quote:
Blinding - If something is a blinding success - it does not mean that any eyes were poked out with sharp sticks - it means it was fantastic.
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Blow me - When an English colleague of mine exclaimed "Blow Me" in front of a large American audience, he brought the house down. It is simply an exclamation of surprise, short for "Blow me down", meaning something like I am so surprised you could knock me over just by blowing. Similar to "Well knock me down with a feather". It is not a request for services to be performed.
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John Thomas - Yet another word for a blokes willy! I always felt a bit sorry for people who were actually called John Thomas. What were their parents thinking?
I have a friend named John Thomas...
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White horse - Around Wiltshire there are a number of white horses. They are cut into the hillside and are visible from miles around. In fact, if you are visiting Stonehenge there is a leaflet there that describes a three hour driving tour of about 6 or 7 local white horses. Worth a visit on a sunny day. The reason they are white is that below the top soil the area is made of white chalk.
...cool.
quote:
Sentow stumbled drunkenly to the keyboard and typed:
...cool.
OMG those things are all over the place. There's a giant cut into a hill somewhere South, it was on Men Behaving Badly.
I call it a couch. I think people who call them sofas are freaks. 
Laundry basket - Where you chuck your smelly clothes when you take them off and before you wash them. Laundry hamper to you. To us that would imply a thing full of food, not smelly underwear. Surprise!
Also fairly normal here.
Shammy - I think you call these wash leathers. They are the completely useless cloths, originally made from the skin of the chamois - a wild antelope, the size of a goat. They dry rigid and leave horrible streaks across the windows they are supposed to clean!
What is a wash leather? [ 12-23-2002: Message edited by: Taeldian ]
North: Couch
South: Sofa
North: Laundry Basket
South: Hamper
North: Going to the loo
South: Hitting the head
sigpic courtesy of This Guy, original modified by me
quote:
Taeldian had this to say about Cuba:
Couch - Sofa to you. America has some of the largest furniture in the world, yet the only sofa too small to make love in, you call a Love Seat!I call it a couch. I think people who call them sofas are freaks.
Laundry basket - Where you chuck your smelly clothes when you take them off and before you wash them. Laundry hamper to you. To us that would imply a thing full of food, not smelly underwear. Surprise!
Also fairly normal here.
I think the guy who wrote it has had only a limited experience in America, looks primarily in Texas. Lot of the words he attributes as to being British I have heard or use often.
Plus some things like when he talks about gravy, In my family gravy is a sauce made from a base of what ever meat we cooked, not that white floury country stuff that you put on chicken fried steak. I wondered what he would think if he came to Jersey and talked to one of the Italian guys, they call spaghetti sauce gravy. Or the Ice tea thing, that is like primarily a southern thing.
quote:
Taeldian said this about your mom:
...Shammy - I think you call these wash leathers. They are the completely useless cloths, originally made from the skin of the chamois - a wild antelope, the size of a goat. They dry rigid and leave horrible streaks across the windows they are supposed to clean!
What is a wash leather?
Chamois
I got out of the habit of using Northern/British slang when we moved down here...started using it again since reading the Pratchett novels, though.
sigpic courtesy of This Guy, original modified by me
And Deth is right. I say couch and laundry basket up here in Indiana.
Lyinar Ka`Bael, Piney Fresh Druidess - Luclin
quote:
Lyinar Ka`Bael's account was hax0red to write:
Wtf is a chamois?And Deth is right. I say couch and laundry basket up here in Indiana.
See the entry for Shammy, Chamois is the proper spelling of it, it used primarly for car care. http://www.autogeek.net/pitdryscham.html [ 12-23-2002: Message edited by: Pyscho ]
quote:
Lyinar Ka`Bael had this to say about Knight Rider:
Wtf is a chamois?And Deth is right. I say couch and laundry basket up here in Indiana.
That's British? We say it here all the time.
Even if we were a British colony.
quote:
Pyscho enlisted the help of an infinite number of monkeys to write:
See the entry for Shammy, Chamois is the proper spelling of it, it used primarly for car care. http://www.autogeek.net/pitdryscham.html
Ah. Hoosiers call that a rag 
Lyinar Ka`Bael, Piney Fresh Druidess - Luclin
quote:
Liam³ probably says this to all the girls:
That's British? We say it here all the time.Even if we were a British colony.
So was America, like I said they guy has been exposed mostly to Southern America and Texas, if he was in New England I bet he wouldn't find it to be to different than the UK , aside from the blatant differences like a cars bonnet/hood and the lack of warm beer.
