to phone / to call

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Stan
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to phone / to call

Postby Stan » 2005-08-22, 17:24

In the U.S. we usually use the verb "to call" when calling somebody on the phone. but I was watching a British show and they were using the verb "to phone". Is "to phone" more common in Britain than "to call"?
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Postby Kirk » 2005-08-22, 20:14

Some Canadians (if not most) also say "phone" instead of "call." I believe some British speakers also may say "ring" as in "I'll ring you tomorrow." I have a friend here who's an American of British parents and he said that he didn't realize till a few years ago that no one here says "I'll ring you" and finally realized why he kept on getting strange looks when he said it (adding to his problem--his accent is completely American so people naturally didn't expect him to say anything British...if he had a British accent it would probably make more sense to people).
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Postby ZombiekE » 2005-08-22, 22:41

I always use call. It's simpler to say :P
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kiwi call

Postby weemaxcat » 2005-08-25, 4:18

Here in New Zealand, we rarely use 'phone'. We generally say, "I rang him yesterday" , "I called him yesterday" or "I gave him a call yesterday", "I gave him a ring yesterday"

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Re: kiwi call

Postby MikeL » 2005-08-25, 21:29

weemaxcat wrote:Here in New Zealand, we rarely use 'phone'. We generally say, "I rang him yesterday"


... or more likely "I rung him yesterday"

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Postby Kirk » 2005-08-25, 21:58

Daniel wrote:
svenska84 wrote:Some Canadians (if not most) also say "phone" instead of "call." I believe some British speakers also may say "ring" as in "I'll ring you tomorrow." I have a friend here who's an American of British parents and he said that he didn't realize till a few years ago that no one here says "I'll ring you" and finally realized why he kept on getting strange looks when he said it (adding to his problem--his accent is completely American so people naturally didn't expect him to say anything British...if he had a British accent it would probably make more sense to people).


Yes! "Ring"! How could I forget?! :oops:

So, altogether we have "phone", "call", and "ring" here in the UK. :wink:

I can imagine a funny pun with "ring" in the USA --> "Shall I give you a ring tonight?" "Oh, are you proposing?! How sweet!"

*ahem*


Hehe, yeah, "shall I give you a ring tonight?" only refers to a piece of jewelry here :)
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Postby ZombiekE » 2005-08-25, 22:02

Shall I give you a Google Talk? :P
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Postby Kirk » 2005-08-25, 22:10

ZombiekE wrote:Shall I give you a Google Talk? :P


haha

Daniel wrote:Don't know if I'm the only one here to think such thing but "I'll ring you" in the USA sounds a bit dirty. No? Rolling Eyes Embarassed


Yes, it definitely could be interpreted that way :wink: altho in most contexts I think it would just cause confusion...
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Postby kibo » 2005-08-25, 22:50

Daniel wrote:Don't know if I'm the only one here to think such thing but "I'll ring you" in the USA sounds a bit dirty. No? :roll: :oops:


Does it? Now I'm curious why xD

Am I the only one that thinks the phrase 'to phone somebody' is sexual? (after a certain episode of The Coupling) :P
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Postby kibo » 2005-08-26, 0:46

Daniel wrote:
Bugi wrote:
Daniel wrote:Don't know if I'm the only one here to think such thing but "I'll ring you" in the USA sounds a bit dirty. No? :roll: :oops:


Does it? Now I'm curious why xD


Well, if you must know... I can PM you explaining why that is dirty if interpreted that way. As I don't think it's appropriate for me to write what it explicitly means lol. :wink:


Ok... or you can make it tiny and in another colour. :P

Daniel wrote:
Bugi wrote:Am I the only one that thinks the phrase 'to phone somebody' is sexual? (after a certain episode of The Coupling) :P


:?


To use the phone (the device) and stick it into... well... use it for unusual sex practice. xD It was used on the show in that sense.
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Postby Stan » 2005-08-26, 0:57

Bugi wrote:
Daniel wrote:Don't know if I'm the only one here to think such thing but "I'll ring you" in the USA sounds a bit dirty. No? :roll: :oops:


Does it? Now I'm curious why xD

Am I the only one that thinks the phrase 'to phone somebody' is sexual? (after a certain episode of The Coupling) :P


you watch coupling too! :twisted:

It is one of the funniest shows. In fact, the British show I was referring to was Coupling! :P
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Postby kibo » 2005-08-26, 7:56

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Ok, now I get it. ;)


Stancel wrote:you watch coupling too! :twisted:


Yes, it was always one of my favourite British shows.
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Postby Luís » 2005-09-03, 10:25

Oh, more Coupling lovers (the British original version)!!! :bounce:

I have the first three seasons on DVD and I absolutely love it! :D

The show is so smart, so witty and original. And they use such uncommon things for a sitcom, such as split-screens, going back and forward in the story, etc.

