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: Tue Jun 16, 2009 8:21 pm

Talking of babies, what's US-speak for a dummy: the teat-like thing you put in a baby's mouth for them to suck upon. Don't think they are popular here anymore. I had an all-rubber one when I was ltttle. I secretly still enjoyed it at night until I was seven years old. But don't tell anyone.

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 8:35 pm

^^^I think you might be describing a pacifier...one of these?

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3193

mewing_ghecko wrote:

one of my favorite UK terms, Norks... Very Happy

I think you'll find that's Australian. At least the only place I've heard it is Mike Harding's set about his trip down-under.

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 8:56 pm

@Branwen, where I live (mid-Atlantic region of US) a pacifier is more commonly known as a 'binky'.

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 9:25 pm

Just Jane wrote:

@Branwen, where I live (mid-Atlantic region of US) a pacifier is more commonly known as a 'binky'.

that sounds wrong on quite a few levels Laughing

Master of Master Baiters Joined: 02 Dec 2008 Posts: 518

One I find amusing (in a good way):
Police officer - Bobby

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 11:49 pm

If I went to the UK, and asked for directions, would you send me to
the bottom of the street? and how do I get to the bottom of the street?
Oh wait, maybe that was Ireland... Confused

Sorry, please ignore this post... Cool

Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2009 12:16 am

I manage an auto repair shop,and have worked on cars for many years.British cars are nowhere near as common in this country as they were 20 some odd years ago,when Triumphs and MGs were fairly common.Jaguars and Rovers not quite so much so.A few I can think of off the top of my head

Hood=Bonnet
Trunk=Boot
Ground=Earth
Gasoline=Petrol
Shock Absorber=Damper
Tire=Tyre

Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2009 11:57 am

@whatjushappen

well if the street were in any way on an incline, you could go to the top and the bottom Wink

Ireland, yes that the non-attached island to the left of the UK, they have a different accent there Laughing

however, you are right in that Irish directions are somewhat amusing (apologies to any Irish), my favourite is the "see that left turn, well you don't want that, you want the right one instead"

Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2009 3:33 pm

^^^ Rather like the man on the Boston subway train who told me to "Watch me and get off one stop before."

Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2009 3:52 pm

Larson wrote:

One I find amusing (in a good way):
Police officer - Bobby

Derived from Robert Peel, the founder of the (London) Metropolitan Police. As was "peeler". Both rarely used nowadays.

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 2628

Slightly off topic but Binky is a horse on Discworld.
Death's horse.

Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2009 3:58 pm

In some parts of Northern England, the Police are known as 'Dibble' after Officer Dibble in the US cartoon Top Cat.

Confusingly, the BBC used to list Top Cat as Boss Cat, because they didn't want to give free advertising to the cat food of the same name.

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Apr 2007 Posts: 3123

In some parts of Scotland, the Police are known as tossers.

Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2009 11:04 pm

I heard that in the UK, the 1st floor of a building is actually the 2nd floor. The floor on the very bottom is called something like the “Ground Floor”. Is this correct?

Also, do hotels in Canada, UK and Australia leave certain floors out? In Las Vegas it’s not uncommon for the hotel/casino to skip floors, like you won’t find a 13th floor because people say it’s unlucky…..

Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2009 11:14 pm

Here's another one...a flashlight is called a torch.

Oh, and you guys over there have a weird name for band-aids too(the thing you put on small cuts), but I can't remember what it is at the moment.

I was out working at a kids' camp a few years ago (we have a lot of foreign staff every year) and one of the brits needed a band-aid but we had no idea what she was talking about until she described it. It was quite amusing.

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

I have heard Brits talk about living in a 'flat' which I have always assumed is the same at the USA's apartments. True?

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 12:15 am

Which is better to travel in? Caravan or Motorhome? Smile

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 1:25 am

@CO - sticking plaster?

I understand the first Harry Potter book was called "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" in the UK but had to be changed to "Harry Potter and the Alchemist's Stone" because Americans didn't know they were the same thing.

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 6:45 am

whajushappen wrote:

Which is better to travel in? Caravan or Motorhome? Smile

Well you can't travel in a caravan, whilst it is moving, that would be illegal. Wink

Having never driven a motorhome, I don't know.

As for the 1st floor thing - the floor you walk in on is called the Ground Floor, because it is at ground level, then the next floor is called the 1st, because it's the 1st floor Wink

Sometimes you get a missing 13th floor, all depends who owns the building.

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 8:01 am

Re the word "nork" - true blue Aussie here, never heard that expression afore?
Off to get my dummy (or plug) and have a sulk in the corner.
We say 'an old bomb' for a clapped out car! (figure that out?) Laughing

And when really tired we say we are buggered, which is rude I guess.

A hilarious mixup comes from years ago, when a Pommy bloke said he was going to 'knock up' his mate. His Yank friend had a fit - he thought the Pommy bloke was going to get his mate pregnant!

So a Pommy is English (we are not sure why, there are different explanations)
A bloke is a man
A Yank is someone from America. (again I have no idea where it came from).
And a mate is a friend, either male or female these days.
No Aussie dares call a woman a 'sheila' nowadays!!!! If he did he would suffer!!

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 8:43 am

^^^We're Yankees(not sure where that comes from Laughing

)...which is most likely where Yank comes from

That's it, Titania...but regarding Harry Potter, I'm pretty sure we have 'the Philosopher's stone' as well. I think it was supposed to be called the Alchemist's stone but then changed to Philosopher...I could be wrong on that though.

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 8:45 am

Quote:

you guys over there have a weird name for band-aids

I think the word your looking for is Elastoplast - like band-aid its a brand name that stuck.

What else? Flat is what we Brits call a US apartment, as for the clapped out car, an old banger.

Correctly spoken 'standard' English is known as the Queen's English.

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3193

Yes in the UK the floor at ground level is the ground floor. The full title of the next floor is "first floor above ground", but few know that and nobody uses it.

Germany is confusing. There they have no standard. If you get in a lift, the ground floor might be 1 or 0 or, (IIRC) E or K.

ETA: so would Americans know what a "sticking plaster", or just "plaster" was? That's what I would tend to call it, rather than a brand name (we have both bandaid and elastoplast in the UK.)

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 10:13 am

Casual Occurrence wrote:

but regarding Harry Potter, I'm pretty sure we have 'the Philosopher's stone' as well. I think it was supposed to be called the Alchemist's stone but then changed to Philosopher...I could be wrong on that though.

The book was published and filmed as Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Apparently the film was retitled Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone in the US.