Actually, we don't say that in Britain

[ZephrC]

The funny thing about the term Yankee is that has been used as a reference to all Americans several times throughout history, independently. I think that's funny anyway...

Oh, and in response to the original post: When has Family Guy ever been accurate? If you think it's hilarious until they talk about your group and get everything wrong, you are an ignorant ass regardless of what that group is.

 

[A Weary Exile]

Now, in modern British English, it refers to any American.

I just call them seppos if they object to being called yanks.

Yet I've only ever had one English person complain about being called a pom/pommy... and their rationale, if you choose to call it such, was that everytime they heard it was in the middle of the phrase 'whinging pommy bastard'.

Forgive the ignorance but...seppos? I haven't heard that one.

I've yet to actually get called a pom, despite having Aussie and NZ relatives.
Does anyone else actually refer to the Brits as 'Poms'? In media (bad example, I know...) I've only ever heard it uttered by Aussies.

As for 'Yank' - round these 'ere parts, it seems to reference anyone from the US.

Well here in the U.S. a Yank is what a redneck would call someone from up north, that all comes from the Civil war.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Wait, so fanny pack means......Oh you just made my day.

Equally, bum fights/bum fishing translates to backside-fights/backside-fishing.

I seem to remember from somewhere:

American: "What do you do with fags in your country?"
Brit: "We smoke them"
American: "Sheeee-ooot, and I thought you guys were pussies."

It's not always been like this. Fanny used to be a girl's name aka the very famous cook, Fanny Craddock. And the name Randy? Britspeak for horny.

Also Pensioners=Senior Citizens, Fruit Machines(One armed bandits)=Slot Machines

However, the American term "spaz" means someone with severe mental handicap in Britain, where as over-there it's akin to "losing it".

A good one to catch is episode 1.6 of House where Hugh Laurie (A true Brit) plays House (A true American) to use his fake British accent(Which is an American trying to do a Brit).

 

[Nivag the Owl]

So I was watching Family Guy earlier and came across one of their rips at the British, which are usually pretty damn funny. But this one just annoyed me. Some guy who was supposed to be a stereotype referred to his bottom as his fanny. But yeah, in Britain, "fanny" kinda means "vagina". So I did get an extra laugh out of a man threatening to expose his vagina, but if you're going to take a rip at a stereotype, at least get it right

Don't worry, I do have a follow up question, I'm not just aimlessly posting Family Guy quotes. What's your favourite (or funniest) English (UK) / English (US) mix-up?

Wait, so fanny pack means......Oh you just made my day.

Trust me, whenever that term comes up in Family Guy or The Simpsons (more common), every English (UK) viewer is thinking... "gross".

 

[EeveeElectro]

They wouldn't understand our words, and usually instead of doing something like Googling it, they'll just sit in their confusion for hours.
I like the word fanny pack for bum bag (a little bag you strap to the front of you) they both sound so awful.

 

[xXxTheBeastxXx]

more like this


It's OTT Recieved Pronounciation (or BBC English, though that's a lot nicer on the ears)

I must say that, regardless of who you are or where you're from, she has got to be one of the most annoying people I've ever heard speak (not due to her accent so much as the content of the shit pouring out of her mouth).

Personally, I hate when people get any accent wrong, especially when it's stereotypical. I'm an american with a--is talent the right word?--for accents. I've a keen ear and a keen tongue. I can usually pick one up right away, though not flawlessly. Currently, I think I'm able to pull off somewhere around fourteen or fifteen rather well (several of which are English/British dialects.) Strangely enough, one of the accents I can't seem to get is the "Pacific Northwest" accent of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and British Columbia, which happens to be where I've lived my entire life thus far. It's the people who pronounce "beg" and "bag" the same way, or say "crayon" as "crown", or "Worshington." I hate it...I hate it!

But I digress. My knack is probably due to my normally flat (while not necessarily monotone) accent. It's just easy to modify it.

 

[Hellz_Barz]

They call hookers in some parts of the US, "Chippys". A Chippy in the UK is a a fish and chip shop. This kind of mixup could have pretty awkward but hilarious results.

Where?

Calafornia, according to some Californian person.

thats funny cause a chippy in Australia means a carpenter.

 

[Nivag the Owl]

Just remembered another funny example. Not really a result of language, but pronunciation. A friend of mine was travelling the world and stopped somewhere in America for a couple of months. He was telling us how when asking for a glass of "water", nobody understood what the hell he was on about until he said "wahder". When he got back, it took us at least a week to get him saying "water" again.

 

[esperanto]

You brits have it easy. We Irish get it the worst! Have you seen that episode where they go to Ireland..... Pretty crappy episode as well actually.


