difference between "end" and "ending"

Purplelavender · Thu Apr 05, 2007 16:40 pm *difference between "end" and "ending"*

Hi, teachers

can you tell me the difference between " end " and " ending"?

The film has a happy end ending. which word is correct there?

Thanks

Conchita · Thu Apr 05, 2007 17:03 pm *difference between "end" and "ending"*

Welcome Purplelavender!

'Ending' is more specific perhaps and usually refers to the way a story, film, etc. finishes:

'The film has a happy ending' is what I'd say.

Yankee · Fri Apr 06, 2007 1:00 am *difference between "end" and "ending"*

There's a brand of toilet paper in Germany called "Happy End"... Cool

(Referring to that particular brand of German toilet paper is probably the only context in which I've ever uttered the words 'happy' and 'end' together.) Wink

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Alan · Fri Apr 06, 2007 8:35 am *difference between "end" and "ending"*

Hi,

To raise the tone a little - the expression can be heard in a priest's prayer referring to life after death as in:' A happy end to all our suffering'

Alan
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Yankee · Fri Apr 06, 2007 12:45 pm *difference between "end" and "ending"*

Don't you find the name of that German TP humorous, Alan?
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Conchita · Fri Apr 06, 2007 13:43 pm *difference between "end" and "ending"*

Yankee · Fri Apr 06, 2007 13:51 pm *difference between "end" and "ending"*

Hi Conchita

I've never researched who came up with the name or why, but it is a typical mistake for Germans to refer to the end of a story as a "happy end" instead of a "happy ending".

As a native speaker of English, however, I immediately understood the word 'end' to mean 'rear end' (i.e. buttocks) the first time I saw the name of that German toilet paper -- and I can't help thinking that this meaning was also intended. Laughing

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Alan · Fri Apr 06, 2007 13:53 pm *difference between "end" and "ending"*

Don't get me wrong - I haven't lost my sense of humour! It reminds me when on my first visit to Germany in 1955 I met a very earnest German family and as a special treat I was allowed to listen to a BFN (british Forces Network) repeat of the Goon Show, through which they sat without a twitch or a twitter. I just wanted to curl up and die.

A
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