I don't believe so. I understand that the Americans use yard just as the English use the word garden. The Germans don't use backside in that way at all. I wrote to a site that had that word on their english speaking site pointing out it conotation here and they ignored the e-mail, which is the treatment it usually gets.
Sorry I'm not quite following......... yes the meaning of english words in american do change. backyard refers to the space behind the house. It can contain a garden, a pool, a deck, trees or not, grass or not. and depending on the size all of the above or none. The same goes for the front yard. The average house is positioned on the front of the lot. But new construction in developments now days is like huge houses and hardly any yard at all, unless you have lots of money.
We have got cats - four - dogs - four (yes, the old one is still around - coming up 20 years old) - a goat - a duck - a chinchilla (no, sorry, he has recently died at an extremely old age) - a Zebra Finch (I don't know how old he is - lost count) - a tortoise who travels are approx 0.000 m.p.h. and lives to 200 years old. It is, I think about 2 years old. and, of course, rabbits, lops, red-eyed white polish, scruffs (mongrels), and birds in the garden who are owned by no-one. (The cats say that are owned by noone. Mind you, we have no money.
The difference is that over here a yard is regarded as a derogatory term. I was born in a house which had a yard - a very small opening at the rear of the house which was completely paved over - with about a dozen paving slabs. There was no front yard or garden - the front door opened straight on to the street. The only toilet in the entire place was in the back yard. There was none in the house, or a bath for that matter. There was no sink in the toilet area in the back garden.
Here it's reguarded as a derogatory term also. Since a yard is a pretty big area, to refer to someone's backside as a "back yard', well, you get the idea. Thats what i was talking about.
I'm having so much fun right now. Babysitting my cousins and watching them play hours upon hours of N64... They're not any good games... just Banjo-Tooie, until their parent pick them up, which could take up to six hours. Save me SuperOink! :bunny:
Oh well, at least they're not playing ANY Pokemon games. *shudders unstoppably* :speechless: Fret not, fair Gurt! Soupr Oink :bunny: is here! No M69 or Bajoo-Cashew-y will be able to stop me! *whisks Gurt safely away from the clutches of evil Japanese gaming*
Hmmm. Six hours of Banjo-Tooie.. then two hours of Banjo-Kazooie. *screams* Those games are boring enough without watching kids play the same level over and over again without getting anything to help them advance to the next level. On a different note: Yay Thanksgiving.
Oink, I don't think you have got the entire picture. Houses side by side (terraced?) with no garden and not a piece of grass within two miles in any given direction. With a cotton mill at the end of the street (about four doors away) which pumped filth into the air, which dropped back on you later in the day. Things have changed, thank goodness. All the houses I used to live in were knocked down - I don't know when.
Mind you, I went back a few years ago and the local street market that I remember my mother going to years ago was exactly (exactly) the same. It had no paving, no drains, nothing? And the old tripe shop was still there and still, apparently, doing well.
The Brits love their tripe, i guess. What can i say? THANKSGIVING!!! Can you sense my excitement? I love the festivities. Xmas too, thats my fav. holiday. Then Thanksgiving. Thank god the colonists slaughtered the Native Americans and stole their lands, or else we wouldnt have such a nice holiday to celebrate! :angry:
May i add that I am a brit and I do not like tripe. And also Christmas is my fave holiday oooooh the warm wuving atmwosphere ^_^ Yay its a pity i have to wait 9 weeks :'(
I've been bugging my parents about Christmas for a month or so now... "Did you guys realize that Christmas is just this far away?" They get annoyed at me saying that every couple of weeks. I wonder how much coal I'll get this year for my being evil and all?
It's gonna be very warm inside your house this Winter, Snake. Ummm Hendy, that color you're using is making me see doubles... :squareeyed:
Hey - the colonists did not slaughter the native Americans - it was the genuine Americans, I understand. The original colonists, as it were. They were unspeakable nasty to the native Americans and would not understand their point of view. Actually it was a very old question - hunter/gatherers or farmers? Rather like the cowmen and the sheepmen?
I dont have cold hard facts like a text book or a site that i can verify that info w/, but i would say i remembered my lessons well enough. Besides, does an american need a brit to tell him his own country's history? I know i know, some of us cant even tell you who their first president is, and i dont claim to know a lot about anything, but at least i'm fairly certain my info is correct.
