British English editing for Yanks

[Mouse]

Well, this is what it mentioned in the dictionary for pries. The pry bar thing and levering, which is why I thought it was the one I wanted. But anyway, it's just 'pry' now so that's much simpler!

 

[DoctorWhat]

Does that lead us on to jemmy? Anyone know if this is used in the US or is it a BE only type word?

 

[Ursa major]

According to Wiktionary, the noun jimmy:

5. (US) A jemmy; a crowbar used by burglars to open windows and doors.

and the noun jemmy:

4. Alternative spelling of jimmy (crowbar).

so it looks as if jemmy is acceptable on both sides of the Pond, but jimmy is more US-specific.

 

[DoctorWhat]

Ah, much obliged. Think jimmy might cause problems here in the UK though, it's cockney rhyming slang for a wee/pee - as in, "Blimey, I'm desperate for a jimmy!"

(Jimmy Riddle = Piddle )

Is there no end to this madness?

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Jemmy open something works frequently

 

[J-Sun]

According to Wiktionary, the noun jimmy:and the noun jemmy:so it looks as if jemmy is acceptable on both sides of the Pond, but jimmy is more US-specific.

FWIW, I wouldn't recognize and don't believe I've ever seen "jemmy". It's "jimmy" to me. Wikipedia (and wiktionary, I guess) seems to be mostly done by UK folks.

 

[Phyrebrat]

Well, I had planned on posting a link on how to make the perfect cup of tea but the articles were all at odds with each other (not to say unfit for my argument). I used to use full fat and my folks used to get it delivered. Regarding the cream, neither my brother, sister nor I ended up with it as blue tits would nick* it before we got to it.

Anyway, I will allow the brits to drink their tea the way they wish - even if it is wrong - but the Americans herein may not expect to be taken seriously regarding the alchemy required in brewing and serving tea. That right was forfeited the day they tried using Boston water to make it.

pH
*nick: to steal

 

[Fishbowl Helmet]

Well, I had planned on posting a link on how to make the perfect cup of tea but the articles were all at odds with each other (not to say unfit for my argument). I used to use full fat and my folks used to get it delivered. Regarding the cream, neither my brother, sister nor I ended up with it as blue tits would nick* it before we got to it.

Anyway, I will allow the brits to drink their tea the way they wish - even if it is wrong - but the Americans herein may not expect to be taken seriously regarding the alchemy required in brewing and serving tea. That right was forfeited the day they tried using Boston water to make it.

pH
*nick: to steal

Well, if I may, the only three pieces of writing one would ever need on the subject are referenced and linked in this article.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

You need biccy or biscuit with tea. Though that means something different perhaps in USA. Cookies are an American import.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3625001/This-passion-for-tea-really-takes-the-biscuit.html

 

[Alex The G and T]

I've only heard "jimmy" used as a verb. Something one does with a pry-bar, or a crow-bar. Never "jemmy."

On an interesting side note; "jimmy" as a noun may explain the obscure etymology for a "slim-jim"; which is a very thin "jimmy" designed to slip into narrow cracks in a car door with the purpose of snagging the locking mechanism, when one wants to get into a locked car without a key.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Regarding the cream, neither my brother, sister nor I ended up with it as blue tits would nick* it before we got to it.

*nick: to steal

Really, that's the part of that sentence you felt it necessary to footnote?

I have never seen "jemmy", or if so, certainly not as a US usage.

Mouse, your "pries" is perfectly fine if being used as "he grabs the jar and pries it open", and it shouldn't be changed to "pry" in that case. If it was "prise" as in "to prise the jar open", that would be a UK thing, and the US would be "to pry the jar open".

 

[Mouse]

"Pries" is US too? The sentence is that something is being pried out of someone's hands.

 

[HareBrain]

@Mouse "pries" is the present tense of "to pry", which in BE would be used as "he pries into her affairs" and in AE would be used as TDZ has said. But it's only the present tense third person form (he/she pries).

So in BE, for prising something out of someone's hands, you'd say "he prises it out of her hands" in present tense, or "he prised it out of her hands" in past tense.

Can you give an example of how you've used it?

 

[Mouse]

I have no pries left as the editor changed it to pry. "Liam attempted to pry Jim's fingers open while Stella wriggled the prism."

 

[HareBrain]

Ah, in that context it should have been prise for BE

 

[Mouse]

If I ever get to write in BE again, I know now.

 

[Toby Frost]

Slight chance of topic: am I right in thinking that a box-cutter is a Stanley knife?

 

[Ray McCarthy]

I think so. And a Stanley knife might not be. (Kleenex, Hoover, Google, Duck tape etc)

 

[Fishbowl Helmet]

Slight chance of topic: am I right in thinking that a box-cutter is a Stanley knife?

Stanley knife is the brand name, box cutter is the kind of knife. I've only ever heard them referred to as box cutters.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Hmm, whilst it is, indeed, the brand name, it's one of those brand names that has become, by default, the name of the product. I wonder which American products have the same principle. For UK ones I can think of:

Land Rover covers most types of all-terrain vehicles, regardless of make (and in Northern Ireland, most police vehicles)
Hoover - vacuum cleaners
Tippex - whitener for covering typos

And, in these cases, can we use them in books? I remember having this in one of mine where I used Fisher-price, but I think it was considered, on balance, okay because I supplied context.