Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Context is key, as has been said. Chemists talk about the Periodic Table; theatre producers talk about period costume. But the word "period", with no understandable context (and its use as a punctuation mark would be completely meaningless to the average British reader) would bring menstrual cycles to the mind of the average British reader in the absence of any other context.
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Always good to get a refresher on usage, Harry, and there's a ton about British usage that I don't know. But I hope you realize that my previous post was actually a joke. I might have mentioned this before, but my father was from the UK and eventually returned there by the time I was in my '20s, so I was aware that inferring
periodic to mean
of the menstrual cycle was wee Hank far-fetched.
Incidentally, I'd love to know what you think of my friend's book on the differences between British and American usage. He's an American poet who lived in London for many years.
The book's titled
Transatlantic Bridge and appears to be free for Prime members.