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Uzumaki
First Post
I got a friend of mine a huge Brit English to American English dictionary a few years back. I've never seen a man love a present so much.
Anyway, all I really know that hasn't been said a band-aid is a plaster in the UK, and a flashlight is a torch.
Once I went to France, on one of the first non-stop flights from San Diego to London. Of course, I was on British Airways, and all of the stewards, etc. were British. I wondered in my journal, and to this day, that if I had asked for a biscuit, would they have given me a cookie? Or would they have figured I meant an American biscuit, and given me a... um, what is the British word for 'biscuit?'
http://photos2.flickr.com/1391594_15a763a08e.jpg
I guess what I'm trying to ask is how well does the average Briton know these cross-cultural euphemisms/glosses.
Anyway, all I really know that hasn't been said a band-aid is a plaster in the UK, and a flashlight is a torch.
Once I went to France, on one of the first non-stop flights from San Diego to London. Of course, I was on British Airways, and all of the stewards, etc. were British. I wondered in my journal, and to this day, that if I had asked for a biscuit, would they have given me a cookie? Or would they have figured I meant an American biscuit, and given me a... um, what is the British word for 'biscuit?'
http://photos2.flickr.com/1391594_15a763a08e.jpg
I guess what I'm trying to ask is how well does the average Briton know these cross-cultural euphemisms/glosses.
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mhacdebhandia
Explorer
Oh, sandwiches. My girlfriend is American, I am Australian.
According to me, the canonical definition of a sandwich is "two slices of bread with some kind of filling". For instance, I have a chicken and lettuce sandwich at work - it's chopped-up chicken breast and shredded lettuce between two slices of white bread.
Anything other than this has a different name. You could put the same chicken and lettuce in a roll but now it is a chicken and lettuce roll. If you put a grilled piece of chicken inside a burger bun this is now a chicken burger.
According to her, the canonical definition of a sandwich is "anything involving bread or breadlike products, condiments, meat, and filling of any kind".
To her, only a piece of beef inside a burger bun is a burger.
Seems to me that Australians focus on the breadlike part and Americans on the filling.
According to me, the canonical definition of a sandwich is "two slices of bread with some kind of filling". For instance, I have a chicken and lettuce sandwich at work - it's chopped-up chicken breast and shredded lettuce between two slices of white bread.
Anything other than this has a different name. You could put the same chicken and lettuce in a roll but now it is a chicken and lettuce roll. If you put a grilled piece of chicken inside a burger bun this is now a chicken burger.
According to her, the canonical definition of a sandwich is "anything involving bread or breadlike products, condiments, meat, and filling of any kind".
To her, only a piece of beef inside a burger bun is a burger.
Seems to me that Australians focus on the breadlike part and Americans on the filling.
mhacdebhandia
Explorer
The closest thing I can think of to an American biscuit is a scone, but my girlfriend tells me they're slightly different.Uzumaki said:
I imagine that they'd either ask - "Do you mean a cookie or a scone?" - or default to the British meaning, especially since you were on a plane and I think biscuits are more likely to be available than a scone.
MrFilthyIke
First Post
Off topic a bit...
When I wife landed at the airport for her first trip to the U.S. from Australia, she asked me to put the suitcase "in the boot" and then got into the car. I walked up to the driver's side door, looked in, and asked her if she was driving, or was I. She then realized there was a steering wheel in front of her.
When I wife landed at the airport for her first trip to the U.S. from Australia, she asked me to put the suitcase "in the boot" and then got into the car. I walked up to the driver's side door, looked in, and asked her if she was driving, or was I. She then realized there was a steering wheel in front of her.
glass
(he, him)
mhacdebhandia said:
Round my way, 'burger' on its own means beef, whereas other types are always specified (lamb burger, chicken burger).
While we are on the subject, in Coventry the round bread thing you put a burger in is called a 'batch'. In Nottinghamshire it's called a 'cob'. In some other place (I can't remember exactly where), its called a 'barmcake'. Don't know why that word has so much variation.
glass.
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Jonny Nexus
First Post
sniffles said:
Maybe in a pizza restaurant, perhaps. But if you've just ordered takeout pizza over the phone and a guy on a moped delivers it in a cardboard box... well people would think you were mad if you did anything but eat it with your hands.
jasper
Rotten DM
gas = gas or propane if that gas is used. Also nice for fart, vapours, cutting the cheese.
fizzy drink = pop, soda, soda pop, coke, as in Pepsi, Coca Cola, Dr Pepper, Mt Dew.
?? = cupboard , where we place our dishes and glasses generally
motorway = freeway, interstate, highway, parkway.
stag night / stag weekend = batchelor party.
??? = stag night , night on the town guys only usually going to nude dancing bar.
??? = hen night , night on the town girls only
??? = bonk generally hit over the head. As in the female star bonk Dr Who over the head with an ashtray.
??= American biscuit. Non sweet bread roll severed in the morning.
