ACH transactions

[Graham Todd]

On Fri, 24 Jul 2009 15:49:48 -0500
"Ian L. Target" <ian69 at comcast.net> wrote:

> Just out of curiosity, do people not write checks in your country?  
> Surely there is some type of equivalent to ACH in Europe.  Let us
> know.
[snipped]

No, we write cheques for bank transactions.  (Only a simple spelling
change but there is a cultural difference.).  

To be precise, the online Compact Oxford English Dictionary
(http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/check_1?view=uk) defines the
meaning of check as:

  • verb 1 examine the accuracy, quality, or condition of. 2 stop or
  slow the progress of. 3 Chess move a piece or pawn to a square where
  it directly attacks (the opposing king).

  • noun 1 an examination to check accuracy, quality, or condition. 2
  an act of checking progress. 3 a means of control or restraint. 4
  Chess an act of checking the opposing king. 5 N. Amer. the bill in a
  restaurant. 6 (also check mark) North American term for TICK1 (in
  sense 1).

  — PHRASES check in 1 register at a hotel or airport. 2 have (one’s
  baggage) weighed and put into the hold of an aircraft. check out 1
  settle one’s hotel bill before leaving. 2 establish the truth of or
  inform oneself about. check up on investigate. in check 1 under
  control. 2 Chess (of a king) directly attacked by an opponent’s piece
  or pawn.

  — DERIVATIVES checkable adjective.

  — ORIGIN Old French eschequier ‘play chess, put in check’, ultimately
  from a Persian word meaning ‘king’.

No allusion to banking there.

If I knew what ACH meant, then I could find out if there was anything
in UK law that covered it.  You should be aware that the majority of we
Brits *do not* consider ourselves part of Europe.  Europe is a
place/country that starts at the French coast that we only want to
visit on holiday (sorry "vacation") when the place the majority of us
want to visit a place as much like a place in the UK as possible.

Ah...those cultural differences.....

-- 
Graham Todd

Two old ladies were sitting in chairs outside their Old Folks' Home.
One said to the other, "Do you remember the Minuet?"

The other one thought for a while then said, "To be honest, I can't
even remember the men I've slept with"