A lot of what he said was just a regional difference like the pop and soda thing, or bag and sack, one words tend to get used more in an area.
quote:
Pyscho got all f'ed up on Angel Dust and wrote:
So was America, like I said they guy has been exposed mostly to Southern America and Texas, if he was in New England I bet he wouldn't find it to be to different than the UK , aside from the blatant differences like a cars bonnet/hood and the lack of warm beer.A lot of what he said was just a regional difference like the pop and soda thing, or bag and sack, one words tend to get used more in an area.
We were a British Colony in 1947 though.
The only time I've heard it called Glove Compartment is in movies and games. In real life, I only hear glove box.
Hand brake - Your parking brake. Some American cars have foot operated ones but in the UK they are generally hand operated only. Since most UK cars are manual they are probably more often used in the UK.
I hear hand brake more often than parking brake. When I think of a parking brake, I think of having the car in park (Unless it's a stickshift).
Head lamp - Headlight, though we use either word.
...?
Lay-by - On the side of the road you will often find a lay-by, probably just a widening of the road without any kerbing, to allow you to stop and take a break. It doesn't quite qualify as a rest area as there are generally no facilities.
Is he talking about the shoulder of a highway?
Manual - A car in England is either a manual or an automatic (transmission). A manual has a gearstick. You would call them a stick or stick shift. When we say we drive a manual, you say you drive a stick. In England the only people who drive sticks are witches!!
Can go either way.
Near side lane - The slow lane to you, though to us, all your lanes are slow! (Sorry - couldn't resist it!).
Slow lane? I know there's a fast lane, but I've never heard of a slow lane.
Roundabout - Traffic circle. The best bit about arriving in England after a long transatlantic flight with no sleep and finding there are no automatic cars, is that the first obstacle you find at any airport is a big roundabout. They are scary if you have never seen one before. The simple rule is 'give way (yield) to the right'. In other words, the traffic already on the roundabout has right of way. In Malta, however, the traffic approaching the roundabout has right of way, which is why Brits on holiday in Malta keep killing themselves!
First time I've heard Traffic Circle.
Silencer - Muffler. Or the thing you put on a gun to make killing people quieter.
No, the muffler is something on my car. I've never heard a silencer called a muffler.
Turn right - Make a turn. We don't "make" turns in the UK, we just turn. So when you'd make a left at the light, we would turn left at the light.
Goes either way.
Verge - The grassy edge to a road. You park on the verge if you break down to avoid being hit by the traffic.
Oh! That's the shoulder!
Zebra crossing - Similar to the pelican but with flashing orange beacons on either side. If a pedestrian steps onto a pelican crossing, you should stop. Unless you are in London in which case your job is to kill them.
Crosswalk, right?
Aggro - Short for aggravation, it's the sort of thing you might expect at a football match. In other words - trouble! There is sometimes aggro in the cities after the pubs shut!
EQ, anyone?
Arse over elbow - This is another way of saying head over heels but is a little more descriptive. Usually happens after 11pm on a Saturday night and too many lagers! Some Americans say ass over teakettle apparently!
Ass over teakettle? What the hell?
As well - You chaps say also when we would say "too" or "as well". For instance if my friend ordered a Miller Lite, I would say "I'll have one as well". I often heard people saying something like "I'll have one also". Of course in England you wouldn't say it at all for fear of embarrassment! You'd order a pint of lager instead!
I say as well instead of also...It just comes out easier.
Bang - Nothing to do with your hair - this is a rather unattractive way of describing having sex. Always gets a smile from Brits in American hair dressers when they are asked about their bangs.
...
Biggie - This is unusual. A biggie is what a child calls his poo! Hence the reason Wendy's Hamburgers has never really taken off in England - who would buy "biggie fries"? Yuck - I'm sure you wouldn't buy poo fries! The other meaning of Biggie is erection. It just gets worse!
No complaints. Just funny.
Blatent - We use this word a lot to mean something is really obvious.
I use blatant quite a bit.
Bloody - One of the most useful swear words in English. Mostly used as an exclamation of surprise i.e. "bloody hell" or "bloody nora". Something may be "bloody marvellous" or "bloody awful". It is also used to emphasise almost anything, "you're bloody mad", "not bloody likely" and can also be used in the middle of other words to emphasise them. E.g. "Abso-bloody-lutely"! Americans should avoid saying "bloody" as they sound silly.
I say "Bloody hell!" all the time.
Bob's your uncle - This is a well used phrase. It is added to the end of sentences a bit like and that's it! For example if you are telling someone how to make that fabulous banoffee pie you just served them, you would tell them to boil the condensed milk for three hours, spread it onto a basic cheesecake base, slice bananas on top, add some whipped double cream, another layer of banana and Bob's your uncle!
