Americanisms and British...isms?

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Nerf Ninja

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Berethond said:
Kalezian said:
w@rew0lf said:
Kalezian said:
one, 'To Let' in America is 'Rent'.


also, no matter what people might say, 'y'all' is NOT proper english even for America, I am Texan, yes, and I hear that word often and it fills me with boiling rage.


but I cant really think of much else that hasnt been said here yet.

oh, Americans drive on the right side of the road as opposed to the left since it was custom for farmers walking horses to be on the left side of the horses, why I dont know, but it translated to cars since Americans were more accustomed to being on the right side.


also, Colonial Britannia jokes are often in poor taste in several ex-colony provinces/countries like India and parts of Africa. #LFMF
With it's massive use it will only be a matter of time before it does become a word. Just like ain't. If you didn't know already. Yes ain't IS now considered a word. At least in America.
I have always considered "ain't" a word simply because spelling am not in such a way would be stupid, yes hypocrisy, but still.

while on the subject of inter-American-isms, Menudo in Texas and other south-western states is a spicy stew that kicks ass on cold days when you might or might not have a hangover.

elsewhere though, its crap.

no, really, in Oregon 'menudo' is almost just a crab stew with little to any spices added in.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menudo_%28soup%29
Real menudo is made from tripe.
TRIPE.
The only reference I knew of Menudo had Ricky Martin in it!


So you're right it was made from tripe.
 

Dahni

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ad5x5 said:
I've never found Scottish idioms to be that difficult, though I must admit to enjoying toying with you Scots a little bit by using a dense yorkshire accent and yorkshire idioms whenever I go up to wee bonnie Scotland.
oh no.... that's my worst nightmare, really. Some english accents confuse me to no end and it makes me want to burst into tears sometimes. I'm sort of getting used to the Yorkshire accent & idioms because the guy who sits beside me in maths is from Yorkshire. So you wouldn't have as much fun trying to mess with my mind. ;D
 

Pariah87

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Not sure if these have been said after scanning the last couple of pages.

Dummy(UK) = Passifier, sp?
Nappy(UK) = Diaper.
Cot(UK)= Crib

Some of swears seem worse than Americans aswell.

Knob Head, for example, which actually looks really humerous when written down. We use the word Slag instead of Skank, although I have heard that creeping in recently to my annoyance. Bloody goes before words to emphasise them "It was bloody awesome" or "It was bloody shite". Knackered/Shattered are our way of saying tired out or exhausted.

Has anyone bought up Footbal/Soccer yet?

We say "I'm just going down the shop" whereas you guys seem to say "I'm going to the store"

It's actually quite interesting when you begin to think about it, although the same can be said just for region variations in our own country. I've heard on several occasions Scots or Geordies refer to babies are bairns, or fags/cigarettes as tabs.
 

ad5x5

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Dahni said:
oh no.... that's my worst nightmare, really. Some english accents confuse me to no end and it makes me want to burst into tears sometimes. I'm sort of getting used to the Yorkshire accent & idioms because the guy who sits beside me in maths is from Yorkshire. So you wouldn't have as much fun trying to mess with my mind. ;D
lol - could you tell me if you call Stella Artois "Wifebeater" up in Scotland - or is that just an English/Yorkshire thing?
I've used it in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dunfermline and Aberdeen and just get blank looks each time...
 

DarkRyter

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Fairy-Faerie

I'm an American, but I like "faerie" more, because the plural of fairy is fairies, but the plural of faerie is fae.

And I think it's kind of cool.
 

CK76

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Dahni said:
Fraught said:
Pr0 InSaNiTy said:
Yeah they aren't called Walkers in the USA, they're called Lays.
I wonder where they ARE called Walkers, England excluded.
I live in middle Europe, and we also have Lays.
Scotland, Ireland, Wales...

You do realise that England is not an entirely seperate country, don't you?
Fun Fact.

Q. What is the "Oxford History of England" about?
A. Great Britain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O5rCjTa6v4
 

Xanadu84

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90% of the time, neither approach is better or worse. 5%, the American approach makes slightly more sense. 5%, the British makes slightly more sense. But curiously, terminology related to Cars is superior in the American.

Trunk/Boot: The first is also a thing that stores Luggage. The second is something you put your feet in.

Hood/Bonnet: The first is an object that covers something. The second is something a baby wears

Gas/Petrol: Okay, Petrol sounds kind of cool, but for functionality, Gas is shorter and simpler. Also, "Give it some gas" sounds way better then, "Give it some petrol".

Sidewalk/Pavement: You walk along the side. Meanwhile, you Pave pretty much any main traveling surface.

Windshield/Windscreen: It shields you from the wind. If it screened it, it would still be blowing in your face, it would just stop bugs.

Neither is better or worse, but I do say that America has the edge on car talk.

Also, Ive read a lot of "British only" words that are also used in America, just perhaps less often. I suspect with the internet, the 2 languages will start to coincide again. We will just end up with more synonyms.
 

ottenni

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Heres a good one, not American-English though. More Australia-Everywhere else i think. Maybe not New Zealand.



We call these thongs, you don't make that mistake twice overseas.
 

Nerf Ninja

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Soylent Bacon said:
Nerf Ninja said:
Soylent Bacon said:
I went the longest time without knowing how British people pronounce the letter "H" by itself. The first time I heard a person say it like that, I thought he just talked strangely.

American pronunciation: "Eych"
British pronunciation: "Heych"

Oh yeah, and the letter "Z" too...

