10 March 2005 @ 08:52 am
 
I found the source of the funky smell that's been in my kitchen for days. A potato. Well, it was a potato before it fell down the back of my fridge and liquidised...

My entire house is like a freezer right now, okay so it's still winter and it's Scotland so it's never going to be tropical, but there's still something wrong with my thermostat. When I have the central heating on 'timed' it never heats up properly so I have to switch it to 'on' then hope I remember to switch it off at some point. It's like the temperature thermostat is tied into the timer except it's not...

Speaking of white goods that keep things cold, there's been this strange recurring thing in fic lately. The use of the word frig. I don't think this is a 'nations divided by a common language' UK/US thing, I think it's just a misunderstanding.

Frig is pronounced with a hard 'g' at the end (almost like a 'k' - and I know there's a phonetic way of writing it but I'm too cold to look it up right now) and is used as a 'soft' swearword in certain places. The roots of the word are a term for female masturbation.

Fridge on the other hand, is a shortened form of 'refrigerator' meaning somewhere you keep your milk cold. I've no idea where the extra 'd' comes from but I suspect it may be to stop the confusion with the word 'frig'.

"Willow took a bottle of water from the frig'" conjours up all sorts of mental images which I'm sure the author didn't intend. Please, it's not like I'm asking you to use the missing 'e' in axe here, just please spell it 'fridge'?

Thus endeth the lesson...
 
 
Current Mood: cold
Current Music: Time Team on Civilisation
 
 
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[identity profile] acrazywench.livejournal.com on March 10th, 2005 01:28 am (UTC)
Rambling about fridges......

Does 'fridge' come from the manufacturer 'frigidaire'? They might have been the original manufacturer/monopoly at one point (at least over here) like hoover or something. (The first fridge I remember us having 20-25 years ago was a 'frigidaire' - evidence-wise it's not much to go on!) Fridge seems to be far more widely used over here than in the States, so I would guess it has its roots here (I'm probably wrong though). (I don't think I've ever said refrigerator in my life! Why say 3 syllables when you can say one?!)

Beck.

[identity profile] whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on March 10th, 2005 01:41 am (UTC)
Aha, you could be onto something there - the whole brand name replacing the genric title thing (I still do the hoovering even though I do it with an Electolux vacuum cleaner, for example). That could also be a reason behind the misspelling as well I guess.
[identity profile] acrazywench.livejournal.com on March 10th, 2005 02:19 am (UTC)
Hey Sho,

You have a silly e-mail. (I apologise in advance for the craziness of the content - jaffa cakes will be forthcoming for any advice you can give!*bg* Alternatively, running away and hiding would be a perfectly understandable response to it!)

Beck
[identity profile] whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on March 10th, 2005 02:23 am (UTC)
Ha! Currently reading it right now and my mouth is watering... which has to be a good sign since I've had no appetite for the past three weeks!

I'll have a think about it and get a reply to you by lunch (or by the time reading about that food makes me too hungry and I have to go eat something!)
[identity profile] acrazywench.livejournal.com on March 10th, 2005 02:26 am (UTC)
You're a star! Virtual jaffa cakes are winging their way to you, they can be traded in for real replacements on 29th April:)

[identity profile] whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on March 10th, 2005 02:30 am (UTC)
Mmmmmm Jaffa Cakes!!!!

*g*
[identity profile] rileysaplank.livejournal.com on March 10th, 2005 02:31 am (UTC)
And why aren't you asking them to put the missing E in Axe. It's only a three letter word to begin with, why do they need to make it shorter? It goes totally against the American way of making everything bigger.
[identity profile] whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on March 10th, 2005 02:40 am (UTC)
the 'e' in axe and the 'u' in colour argument has been going for so long that to get back into it just ends up with sore heads and bad feelings these days.