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Post by Claire on Sept 14, 2012 11:26:16 GMT 1
Hi all, We started talking about this in another thread and think it deserves a thread of its own. Post here for all discussion of differences between British and American words, expressions, etc. Also if you are wondering what a particular Brit/American word or expression means please ask here and hopefully someone from across the other side of the pond can translate it for you! So to continue the discussion from the other thread: Not exactly slang, but it always stood out to me reading books by British authors that Brits tend to say "in hospital" and Americans "in the hospital." We wouldn't leave out the article. I never thought of this before rallycairn but its true. We would also say go to prison not go to the prison - would you say that too? (Tho I think you say jail not prison!) However in the majority of cases we do use the 'the'! Oh, and Susan, I agree -- the news bits I heard about being chuffed seemed to have the nuance off as best as I could tell. I can't remember what they said, but like you, I always took it to mean, "bucked up" or pleased because something has happened that has lifted your spirits or given you a shot of self-confidence, like doing well at something or getting a compliment from someone you respect. Have we got it right, Brits? Exactly right. Chuffed means really really pleased about something, or 'over the moon' about something (do you have that expression?) Actually I don't think the young uns use this expression any more. While I am here, I think I have finally found out what lifesaver (sweets) are after not having a clue for years - correct me if I am wrong but are they mints with a hole in the middle like our polo mints?
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Post by susanb on Sept 14, 2012 20:17:23 GMT 1
Yes, Lifesavers are a brand of candy (sweets)...they're hard candy with a hole in the middle and come in a wide variety of flavors (they discontinued butter-mint, which was my favorite....wah!)
Over the moon is an expression that was used by, err, probably my grandparents!
Actually, that's another thing....the case of the same expression/word existing at one time in American/English, but has becoming archaic in one but not the other: an example would be "rug". You refer to what we call a horse blanket as a rug, but in my grandmothers day they would call a small blanket/throw a "lap rug"......so "rug" and "blanket" were synonymous in the US at one time, but they're not now.
Today a "rug" is synonymous with "carpet" (but is also slang for toupee)
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Post by susanb on Sept 14, 2012 20:25:50 GMT 1
Oddly enough I just finished a book by Lauren Child called Look Into My Eyes, the first in her Ruby Redfort series. She's a British author who is best known for her Clarice Bean series, in which the titular character's favorite fictional character is Ruby Redfort....a character that didn't exist except in Child's head until now!
Anyway, the book is set in America, and the characters are all supposed to be American and Child (who says she was a big fan of American and Canadian fiction as a child) did a pretty good job of getting American English right, but a few errors popped out at me, proving that no matter how much you read of the prose from another country, it's probably a good idea to give your manuscript to a native before you go to print:
The game "sardines"....no such thing here. People would look at you like you'd lost your mind if you suggested a game of sardines. Really.
Someone kicks a person "quite" hard. The word "quite" isn't used in that way here....it would be "really" hard or "very" hard, but never "quite".
There was a third bit too.......hmm....just need to remember what it was!
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Post by Claire on Sept 14, 2012 22:24:25 GMT 1
It really is fascinating how many differences there are (well I find it fascinating anyhow!) I never realised 'quite' wasn't used in USA. We use rug as a slang for wig too A probably quite well known difference is the expression p*ssed which Americans use for annoyed. We Brits would use p*ssed off as p*ssed on its own means drunk to us. One that always makes me laugh (but then I am childish) is the American use of the word 'fanny' for bottom/bum when it means something completely different here!!! Do Americans ever use the terms miffed or narked (as the opposite to chuffed)?
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Post by rallycairn on Sept 15, 2012 0:38:46 GMT 1
Ok, we would say in prison or in jail with no article, also. And we have both -- jail is generally for a local city's or county's use when someone is first arrested and awaiting court appearance(s), or often when serving a sentence of less than one year. If you're sentenced, you go to prison.
Speaking of the legal system, what about slang for the police? Going back to the 1970's in America, slang terms for the police/a policeman include the fuzz or fuzz, pigs, narcs for narcotics officers. K.M. Peyton from that same decade -- would it be "coppers," for instance? You might hear "copper" here but not often.
Objectifying women -- I've never heard "birds" here like it would be used across the pond. "Chicks" maybe would be a rough equivalent in the U.S.
"Snogging" for kissing (is that right?) -- not used here. Shagging for sex -- I haven't heard it or read it here.
Claire, we definitely use "miffed" to me annoyed in general or ticked off at someone. (oops, do you use "ticked off" to mean annoyed with someone? lol)
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2012 6:54:50 GMT 1
I think pants mean trousers in America?
