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To talk at cross purposes | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| WFU03 Groupie Norway Joined 6676 days ago 62 posts - 70 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Norwegian, French | Message 1 of 9 28 October 2010 at 8:04pm | IP Logged |
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I'm a native American English speaker and my wife occasionally asks me if something is or is not a phrase in English because she often translates things from Norwegian to English at work. Earlier today, she asked me about the phrase "to talk at cross purposes." I said that I had never heard it before. After a bit of research on the net, it is definitely a real expression in English.
Therefore, my question is, "Is this a British English expression or have I just not been exposed to this expression that is also used in American English?" Edited by WFU03 on 28 October 2010 at 8:05pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5957 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes Studies: French | Message 2 of 9 28 October 2010 at 8:10pm | IP Logged |
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Definitely used in Canada. Also, "talk to cross porpoises", but that is mostly just at the Vancouver Aquarium, and only on rainy days (but there are a lot of rainy days here).
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| Liface Triglot Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/Lif Joined 5859 days ago 150 posts - 237 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish Studies: Dutch, French | Message 3 of 9 28 October 2010 at 8:48pm | IP Logged |
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As an american English speaker, I've never heard of it.
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| JimC Senior Member United Kingdom tinyurl.com/aberdeen Joined 5548 days ago 199 posts - 317 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 4 of 9 29 October 2010 at 10:24am | IP Logged |
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Definitely used in British English. Further than that I can't say Edited by JimC on 29 October 2010 at 10:24am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Aucassin Diglot Newbie United States Joined 5494 days ago 22 posts - 25 votes Speaks: English*, French | Message 5 of 9 01 November 2010 at 2:06am | IP Logged |
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I am American, and I have heard that expression. Maybe it's a regional thing?
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| Old Chemist Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5174 days ago 227 posts - 285 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 6 of 9 01 November 2010 at 8:23pm | IP Logged |
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It's an expression common here in South East England; it feels natural to me. I would imagine there are parts of America where it is in common use due to the fact that some of the people there came from here! Often, on a slightly different note, there are protestations here about BE being "americanized," when in actual fact it is a case of English expressions which have died out here being re-introduced. One which is being resisted is "gotten," this is dead in BE, long having been replaced by "got" where American speakers would use it.
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| GREGORG4000 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5524 days ago 307 posts - 479 votes Speaks: English*, Finnish Studies: Japanese, Korean, Amharic, French | Message 7 of 9 01 November 2010 at 8:50pm | IP Logged |
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It sounds vaguely familiar but I don't know what it means and if I heard it in conversation my brain would just gloss over it.
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| DaisyMaisy Senior Member United States Joined 5381 days ago 115 posts - 178 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish Studies: Swedish, Finnish | Message 8 of 9 02 November 2010 at 3:01am | IP Logged |
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Interesting - I am an American English speaker from California and I have definitely heard a variant of this quite often: "to work at cross purposes". As in, when a coworker and I are both trying to do something but managing to mess up what the other is doing, thus making the whole exercise pointless....one might say, "I think we're working at cross purposes here, let's rethink this". I haven't actually heard "to talk at cross purposes" but I would imagine it has the same connotations.
Of course, I think I learned this phrase from my mother, whose father was Swedish, so maybe it is a Scandinavian thing after all! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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