Jump to content
GreaseSpot Cafe

American English and British English. (And maybe Australian English and so on.)


WordWolf
 Share

Recommended Posts

We started talking about the differences between English dialects on another thread.

Twinky:

"Actually there are some US spellings that (now) seem better to me.  In the UK, we tend to use the verb endings "-ise"" where US might write "-ize" (formalise/ formalize) but now knowing a bit about how many Greek words were formulated with a transliterated Z (zed/zee) at the end, I'm less against the "ize" ending.  However, there are other words that have distinct differences: Practice - in UK is a noun but in US is a verb; practise is the UK verb, US noun.  So you might at times think my spelling is poor, but it's not; whereas I might think the same of you and then have to re-think because this is a US platform with US spellings.  (Nonetheless, there are some people who post here whose spelling and grammar really are appalling.) "

=========================

George St George:

"When I was in grad school, a collaborator from England came to work in our lab for a few days.  Wasn't it John Cleese who said that America and England were two countries separated by a common language?  He'd ask me, "'Ave ya a gum bung?"  After some thought, I realized he needed a rubber stopper.  "'Ave ya a retort 'older?"  Ah!  A ring stand!  And let's not forget the pronunciations:  Instead of "I put some trimethylaluminum in a CAPillary tube," it was tri MEEthilealuMINium in a caPILLary.  Of course, this worked the other way, as well.  I made a business trip to England and decided to to use the hotel exercise room.  I couldn't get the locker to open, when a local said that I needed to "give it a poundin'."  Well, banging it didn't work, and I finally found out he told me to "Give it a pound (coin) in."  (Put a pound coin in the slot.)  :rolleyes::biglaugh:  "

============================

 

Twinky:

"Had some fun with this one in the Corps.  Both ways.  Once, some Corps bros came to me and said, "What's a wanker?" or some such.  Some question involving the verb form of that, too long ago now.  Two of my commonwealth Corps bros had been teaching them some interestingly different words, and they'd said that this meant … whatever.  My Corps bros were a bit unsure, these two lads being pranksters.  The shocked look on my face confirmed the Corps bros' worst fears.  I believe "wank" is what one does in the states to tighten a bolt with a spanner.  In UK and Commonwealth English it is a thing men do with their private parts.  And a "wanker" is a useless, idle, good for nothing person - it's a very big insult.  It is not a mechanic tightening bolts (though in his spare time, he could be a wanker as well).  

I'm wondering if this post will successfully get through the lewd language filters here and elsewhere."

============================

 

Twinky:

"On the flip side of above post, Americans might talk about "shifting their fannies" (moving fast, moving their bottoms, buttocks).  A "fanny" is a slightly lower part of the female anatomy in Commonwealth English, the part that may be called "c*nt," with about the same level of obsceneness. "

========================

Twinky:

"I had some trouble with my What to Bring list when I went in rez.  There's this big long list of items that are required.  Some I knew by different names.  I never quite worked out what "galoshes" are.  I think this is another word that has a different meaning; it's a different type of footwear outside the USA.

I think that perhaps "wellies" was meant by this.  Anyway - as I couldn't find any, I never got any, and never missed having them.

=============================

T-Bone:

"Funny stuff George & Twinky...I recall installing a security system with a tech from England - he said he wanted to go outside and smoke a fag - meaning have a cigarette. "

==========================

Twinky:

"Or "go out for a fag" or "have a fag" - yes, cigarette is one meaning, homosexual is another, and there are various other meanings, some of which will be UK specific.  One could also be "fagged" which doesn't mean buggered, well not in the sexual way; it means, be very tired.

Hehe.  Language can be a "false friend" at times."

================================

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

BTW, Twinky guessed correctly about "Wellies" being the same as "galoshes".  "Wellies" is short for "Wellington boots".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellington_boot

"They were worn and popularised by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington."  "The name was subsequently given to waterproof boots made of rubber and they are no longer associated with a particular class."    "Usually called rubber boots, but sometimes galoshes, mud boots, rain boots, mucking boots, billy boots, or gum-boots, are popular in Canada and the United States, particularly in springtime when melting snows leave wet and muddy ground. Young people can be seen wearing them to school or university and taking them to summer camps. "

I knew they were the same because they were drawn correctly in a comic book I read a long time ago, and named as "wellingtons" and "boots" and looked just like galoshes.

