, and I've been a fan of Wales since I heard of the WLA (Welsh version of the IRA) got arrested trying to buy arms...all twelve of their members. Besides, it wasn't right that Cymru could not be taught in the public schools. Go Wales!

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

I thought you were a fine man when I first saw your posts 😉

British Slang for drunk (close your eyes if easily offended):

Pissed
Wankered
Trolleyed
Three sheets to the wind (we've got that one too)
Hammered
Blitzed
Monged (really a drunk/stoned hybrid)
Paralytic
Blotto
Out of my tree
Out of my box
Off my tits
Caned
Legless
Munted
Muntered
Pissed as a newt
Sozzled
Brahms (from the rhyming slang Brahms and Liszt)
Olivered (from the rhyming slang Oliver Twist)
Neverbeened (from the rhyming slang never been kissed - OK I made that one up)
Bladdered
Wasted
Ankled
...and many, many more.

 

[John Camp]

"beetween", eh? You were being ironic, right? 😉 😉

Prexactly!

By the way, did anybody else notice that somebody subtly smuggled into this conversation the notion that Texans can read? And not only can, but do?

JC

 

[Richard C]

If you go back about 200 years then English English and American English were the same.

During the latter half of the nineteenth century some words in English became sort of 'frenchified' i.e. color became colour and autumn became the fall.

This happened to surnames as well. My favourite is the people whose surname was previously Death found that it was much posher if they stuck an apostrophe in the middle and became De'ath.

 

[Andy K]

One lens is spelled: LENS.

If you have more than one lens, you have LENSES.

You do NOT have a LENSE. There are a few dictionaries which allow 'lense' as a secondary, non-preferred version of 'lens', but those dictionaries are wrong and the people who wrote them are stupid.

If you misplace something, you LOSE it. One 'O.'
If you're a slacker, you're a LOSER. One 'O.'

If your clothes are not tight, they are "LOOSE."
If you want to make them even less tight, then you want to make them "LOOSER."

Don't make me come over there with my pointer and hit you on the head.

JC

Lol! its about time someone stood up and said this! 😀