English vs English

By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics and access other forums reserved for members. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today by clicking here.

Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 6:59 pm

I won't mention the word here because in the US it's considered a slur, but a friend and I picked up his UK buddy from the airport. The UK fellow was a smoker and said in a loud voice as he exited customs: I'M DYING FOR A *insert UK slang for cigarette*'. Shocked

They had to explain it to me.

Master of Master Baiters Joined: 21 Nov 2008 Posts: 619

The UK/USA pudding thing is confusing. In all my years in the USA, pudding only refers to one thing and that is a thick sweet creamy dessert very much the consistency of yogurt. For dessert it is eaten straight or also might get poured into a pie crust and eaten that way.

Best made from scratch of course but it is most often made by just buying a packaged dry mix (main flavors are chocolate, vanilla, butterscotch, there may be others). Dissolve the mix in milk, boil a while and cool. It's not bad (to me anyway). They also make an instant pudding mix that doesn't need boiling, but in my opinion that stuff tastes horrible.

I think custard is very similar to pudding but I think it has more on eggs in the recipe and is firmer than pudding.

Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 8:11 pm

^^ Very close. Custard has eggs in it, and is baked in a bain-marie (water bath), and pudding is cream-based, and is simply mixed and cooled. Custard rarely has any particular flavor, and is best when it has a crust of burnt sugar on top. (Oh, my, there goes my blood sugar.)

Puddings come in several flavors, including pistachio, which is not bad, but I like chocolate best.

Rice pudding is made with milk, raisins, cinnamon, and leftover rice. Instant rice is not recommended for this. (Actually, instant rice is an abomination.) And I'm not sure brown rice would work well, as the starches need to be freed to thicken the pudding.

Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 8:13 pm

strange, this came up on the forum of a game i play, the whole football soccer bit, In UK, Football is a game where pepole run around kicking a ball, in US, its a game where people run around carrying a different type of ball O.o, i don't really get that :S

Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 8:18 pm

Titania, I feel I need to offer my skills in teaching you how to make proper english puddings Very Happy

Rice pudding should be made with pudding rice. Brown rice wouldn't work, you're right Smile

You should also add cream to it.

As for the burnt sugar on top, you're thinking of a Creme Brulee - this is a french desert and not pouring Custard (although not too dissimilar).

If you're ever in the UK, I will happily give you a masterclass in puddings! Very Happy

Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 8:22 pm

I'm made of puddings! Laughing

Edit, I thought all desserts were called pudding over there. Smile

Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 8:27 pm

@ Corona aww are you? that would make you pretty good to eat then Wink

- strawberries and cream is a desert not a pudding, however, spotted dick is a pudding Wink

As Thud pointed out, it depends on how posh we're being Laughing

Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 8:54 pm

'Posh'. Since we're on that subject... Wink

. I hear 'posh' occasionally and I assume it means 'upper class' or 'upper class with a bit of snootiness'? Which is it?

Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 9:02 pm

Corona said:

Quote:

I'm made of puddings!

and I'm made FOR puddings. Laughing

Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 9:27 pm

My parents were big fans of those ridiculous Hollywood musicals. They would always buy the soundtrack from the latest hit. Back in the 60’s I would have to listen to “Mary Poppins”, “Sound of Music”, “West Side Story”, “My Fair Lady” and the rest.

For the longest time the beginning of the song, “The Tapioca” from “Thoroughly Modern Millie” never made sense. Jimmy Smith is asking Millie what she had for dinner. Millie replies, “Well, we had tapioca for pudding”.

I was like, “Okay, so the Brits have a pudding portion of each meal? There’s the soup, salad, entrée, dessert and pudding or what????” I had no idea that pudding is dessert.

Next Question –

Hugh Laurie is a big star here in the US from the TV series “House MD”. I was one of the many who were surprised to find out he’s from the UK because his character doesn’t have even a hint of a British accent. Tim Roth was another actor who had me fooled. The first movie I saw him in was “Reservoir Dogs” and once again, no accent. Gary Oldman also does a great American accent when necessary.

