Anglo/American language...differences!

by Pams girl 42 Replies latest jw friends

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  ballistic

  3mozzies, while you can use foot path, foot path normally means a path on it's own, through a field or woodland. A paved path by the side of the road is normally pavement.

  So, I pulled out of the gas station in my station wagon and stopped at the sidewalk to open the trunk =

  I pulled out of the petrol station in my estate car and stopped by pavement to open the boot.

  I spilt my soda and wet my pants in USA = I spilt my fizzy drink on my trousers

  I spilt my soda and wet my pants in the UK = I spilt my fizzy WATER and pissed myself.
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  jgnat

  fizzy drink - pop in Canada

  fizzy drink - soda in US

  By the way, the warm floppy hat is a Toque, not what you spelled it.

  An expat British physician moved out to the Canadian West here and got a strange look from her patient when she told him to "Keep your pecker up."

  brilliant - great idea in Britain

  brilliant - needs sunglasses here in North America

  I love Simon's twits and twats.

  Canadian Brown Bread is American Wheat Bread - found that out the hard way in American restaurants.

  It's Zed, not Zee.
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  Ding

  I think Churchill called the UK and the US "two countries separated by a common language."

  I have an entire book on my shelf called "British Self-Taught with Comments in American":

  Cookies = biscuits

  French fries = chips

  Soccer = football

  Football = sort of like rugby

  Divided highway = dual carriageway

  Line or line up = Queue

  Baby carriage = pram

  Trial lawyer = Barrister

  Office lawyer = Solicitor

  USA Bob = Man's name

  UK Bob = Coin

  Cop = Bobby

  Parking lot = Car park

  Icicle = Ice lolly

  Eraser = Rubber

  USA Ham sandwich = UK hamburger

  USA hamburger = UK beefburger

  And on and on
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  llbh

  Toilet - English

  Rest room American

  I remember being at JFK at thinking how thoughtful folks in the US were providing rest rooms all over the place!!

  David
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  jgnat

  Here in Canada we have some interesting mix with our Quebecois.

  I think pomme-de-terre (earth apple) sounds so much better than potato. And look what Quebeckers did with it! Now we have a cholesterol-busting national dish, poutine!

  The French work much harder at keeping their language pure. English are language whores, ready to pick up anywhere, anywhen. Even so, they couldn't come up with a better replacement for le hot-dog. Sounds exotic when laid on with a French accent.
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  Bungi Bill

  Further to your Greek cousin, Nico;

  - in Australia, he would likely be nicknamed "Nick-off"

  i.e. to remove oneself from the scene.

  On the other side of the Tasman Sea - at least on the West Coast of the South Island - a tree fern is usually referred to as a "bungi" (being a corruption of its the Maori word, "ponga").

  Bill
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  Broken Promises

  "You're nicked" = you've been caught and going to jail

  "You've nicked" = you've stolen
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  kurtbethel

  As an honorary adopted South African, I will share some of that English.

  Biltong - a dried meat like beef jerky, could be made of ostrich or other meat though

  biscuit - a cookie

  boerewors - a sausage, like a bratwurst.

  braai - bbq, a good place to enjoy those boerewors and other goodeis like pork rashers

  bunny chow - not green rabbit food, no! it is curry served in a hollowed-out half-loaf of bread

  eish - Used to express surprise, wonder, frustration or outrage: "Eish! That cut was eina!"

  howzit - A traditional South African greeting that translates roughly as "How are you?", "How are things?" or simply "Hello".

  just now - If a South African tells you they will do something "just now", they mean they'll do it in the near future - not immediately: "I'll do the dishes just now." I had a lot of fun with this concept

  lekker - Nice, good, great, cool or tasty.

  now-now - Shortly, in a bit: "I'll be there now-now." See also "just now"

  pavement - South Africans walk on pavements and drive cars on the road (at least that's the idea). The pavement is the sidewalk.

  robot - not R2D2. a traffic light.

  sarmie - Sandwich.

  takkies - Running shoes or sneakers.

  ubuntu - Southern African humanist philosophy that holds as its central tenet that a person is a person through other persons.

  yebo - yes, as in agreement

  With gratitude to LouBelle for her patiently teaching me this dialect.
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  TD

  One thing I've noticed though is that American English is not always homogenous.

  Depending on where you live in the U.S., a fizzy drink can be called, "Soda," "Pop," or even "Tonic" in parts of New England. (They pronounce it "Tawnic")

  "Dinner" can be the afternoon meal or the evening meal depending on where you live.

  A beef frank served in a bun is called "Hot dog" in most of the U.S. but there's pockets where it's a "Tube steak," or "Coney dog"

  I'm sure you've probably got the same thing going on in the U.K., Canada, South Africa, and Australia
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  XxAmeliaXx

  A cell phone in America is called a mobile phone over here in UK.