Date: Sat, 5 Oct 1996 10:55:18 +0900

From: Daniel Long dlong[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]JOHO.OSAKA-SHOIN.AC.JP

Subject: Re: headrights/ramps



I found this topic interesting because the word "heddo rampu" (headlamp) is used in Japan. I had

never heard it used in the US and so thought it was a Japanese formation. The longer I am in

Japan, the more of these strange "Japlish" words I find are not "Japlish" at all, but in fact

bonified English words that, for whatever reason (changes in time, areal usages, etc), just

simply not in use when and where I grew up.



Several years ago, an English magazine here ran a column where readers sent in pictures of

strange "Japlish" usages. One such picture was a train with "deadhead" written on it. The

contributor and the editors had a good time lampooning the stupid Japanese for their incompetent

use of English. . . but they should have taken the time to look up "deadhead" in an English

dictionary first.



Now it seems "heddo rampu" is actually of this category as well.



Allen Maberry wrote:



for some reason this pair popped into my head yesterday while driving home

and preparing to turn on my headl----s. i recalled that my grandfather

always called them "headlamps" rather than "headlights". is this

distinction regional or age-based or merely a usage peculiar to my

grandfather? DARE has an entry for "headlights" but not in this context.

allen

maberry[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]u.washington.edu