Silly Brits!
Botch - There are two expressions here - to botch something up or to do a botch job. They both mean that the work done was not of a high standard or was a clumsy patch. My Dad used to always tell me that workmen had botched it up and that he should have done the work properly himself.
I use this quite a bit myself, but not many others do.
Bum - This is the part of your body you sit on. Your ass! It might also be someone who is down and out, like a tramp. You might also bum around, if you are doing nothing in particular, just hanging out. Finally to bum something means to scrounge it from someone.
Doesn't everyone know bum?
Cram - Before a big exam you would be expected to cram. This simply means to study hard in the period running up to the exam.
Used a lot here.
Do - If you drive along a motorway in the wrong lane the police will do you. You could then tell your friends that you have been done by the police. Prosecute is another word for it!
Hahahaha
Drop a clanger - When I asked a large lady on the tube if she would like my seat since she was so obviously pregnant, she took the seat then told me she was fat, not pregnant! Boy did I drop a clanger. You might make a gaffe. Either way it was horrendously embarrassing, especially as half the people on the tube had heard me!
Make a gaffe?
Dull - You would say something that was no longer sharp was dull. We would say blunt. To us something is dull if it is boring. It can apply to things - like a film could be dull. It also applies to people - I can think of several people who are dull!
Used here a lot.
Excuse me - This is a great one! It's what kids are taught to say when they belch in public. We are also taught to say "pardon me" if we fart out loud. Unfortunately in American "excuse me" means you are encroaching in someone's personal space and you say "pardon me" when you don't hear someone properly. Imagine our surprise when we discovered that actually Americans are not belching and farting all the time.
Excuse me can go either way, actually.
Fiddle sticks - I have an old Aunt who is much too well mannered to swear. So when the need arises for a swear word, she will substitute "fiddle sticks".
I love saying fiddlesticks. It's just fun.
Fluke - If something great happened to you by chance that would be a fluke. When I was a kid my Mum lost her engagement ring on the beach and only realised half way home. We went back to the spot and she found it in the sand. That was a fluke.
Used here as well.
Fortnight - Two weeks. Comes from an abbreviation of "fourteen nights". Hence terms like "I'm off for a fortnights holiday" meaning "I am going on a two week vacation".
I've always wondered how long a fortnight was.
Full monty - Since the movie has come out of the same name I have heard some odd Texan descriptions of what the full monty means. It really has nothing to do with taking your clothes off. It just means the whole thing or going the whole way. That's it. Clearly when applied to stripping it means not stopping at your underwear! The origins of the expression are still under discussion. There are many theories but no conclusive evidence at the moment.
Occasionally used here.
Gander - When I was a kid, my Dad often used to go off for a gander when we were visiting a new town or village. It means to look around.
Well no shit!
Get lost! - Politely translated as go away, this is really a mild way of telling someone to f*** off!
I've heard this quite a few times.
Grub - Food. Similar to nosh. I remember my Dad calling "grub's up", when dinner was ready as a kid. A grub is also an insect larva. Not usually eaten in England. Actually is available in some Australian restaurants!
I hear grub used for food more often than for larva.
Haggle - Barter and negotiate are other words for haggle. Most people that wangle stuff are usually quite good at haggling. I just learnt that in the USA you dicker over a price, particularly for used cars!
Dicker? What the hell?
Hanky panky - Hanky panky - or "slap and tickle" as some older folks call it - would be making out in America.
Well no shit!
Healthy - Healthful. I'm not really sure if this is slang or whether the American use of healthful is the real alternative to the English "healthy". We talk about a healthy lifestyle and about healthy food. I never heard anyone say smoking was "unhealthful" in the US but I suppose that must exist too!
I've never heard Healthful in my life.
Irony/sarcasm - The cornerstones of British humour. This is one of the biggest differences between the nations. The sense of humour simply doesn't translate too well.
Not so.
Knockers - Another word for breasts.
Heard a lot here.
Knuckle sandwich - If somebody offers you a knuckle sandwich you'd be best to decline the offer and leave at the next convenient moment. It isn't some British culinary delight - they're about to thump you in the face.
Heard in movies.
-ly - These are two letters that seem to be left off words in America. I never heard anyone say something was "really nice" or "really cool", they would say real nice and real cool. We would be sent to the back of the class for grammar like that!
Grr.
Not my cup of tea - This is a common saying that means something is not to your liking. For example if someone asked you if you would like to go to an all night rave, they would know exactly what you meant if you told them it was not exactly your cup of tea!