Rene Zellweger did, what I consider, a good British accent in “Bridget Jones’s Diary”. Dick Van Dyke did what is considered the worst British accent in history in “Mary Poppins”

My question –

It is more difficult for an American to do a British accent or a Brit to do an American accent?

Elite Baiter Joined: 16 Jul 2008 Posts: 1407

Seeing as Americans speak proper english, I would say that it is harder for Brits to sound like Americans. (At least midwestern US).

Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 9:38 pm

^^^ I agree!

@writeon,
Girls are made of sugar, spice and everything nice. Very Happy

Boys are made of sniffs, snails and puppy dog tails. Laughing

Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 9:48 pm

Tastysnack wrote:

Seeing as Americans speak proper english

Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 10:06 pm

Here are two American vs. British English dictionary web sites. They were quite useful when watching some British TV (telly?) shows on DVD.
http://www.effingpot.com/index.shtml
http://septicscompanion.com/

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3193

Jack Pump wrote:

It is more difficult for an American to do a British accent or a Brit to do an American accent?

Difficult to tell. Only an American can judge an American accent, and only a Brit can judge a British one. But I don't see why there should be too much difference. Except, of course, the British have been soaking in Yank culture for decades, whereas the Americans very rarely hear a real British accent.

Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 10:31 pm

Quote:

UK, Football is a game where pepole run around kicking a ball, in US, its a game where people run around carrying a different type of ball

Football is what is widely called soccer (and comes from an alteration of assoc, which itself comes from associated football) and is the original kicking game.

Thanks to a certain twit (Webb Ellis) who couldn't kick and who didn't understand the handball rule, but went to Rugby school and so was too posh to punish, running with the ball is known as Rugby Football, shortened to Rugby. In some parts of the world, especially southern hemisphere, english speaking, British Commonwealth countries, they think football is only played with a pointy ball.

There are girly versions, one being Rugby league, where any time anyone gets a slight tap, everyone stops and resets the game. The only girlier game is American football where the players wouldn't go out on the pitch without full body armour and a note from their mother.

Quote:

I hear 'posh' occasionally and I assume it means 'upper class' or 'upper class with a bit of snootiness'? Which is it?

The word POSH is commonly thought to refer to Port Out Starboard Home, the best side of the ship to be on if one wanted to see the natives on one's trip to the colonies and back. Supposedly, looking down on the natives was a premium and cost more, hence only available to the rich and snooty (the one invariably goes with the other). Sadly it appears to be an urban myth. (not the snootiness, that's all true).

Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 11:24 pm

@GB, No clear explanation for origins of posh. It makes sense that in an era before airconditioning, passenger comfort would command a premium price. Those who could afford it bunked on the port side when travelling to India and on the starboard for the return to Blighty.

Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 11:24 pm

Food talk:

My parents eat a main course, followed by 'afters'. 'What's for afters?'

My neighbour eats a main course, followed by a dessert. The 'dessert' could be a solid cake-like dish, like a steamed pudding!

If I were to eat afters/dessert, however, I would eat a main course, then 'pudding'. But my pudding could be fresh fruit or jelly (jello in US? I know your jelly is our jam).

I think it depends on your region, your background, your peer group, and just the way you think.

Posh talk:

If you are being neutral, then 'posh' is anyone who is of a higher class (social background, not financial income) than yourself.

If you are being critical, however, then 'posh' is anyone who thinks they are of a higher social class than yourself, and acts patronizingly towards you because of this idea.

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 2:17 am

I worked with several Brits in the late 80's and early 90's. This thread brings back lots of fun memories of the language differences. I distinctly remember the shock when I said I would pack something in my "fanny pack", back when they were the new "in" thing. After the shock wore off and I got them to understand my definition, I was told that in the UK it meant a douche bag.

Some other fun comments:
In the US we park on our driveways and drive on our parkways. In the UK the subway is a sort of tunnel that you walk through to cross under a busy street. In the US it is an underground train.

