So here I am in a country where Spring has sprung. Or will do soon. And I got to thinking about the seasons and stuff.
And then I realised that most of America calls Autumn “the Fall”.
I’m just wondering, is this universal across America? And Canada? Is it regional? Are things ever described as Autumnal, or is it transcribed into Fallish? And if the former, why still refer to it as “Fall” if it’s Autumnal?
Just curious.
I can’t say whether Fall is used across the whole of the U.S., but it is certainly the word of choice around the Great Lakes. I’ve never heard “fallish” (or “fallan”). If an adjective is needed, we might use Autumnal–although in many cases we simply say Fall (just as we would say Spring, not Vernal, Winter, not Hibernal, and Summer, not Estival): I enjoyed the Fall colors. Joe went back to college in the Fall semester.
“Fall” is the word of choice in every place I’ve lived – Missouri, New Hampshire, Texas and Louisiana.
But I prefer “autumn,” myself, simply because it matches winter, spring and summer by having six letters. I’m weird that way.
Central New York: Fall
Eastern Massachusetts: Fall
NW Alabama: Fall
My proper aunt and uncle in VA: Autumn
Me: Fall AND Autumn
Autumnal?? That’s a word people actually use? I’ve never heard of anyone using “fallish” either. People tend to say things like fall leaves, or autumn folliage if one wants to be more high-brow. Most people here- NH, though I’ve lived in MA and it’s the same there- use fall in casual conversation.
It’s just a WAG, but I assume the term “fall” is related to the fact that it’s the season that trees lose their leaves, which of course fall to the ground, every year.
Seasons don’t need to be capitalized, by the way, no matter which term you pick.
I don’t think fall is of US origin though. I seem to remember it being Old English, but only having survived in America.
When I took spelling at school, seasons were indeed meant to be capitalized. So there’s another international difference in language.
By the way, when I said “Fallish” I wasn’t being serious - I know there’s no such word, but I was wondering what the equivalent word would be.
How true.
The term is to be found in the works of Michael Drayton (1563-1631), Thomas Middleton (1580-1627) and John Dryden (1631-1700).
There are probably others as well.
As I said in another thread: Fall is the original word in English, which has been kept (together with other peculiarities, such as the pronounciation of words like “can’t” and “dance”) in America. Autumn, on the other hand, is a French loanword that entered the language some time during the 19th century IIRC.