10-02-2017, 10:30 AM
@alexorande - I shall strenuously resist temptations to explain this poem. But while awaiting other critiques, if any, I'll explain the problem with the alternate title, as I see it.
"Pensioner" has a specific meaning and image in British English: older man and/or woman receiving old-age pension, not particularly healthy, has a small garden and doesn't much care for the way the world is going. Perhaps frequents bingo clubs as well as cinemas.
If you disregard Americans who read British literature and ephemera, the word simply has no meaning in the US. Most Americans would scratch their heads and deduce that it means someone who "does" pensions, not gets one. Although American Social Security is much like British old age pension, we have no one word for its recipients; we use the typically roundabout and obfuscatory "seniors" or "senior citizens" for all older people, with unsubtle digs like "gray panthers" and "pink-hairs" available at need when we don't bravely say "old farts" or "geezers."
That's what I mean by "Pensioners" not working in American English. I may well be underestimating the range of American vocabulary, but that's the kind of snotty old geezer I happen to be
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P.S. Thanks for your vote against L1-2.
"Pensioner" has a specific meaning and image in British English: older man and/or woman receiving old-age pension, not particularly healthy, has a small garden and doesn't much care for the way the world is going. Perhaps frequents bingo clubs as well as cinemas.
If you disregard Americans who read British literature and ephemera, the word simply has no meaning in the US. Most Americans would scratch their heads and deduce that it means someone who "does" pensions, not gets one. Although American Social Security is much like British old age pension, we have no one word for its recipients; we use the typically roundabout and obfuscatory "seniors" or "senior citizens" for all older people, with unsubtle digs like "gray panthers" and "pink-hairs" available at need when we don't bravely say "old farts" or "geezers."
That's what I mean by "Pensioners" not working in American English. I may well be underestimating the range of American vocabulary, but that's the kind of snotty old geezer I happen to be
.P.S. Thanks for your vote against L1-2.
Non-practicing atheist