Jon Ribbens wrote:
> On 2015-03-02, Dennis Lee Bieber <wlfr...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>> A pub's a bar; a bar's a gate; a gate's a street
>
> If each of those is supposed to be English first and then the American
> equivalent second, then I'm afraid the first one is misleading and the
> other two are just nonsense.
Unfortunately not nonsense.
A pub (short for public drinking house) is another name for a bar. Yes, they
sometimes differ in their connotations ("pubs are decorated in wood, bars in
chrome") but essentially they are the same thing.
A bar is also a rod of solid material, like a steel bar, and "a barrier or
restriction to an action or advance".
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=definition%3Abar
and of course a gate is also a barrier or restriction. Indeed, we have
"tollbar" and "tollgate" as synonyms:
tollbar, tollgate - a gate or bar across a toll bridge or toll road which is
lifted when the toll is paid
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/gate
so a bar is a type of gate. And, sure enough, there is an old meaning of
"gate" which means "a way, road, street, or path".
If you think that's bad, try pronouncing "ghoti" according to standard
English rules:
"gh" sounds like "f", like in "enough" (enuf).
"o" sounds like "i", like in "women" (wimmin).
"ti" sounds like "sh", like in "station" (stashun).
So "ghoti" sounds like "fish".
--
Steven
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