Word Play

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*** BANNED *** Joined: 30 Dec 2007 Posts: 164

Hi we know the lads ruin the English Language
But what words confuse English speaking baiters
eg flash light torch
going for a fag
kiwis say sex for six
this is not critisism but a general comment Smile

Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 7:55 pm

I'm not confused by any words used by other English speakers.

I'm aware that Americans use words that can mean something else in England. But I understand the different connotations of words like flash light, trunk, sidewalk, fanny etc.
I know that New Zealanders tend to strangulate the vowels compared to British English, but I still understand them perfectly well.

Do you get confused by these things yourself?

Not quite a Newb Joined: 21 Oct 2006 Posts: 35

Sometimes the lads do write confusing stuff Wink

I think that was his point?

Not quite a Newb Joined: 23 Dec 2007 Posts: 76

They sure as hell get confused. My lad changed "horrific" into "hurricane". It gave me a good laugh though, but didnt lead to where I wanted it to.

Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 11:58 pm

The book Notes From A Small Island has a funny paragraph about how the author, during his first time in England, couldn't figure out what a "counterpane" was. He thought it had something to do with window panes.
British English has a lot of cool expressions, but in this case I think the American "bedspread" is the better of the two.

*** BANNED *** Joined: 30 Dec 2007 Posts: 164

Why are you so angry MUGATU
If you had taken the time to read my thread it was a debate on
the way English is spoken and read

Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2008 12:25 am

Back on topic please everybody.

Elite Baiter Joined: 02 Jul 2006 Posts: 1702

I think its a whole deal on phonetics, lads write how they speak, remember lads are from every corner of the globe, some of what they write is perfect english, some is localised to there own accent on wording - hence why its so bad.
Add to that there desire to sound "professional" the desire to decieve, and it explains why they write as they do.

Look at ourselves, each of us has posted quite a lot, i cannot hold my hand on my heart and say every post i made has not had at least 10 errors and im from ireland/england. And if i make mistakes we cannot blame lads either but i too admit they do make some hilarious ones.

Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2008 1:07 am

kleindoofy wrote:

Back on topic please everybody.

Which is what, exactly?

I'm not trying to be snide; I'm serious.

Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2008 1:10 am

ChainYanker wrote:

Which is what, exactly? ...

Good question. Laughing

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

Soda vs. Pop (US) always confuses me... What is the topic exactly?

Not quite a Newb Joined: 14 Jul 2005 Posts: 41

Soda vs Pop makes sense to me. What I don't get is that one region in the US that calls everything a 'Coke'.

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

^^^That area being called "Atlanta"?

Edit: http://popvssoda.com:2998/

Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2008 1:31 am

^^^^

Not necessarily. We did that in Boston too:

Waitress: "Wadaya wanna have ta drink?"
Patron: "A coke please."
Waitress: "What kind?"
Patron: "Root Beer."

Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2008 1:36 am

Last night my family was having a discussion about warts (long story) and the following question came up: does "verruca" mean wart in British? And if so, does it refer to all warts, or one specific kind?

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

^^What I find interesting about that map is that it is a microcosm of the Civil War. Green/Blue vs. Red.

I also wonder what "other" is... I have heard it called "soda water" in places, but they fail to define "other".

Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2008 1:39 am

**sigh**

Quote:

View the Pop vs. Soda statistics.
(Click here to find out what people are saying for "other".)

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

Edit: www. 4 chan. org is big in California. Laughing

Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2008 1:50 am

ChainYanker wrote:

. . . does "verruca" mean wart in British? . . .

And just what is British?
It certainly isn't a language.
'British' is something belonging to, or pertaining to, the people of Great Britain.

Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2008 1:56 am

^^^^ as in a strange perverted dialect of the English lanuage. Wink

Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2008 2:06 am

Breddan Butter wrote:

And just what is British?

The opposite of "Americanish", of course.

As in, "I used to speak British, but when I moved to New York I learned to speak Americanish".

Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2008 4:51 am

The word variation that gets me is in American we call a certain root vegetable "rutabaga". In some parts of the world they call it a "swede". I laugh everytime my Kiwi friends tell me they planted swedes today. I always get thoughts of tall blonde men being planted in the ground. Laughing

Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2008 5:14 am

And a Hamburger has nothing to do with people from Hamburg...

As for calling everything Coke: I'm not a big fan of veggies, so when my wife cooks veggies and asks me for the name because she doesn't remember it I only say "veggies". There's only few different kinds of veggies for me: Veggies (which basically are all the acceptable stuff), mushrooms (which I stay away from, since they kill trees), brains (these green things that look like little brains...) and chilis (which are my favorite vegetable).

Also I, and my friends, used to use Coke for all those kinds of drinks, like Pepsi. Everybody knows it's not Coke, but if there's a bottle of Pepsi on the table and you ask somebody to hand you the Coke you'll get that bottle (except when you ask me, I'll tell you there's no Coke..., but that's just for fun)

Language is a funny thing. You can really play a lot with it, even without breaking it's rules. And often enough little differences on how you pronounce the word will make a big difference in meaning. Just say "beach" a bit shorter and you get "bitch"...
If I tell my wife I go to the beach to have some fun everything's fine. But if I tell her I go to the bitch to have some fun I'm in big trouble...

Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2008 4:50 pm

@ChainYanker - a verruca is usually the name given to a wart found on the foot linky

they're usually delivered by gnomes Wink

Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2008 5:05 pm

^^^

My brother said the same thing.
We're both really into Terry Pratchett.