Fill it or full it
I’m no English expert so this one is probably obvious to all of you. In some places in the Caribbean, the people do not “fill” up a gas tank. They “full” it. As in “Full up my gas tank”. I’m not sure if this is wrong. It’s like saying in the imperative, “Make my gas tank full!” Well, is it wrong?
Actually there are a few idioms in the Caribbean like this. “How comes you doesn’t call?” I’m not sure about the “comes” in that sentence.
Most language discrepencies come from a language being taught through vocabulary words and not working as hard on teaching the syntax and grammer. Which is not so hard to believe, as english is a terrible language with many odd rules. So other cultures end up just cutting and pasting english words in to the syntax of their origional language.
John4 Sep-28-2005
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Fill is the verb. Full is an adjective describing the end result. It does sound cute, though.
LfromHell Sep-29-2005
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John, please learn how to spell before criticizing someone else's grammatical errors.
Sana Sep-29-2005
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Gravy Is My Hero!!!!! That was the funniest thing I have ever heard.
Theresa Oct-02-2005
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Gravy is stupid and Theresa is even more so.
As for Steve, I'm not sure where in the Caribbean you're talking about. The Caribbean isn't one homogenous society with only one way of speaking. I think it should be noted that while a country's standard language might be English (or French or Spanish), local dialects prevail and help sustain the culture.
In written language, very few Caribbean-dwellers would actually write "full up my gas tank" as they know better. And, with some countries having some of the highest literacy rates in the world, they are free to speak as they please.
Keisha Oct-03-2005
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I'm sorry, but that is not the correct usage for the word full. You use full as an adj.
Jillian1 Oct-07-2005
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Keisha was right on in all her comments.
DBP Nov-27-2005
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