(Iron Man vol 1, number 94, for those who absolutely have to know.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Back when I was in high school, like everyone else, I had to read "the Verger."  At one point, the title character had just been fired as a verger. He wanted to smoke a cigarette, but realized he wasn't carrying any.  He also realized the street he was on didn't have a cigarette stand, which gave him an idea for his next job- a cigarette stand on that block, with which he was rather successful.    Anyway, when he realized there were no cigarette stands there- and there was the possible demand for one- he said to himself "I can't be the only man as walks along this street and wants a fag."   Yes, all the high school students were amused, although we knew what the sentence meant.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Those people who read the Harry Potter series in English may have had different experiences.  There were 7 books in the series.  The main distributors for the book in English were Scholastic (US print run)  and Bloomsbury  (UK print run.)   For the first 2 books, each publisher was given the book, and edited in-house, then printed the result.  So, for the first 2 books, kids and adults could read them in their vernacular- providing it was US or UK and they had the right edition.   From the 3rd book on, the text was edited and THEN passed on to Scholastic and Bloomsbury for printing and distribution.  That means the US and UK versions of the remaining books had different covers but the same interiors.  However, they were edited in the UK, so the books now had UK slang to follow, which could be tricky if you're not used to it. 

It could also be funny.

The Weasleys went to their car and put luggage in the "boot."(the trunk)   In the US, if your car has a "boot",  it's been immobilized by the authorities putting a lock around one wheel.   Mrs Weasley knitted Weasley sweaters for the family.   One Christmas, Harry received one.  When he tried on his new "JUMPER",  I'm sure it was amusing to quite a few readers besides me- since a "jumper" in the US is a dress, what the British call a "pinafore dress."       In another book, a moat showed up in the middle of a corridor, and Mr Filch was forced to punt the students across.   I thought it was like a "punt" in US football, where he kicked them across, presumably with them wearing padding.   No, to the British, a "punt" is a little boat, and he rowed them across.  

Back when I read them all, there were lots of little moments of amusement like that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, you might need a bit of a dictionary to understand some expressions.

A lot of novels are by (prolific) US authors.  They refer to things that aren't necessarily obvious to a non-US citizen, or talk about places or events that might be commonly understood in the US, but it takes a bit of work with a different geography or history.

 

Well, of course you put things in the boot of a car.  A boot might also be a wheel immobiliser (note spelling).  And the engine goes under the bonnet (not the hood). 

A jumper is a dress???

An unbuttoned top garment might be a jumper, sweater, aran, jersey, guernsey (or gansey) and various other things too.  Jersey and Guernsey are two of the Channel Islands, and have distinctive knitting patterns.  Aran is a Scottish island with distinctive knitting pattern.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are you queuing for your groceries in the supermarket in the US?

Or are you in the line for your shopping at the store?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, Twinky said:

Yes, you might need a bit of a dictionary to understand some expressions.

A lot of novels are by (prolific) US authors.  They refer to things that aren't necessarily obvious to a non-US citizen, or talk about places or events that might be commonly understood in the US, but it takes a bit of work with a different geography or history.

 

Well, of course you put things in the boot of a car.  A boot might also be a wheel immobiliser (note spelling).  And the engine goes under the bonnet (not the hood). 

A jumper is a dress???

An unbuttoned top garment might be a jumper, sweater, aran, jersey, guernsey (or gansey) and various other things too.  Jersey and Guernsey are two of the Channel Islands, and have distinctive knitting patterns.  Aran is a Scottish island with distinctive knitting pattern.

A jumper is a dress.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumper

Right- to a Brit, it's the boot of the car, and to an American, it's the TRUNK.

One comedian was surprised to live in the UK for a while and realize he spoke  "American." In an exam, someone asked to "borrow a rubber." At first, he was puzzled why he picked the middle of an exam to ask.  Then, he thought "I don't want it back, it's not something you borrow."   The guy wanted an ERASER, of course.

A woman later asked him to show up and give her a wake-up or something.  "Come by in the morning and knock me up."  "Well, I didn't want to be the 'ugly American.' " He was a little disappointed when he arrived, since he thought she wanted him to use an eraser.  (He warned her about saying that phrase to Americans afterwards.) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Twinky said:

Are you queuing for your groceries in the supermarket in the US?

Or are you in the line for your shopping at the store?

I stood in line to pay for groceries earlier this afternoon. :dance:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Twinky said:

Hey, WW, what do you like watching?

It varies.  Mrs Wolf watches that Regency stuff.  I grew up on Benny Hill and Monty Python.   She's also a WHOvian.   As a Shakespeare fan, I think "Upstart Crow" is HYSTERICAL.  We've watched the original "Who's Line is it Anyway" and a little of "Would I Lie To You."   We definitely like to watch "QI" together.  We're watching a little Blackadder lately (we finished Series 1.) We also like both the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes and the Father Brown Mysteries.   (Mystery shows appeal to both of us.)  We watch "Maigret" also, but since the entire series is 4 episodes, that doesn't count for much.    Naturally, we're also fans of "SHERLOCK", the modern Holmes adaptation with Cumberbatch and Freeman as Holmes and Watson.   We also watched "Britain's Brightest Families." 