??= corn = maize aka corn on
fizzy drink = pop, soda, soda pop, coke, as in Pepsi, Coca Cola, Dr Pepper, Mt Dew.
?? = cupboard , where we place our dishes and glasses generally
motorway = freeway, interstate, highway, parkway.
stag night / stag weekend = batchelor party.
??? = stag night , night on the town guys only usually going to nude dancing bar.
??? = hen night , night on the town girls only
??? = bonk generally hit over the head. As in the female star bonk Dr Who over the head with an ashtray.
??= American biscuit. Non sweet bread roll severed in the morning.
??= corn = maize aka corn on
Snapdragyn
Explorer
Cracker = a thing you open at Christmas that makes a loud noise and has a prize inside.
??? = cracker: thin, usually salted, crispy baked good served with soup or h'or d'oevres.
(btw, we simply don't have the Brit kind here)
Father Chrismas = Santa Claus (ok nothing new in that one I'm sure)
Some fun with nature (could do a ton on birds, but they're too esoteric for a non-birding crowd):
moose = elk (the Red Deer of Eurasia & the Wapiti of North America; Cervus elaphus; a deer that looks like a regular deer)
elk = moose (the big deer with the huge schnoz & flattened antlers; Alces alces)
This one may be an Australianism more than a Britism, but:
rubber = the thing on the end of a pencil used to erase a mistake
rubbers = galoshes, rubberized footwear worn to keep the feet dry during rain
condom = rubber (slang, we use 'condom' as well)
condoms = rubbers (see above)
In the U.S. we also have a tendency to adopt the most common brand of a product as the name used for all of the product, such as:
gelatin = jello
tissue = kleenex
copy = xerox (in the 70's & maybe 80's, at least; this usage has all but vanished)
We can also be less specific, as in referring to raisins & sultanas both as raisins (& hence 'Raisin Bran' rather than 'Sultana Bran'), or more specific, as when distinguishing between fruitless jams (jellies) or jams with fruit (jams).
There are also a few Brit words which derived from words imported from other parts of the Empire, such as :
karzi = toilet
Unfortunately, I can't think of any others atm.
??? = cracker: thin, usually salted, crispy baked good served with soup or h'or d'oevres.
(btw, we simply don't have the Brit kind here)
Father Chrismas = Santa Claus (ok nothing new in that one I'm sure)
Some fun with nature (could do a ton on birds, but they're too esoteric for a non-birding crowd):
moose = elk (the Red Deer of Eurasia & the Wapiti of North America; Cervus elaphus; a deer that looks like a regular deer)
elk = moose (the big deer with the huge schnoz & flattened antlers; Alces alces)
This one may be an Australianism more than a Britism, but:
rubber = the thing on the end of a pencil used to erase a mistake
rubbers = galoshes, rubberized footwear worn to keep the feet dry during rain
condom = rubber (slang, we use 'condom' as well)
condoms = rubbers (see above)
In the U.S. we also have a tendency to adopt the most common brand of a product as the name used for all of the product, such as:
gelatin = jello
tissue = kleenex
copy = xerox (in the 70's & maybe 80's, at least; this usage has all but vanished)
We can also be less specific, as in referring to raisins & sultanas both as raisins (& hence 'Raisin Bran' rather than 'Sultana Bran'), or more specific, as when distinguishing between fruitless jams (jellies) or jams with fruit (jams).
There are also a few Brit words which derived from words imported from other parts of the Empire, such as :
karzi = toilet
Unfortunately, I can't think of any others atm.
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British
Yank - an American.
American
Yank (Damn Yank/Dirty Yank)- a horribly uncultured person having the poor taste to live North of Maryland and East of the Mississip, whose odiferous presence and boorish humor can spell the end to any respectable social function.
You can see how confusion on this one could lead to confrontations.
----
This is an approximation:
First Base: Kissed without tongue / hands behaved themselves.
Second Base: Kissed with tongue / felt each other up while doing so.
Third Base: Going down on, or them going down on you.
Home Run: the Dirty Deed.
Actually, only three conditions are at all important:
"Struck out". Means you're going home with your hand for company.
"Made it on base". Means you fooled around, but didn't go all the way.
"Scored". You drove it home. Though the word "score" can be relaxed to include activities outside of sex.
Yank - an American.
American
Yank (Damn Yank/Dirty Yank)- a horribly uncultured person having the poor taste to live North of Maryland and East of the Mississip, whose odiferous presence and boorish humor can spell the end to any respectable social function.
You can see how confusion on this one could lead to confrontations.
----
glass said:
This is an approximation:
First Base: Kissed without tongue / hands behaved themselves.
Second Base: Kissed with tongue / felt each other up while doing so.
Third Base: Going down on, or them going down on you.
Home Run: the Dirty Deed.
Actually, only three conditions are at all important:
"Struck out". Means you're going home with your hand for company.
"Made it on base". Means you fooled around, but didn't go all the way.
"Scored". You drove it home. Though the word "score" can be relaxed to include activities outside of sex.
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