Gordon Johnson: Blog

I am sorry to say that I have been too busy this week to get the next chapter completed. It is only half written, so it will be several days more before I am ready to post it.
My apologies to all my many readers.

Of the many replies I have had, some talk of different words for the same thing; but my point was about different meanings for the SAME word.
One respondent mentioned Ass, which in the UK means a donkey or a foolish person, but in the USA it means the human backside.
One other I have thought of is Siding. In the USA it means the exterior wall cladding of a house, but in the UK it means a short branch of railway track used for temporary parking of less urgent trains.
It is useful if a story shows what the word's meaning is intended to be.

I keep noticing words that have two different meanings, depending on nwhich side of the Atlantic you live. Chips and pavemnet are examples.
In the US, chips are what we in the UK call crisps.
In the UK, chips are what you in the US call French Fries.
In the US, a pavement is what cars drive on.
In the UK, a pavement is what the pedestrians walk on (what you call a sidewalk).
For houses, what Americans call the First Floor is what we in the UK call the Ground Floor, with the First floor being the one above the ground floor.
As far as weather temperatures go, beware what scale you are using. The USA uses Fahrenheit; the rest of the world uses Celsius, and they are COMPLETELY different! 30 degrees i Europe is hot, and in the US it is cold.
Two contries divided by a single language, said Churchill, and he was right.

Having concluded the Reginald series (but suggestions have been made, so my mind is toying with an interesting continuation), I have been working on a new long story with the title "The Nowhere Man".
The length iof this new story is heading for 150,000 words, so I thought it might be time to post the first chapter, and keep working on the story. Watch for it in the next couple of days.

As I have to be away for the next couple of days with my wife for her to get a minor eye operation at a hospital 110 miles away, I am posting chapter 11 early, and the final chapter will be posted after I am home again.