So, we're all over the map. Comedies, game shows,  mysteries.   I'm probably forgetting something.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

BTW, Twinky, if you go to the Games forum, and the "TV Show Mash-Up" thread, page 57 starts with clues to a bunch of British shows.  (Further down the page, they're all named.)  Perhaps you would enjoy trying to guess them now for laughs (even though that round was years ago.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Programmes (not spelling) would have to be very old for me to know them.  I haven't had a TV in 30 or more years.  I watch things sometimes at friends' houses, and some things (not BBC) I can watch on catch-up over the Net.  Don't miss having a TV, listen to excellent programmes on the radio.

I was a big Goodies fan, though, in my youth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Working in the garden today.  So many fallen leaves - you'd think it was autumn.  Or, on the other side of the pond, fall.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, Twinky said:

Programmes (not spelling) would have to be very old for me to know them.  I haven't had a TV in 30 or more years.  I watch things sometimes at friends' houses, and some things (not BBC) I can watch on catch-up over the Net.  Don't miss having a TV, listen to excellent programmes on the radio.

I was a big Goodies fan, though, in my youth.

Blackadder is from the 70s/80s.     BTW, if you look at the thread, the shows I mentioned in that round were from no later than the 70s, also.

Have you watched "The Two Ronnies?"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Twinky said:

Working in the garden today.  So many fallen leaves - you'd think it was autumn.  Or, on the other side of the pond, fall.

We use both autumn and fall in the states. Autumn is often used an adjective, while fall is often used as a noun. For example: "I'll see you in the fall, when the autumn leaves are boasting their colors."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, Twinky said:

Programmes (not spelling) would have to be very old for me to know them.  I haven't had a TV in 30 or more years.  I watch things sometimes at friends' houses, and some things (not BBC) I can watch on catch-up over the Net.  Don't miss having a TV, listen to excellent programmes on the radio.

I was a big Goodies fan, though, in my youth.

From "the Goodies", I only saw the episode with "Ecky Thump", the British martial art.

Ever hear that show killed a man?

It was that very episode.  Somebody watched it at home, and when he got to the scene with a soldier in Highland garb in a fight with an Ecky Thump practitioner wielding a pudding as a weapon, he went into hysterical laughter.  He apparently had a history of a bad heart, and that was it for him. 

(I was curious because a UK comic book once had a one-panel joke. They were introducing martial artists, and that included "the last living practitioner of Ecky Thump- who was dressed in the garb "the Goodies" specified when they made it up.    So, I got curious after that..especially after "the White Stripes" did a song with the name "Ecky Thump."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ecky Thump?  Never heard of.

I don't like The Two Ronnies.  Bit too daft, for my liking.  Blackadder could be surprisingly good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now, here's a misleading one. 

"I'm p1$$ed."  In the UK, this means "I'm drunk," but in the US means "I'm angry/annoyed/unhappy," which in the UK might be "I'm p!$$ed off."

Edited by Twinky
The naughty word edited out by GSC spell checker
Link to comment
Share on other sites

36 minutes ago, Twinky said:

Now, here's a misleading one. 

"I'm p1$$ed."  In the UK, this means "I'm drunk," but in the US means "I'm angry/annoyed/unhappy," which in the UK might be "I'm p!$$ed off."

In the US, the older generation tends to say ....ed off, while the younger generation shortens it to ....ed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you were very drunk, you might be p1$$ed as a f@rt.  (Why a f@rt, I have no idea.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

52 minutes ago, Twinky said:

Ecky Thump?  Never heard of.

I don't like The Two Ronnies.  Bit too daft, for my liking.  Blackadder could be surprisingly good.

The Goodies, Series 5, Episode 7. "Kung Fu Kapers."   Aired March 24, 1975.  In January 2020, it was declared to be the fans' favorite episode.

 

Ok, I don't know much about the Two Ronnies.  I DO know that I recommend the following skits:  Four Candles,   Swedish Made Simple,   My Blackberry Is Not Working.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Having moved from Illinois to Texas, years ago, I've found that a lot of things are referred to differently, even within the US.  For example.

North:  lug wrench            South:  tire tool (or tire iron)

North:  forklift                    South:  tow motor

North:  access road          South:  feeder

George

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lug wrench.  :biglaugh:   Sounds like somebody's pulling my leg - if not my ears.  "Lugs" is a slang word for ears.  And "lughole" is an ear canal.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...