And besides oonly two thirds of the country is actually like that

I understand you. Being British with Irish herritage that irritates me a lot. The Irish accents and stereotypes in series 2 of Heroes were just painfully bad.

 

[Bob_Bobbington]

Any time an american does a british accent

It's either Dick van Dyke-esque Cockney or some stupid quasi-posh (Pronounced Poe-sh)

AND STOP MISTAKING US FOR AUSTRALIANS

AND STOP MISTAKING THE AUSTRALIANS AS SOUTH AFRICANS

AND STOP CALLING THE NEW ZEALANDERS AUSTRALIAN

Good grief, is it THAT hard to understand?

Oy, why don't ya put another shrimp on tha bahbie? (Because.. ha... I'm mistaking... hahaha... you for an Aus-... nevermind)

Prawn. It's pronounced prawn. Put another prawn on the barbie. Why is that so hard to understand

 

[Banana Phone Man]

OT: I Hate how most Americans think anyone from yorkshire is a farmer, Because we arn't!

Trust me, I only think of them as fantastic badminton players. The badminton ICT (International County badminton Tournament) was just held in Nottingham and Youkshire aslways come in the top 3. They didn't win last year (losing out to Surrey which was probably just a one off) but before that they had won it 10 years in a row and I think they may have won it this year, although I am not sure it is the most likey.

Most people can't do fake aaccents all that well but I realy hate it when people try to do them and do it OTT. Just ends up grating on the ears.

 

[MercenaryCanary]

As a British person I am jolly ticked-off by this.

Rather, those colonials don't know the proper etiquette. More tiffin?

I needn't, I'm seeing the queen at lunch time for scones and tackles about my expedition to India.

And I'm going with my mates into London to get pissed with a bunch of chavs.

Be wary of any possible slags, mate.

 

[Johnmw]

We had Twin Day a while back at my school, and my British friend and another friend dressed up as schoolgirls together. I saw her in the hall in the morning and was all like, "why are you dressed like that?" and she tells me "I'm a schoolgirl!" and my response to this was, "Wow, that's kinky..." and then she suddenly gets all dark and stalks off and I'm kind of left with my hands in the air wondering what I said.

I found her at lunch and apologized and explained it was a joke, and she accepted it, but I could tell she was still really angry. I finally realized that "kinky" probably meant something else in British vernacular, and asked. "Oh, it means like, the lowest of the low, like, a complete whore," she explained. "OHHHH. Here, it just means 'That's hot.'" "Glad we cleared that up! ._. I thought you were really insulting me..."

In my twenty years of life in Britain I have honestly NEVER heard of the word "kinky" meaning anything other than what *you* thought it meant. How odd...

Maybe it's a regional thing. I think she lived in the suburbs of London, but I'm not sure.

I'm from suburban London. Kinky just means mildly perverted in a sexy way. Its a word that she could have been raised to think of as dirty, but isn't really.

 

[Katherine Kerensky]

I was a bit worried when in Golden Sun 2, in the start village (on the new continent), an old man says "That tidal wave knocked me right onto my fanny" >.>
...
That confused me for a bit, until I realised that Americans say 'Fanny' for... bottom.

 

[Milney]

Spoiler

I felt this was appropriate.

Nah, this is wrong. The British get mighty offended by the phrase "Bloody Hell".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_where_the_bloody_hell_are_you%3F

We really don't. "Bloody hell" is really quite tame fior British - which got me in trouble when I lived in the States (admittedly Texas so not exactly representative) as they took massive offense when I exclaimed "Blood hell, that's horrible!" to some random new report. Apparently saying "Hell" is a big thing there even in non-religious circles.

 

[Optimus Hagrid]

Why don't British stereotypes in American media use the word "Knackered"? It's probably the most awesome word ever made.

 

[Zykon TheLich]

It's not exactly a unique occurrence in the world, though, when you have a situation in the past where entire towns lost their adult male population to a war. Go to a bar full of Turkish people and call someone "Greek". Go to a pub in Ireland and call someone "English". I doubt you'll get a friendly reaction.

Yeah, I'm well aware of that, the world is full of people desperately holding on to their ancestors wars.

 

[Dok Zombie]

You should try being from north east England.

The midlanders think you're automatically a geordie.

The londoner's think you're Scottish.

And the American's think you're Irish. (Seriously, Americans seem to think that being from Boston makes you Irish and have never heard a real Irish accent...)

The metropolitan bias bother's me more than how American's stereotype us, I could honestly care less if American kids watching The Simpsons or Family Guy or whatever severely past it's prime cartoon bollocks tells them we are all tea sipping, crumpet munching, lords and ladies. It's the fact that ANY cultural export from England is inevitably about what life is like in London...

(Having said that, Spaced is probably the most accurate representation of what life is like for the kind of English people me and my friends are...)