I hear that here.
Pardon me - This is very amusing for Brits in America. Most kids are taught to say "pardon me" if they fart in public or at the table etc. In America it has other meanings which take us Brits a while to figure out. I thought I was surrounded by people with flatulence problems!
Once again, goes either way.
Pass - This means I don't know and comes from the old TV show, Mastermind, where contestants were made to say "pass" if they did not know the answer to the question.
Heard here on occasion, too.
Plastered - Another word for loaded. In other words you have had rather too much to drink down your local. It has nothing to do with being covered with plaster though anything is possible when you are plastered.
Heard here too.
Puke - To puke is to vomit or to be sick. You may also hear someone say "you make me puke" - though I hope not! That would mean "you make me sick".
Well no shit!
Quite - When used alone, this word means the same as absolutely!
Well no shit!
Really - This is one of those words where you say almost the same thing as us, but just can't be fagged to finish it off. The word is "really", not real. You say things like it's real hot, something's real cool, a baby is real cute. If we said that we would be sent to the back of the class for our grammar - or lack of it!
That's because you were with Texans!
Sad - This is a common word, with the same meaning as naff. Used in expressions like "you sad b***ard".
Like pathetic? Yeah. I know.
Sloshed - Yet another way to describe being drunk. Clearly we need a lot of ways to describe it since getting plastered is a national pastime.
Heard here.
Stiffy - Yet another word for erection.
Heard here.
Table - We use this word in exactly the opposite way. To us a motion is tabled when it is brought to the table, or suggested for consideration. You table a motion when it is left for a later date.
Huh?
To - We go to school from ages 5 to 18. You might go to school from ages 5 thru 18. We don't say thru in that context at all. If we did though, we would say "through"!
I've never seen "thru" when used for numbers, but I have seen "to" and "through."
Twat - Another word used to insult someone who has upset you. Also means the same as fanny but is less acceptable in front of your grandmother, as this refers to parts of the female anatomy.
Yes I know.
U - A letter used far more in British. It is in words like colour, favour, labour etc. I think this is why UK keyboards have 102 characters on them instead of your 101, or is it because they have a pound sign on them?
Color is not pronounced "call oor." Don't spell it like it is.
Wanker - This is a derogatory term used to describe someone who is a bit of a jerk. It actually means someone who masturbates and also has a hand signal that can be done with one hand at people that cannot see you shouting "wanker" at them. This is particularly useful when driving.
Yes I know.
Willy - Another word for penis. It is the word many young boys are taught as it is a nicer word than most of the alternatives. Some people also use it for girls as there are no nice alternatives. Hence "woman's willy". Also used by grown ups who don't wish to offend (this word is safe to use with elderly Grandparents).
Used here too.
Write to - When visiting the US one can't help noticing that you write each other. You don't "write to" each other. Here it would be grammatically incorrect to say "write me" and you would be made to write it out 100 times until you got it right.
Goes either way.
Yakking - This means talking incessantly - not that I know anyone who does that now!
Heard here too.
Zed - The last letter of the alphabet. The English hate saying zee and only relent with names such as ZZ Top (Zed Zed Top does sound a bit stupid!).
...Really?
Alright, I'm finally bored with this.
A lot of the stuff he was saying only applies to people from the south, which sort of bugs me. The stereotype of all Americans being just like Texans bothers me, I guess.
quote:
Tegadil had this to say about Optimus Prime:
Pop, you drink. Soda, you bake with. Freaks.
I kid, I kid!
No, actually, I don't.
Actually, I say soda. Pop sounds retarded.
quote:
Taeldian got all f'ed up on Angel Dust and wrote:
Actually, I say soda. Pop sounds retarded.
Retarded like a fox!
How does that phrase work?
quote:
Verily, Tegadil doth proclaim:
Retarded like a fox!
How does that phrase work?
...Huh?
quote:
Taeldian had this to say about Robocop:
...
Roundabout - Traffic circle. The best bit about arriving in England after a long transatlantic flight with no sleep and finding there are no automatic cars, is that the first obstacle you find at any airport is a big roundabout. They are scary if you have never seen one before. The simple rule is 'give way (yield) to the right'. In other words, the traffic already on the roundabout has right of way. In Malta, however, the traffic approaching the roundabout has right of way, which is why Brits on holiday in Malta keep killing themselves!First time I've heard Traffic Circle.
...
Called Circles in Jersey, slowly getting rid of them, people are to stupid to use them right and get into alot of accidents.
I have always called Hand Brakes the e-brakes, the emergancy brake...great fo doign 360's and slides in a VW rabbit in the snow and mud