There's a funny episode called "The Girl With Two Breasts", where Jeff meets an Israeli girl at the bar who doesn't speak English and yet they try to communicate :P Then after 10 minutes the image rewinds and it appears written on screen "Now let's see this as if you were an Israeli" and then the girl speaks in English and Jeff in an unidentified
language. Then we realize how they've been talking about completely different things, including the fact that he ended up thinking her name was in fact "Breasts"! :lol: I can never get tired of this episode! :)

And what about when Sally arranges a lesbian date with Patrick's bisexual gf by mistake? Or "Lesbian Spank Inferno"? :lol:

And I remember that episode you mention. The girl says to Jeff something like "That was the first time someone phoned me" and he's like "Yeah, so what?" and she says "No, Jeff. It was the first time someone *phoned* me" (with him on the other end of the line) :lol:

"A woman's breasts are a journey. Her feet are the destination."

I heard that there was an American version too, but that it go cancelled (most of the jokes were probably censored anyway :P)
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Postby kibo » 2005-09-03, 16:38

Yes, lol. I love all episodes, but my absolute favourite is the one about Giselle, the French bitch. :lol:

The American remake didn't even last a whole season. But the british one rules. :P
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Postby Luís » 2005-09-03, 16:48

No, I am Giselle! :whip:

:lol: :lol:

How could I forget this one? :) "Susan's Bar" in Australia... LOL

Btw, Susan does speak French with a really great accent (assuming it was her voice, but I think so).
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Postby Strigo » 2005-09-03, 17:18

There is a Scottish serie I've watched on I-sat.... it's about drugs, vioence, sex... I dislike it a bit but it's interesting to listen to that "understandable-to-me" accent... Timdale town? or something...
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Postby kibo » 2005-09-03, 17:35

Luís wrote:Btw, Susan does speak French with a really great accent (assuming it was her voice, but I think so).


Yes. Apparently she translated what she had to say herself.

Sarah Alexander (Susan) translated all the french herself with a bit of help from her tanslator brother. she also speaks perfect spanish


http://www.tv.com/coupling/the-end-of-t ... mmary.html
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Re: to phone / to call

Postby Gormur » 2005-09-26, 1:05

Stancel wrote:In the U.S. we usually use the verb "to call" when calling somebody on the phone. but I was watching a British show and they were using the verb "to phone". Is "to phone" more common in Britain than "to call"?


Americans also use "phone" as a verb in Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Idaho, Montana, and likely all across and between the border states. All of my North Dakotan relatives use "phone", as well as my mom who was born there.

Canadian English uses "to phone" and "to ring", depending on the dialect. My mom's boss from NFL uses "ring", like "I'll ring ya' up". A friend from Victoria uses "phone" and "ring", depending on the circumstance: "I'll ring you later" or "I'll phone you up" are also common.

The most common one I hear around here is "Give me a shout" or "I'll give you a shout"...

Not sure whether or not that's universal in Canada, but I've only heard Manitobans and W Ontarioans use that one thus far.

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Re: to phone / to call

Postby Travis B. » 2005-10-01, 7:16

Gormur wrote:Americans also use "phone" as a verb in Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Idaho, Montana, and likely all across and between the border states. All of my North Dakotan relatives use "phone", as well as my mom who was born there.


I didn't know "to phone" was used at all here in Wisconsin. At least in southeastern and southern Wisconsin (basically, the Milwaukee and Madison areas respectively) I have solely heard "to call" used, and the use of "to phone" and "to ring" are practically completely absent there. However, such might be not be the case Up North, where the pattern you describe might be the case, and which I cannot speak much about on a first hand basis, having only been there relatively occasionally on vacation, which of course would not provide enough contact with the local population to give much of a definitive answer about such.
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Postby Gormur » 2005-10-04, 17:20

My relatives in La Crosse use the verb "to phone".


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