American pronunciation: "Zee"
British pronunciation: "Zed"

...right...?
Actually it's bad English to pronounce the H in H. (Although I do it a lot myself)

How do Americans actually pronounce Twat? I've heard it pronounced as twot and to me that sounds daft.
Yeah, the "twot" pronunciation sounds normal to me. I don't think I've ever even heard it pronounced the other way.
We Britishers pronounce it with an A all the time. It also means to hit, as in:

Dave Lister from Red Dwarf said:
"let's get out there and twat it!"
Or:

Richard Richard from Bottom said:
All I said was have you seen the singing detective? and she twatted me with a kidney dish!
 

Vitor Goncalves

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JackTHerbert said:
twistedmic said:
I know what Americans call gas (for cars) the British call petrol.
I never understood why they call it gas, for it isn't a gas... Does anyone know where the term came from?
My guess would be because its collected as a gas, oil is boiled in a refinery and each components are collected at their ebolition points, maybe, I could do more research tho.
 

bakana

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'bugger' in the U.S. is a very inoffensive term used to describe something or someone small and perhaps annoying. For example, if you were chasing a little cousin around the house, you might say "I'll get you, you little bugger!"
In the UK, the verb 'to bugger' means 'to have anal sex with'. 'Bugger!' can also be exclaimed at times of frustration (like 'Fuck!').

'geezer' in the US is a decrepit old man. In the UK it means something more like a real macho or solid man.

In the UK people call the bathroom the toilet, whereas in the US the toilet is specifically the fixture; maybe it's because in Europe often the toilet and the bath are in separate rooms? I remember when I first started working abroad, with some Brits, and one said "I'm going to go to the toilet," I was slightly put off! I thought "Well, you don't need to be THAT specific!" Packaging and advertising for toilet paper in the US uses the term "bathroom tissue," but no one really calls it that. In public places, the 'bathroom' is often called the 'restroom,' which is even more vague. I think we Americans have some sort of toilet neurosis.

In the US 'shift' is used almost exclusively to describe a minor positional adjustment. You might shift your weight from one foot to another, or shift your position on the couch. You can also shift gears in a car. In the UK it seems more to be just an analogue for 'move.' People shift into a new apartment, for instance. Once in Aberdeen, I heard this impatient mother yelling at her slow son "SHIFT! SHIFT! COME ON, SHIFT!" which sounded totally bizarre. But I guess she just wanted him to move.

On British TV they have 'programs,' which Americans only have on their computers. Americans call TV shows TV shows.

What the British call a 'Scotch Egg' Americans call 'the reason why British people don't get to make fun of fat Americans and our gross food like the rest of Europe does.'
 

bakana

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Oh, and a minor niggle. In the UK they say "different to," whereas Americans say "different from"
 

thylasos

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bakana said:
In the US 'shift' is used almost exclusively to describe a minor positional adjustment. You might shift your weight from one foot to another, or shift your position on the couch. You can also shift gears in a car. In the UK it seems more to be just an analogue for 'move.' People shift into a new apartment, for instance. Once in Aberdeen, I heard this impatient mother yelling at her slow son "SHIFT! SHIFT! COME ON, SHIFT!" which sounded totally bizarre. But I guess she just wanted him to move.

On British TV they have 'programs,' which Americans only have on their computers. Americans call TV shows TV shows.

What the British call a 'Scotch Egg' Americans call 'the reason why British people don't get to make fun of fat Americans and our gross food like the rest of Europe does.'
Shift - used in the US context everywhere but the car, where you just change gears, or more specifically "change up" or "change down". "Shift", also does have this meaning, though it's rare to see it out of the context of "shift your arse" in old police shows.

We (UK) use TV show as well as programme, though since the world of computing is largely Americanised, computer programs are still programs, which helps somewhat with delineation between the two meanings in text.

-----------------

I've lost the quotes for these guys, but there's also some interesting stuff in the case of h: aitch is more generally used in the UK, but haitch also exists and is the common Hibernian (Irish) usage. Also on the point of Hibernian English and the US's ain't, it's not exactly formal, but amn't also exists.

-----------------

On another point, we "write to" people in the UK, in the context of posting a letter or somesuch, whereas (though possibly it's regional) you simply "write" someone in the US.
 

bakana

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Oh, and in the US we 'take' baths, whereas the British 'have' them. Same goes for showers, I think.
 

CK76

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bakana said:
'geezer' in the US is a decrepit old man. In the UK it means something more like a real macho or solid man.
This makes my greeting in London make so much more sense now.
 

Camembert

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bakana said:
On British TV they have 'programs,' which Americans only have on their computers. Americans call TV shows TV shows.
'Programme', that is. 'Program' is the American spelling, and is used in English only when describing computer programs.

Oh, and a minor niggle. In the UK they say "different to," whereas Americans say "different from"
Incorrect. The correct usage in the UK is 'different from'. You will, however, find variations in both the UK and the US, such as 'different to' and 'different than' (both of which I find very irritating).
 

tinkyyy

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perryman93 said:
Cpt_Oblivious said:
Pr0 InSaNiTy said:
Yeah they aren't called Walkers in the USA, they're called Lays.
They're only called Walkers in the UK for some reason. Like Opel cars are Vauxhall. And German Shepherd dogs are Alsatians, though that comes from the anti-German policy of the World Wars, like our royal family going from Sax-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor.
The strange thing is, officially the company is called Walkers, not Laysand GM who make Vauxhall, call them Vauxhall and not Opel. Also, the dogs name was changed to Alsations because people were abandoning and killing them because they believed they were associated with Germans
I think, at least with Vauxhall anyway, they were a company before they were bought out by GM, and they just renamed them for different markets of the world, but kept the Vauxhall name in the UK.
 

Zorg Machine

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GAME OV3R said:
Yubera said:
slash2x said:
I know that what we call a cigarette you would call a term I can not type because it is considered a slur. ;)
Yes it's quite funny when some people say "I'd love to have a fag right now".
i got a box of 20 fags this morning! =D
I hate fags, they taste like spotted dick.