Pants here means underpants, or something that is awful as in "that is pants!"
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2012 6:57:27 GMT 1
Monica Dickens called two of her horses in the FF series Fanny and Willie
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Post by susanb on Sept 15, 2012 11:07:20 GMT 1
rosie...yes, pants mean trousers here! Knickers, which in the UK also means pants, is somewhat archaic here....it referred to a style of trousers often worn by young boys....baggy breeches that fell a bit below the knee, usually worn with tall socks. Found out a facinating connection when I googled to find a pic of knickers (knickerbockers) to illustrate....the British knickers and American knickers had a common origin! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knickerbockers_(clothing)Make sure you read all the way to the bottom to see the UK connection, via the illustrator of the British edition of Washington Irving's History of New York.
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Post by Claire on Sept 15, 2012 12:20:08 GMT 1
Can't believe we are having a discussion about knickers on a pony book forum ;D Fascinating article susan. Fancy someone being called Mr. Knickerbocker! And the stuff about Dickens' illustrator is an eye opener too.
What about horsy terms that differ between our nations?
Rugs we have already mentioned. Pony books - USA horse books Headcollar - Halter in USA altho it used to be called a halter here and occaisionally is still. Skewbald/Piebald - Pinto Looseboxes/boxes - believe they are stalls in the USA? All weather track (racing) - dirt in USA
Americans also say horse farm for stud, a term we would never use.
Do you call jods, jods susan/rallycairn or breeches?
Theres probably loads more.
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Post by susanb on Sept 15, 2012 15:04:30 GMT 1
On this forum? Ha! I remember a rather lurid discussion revolving around one of Lorna Hill's more unfortunate book titles ;D ;D Re boxes....we might use stall to mean either a loose box or a straight stall (the kind where a pony is led in and tied to manger), but then again we also use loose box or straight stall SPECIFICALLY, to indicate one or the other...(a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds*.....that's my story anyway, and I'm sticking to it ) Re jodpurs/breeches....we use both....jodpurs when worn with paddock boots/breeches when worn with tall boots Re paint/pinto....only out West, here in the East it's skewbald or piebald! *Ralph Waldo Emerson...I steal only from the best
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2012 17:22:23 GMT 1
Thanks for the link Susan ;D
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Post by rallycairn on Sept 16, 2012 2:17:56 GMT 1
Well, I used to be amused by references to stable rubbers, since "rubber" was once a common euphemism for condom in the U.S., although my own generation and subsequent ones now tend to just go ahead and say "condom."
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Post by darkhorse on Sept 16, 2012 10:45:27 GMT 1
We also call erasers rubbers
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Post by rallycairn on Sept 17, 2012 4:39:43 GMT 1
^Oh, lord, the possibilities for schoolboy crude jokes seem endless with that one!
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Post by sarah on Sept 17, 2012 11:06:40 GMT 1
Good thread - just come back from Boston/Cape Cod and noticed lots of little things:
Restroom - toilets/bathroom Elevator - lift Sidewalk - pavement Rotary - roundabout
Too tired to think of any more at moment (and need to get back to work by lunchtime)
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Post by Claire on Sept 17, 2012 11:46:09 GMT 1
Did you have a good trip sarah?
There's also yard which is used for garden in America. We do use yard but only if its a concreted area. Talking of yard, I think its also used in the USA more than here in horsy jargon, we would more likely just say I'm going to the stables rather than I'm going to the yard.
I was gonna ask if Americans use the word 'nutter' but obviously do as I just read it in a US book!
A question while I'm here - what the heck is a duck boat? Its some sort of tourist vehicle but thats as far as I can work out.
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Post by susanb on Sept 17, 2012 16:10:02 GMT 1
A duck boat is an amphibious vehicle....they were originally used for landing troops on beaches in WWII, and some of them (once decommissioned.....er...demobbed to you?) were bought by people running tours....they drive through the streets of a city, then launch into a river or bay area to do a boat tour. Here's a link to the Boston duck tours: www.bostonducktours.com/and a wiki article with photo of them in their original state: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DUKW
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Post by susanb on Sept 17, 2012 16:26:55 GMT 1
....and further to the rubber issue....you'd never want to say in the US "he went round and knocked up Sally", as in the UK that would mean "went to call on Sally", but in the US it means he went and got Sally pregnant! ;D
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Post by tintin on Sept 17, 2012 16:49:33 GMT 1
When American horses "whicker" would a British horse "whinny" or is whickering that blowing noise horses make with their lips which annoyingly does n't have its own word?
Names for the Police - Liverpool its "the busies" because they are, well, very busy rushing around lifting people.
