Friend Caren Jew told me she accidentally picked up a copy of the British version of Runner's World magazine recently. She gave it to me to read and pass along. The shoe advertisements are essentially the same as in the American edition, as are the breathless articles about magical training plans to get faster quickly and effortlessly. Likewise no surprises in the nutrition essays re "power foods", the injury-recovery tips, and the equipment reviews. As in the USA, no major advertiser ever makes a suboptimal new product.

But what's really fun is the vocabulary, which demonstrates George Bernard Shaw's observation: "England and America are two countries separated by a common language." Gait instead of stride, for instance, and PB = Personal Best rather than PR = Personal Record. The use of fatigue as a verb, and puff in place of breath. Exotic foodstuffs and ingredients: groundnut oil, rocket leaves, and courgettes. And best of all, for what I've always here crudely called a fanny pack: the alliterative bum bag. Love that term!

^z - 2008-10-21

(correlates: Comments on UK Runner's World, NoProblems, PopGoes, ...)