Does the term "merc" cause offence?

[dizzy lizzy]

Funny - i was just saying that to Bri

Elizabeth

 

[muller1]

Sorry but you are wrong!!!!

Oh Dear,clearly I must be a bit of a dick then....,as I do cliches and jargon and slightly less than I abhor the influence of American,typified by that hideous word "Transportation".
It doesn't exist in the English language and there is no use of it where the word "Transport" will not do.

Regards,
Nick.

Sorry but Transportation is an ENGLISH word not an American one as implied.
Quote from Macmillan Encyclopedia= "Transportation, In law, the practice of sending a convicted criminal to some place OUTSIDE Britain, usually to one of the colonies, to be kept in hard labour.
TRANSPORTATION dates back to the reign of Elizabeth 1.

TRANSPORTATION was replaced by penal servitude at the end of the 18th centuary then later by imprisonment"
Also in the Chambers 20th Centuary Dictonary meaning the same as above.

I have a Merc and a Jag and used to have a Fordie, the wording is used as a form of endearment and abbreviation, for example, I say to my wife, "I will take the Merc" as it is much quicker and easier than to say "I will take the Mercedes Benz" as it sounds so pretentious as to me the Merc is like all my vehicles just a tool, like a "shifter" is a shortened version of "An adjustable spanner" and a tape is a shorter version of Extending Tape Measure, or Measuring tape everyone will know what you mean.
Do not be such a stick in the mud.
Welcome to the real world.

Regards.

Mike

 

[ncooper]

Do not be such a stick in the mud.
Regards.

Mike

I like it in the mud

Regards,
Nick.

 

[muller1]

In the mud

I like it in the mud

Regards,
Nick.

There is nothing quite like getting DOWN AND DIRTY.
I used to remember what that meant but altzheimers has taken over and half way through I forget what I am doing and go for a cuppa.

Old Age, what a blessing.

Regards.

Mike

 

[roofless]

MERC as used by people who want a car BENZ as used for people who want a lifestyle :lol:

 

[Alex M Grieve]

I have a Merc and a Jag and used to have a Fordie, the wording is used as a form of endearment and abbreviation, for example, I say to my wife, "I will take the Merc" as it is much quicker and easier than to say "I will take the Mercedes Benz" as it sounds so pretentious

You are lucky to have the choice Mike, we only have Mercedes in our family. We work around it though by referring to them by their model type, which is both brief , accurate and unabridged, as in "I'll take the S Class".

 

[fullmeister]

In General i agree, and i hate the "Americanisms" that are steadily creeping into our language, but must admit to using Merc when discussing my cars :Oops:

I also can't stand the almost Australian accent that lots of the younger generation seem to have adopted, it is particularly noted when ringing call centres. I find words such as Don't know ( a popular one with call centres)seem to come out more like doynt noyr or something like that.

Text language is another HATE for me, again the younger generation seem to be more guilty of this than the older ones (but not always) Things like M8 for mate or B4 instead of before. Indeed my 14 year old daughter can send a text message to me that i am unable to understand at all, and often does.
I have a habbit of sending the message back with "IN ENGLISH PLEASE" at the top.

Indeed i am with Sir Trevor McDonald in wanting to keep the English language alive and well

And all that from a Geordie, Ah divn't naah!!! hahaha

Toon toon black and white army !!!! (ahhh I remember when ......)

Poland is just like a big Newcastle actually (except the football is better )
And the beer is cheaper
And the lasses are better looking

So its nowt like it really. BUT still proud to be a Geordie !!

 

[Myros]

fullmeister

is the lasses and beer thing interlinked in any way.

 

[television]

If asked what car you came in,,it might not be a good idea to speak to loudly saying "I have the benz"

 

[hawk20]

So,with the possible exception of the practice of exiling convicts(I stand corrected,thanks),there are no occasions when the word "Transport" cannot be used to replace "Transportation"?

Regards,
Nick.

Agreed but it is too strong to say it doesn't exist in the English language. Living languages keep being expanded even when we don't always like the way they are going.

 

[Rappey69]

For most other brand owners they have the opportunity of calling their car by its model name, ie focus, laguna,astra,passat etc.
We could not do that as the average joe would not know what a c220 or whatever is.
I find that answering what car you have as a "mercedes benz" a bit pretentious so either say merc or mercedes.
Either way it does not really matter how any one shortens their car name as it is only a word in a conversation.

 

[amwebby]

I usually use Mercedes instead of the full double-barrelled monty. I just don't like calling it a murk though....

 

[television]

I usually use Mercedes instead of the full double-barrelled monty. I just don't like calling it a murk though....

Yes I think the Mercedes is the best answer too,,MB comes next

 

[roadhog]

Now you see, MB in a conversation with anybody other than a car enthusiast (and who wants to talk to them?) would seem very odd to me.

 

[C180 Chris]

I agree with the above, MB would not be understood by anyone in day to day life. (At least not oop here anyway)

 

[Rappey69]

The Germans like to call them Benz-es. or the proper Mer-tsay-dez. Why don't we? It's not a Murr-say-dees as we pronounce it at all.

Come on PSmart, back me up.

Just had a chat with a german friend of mine, seems like you got it spot on. He also told me they call them daimler too !
Now this can be confusing as i had a daimler which was basically a mk2 jag(uar)

 

[C180 Chris]

For me Daimler makes me think of the DS420 hearse and i think that Benz would put us back in the same situation as with MB (nobody other than car enthusiasts would know what you owned)
Merc is, i think a well known name for them and everyone knows what you mean. I heard one guy call mine a "three pointer" But again i think only a few would understand that.

 

[roadhog]

Just had a chat with a german friend of mine, seems like you got it spot on. He also told me they call them daimler too !
Now this can be confusing as i had a daimler which was basically a mk2 jag(uar)

That's because in the olden days the company was Daimler-Benz. Not to be confused with the Daimler company in the UK.
So are we all agreed then, Merc it is?

 

[amwebby]

"It is beautiful that they are they and we are we." De Deukans

 

[television]

I agree with the above, MB would not be understood by anyone in day to day life. (At least not oop here anyway)

I do not think that you would be having a conversation with anyone about cars that did not know what MB meant, even up there