Wherein we ask each other dialect questions we don't quite understand

[Bullgrit]

In US movies I often hear an event called "Homecoming" referred to in relation to schools. What is it, and where are they coming home from?

Going back to the first question in this thread:

I never really understood what homecoming was, myself, and I've lived here all my life. Heck, I was even in the homecoming court my senior year of high school -- invited to escort one of the girls in the court. (I had to wear a suit and walk out on the football field with my girl and the others in front of a couple hundred people.) I always just assumed it was the first home football game of the season. I knew it was a thing, and I heard the term/time announced for various high schools and colleges, but I never gave it two thoughts before or after that one escort.

Like Morrus with cricket, it's funny how something can be a big part of one's culture, but that doesn't mean you actually pay it any attention.

Bullgrit

 

[Janx]

I dare you to hit a 150mph ball with your hands!

they shrunk the volley ball so you could hit it with a racket more easily. That changed the speed and dynamic of the game.

hockey was the same way. Sven and Ole were playing basketball on the lake (flattest level place), and saw it was too cold, so they wore gloves. They saw that got in the way of dribbling, so they just used sticks. Then they saw the ball action was too wonky, so they sawed off a chunk of frozen sewage from Sven's clogged drain and made the first puck. Ever hear of horse puckey? they found frozen horse manure worked better for pucks until modern materials came along.

 

[Tonguez]

they shrunk the volley ball so you could hit it with a racket more easily. That changed the speed and dynamic of the game.

hockey was the same way. Sven and Ole were playing basketball on the lake (flattest level place), and saw it was too cold, so they wore gloves. They saw that got in the way of dribbling, so they just used sticks. Then they saw the ball action was too wonky, so they sawed off a chunk of frozen sewage from Sven's clogged drain and made the first puck. Ever hear of horse puckey? they found frozen horse manure worked better for pucks until modern materials came along.

ironically you just highlighted another difference. Where I come from Hockey is played on grass with J-shaped sticks and a small hard ball.

The only game properly played on ice is Curling

 

[Dog Moon]

Me neither! Never did. To be fair, I haven't the slightest inkling how American Football works, either (that one's not a request for information!)

This is American Football:

[video=youtube;ygWFISePdjo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygWFISePdjo[/video]

 

[tuxgeo]

Re: who is Welsh:

The two most famous examples, I suppose, would be Anthony Hopkins and Tom Jones. Although the former doesn't always use it.

Oh, and Christian Bale. Who is Welsh, but when talking in a British accent oddly seems to have developed a Cockney accent instead.

Is Charlotte Church still Welsh?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

That football was underinflated by at least 1psi.

 

[billd91]

(I hear the phrase "Don't get your knickers in a twist" in the US, but that saying makes more sense in the British interpretation of knickers than in the US one, where knickers are knee-length short pants, cf: knickerbockers.)

A more common American expression of the exact same sentiment is "don't get your undies in a bundle". It's pretty much a direct parallel to "knickers in a twist".

 

[billd91]

When I hear Shag or Shagging, I think of something dirty and it makes me want to giggle when I see something like "Shag contest Saturday night.

I didn't even know there WERE other definitions to the word shag...


Edit: I'm from Minnesota

One of our football coaches in high school (he was the primary math teacher and a tremendous geek yet somehow the star QB back when he was in high school) would tell the players being coached as defensive backs to "go out and shag a few passes". So shag also means "to catch".

 

[Deset Gled]

I never really understood what homecoming was, myself, and I've lived here all my life.

I think that in modern times the etymology of "Homecoming" and the original logic behind it are largely immaterial to the cultural aspect. The real point of Homecoming is that its the Big Social Event that takes place at the beginning of the school year. It's characterized by a Big Dance and a Big Game.

The opposite side of Homecoming is Prom, which is the Big Social Event that takes place at the end of the school year. Prom just has a Big Dance (no Big Game) but stereotypically also involves a Big Bang. Other potential Big Social Events are a Sadie Hawkins Dance (called Turnabout at my high school) where girls are expected to ask guys out, and some sort of a winter dance.



One of the big things I never understood about the Queens English is why people use so much rhyming slang. For example, I've heard (on these boards) someone use the term "telling porkies" to mean "telling lies". Lies rhymes with pork pies which becomes porky pies which becomes porkies. But "porkies" is longer and less efficient than "lies" and just MAKES NO SENSE. I mean, thousands of words rhyme with "lies". Why not "telling flys" or "telling guys" or anything else? And there's a lot of completely random rhyming slang. How are people who aren't personally familiar with what arbitrary rhyme was chosen supposed to make the connection? Are you lot just intentionally making your language hard for foreigners or something?

 

[Morrus]

I think that in modern times the etymology of "Homecoming" and the original logic behind it are largely immaterial to the cultural aspect. The real point of Homecoming is that its the Big Social Event that takes place at the beginning of the school year. It's characterized by a Big Dance and a Big Game.

The opposite side of Homecoming is Prom, which is the Big Social Event that takes place at the end of the school year. Prom just has a Big Dance (no Big Game) but stereotypically also involves a Big Bang. Other potential Big Social Events are a Sadie Hawkins Dance (called Turnabout at my high school) where girls are expected to ask guys out, and some sort of a winter dance.



One of the big things I never understood about the Queens English is why people use so much rhyming slang. For example, I've heard (on these boards) someone use the term "telling porkies" to mean "telling lies". Lies rhymes with pork pies which becomes porky pies which becomes porkies. But "porkies" is longer and less efficient than "lies" and just MAKES NO SENSE. I mean, thousands of words rhyme with "lies". Why not "telling flys" or "telling guys" or anything else? And there's a lot of completely random rhyming slang. How are people who aren't personally familiar with what arbitrary rhyme was chosen supposed to make the connection? Are you lot just intentionally making your language hard for foreigners or something?

If you're expecting language to be logical and efficient, you're in for a disappointment. It's not designed - it just evolves.

But yes, Cockney Rhyming Slang was originally supposed to be hard to understand. So much of it is in regular British usage nowadays now that we use it all the time without even noticing. Telling porkies, taking a butchers, using your loaf - all just integrated into normal colloquial speech now.

Think of it originally being Thieves Cant.