"Doctor" and "baby" without noun markers
Feb. 13th, 2014 06:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dieastraI just posted this entry in the community ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
linguaphiles but I thought I put it into here as well, as I know you all love a good discussion once in a while and maybe we all learn something new by it! If you want to check the replies in the comm, the entry is here: http://linguaphiles.livejournal.com/5988669.html
Hi, I'm from Germany and I am wondering about something that I repeatedly encounter recently in the British TV series "Call the midwife" (which is set in London in the 1950s if that is important).
I am pharaphrasing here, but there are often sentences spoken by the nurses and sisters which go like "I'll call doctor and he'll check whether baby is okay."
For me this sounds odd, as I would say "I call THE doctor so he can make sure YOUR baby is okay." Why are there no noun markers with those two specific words? Are there other words like that? You would not do this with "girl" or "boy" would you?
And on a side note, I also find it a bit odd that in the English language men for example apparently refer to their wife as just "the wife" and not proudly "my wife" as it is in Germany. It seems a bit impersonal. Do they also say "the boy" instead of "my boy"?
I am always trying to improve my English so I am musing about these things and why there is this difference. Many thanks for your help!
linguaphiles but I thought I put it into here as well, as I know you all love a good discussion once in a while and maybe we all learn something new by it! If you want to check the replies in the comm, the entry is here: http://linguaphiles.livejournal.com/5988669.htmlHi, I'm from Germany and I am wondering about something that I repeatedly encounter recently in the British TV series "Call the midwife" (which is set in London in the 1950s if that is important).
I am pharaphrasing here, but there are often sentences spoken by the nurses and sisters which go like "I'll call doctor and he'll check whether baby is okay."
For me this sounds odd, as I would say "I call THE doctor so he can make sure YOUR baby is okay." Why are there no noun markers with those two specific words? Are there other words like that? You would not do this with "girl" or "boy" would you?
And on a side note, I also find it a bit odd that in the English language men for example apparently refer to their wife as just "the wife" and not proudly "my wife" as it is in Germany. It seems a bit impersonal. Do they also say "the boy" instead of "my boy"?
I am always trying to improve my English so I am musing about these things and why there is this difference. Many thanks for your help!
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Date: 2014-02-22 07:57 pm (UTC)Do you know that suspenders are something entirely different in the UK? Apparently there once was a discussion about Captain Jack Harkness and a lot of confusion, because the Americans referred to his suspenders, which are in the UK called braces, while we all know what braces are in the US... the things teenagers wear in their mouths.
And suspenders in the UK are this: http://www.orchidfashionboutique.co.uk/144-374-productlist/gossard-superboost-lace-suspender-rouge.jpg
Now imagine Captain Jack with that ;) Although, as far as we know him, he even might wear it.