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Post by sarah on Sept 17, 2012 18:21:13 GMT 1
Trip was amazing thanks :-) Photos to follow
Just read thread properly and the rubber/eraser thing reminded me of when I worked abroad in an international school. I sent one of the kids in to ask a colleague for some rubbers (to rub out some scribbles with) and she was American - she came rushing into the room to find out why we needed 'rubbers' (Condoms) in a reception class!!!!!!
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Post by Claire on Sept 17, 2012 18:32:30 GMT 1
Learning lots on this thread! Susan - actually we do use the expression 'knocked up' to get someone pregnant here too, but its also used like you said to call on someone. Whicker - is that American? I'm sure I've read it in lots of British pony books. As with 'nicker' (oh gawd back to knickers again!) I always thought it meant that blowy noise thing tintin. Police are also called 'bizzies' in the NE of England. Something I have always wondered about - why are American trainers (as in shoes) called sneakers?
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Post by susanb on Sept 17, 2012 19:40:19 GMT 1
because you can sneak up on people in them ;D ;D ;D
re whicker....kind of vocal...you know the "chatty" noises horses make when they're "talking" to each other?
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Post by susanb on Sept 17, 2012 19:42:41 GMT 1
Sarah...glad you had a good time....think you lucked into the best weather we've had in a year or more!
btw, the rotary (roundabout) is almost unknown outside of the East Coast, and I think they're only called a rotary in the Northeast....in Washington, DC they're a traffic circle, and the major ones there sometimes have names (Dupont Circle, Logan Circle, etc)
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Post by rallycairn on Sept 17, 2012 22:50:23 GMT 1
I haven't seen/heard "yard" used much for horses here, actually. Guess it's not used much anywhere then!
Sneakers I think is not used much anymore, but maybe it is, just not in areas where I've lived. I think that's a bit of an outdated term though I'm sure you could still hear it occasionally. I grew up calling any athletic pair of shoes "tennis shoes" whether I was going to play tennis or not, and I still call them that. I think athletic shoe or running shoe might be used here, but definitely not "trainers" as you've realized.
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Post by susanb on Sept 17, 2012 23:59:27 GMT 1
They're always called sneakers in Massachusetts! Uh-oh....poor Claire...I think you may have opened the "regional" can of worms now......in the US there definitely are terms that are specific to a region, which would be as alien in a different region as they are in a different country! A water drinking fountain, for instance, is a bubbler in Massachusetts but I don't think it is anywhere else. Ha! I just googled the above, and I'm not entirely right there....bubbler is used in Massachusetts and neighboring Rhode Island, but also in the state in which it was invented: Wisconsin. This thread really is proving an education, in a weird, Trivial Pursuit kind of way en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubblerbtw, l've never heard yard used for stables either....always stables. Maybe they're stables generally on the East Coast, since Rallycairn is in Virginia?
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Post by tintin on Sept 18, 2012 9:54:58 GMT 1
Funnily enough I was advised last night about things that were incomprehensible to Americans. Chief among them were "snog", "cossie" and "scrunchie".
The first two are reasonably easy to avoid, but scrunchie I'm allowed as long as I give some context, which is just as well as "material covered elasticated band used to secure a lady's pony tail" tends to break up the narrative flow a bit
Thanks for the explanation of "whicker" - a useful word
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Post by susanb on Sept 18, 2012 11:02:55 GMT 1
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Post by tintin on Sept 18, 2012 12:28:50 GMT 1
"Cossie" = costume = swimming costume
Scrunchies - excellent! I know have something to contradict someone with (a correspondent in NJ to fuel US Regional rivalries - not someone on here)
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Post by Claire on Sept 18, 2012 12:59:10 GMT 1
Well I didnt know scrunchies was used in America either. Maybe it actually came from there. Incidentally the forerunner of the scrunchie was known as 'bobbles' as it was just the plain elastic with a couple of plastic coloured bobbly things on the end. I used to wear 'em as a kid. May even have a pic somewhere! More recently, the bobbly bits mainly disappeared so it was just a sort of covered elastic then the scrunchie came on the scene, altho there are still some of the old style bobbles around for younger kids. Ah a potted history of the British scrunchie - something I bet no-one thought they were going to be subjected to today! As an afterthought - scrunchies are seen here as a kind of symbol of the female chav (for chav see earlier in discussion!) is that the same in the US? Hmm...yard - have read that in lots of American horse stories but mainly modern ones it must be said. I've never actually been to America tho so all my experience of it comes from books or TV! Cossie - I thought was a northern word, do southerners use it? Yep the regional can of worms is opening over here too susan!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2012 13:48:15 GMT 1
Yep!
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