[Vocabulary] Turtlenec/Polo Neck or Roll-Neck/High Neck/Skivvy

[Aamir Tariq]

Is it turtleneck in the USA and Canada, polo neck and roll-neck in Britain, skivvy in Australia? Is it also skivvy in New Zealand?

Let me tell you they are known as high-neck in Pakistan, I don't know what they are called in India, may be they also call it "high-neck" over there.

Do you guys are familiar with this word "high-neck"?

Regards
Aamir the Global Citizen

 

[GoesStation]

Those are turtleneck shirts or just turtlenecks in AmE.

 

[emsr2d2]

They're turtlenecks or rollnecks in BrE. A quick Google image search told me that apparently it's also a polo neck, but I don't use that. I only use "polo" in "polo shirt" which has a totally different neckline. They look like THIS.

 

[Aamir Tariq]

They're turtlenecks or rollnecks in BrE. A quick Google image search told me that apparently it's also a polo neck, but I don't use that. I only use "polo" in "polo shirt" which has a totally different neckline. They look like THIS.

Now, here is a very good reason to disagree with Google, because they on Google say roll-necks are polo necks, but a British lady is saying that polo neck is something else with a totally different neckline. That's why I trust more in humans who are native speakers, I trust less in machines like Google. I trust you more emsr2d2 thanks for your most valuable opinion. Much appreciated.

 

[bhaisahab]

I'd probably use polo neck, too.

 

[Tdol]

They're turtlenecks or rollnecks in BrE. A quick Google image search told me that apparently it's also a polo neck, but I don't use that. I only use "polo" in "polo shirt" which has a totally different neckline. They look like THIS.

I've heard polo neck in the UK and would use it- I'd guess it's the mint that is behind the term. Maybe it has fallen out of favour in recent times as the poloists on this thread are not in the first flush of youth.

 

[Aamir Tariq]

Is it "skivvy" in Australia?

 

[emsr2d2]

And note that I said only that I​ don't use that term for those necklines. I didn't say that BrE speakers didn't use it.

Also, note this Google result for "polar neckjumper". Now that is a term I'm familiar with. I equate it with high, thick necklines on clothing worn in the polar regions, where it's very cold!

 

[Aamir Tariq]

All right, and I also asked if you guys were familiar with the term "high-neck" we use in Pakistan to refer to turtlenecks or roll-necks. If someone from this region brings up "high-neck" while he/she is having a conversation with you, will you understand what he/she is referring to?

 

[GoesStation]

Now, here is a very good reason to disagree with Google, because they on Google say roll-necks are polo necks, but a British lady is saying that polo neck is something else with a totally different neckline. That's why I trust more in humans who are native speakers, I trust less in machines like Google. I trust you more emsr2d2 thanks for your most valuable opinion. Much appreciated.

I think you're misunderstanding Google a bit, Aamir. Google doesn't say anything; it merely reports what it finds on web pages. It's up to the user to determine the value of the results.

 

[GoesStation]

All right, and I also asked if you guys were familiar with the term "high-neck" we use in Pakistan to refer to turtlenecks or roll-necks. If someone from this region brings up "high-neck" while he/she is having a conversation with you, will you understand what he/she is referring to?

I wouldn't understand it in isolation. I'd probably think it had something to do with women's tops (garments, that is), which can have high, medium, low, and plunging necklines.

 

[Skrej]

Skivvies (always plural) in AmE means underwear, particularly men's underwear. Often it's used in the context of 'in one's skivvies', meaning clad only in one's underwear.

If I showed up to work 'in my skivvies', there would doubtlessly be some repercussions.

 

[Aamir Tariq]

I think you're misunderstanding Google a bit, Aamir. Google doesn't say anything; it merely reports what it finds on web pages. It's up to the user to determine the value of the results.

Yes dear brother, now tell me how many English speaking countries are there in the world? they are five right where English is used as their first language.

1. The United Kingdom
2. The United States of America
3. Canada
4. Australia
5. New Zealand

I agree there are other varieties like South African version and Indian version I don't know about South Africans but English is not used as a first language in India so they are not native speakers their English is similar to Pakistani English.

So to me there are five English speaking countries in the world. And Even in these countries English is different in terms of accents, vocabulary, pronunciations, etc.