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 4:25 am

Regarding learning the "accent" of the other side of the pond:

It depends upon the ear of the person doing the imitation. If they have a good "ear" and hear the original clearly and can imitate it well, then they have no problem. I learned German with no accent (so I was told by a native of Berlin, BTW), and the few French phrases I have managed to learn passed muster with a Parisian. But when I tried to teach a fellow actress how to speak "stage Cockney," she simply could not do it; her attempts always came out somewhere between Arkansas and Georgia.

Even in America, jam and jelly are different. Jam has bits of the fruit in it, and jelly is clear. Jell-O is another thing entirely.

Boots or shoes? Here in the US there are galoshes (and different parts of the country differ as to what kind of boots are called galoshes) and other kinds of boots (like rain boots, snow boots, cowboy boots, hiking boots, etc.). When I was a kid my dad and brother wore a kind of half-boot that didn't cover the whole shoe. They were called - um - "rubbers" (this was before anyone with any claim to purity talked about condoms under any name).

Sweaters - in the US we have pullovers and cardigans - and sweat-shirts. In the UK aren't they called jerseys?

And American pantyhose are sheer while tights are opaque.

I'm going to bed now.

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 4:41 am

What do you use to listen to the Soccer Game? errr, I mean the Football game?
The Wireless? or The Radio? Confused

Pudding is usually pretty good in any language...Im just sayin...

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 5:39 am

Corona wrote:

Boys are made of sniffs, snails and puppy dog tails. Laughing

That's interesting, I've always heard it as snips and snails and puppy dog tails.

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 6:03 am

I have been confused or interested in the reason that Top Gear uses Miles per hour in their measure of speed. Is that just for the show that is exported to the US or is it common to describe speed in MPH instead of KPH un the UK now?

See at one time the USA was going to transfer to the metric system... It didn't work and only added to the confusion some of us feel every day.

Yeah, they WERE out to get me with that one... Shocked

edited for spelling and clarity, I am tired, 'night.

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 6:23 am

Ok, Aussie bits !!

We say lift not elevator
and moving walkway is an escalator
candy or sweets - we say lollies
pudding is just that! OR dessert OR afters!!! (pick one!)
But we have utes (utility vehicle) which I think is like a pickup truck?
We have ride-on mowers
The powered thingamajig you cut the lawn edges with is a whipper-snipper (nah, not a whipper snapper!)
Little kids are ankle biters
Police are cops
If you make a mistake and it all comes tumbling down, or you fall over, it's called ''coming a gutser''.
Afternoon is arvo, of course.
Thinking thinking here.........
oh, woop woop (sounded like the o's in oof!) is way out back of beyond, past the black stump, if ya get me? Laughing

They are bum bags here too.
We have hot chips and potato chips!! (which come in a packet from the supermarket shelf)

Our slang is an astonishing mixture of many different languages, and our own unique okker slang.
Course, I am an old bat, so only know a little of the new street slang as they call it.
I just hate and loathe the way the manufacturers change brand names. Went to live in UK way back. Looking for sticky tape, asked in Woolies, 'where is the bear brand tape please?'. Got a strange look and sent to the chemists. Apparently bear brand were condoms way back when..... Embarassed

REALLY embarrassing for a country kid............... rofl
And Weetbix is Weetabix in UK.........huh????

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 7:20 am

ParaNoid wrote:

I have been confused or interested in the reason that Top Gear uses Miles per hour in their measure of speed. Is that just for the show that is exported to the US or is it common to describe speed in MPH instead of KPH un the UK now?

It has always been MPH, we're that island that is NOT attached to Europe Wink

@ Titania - we have jumpers and cardigans and sweatshirts (rugby shirt stylee) galoshes are big big wellies

oh and jelly can have fruit in it, if you put it in before it sets and my mother makes apple jelly (which is a jam) that is clear Wink

This thread is hilarious and interesting Very Happy