# Do you call it "Autumn" or "Fall" (and what's it called in non-English languages?) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 11, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-it-autumn-or-fall-and-whats-it-called-in-non-english-languages/549963 "2010-08-11T18:38:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-it-autumn-or-fall-and-whats-it-called-in-non-english-languages/549963/21 "2010-08-12T06:01:51Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > In French it’s l’automne. Just a hijack, and I don’t mean to single you out, but why, when anglophones mention French nouns, do they always put an article there as well? I know French uses articles more frequently than English, but it always brings to my mind “France” as seen in Warner Bros. cartoons where you can find signs like “Le Zoo” or somesuch. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-it-autumn-or-fall-and-whats-it-called-in-non-english-languages/549963/22 "2010-08-12T06:04:51Z")
In English, I usually say “fall”. In Hebrew, it’s “stav”. I’m not sure about the etymology. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-it-autumn-or-fall-and-whats-it-called-in-non-english-languages/549963/23 "2010-08-12T06:15:23Z")
In English, I usually say “fall”. In Spanish it’s otoño; in Catalan, tardor (something like “the late time”). It’s an inusual pair in that often when Spanish and Catalan words have clearly-different origins, the Catalan word is straight from Latin and the Spanish word is from elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-it-autumn-or-fall-and-whats-it-called-in-non-english-languages/549963/24 "2010-08-12T06:15:29Z")
Midwestern Doper: Autumn and Fall are interchangable in my local dialect Autumn is probably a bit more formal - if you’re getting married in October, you’re getting married _this autumn_. If you’re considering the upcoming college football season, it’s the _fall season_ But both work in either case. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-it-autumn-or-fall-and-whats-it-called-in-non-english-languages/549963/25 "2010-08-12T06:16:30Z")
I use autumn when I want to sound proper, and fall otherwise. ETA: You guys have really got to stop doing that. It’s getting freaky. ---
**Author:** ![GHO57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df788c/32.png) [@GHO57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GHO57)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-it-autumn-or-fall-and-whats-it-called-in-non-english-languages/549963/26 "2010-08-12T06:19:10Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I use autumn when I want to sound proper, and fall otherwise. > > ETA: You guys have really got to stop doing that. It’s getting freaky. I read that as “when I want to sound doper” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-it-autumn-or-fall-and-whats-it-called-in-non-english-languages/549963/27 "2010-08-12T06:53:38Z")
> [@boomerwang](#): > > In Russian: осень (OH-seen). Admittedly, my Russian isn’t great, but wouldn’t it be OH-sen or OH-syen? Where is the “ee” sound coming from in the second syllable? ---
**Author:** ![FuzzyOgre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@FuzzyOgre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuzzyOgre)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-it-autumn-or-fall-and-whats-it-called-in-non-english-languages/549963/28 "2010-08-12T06:55:06Z")
Autumn is the event, fall is the season. At least to me. Autumn is the changing of the leaves, The crunch of them under foot. Autumn is the ripening of the wheat, the smell in the air, and the feeling it all engenders. Fall is when it happens. Can you guess my favourite season? ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-it-autumn-or-fall-and-whats-it-called-in-non-english-languages/549963/29 "2010-08-12T08:05:17Z")
Autumn, always, but then I’m British so ‘fall’ isn’t part of my dialect. We only see it on US TV or in advertising for US holidays: ‘New England in the Fall’, kinda thing). I’d always assumed _all_ Americans called it ‘fall’. Hmm, ignorance fought! Additional question: do you ever use the term ‘autumnal’? We use it a lot to describe the weather, or a scene, e.g. “it’s feeling a little autumnal today”. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-it-autumn-or-fall-and-whats-it-called-in-non-english-languages/549963/30 "2010-08-12T08:15:20Z")
As SanVito above. UK resident here and we pretty much never use “Fall” in normal conversation. Incidentally, “autumnal” is a lovely word and can be used to describe a day succinctly and poetically. “winterish” “springish” “Summery” “fallish” and variations thereof don’t cut the mustard do they? ---
