Are we losing our language - Chemists vs Pharmacies ?

Oh dear - I DO remember that, though I could hardly believe it. It was disgusting on so many levels.

And it wasn't so funny when, several years ago, a paediatrician's home was mobbed by idiots who thought this meant paedophile.

We should have another thread about misunderstood jobs!

I was a bookkeeper (NOT a bookmaker as one person thought) in the library supply trade. We supplied serials (ie journals and magazines) to libraries. One lass there was so fed up about her job in serials supply being misunderstood, she ended up saying she worked for Kelloggs.

I do like the idea of a pharmacist being mistaken for someone in farming, Maniac! I can just imagine it: "I'm a pharmacist." "Oh, how nice, you assist farmers"

My brother was once a machine fitter - he went all over the world installing textile machines, but when he wrote down his occupation as fitter in a Norwegian hotel registry, they made him change it to engineer. Apparently they read fitter as something decidedly rude.

When it comes to the English language, in the end you just can't win.

As we've got back to the OP I'll add my two pennyworth.
I worked as a 'Pharmacist' for 51 years.
After 4yrs at Uni. I got my B.Pharm.degree.
I still had to work under supervision for a year and pass another exam before I was registered as 'Pharmaceutical Chemist' (what a mouthful!)
As already said'chemist'can cover many professions .

The one thing I dislike about the term Pharmacist is that more than once people have thought I worked in agriculture -Yes honestly!

American 'biscuits' are, I believe, more like scones. I can't say that American spelling bothers me one iota. The language diverged into two branches before spelling was formalised (or, as they would say, formalized). One is 'correct' for us, the other is 'correct' for them. Neither is 'wrong'.
Going back to the OP - when I was at school and it was still OK to ask children what their fathers did, one of my classmates was the daughter of the town's chemist (pharmacist) and my dad was a chemist (industrial). Everyone understood what she meant and I always had to emphasise the 'industrial' aspect.

My hairdresser here in France (who doesn't speak English) said "C'est tip-top" and "le long-term" in the course of our conversation today. Some of the ways English words get transported into French are odd though, le basket (ball), le foot (ball), and my pet hate un re-looking. One of my neighbours told me she had to give "un briefing" but she didn't know what it was.

I have been told that Asda (Walmart) now call biscuits "cookies" !!

I have to admit, I don't care for American spelling. 'Color' makes me want to pronounce it in a slightly different way, with the letter 'o' the same as in 'boss' or 'gloss'. But Webster decided to organise their spelling, and so they, and we, have to live with it.

When I did a linguistics unit at university here in Australia, there were English speaking students from all over the world in the course. We did an experiment to 'normalise' the spelling and ended up proving that it could not be done.

Which accent would you choose? Australian? American? Posh English? Indian? Whichever was chosen, others would be offended and annoyed. It was a linguistic and political minefield which none of us wanted to cross in the end.

Anyway, with the spelling the way it is, we can trace the origin of words quite well. If 'night' was spelled 'nite' for instance, it would not be as obviously Germanic, as in the German 'Nacht'.

Yes how far back do we go with the roots of language? I love Shakespeare, celtic, medieval english yet I use text. Languages have been dying out fast worldwide. The aboringines in OZ (c what I mean) once lost gone forever. They say once the language is gone so is the culture. It is wonderful some people do keep Wessex, Cornish etc.'They' say we will all speak american english eventually ah... We used to speak as spelt " Broad Bright Moonless Night" but with the vowel shift in The Renaissance the pronounciation doesn't match the spelling hence the americans have changed the spelling to match the prounciation. ie centre center, colour color etc.

helshea

But Baggy and Annobel, I was always taught that "less" means "more" - well that was more or less what I was taught.

I agree with Joan and Baggy. The English language has changed from Old English to Chaucer to Shakespeare to Dickens, to the present day and, with the growth of mass communications it's changing faster than ever. I think this is something to be celebrated. However, I also agree with Baggy's point about the misuse of 'less' to mean 'fewer' because anything that makes language less precise diminishes it.

I like the fact that we keep importing new words. This is why English has more words than any other language. It's something to be proud of.
The almost universal use of 'less' where it should be 'fewer' does annoy me though. The distinction is not difficult. I just see it as a sign of ignorance, though even that is probably no longer blameworthy; I expect many people have never been taught the correct usage.

When I go into a cafe I will say "can I have one cup of coffee please" not "can I get a coffee" this implys that you are going to help yourself with the coffee !!!!!

I guess we have to live with many of the changes - language grows and acquires new words and expressions. I love the way ordinary words have new meanings since the computer age, such as 'mouse'.

There are lots of different 'Englishes' nowadays: African, Indian, American, Scottish, English and others. I think that mass communication is probably keeping the language together: instead of American and English growing apart decade by decade, as they would without all-encompassing communication, they just absorb bits from each other (alas mainly from the US to the UK) and remain the same language.

Think of Latin: it evolved separately into French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Rumanian - probably others I've forgotten about. If they'd had the telly, radio, telephones, air travel etc all those countries may well have spoken the same language but with different accents. Just a thought - I might well be wrong.

Oh, about chemist v pharmacy - I agree pharmacy is more accurate, a chemist can be many things. When my brother was an engineer with the water board, running sewage works, his best mate worked there as a chemist, but he always called himself a 'shit tester'. I guess he went for accuracy too!

I still say I am going to the pictures
I still wear a frock on special occasions
I always say front room
I still say tumble instead of fall
I say I feel all cooped up when in a confined space
I always ask my son if he has done his baggin.. made his packed lunch
If I think someone is staring I say "what are you goggling at"
When I ask my kids to clean anywhere I always say "don't forget the nooks and crannies"

I was told by my cookery teacher many, many ,many , years ago that quiche was an egg and bacon flan made with cream. Leave out the cream and it beacomes a flan.
My mother-in-law always wore slacks never trousers and her dresses were frocks.
My mum used to wear a skirt and matching jacket but she didn't call it a suit it was a costume.

When did egg and something flan (using up leftovers) become quiche?

I still listen to the wireless.

I still convert prices to pre-decimal. No way am I paying 9/6d for a packet of crisps. It's just not going to happen.

Or wireless transistors?
Dig

Remember frocks, anyone? When did they all become dresses?

Yes, that's an odd one. When they used to have wires they were called wirelesses and now the wires have gone making them truly wire-less they are called radios. Maybe it happened when transistor radios came in? Then again, why weren't those called transistor wirelesses?

And crime seems to have been eradicated. Unfortunately we get a lot of criminality in its place.

I'm still saying 'the pictures' and my daughter corrects me by saying 'cinema' better than 'the movies' I suppose.

When did the wireless become a radio? I'm sure there is a good reason, and there are many differences, but my dad's DAB radio is still a wireless to him.

Jangly, that makes much more sense!