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Joined: Nov 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
"Autumn" because it's a prettier word and also specific - the season between the atumnal equiox and the winter solstice (High Priestesses have to be concerned about that sort of thing)- and fall has many meanings and it sort of demeans a beautiful season.
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Joined: Jan 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
When I tried to look up "fall" in my dictionary, it took me three tries before I could find the definition of the season, there was such a long list of other mneanings.
In New England, there is such a preponderance of deciduous trees that the change of foliage from green to barren is very striking. People there say "fall" much more often than autumn, which is used for the time when the leaves are changing color, due to production of a red colored substitute for chlorophyll.
Here in Southern California, there is no fall, just a moderate change in the number of green leaves. Only a few
trees show bare limbs. But there isn't any autumn, either.
Never any pretty colored red and yellow leaves. And roses bloom the year round, just less spectacular between summer and spring.
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
Bill is correct about New England; up here in Vermont, the "Fall Foliage" season is huge tourist business. Autumn is used, but tends to be a bit upper-crusty... used for naming B & B's, restaurants, etc. one of my favorite songs, however, is called "Vermont is Afire in the Autumn". it is a truly beautiful time of year. 
formerly known as etaoin...
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
I refer to autumn as fall almost exclusively in conversation around here in somewhat south Virginia.
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Joined: Jan 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
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Dear WW: remember Edith Piaf singing "the autumn leaves fall past my window..." Damn, how I wish my goofy nerve deafness didn't make all music sound out of tune.
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624 |
Damn, how I wish my goofy nerve deafness didn't make all music sound out of tune.
Piaf ... she must have kept the French clothes peg manufacturers busy ...
And, like sjm, I have never consciously used "fall" as a synonym for "autumn". Very much a merikanism. Oh, and Canadian too, I suppose.
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 508
addict
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addict
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 508 |
Never thought of fall, the season, as peculiar to the US, but, along with WW, I use it almost exclusively, especially in conversation. Autumn somehow seems more formal.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear Capfka: If you haven't seen it, it's hard to imagine how suddenly the trees become leafless, and you have dead leaves six inches deep, a seerious fire hazard that must be taken up quickly, or the fire department will have it done for you and send you a big fat bill. I can remember a Halloween, when kids setting fire to leaves in gutters set fire to three or more parked cars. Great sport.
Autumn foliage is beautiful, but Fall leaf raking is a real pain.
Dear Piaf sounded so vulnerable and defenseless, every male who heard her had his protective impulses activated.
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
Fall, (meaning autumn) used to be used in UK, but if fell into disuse in the mid 1600's.. just a english settlers were moving to New England and Virginia, and so on.. Cut off from (then) current fashions, the new world speakers of english continued to use Fall; Autumn prevailed in Old world.
both words are now known to both old world and new world english speakers, but autumn prevail in UK and in areas settles long after fall became unfashionable, Fall more common in US and Canada. (bill byson covers it in full in one of his books on english)
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Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742 |
>Never thought of fall, the season, as peculiar to the US, Rest assured that it, along with much else USn is very peculiar indeed. Seriously, though, can one of the boffins confirm or ciorrect an understanding I have that "fall" for the season is one of those archaicisms left over when relations soured post-Tea Party? I seem to recall reading that Willy and his contemporaries used it, and that autumn is a more recent addition to English EDIT: Whoops! Looks like I mantled helen inside a couple of posts - Me Max culpable.
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