No Subject

[Clive Backham <mcdd1!clive@EDDIE.MIT.EDU>]

With reference to a line in "All the Love", somebody asked:

> Interesting, Doug. I had always interpreted that line to mean, "When they 
> call me on the phone, I let my answering machine let them (i.e. their voice) 
> into the room.", like when people screen their calls.
> 
> Does the term "to ring" mean to visit, in addition to meaning to call on
> the telephone, in British English?  I had always assumed since the song 
> has snippets of answering machine messages in it, that "the machine" was
> simply the answering machine.

Here in Britain, the terms "to ring" and "to call" are similar and can refer
to the phone or the doorbell, depending on context.

Examples:

"give me a ring"	=> please phone me
"give me a call"	=> please phone me
"kate rang me"		=> she called on the phone (if only :-)
"kate called"		=> she phoned (probably) / she visited (possibly)
"kate called round"	=> she visited (definitely)
"someone's ringing"	=> at the door
"it's ringing"		=> the phone
"you rang"		=> the doorbell / the phone

The line in "All the Love" is ambiguous - it could be either.

- Clive   (mcdd1.uucp!clive@uknet.uucp)