Never trust the MSM to report railway news accurately and,

[bikkuri bahn]

in this case, to correctly categorize high speed rail:

 

China builds first high speed train for Brazil

PTI Jun 8, 2011, 03.56pm IST

BEIJING: China has built the first high-speed electrical train for Brazilian capital Rio de Janeiro in time for use during the 2014 World Cup Football and 2016 Olympic Games.

 

The train is made of Type A stainless steel with a maximum speed of 100 km per hour.

 

source:

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-06-08/news/29633788_1_first-high-speed-train-stainless-steel-electrical-multiple-unit

 

Now, this is a news source from India, but American outlets are just as bad.

 

I think some organization such as the UIC, or Japanese rolling stock makers, should distribute a "railway fact book" that has definitions and descriptions of modern railway practice (i.e. not ye olde North American railroadin' as espoused by the AAR or FRA) to media outlets, so as to educate reporters and thus result in better, more accurate writing/reportage.

[westfalen]

I always grate my teeth a little when Aussie newsreaders refer to freight cars/wagons as 'carriages' and don't get me started on 'train station'. The inaccuracies I always pick up in rail related stories make me wonder how accurate the stories on subjects I'm not as knowledgeable on are.

[bikkuri bahn]

and don't get me started on 'train station'

 

Is the correct term "railway station"?  Train station is common in the U.S., though my grandparent's generation was partial to "depot", pronounced "deepo", especially when referring to small town facilities.

[westfalen]

and don't get me started on 'train station'

 

Is the correct term "railway station"?  Train station is common in the U.S., though my grandparent's generation was partial to "depot", pronounced "deepo", especially when referring to small town facilities.

"Train station" is one of those Americanisms creeping into our language like peanut butter (when I was a kid it was called peanut paste). "Railway station" is correct here and, I'm sure our British readers will agree, in the UK as well. There was an editorial in one of the British railfan magazines recently devoted to complaining about British media using 'train station'. In Australian railway language, or Queensland at least, a depot is a location where train crews are based, which may or may not be a depot in the sense of a location where locomotives or trains are stabled. The language changes though, 'freight trains' were always known here as 'goods trains' but the term is rarely heard being used by railwaymen these days, having been replaced by 'freight train' or more commonly 'freighter'.

 

It's probably no wonder the news media get confused.

[KenS]

I've always found the way we're "divided by a common language" fascinating.  The train station / railway station difference I can understand, as the U.S. tends to use "railroad" as the adjective (and also as a noun), and "railway" primarily as a noun (there are exceptions), so "railway station" just feels wrong to us.  There's also the American-English tendency to favor short, simple words so the one-syllable "train" wins out over the two-syllable "railway" (or "railroad") in that aspect too.

 

Use of "freighter" for a freight train is new to me; I've never heard it used for anything other than a ship.  We'd say "freight train" or simply "freight" for the most part, although there are specialized terms for specific kinds, like "local" for a freight that operates from/to a yard as opposed to between yards.

[rankodd]

and don't get me started on 'train station'

 

Is the correct term "railway station"?  Train station is common in the U.S., though my grandparent's generation was partial to "depot", pronounced "deepo", especially when referring to small town facilities.

 

Well, here in Canada bus stations (like Greyhound) are also called Depots. Extending that to railway stations isn't too much of a stretch.

[Mudkip Orange]

Hollywood is in the US, trends in television and marketing follow trends in film, ergo, all English dialects will become not just more "American" (which in fact is a multitude of quite disparate regional dialects), but more similar to the prevailing dialect of the Los Angeles metropolitan area...

[gmat]

On the other hand 'Hollywood' derives much of its revenue from overseas so that recently, the overseas market is larger than the US market. Hence the use of non-Americans being used to portray Americans in many movies and TV shows. Also with many US TV shows made in Canada (Hollywood North) and Canadian Law requiring 30%? of the actors to be Canadian, many of the actors and nearly all of the background actors seen in some of these Hollywood North shows are not American but Canadian. The more liberal working visas in Canada for members of the former Commonwealth means that British, Australian and New Zealanders show up in these shows, too.

 

You might say that no other country uses as many foreigners/non-nationals to portray its citizens in the entertainment media.

In many English shows broadcast in the US, the American is often an English actor faking an American accent, or less often a Canadian like Robert Vaughn or a returnee who lived in the states like John Barrowman.

 

A small aside, there was an scene in an episode from the Sci Fi series, The Dresden Files, where three 'Americans' were portrayed by an Englishman, an Australia and a Canadian.

 

I believe that Patrick Stewart in Star Trek might be responsible for the shift in the US from addressing a ship as 'Enterprise' whereas in the old Star Trek, it was 'the Enterprise.' This has affected how the USN refers to its ships today.

 

 

So I guess it's a sword that cuts both ways. I still enjoy watching those actors and shows.

 

Best wishes,

Grant

[Mudkip Orange]

I do notice more Canadianisms in movie dialect now then 10 or 20 years ago.

[westfalen]

Use of "freighter" for a freight train is new to me; I've never heard it used for anything other than a ship.  We'd say "freight train" or simply "freight" for the most part, although there are specialized terms for specific kinds, like "local" for a freight that operates from/to a yard as opposed to between yards.

We call a local freight a "shunt train".

 

"Freighter" may be more common in the Brisbane suburban area where the term is used to distinguish them from more numerous passenger trains. A typical use is when a driver calls control from a red signal and control says, "You've got a freighter clearing in front of you". The jargon also varies from state to state. What the Americans call a signal tower is a signal box in New South Wales and a signal cabin in Queensland and if I were to refer, for instance, to a "road wagon" I'll bet railwaymen from other states wouldn't know what I was talking about.

[westfalen]

I believe that Patrick Stewart in Star Trek might be responsible for the shift in the US from addressing a ship as 'Enterprise' whereas in the old Star Trek, it was 'the Enterprise.' This has affected how the USN refers to its ships today.

Best wishes,

Grant

But he still pronounces "Data" wrong.

 

An interesting side effect of watching a lot of American TV and movies is that when I go to the U.S. I have no trouble understanding what they are talking about because I'm used to the accent and language but to them I might as well be speaking Japanese.

[gmat]

Another thing is the old saw about spotting Americans by how they use their knives and forks to cut their food. Hardly any 'Americans' on the tube and screen switch hands anymore. Westfalen, as you're aware, Australia has doubled for America, and often very well, on the screen.

The way that David Attenborough pronounces 'glaciers' is quite memorable. I admire him and his programs immensely and wish that he could find a fountain of youth someday.

 

Best wishes,

Grant

[westfalen]

I read somewhere that Australian actors are well liked by U.S. movie producers because they have a neutral accent when they speak 'American' whereas their American counterparts, no matter how they try, always speak with a little of the local accent from whatever region of the country where they were born.