Now tell me how many countries are there in the world, I don't know exactly how many but there might be nearly 170 or perhaps more than 200. And most of the countries in the World use English as means of communication, I mean English is a universal language in most of those countries, it is not their first language.

Now, as far as Google is concerned it extracts data out of the web pages that are posted by people from all those 170 or 200 countries, who are not native speakers and who use English as 2nd, 3rd or probably fourth language. So they cannot be as precise as the native speakers are. Do you agree?

And I could trust Google if Google only used web pages by only those five English speaking countries that I mentioned earlier in this post. So that's why I trust more in the native speakers rather than Google.

 

[Aamir Tariq]

Don't forget Ireland.

They speak Irish, don't they? And when they speak English they speak with a nasal accent like those of Americans.

 

[GoesStation]

Yes dear brother, now tell me how many English speaking countries are there in the world? they are five right where English is used as their first language.

1. The United Kingdom
2. The United States of America
3. Canada
4. Australia
5. New Zealand

<SNIP>

So to me there are five English speaking countries in the world.

<SNIP>

Now, as far as Google is concerned it extracts data out of the web pages that are posted by people from all those 170 or 200 countries, who are not native speakers and who use English as 2nd, 3rd or probably fourth language. So they cannot be as precise as the native speakers are. Do you agree?

And I could trust Google if Google only used web pages by only those five English speaking countries that I mentioned earlier in this post. So that's why I trust more in the native speakers rather than Google.

You've forgotten fourteen or fifteen Caribbean countries, a bunch of Pacific island nations, and one European country, but I see your point. You have to exercise judgment with Google's results. Of course, judgment is required when reading Internet forum posts, too.

 

[Aamir Tariq]

You've forgotten fourteen or fifteen Caribbean countries, a bunch of Pacific island nations, and one European country, but I see your point. You have to exercise judgment with Google's results. Of course, judgment is required when reading Internet forum posts, too.

I think they speak Jamaican in Caribbeans, And those countries are so small that when they participate in international sports they don't participate as separate nations but they play under the name of the West Indies. We play cricket with them. and same is the case with those Pacific Island nations they are very small in size with a small population.

Secondly, I don't know if they fall under the category of native speakers or their variety is also like Indian English and South African English.

Thirdly, even if we count them among English Speaking nations still the number of English speaking countries is much less.

And as far as judgment is concerned, when you look for a word, a phrase or anything in English Google will show you how many times it has been used on those webpages. Now, who knows how many time that particular phrase has been posted by native speakers and how many times it has been posted by non-natives. So I always prefer to consult with the native speakers.

 

[jutfrank]

I use polo neck because that's what my mum used when I was a kid. I always thought it was polar neck because that's how she pronounced it and I thought that was what people wore in the North Pole!

 

[GoesStation]

I think they speak Jamaican in Caribbeans.

Jamaicans speak a version of standard English and/or a dialect which is not mutually comprehensible to many Anglophones. Residents of other Caribbean islands speak at lot of other versions of English, but not the Jamaican variety unless they immigrated from Jamaica. A lot of Jamaicans immigrated to Toronto when I lived there. Their Jamaican-accented English was perfectly comprehensible to me.

On the other hand, I worked with a young man who was born and raised in New York City but spoke only a Jamaican dialect which I could barely understand.

 

[bhaisahab]

They speak Irish, don't they? And when they speak English they speak with a nasal accent like those of Americans.

I lived in Ireland (in the Connemara/Mayo Gaeltacht) for 12 years. My wife and I studied Gaeilge (Irish) and while we are far from fluent we understand and speak a fair amount. Our daughter went to primary school there, all schools in the Gaeltacht are Irish medium and all schools in the rest of the republic teach Irish as a compulsory second language. The quality of that teaching varies enormously, however, and most Irish people outside the Gaeltacht have only a smattering of the language. The accent when speaking English varies depending on the region the speaker is from. Irish itself has different dialects, primarily Connacht, Munster, and Ulster. The most widely used is probably the Connacht dialect (Connemara/Mayo) as it's the largest of the Gaeltacht areas.

 

[GoesStation]

They speak Irish, don't they? And when they speak English they speak with a nasal accent like those of Americans.

It often strikes me when hearing Irish accents that some sentences sound American and others don't. My wife spent a week on the island and reported that it was rather eerie to hear an accent seem to shift between American and something else.