"Sod-der" or "Sol-Der"? (Page 5): The UK still uses miles and yards to denote distances on their roads, and car speedometers read in miles per hour. When everything else went metric...

therwol Loc: USA

chrissybabe wrote:

Only country in the world to still be using imperial measurements.

The UK still uses miles and yards to denote distances on their roads, and car speedometers read in miles per hour. When everything else went metric, it wasn't allowed to sell in pounds and ounces, however my understanding from talking to people working in supermarkets over there is that they can sell either way due to the demand of some customers.

fhayes Loc: Madison, Tennessee

Why is solder pronounced sodder?
The modern form of the word solder in English is a re-Latinization from the early 15th century. The -l- was dropped on the way to Old French, which was common (for example, pulverem to poudre, collum to cou, calidus to chaud, etc.). Note that the -l- in solder is typically sounded in British English.May 15, 2015

chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

therwol wrote:

The UK still uses miles and yards to denote distances on their roads, and car speedometers read in miles per hour. When everything else went metric, it wasn't allowed to sell in pounds and ounces, however my understanding from talking to people working in supermarkets over there is that they can sell either way due to the demand of some customers.

I know they do. But I bet that the desire to sell either way will reduce with time as the old recalcitrants die off. There are only 3 countries in the world now that use the old imperial measurements. Two of these are in the process of changing and they are only very small countries anyway. I remember going to the States for some computer training 45 years ago and at that time the US was declaring they were changing over to metrics. Great stuff I thought not realizing just how the average US citizen was going to be so reluctant to change.

chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

fhayes wrote:

Why is solder pronounced sodder?
The modern form of the word solder in English is a re-Latinization from the early 15th century. The -l- was dropped on the way to Old French, which was common (for example, pulverem to poudre, collum to cou, calidus to chaud, etc.). Note that the -l- in solder is typically sounded in British English.May 15, 2015

Hmm so you are saying that the US (and it appears to only be the US) is using the Old French way of saying things ? I think you will find that the -l- is typically sounded in English everywhere in the world except the US.

Smudgey Loc: Ohio, Calif, Now Arizona

You say Potatoes and I say Pototoes I vote for Sodder

therwol Loc: USA

chrissybabe wrote:

I know they do. But I bet that the desire to sell ... (show quote)

We are taught science in the metric system in the US. Chemistry, physics etc. It's like a different compartment from the "real world", and the knowledge doesn't transfer over. Most packaging these days has the imperial and metric measurements printed on the containers. The metric measurements may be in smaller type and in parenthesis, and I think that the average consumer ignores them. I think that some manufacturing in the US has gone over to metric. But that isn't really perceived by the average consumer unless they work on cars. (Imported cars have been metric for ages.) I can remember a brief time when distances on highways in California had miles and kilometers on some signs. That went away. There is one sign on the highway in the North Coast I've seen that remains.

JimmyDK

After many years living in England I found that sodder (sah-dur) was (soul-dur) and the Jeep Cherokee was the Jeep (Che-row-kee).

Bret Perry

Sodder here in America, unless it's on a British car, then I might sol-der the crack in the boot, cheerio!

chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

Bret Perry wrote:

Sodder here in America, unless it's on a British car, then I might sol-der the crack in the boot, cheerio!

By the sound of it in America it is not sodder except for those who don't know any better. Enough people on here living in the US also use solder. Wikipedia is confusing by saying that America usually refers to the US (probably entered by a Yank) but an equally viable meaning using America covers the entire South and North America (and this includes Canada). So I bet if you added all them up you would find that solder beats sodder. The USA is NOT the centre of the universe as much as you might like to think it is.

DickC Loc: NE Washington state

Sodder! I've been soddering since the earth cooled!

chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

DickC wrote:

Sodder! I've been soddering since the earth cooled!

You must be a lawn layer.

Definition of a sodder is - "An agricultural implement for scooping or stripping a layer of topsoil and picking it up intact to lay it down as a cover growth or lawn elsewhere."

If you must drop the L at least spell the word correctly. It should be "souder".

DickC Loc: NE Washington state

chrissybabe wrote:

You must be a lawn layer.

Definition of a sodder is - "An agricultural implement for scooping or stripping a layer of topsoil and picking it up intact to lay it down as a cover growth or lawn elsewhere."

If you must drop the L at least spell the word correctly. It should be "souder".

I usually agree with you Jerry, but this time it's Sodder!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

DickC wrote:

I usually agree with you Jerry, but this time it's Sodder!

I agree. It's always been "sodder" for me.

I am surprised that more Americans don't say "sol-der." I hear that on TV occasionally.

Greg from Romeoville illinois Loc: Romeoville illinois

petercbrandt wrote:

So Goes the English language ! i before e except after c.....why ? Who wrote these oddities !
Mind you English is my 2nd language !

That is wierd?

john451 Loc: Lady's Island, SC/Columbia, SC

In my 10 years as an Air Force electronics tech working with people from all over the country I never heard anyone pronounce the "l" in solder. But inconsistencies abound. When we add an 'i' to "solder" we get "soldier" and I've never heard "sodier".