**Author:** ![Gustav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/919ad9/32.png) [@Gustav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gustav)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-it-autumn-or-fall-and-whats-it-called-in-non-english-languages/549963/31 "2010-08-12T08:59:39Z")
Autumn is such an ugly word… ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-it-autumn-or-fall-and-whats-it-called-in-non-english-languages/549963/32 "2010-08-12T09:01:45Z")
In English I use either, but probably “fall” more often. In Norwegian, the word for that season is _høst,_ which also means harvest. Very sensible, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Manwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Manwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manwich)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-it-autumn-or-fall-and-whats-it-called-in-non-english-languages/549963/33 "2010-08-12T10:05:54Z")
As an Australian I say Autumn. I thought teaching US English in Japan I would have to say “Fall” but they seem to use Autumn when teaching English here for some reason. In Thai, Autumn is (Rue Du) Bai Mai Ruang (sorry for the shitty transliteration). Literally “(season) leaf tree fall”. But Thailand doesn’t actually have Autumn because seasons are different there - hot, rainy and cool seasons only. ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-it-autumn-or-fall-and-whats-it-called-in-non-english-languages/549963/34 "2010-08-12T10:33:52Z")
I’m Australian too and I don’t ever hear “fall”, we always say “autumn”. In my experience you’d get funny looks if you suddenly referred to the season as “fall” (unless of course you were American), it’s considered an Americanism like “sidewalk” or “vacation”. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-it-autumn-or-fall-and-whats-it-called-in-non-english-languages/549963/35 "2010-08-12T11:05:16Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > And do non-English speaking countries have this dilemma? I’d say even most English-speaking countries don’t have this problem - fall is an American word. 🙂 (Aussie dittoing the previous two posts) ---
**Author:** ![JoseArcadio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc348/32.png) [@JoseArcadio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseArcadio)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-it-autumn-or-fall-and-whats-it-called-in-non-english-languages/549963/36 "2010-08-12T11:30:40Z")
As with the Aussies, here in the Britain we use autumn exclusively. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-it-autumn-or-fall-and-whats-it-called-in-non-english-languages/549963/37 "2010-08-12T13:10:31Z")
> [@pedescribe](#): > > > [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > > > Can’t it just be autumn, so the names of all the seasons have six letters? > > :eek: > > Mind. Blown. What? I sometims wonder why “Spring” is only one syllable, when the other three seasons (Summer, Autoumn and Winter) are two–Annie-Xmas, wordsmith. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-it-autumn-or-fall-and-whats-it-called-in-non-english-languages/549963/38 "2010-08-12T13:53:56Z")
In English I use autumn, in Swedish (as in Norwegian) it’s _höst_, but unlike in Norwegian it has lost the meaning of harvest except in some very special contexts. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-it-autumn-or-fall-and-whats-it-called-in-non-english-languages/549963/39 "2010-08-12T22:27:16Z")
> [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](#): > > > [@Cunctator](#): > > > > In French it’s l’automne. > > Just a hijack, and I don’t mean to single you out, but why, when anglophones mention French nouns, do they always put an article there as well? Because that’s how we’re taught French. In English, a noun’s gender isn’t gramatically relevant, but in French it’s a vital piece of information. So every noun is learnt with its article so that we can learn its gender at the same time. Of course, in this case, the article doesn’t help reveal the gender, but it’s still a reflex action to give article + noun. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-it-autumn-or-fall-and-whats-it-called-in-non-english-languages/549963/40 "2010-08-12T23:09:09Z")
> [@Cazzle](#): > > > [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > > > And do non-English speaking countries have this dilemma? > > I’d say even most English-speaking countries don’t have this problem - fall is an American word. 🙂 It’s an American word now, but it’s my understanding that “fall” is the original English word, and was retained in America after there was a shift to using “autumn” in Britain. Looking a cite, Wikipedia agrees with me, but there’s no cite for it. Hmm. I can’t remember where I heard that originally. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-it-autumn-or-fall-and-whats-it-called-in-non-english-languages/549963.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-it-autumn-or-fall-and-whats-it-called-in-non-english-languages/549963.md?page=3)