Subject: Transatlantic Idioms From: Murray MacLeod Date: 11 Apr 01 - 03:09 PM I know there have been previous threads on Mudcat about British and American linguistic differences and I don't want to rehash all of this, BUT, I would like to know, what the most persistent home-grown usages are , both for Brits in America, and even more interesting, (for me at any rate) for Americans in Britain. Let me give you an example of what I mean. I have just about got a grip on the American language. I walk on the "sidewalk", I buy my groceries at the "store", and I put "gasoline" in my tank". So far so good. All these usages are second nature now. But the one thing that is not second nature is the American use of "rent", where the British would say "hire". Now, I am well aware of the difference, but the other night, I was discussing having my carpet cleaned, and I was saying I would hire a cleaning machine and the other person was saying, No, you can do it yourself, and for thirty seconds we were talking at crosspurposes until the penny dropped.. (For the benefit of British Mudcatters, Americans "rent" cars, tools, carpet-cleaning machines etc. etc.) . They only "hire" labor. For the benefit of American Mudcatters, in the UK we only " rent" land or property. Tools, cars and machines are "hired". All this preamble brings me to my question. For those of you who have lived transatlantic, what has been the most difficult "foreign" linguistic usage to adjust to? Murray |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: Hollowfox Date: 11 Apr 01 - 03:14 PM Just curious, Murray, do they rent people in the UK? |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: GUEST,UB Dan Date: 11 Apr 01 - 03:19 PM Don't ask an American if you can bum a fag or ask him how the craic is. And don't be too shocked if you hear that the American has his keys in his fanny pack. p.s. petrol and lorry used to throw me...instead of gas and truck...oh so do some items of clothing, like a 'pull' when its cold out |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: Murray MacLeod Date: 11 Apr 01 - 03:25 PM Hollowfox, Conservative MP's have been known to "rent" youths, but we don't really want to go there ....... Murray |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: GUEST,Wavestar Date: 11 Apr 01 - 03:32 PM I still trip over them all the time, Murray, but the one that has caused me the most trouble over all, I'm sure, is pants / trousers. For those who don't have the trouble: Pants, in America, are the divided clothes on wears on the bottom half - underpants, panties, or underwear are the more intimate garments you'd rather your boss didn't see. Trousers are... archaic and formal. In Britain, trousers are outer wear, pants or all types are not to be shared on the streets. Cookie and biscuit are also a problem, but don't earn the surprised looks. Also school/college vs. University. Simplest things cause the most trouble. -J |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: Murray MacLeod Date: 11 Apr 01 - 03:38 PM I hear you, Wavestar. A; tose were problematic at first. Actually, can you explain in more detail, exactly what does an American think when he/she hears the word "trousers"? Murray |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: Murray MacLeod Date: 11 Apr 01 - 03:40 PM = "All those " ..... |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: MMario Date: 11 Apr 01 - 03:46 PM I suspect most people in the US rarely, if ever, hear the word "trousers". Pants or slacks are much more commonly heard. I suspect trousers appears a bit more frequently in print - but not much more frequently. In fact - I remember having to explain to some people what we were talking about after having sung "Donald where's your trousers" |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: Murray MacLeod Date: 11 Apr 01 - 03:53 PM Actually, now that I think about it, while we are on the subject of gent's apparel ("Suits you, Sir ") I still don't quite have "suspenders " in my subconscious just yet. Well, I do , but not in the American sense....... Murray |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: Bert Date: 11 Apr 01 - 03:54 PM and 'vest' |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: Chicken Charlie Date: 11 Apr 01 - 03:57 PM Dear Murray-- Trying to be polite to Empire Loyalists, I will say that you chaps seem to count the floors of a building somewhat oddly. I get the impression that the "first storey" of a building in London is the first floor above street level, whereas the "first story" of an American building IS the street level. And the American million/British million is just stupid; whichever one of us is responsible for that one ought to be ashamed. Funniest, to my jaded mind, is "Knock me up some time," given the fact that in somewhat archaic American, that would mean "Get me pregnant," rather than "Come see me." You would say, "Directly he came in, he sat down," as opposed to our "Directly after he came in, he sat down." The only ones that have given me personal problems was (1) getting told off by the boss for using a perfectly good British spelling [judgement with an e] inadvertently, and (2) trying to jam with an Aussie and being unable to decide whether the key of "oi" was the key of A or the key of E. Had just tune him out and watch his fingers. God Save this Thread! Chicken Charlie |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: gnu Date: 11 Apr 01 - 04:10 PM Chicken Charlie... the key of "oi"..... excuse me, I have to get some paper towel to wipe my tea off the screen. Thanks. I needed that laugh. |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: Murray MacLeod Date: 11 Apr 01 - 04:17 PM CC , I laughed too, but, getting into pedantic mode, here, and NOT having my OED handy, I take issue with you that "judgement" is the accepted British spelling. "Judgment" methinks. Still, I have been wrong before ..... Murray |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: Chicken Charlie Date: 11 Apr 01 - 04:23 PM Murray, you may be right, now that I look in my pocket Webster's. Judgement is an 'alternative' spelling, but not necessarily British. Oh, well. So much LABOUR lost. C.C. |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: Bert Date: 11 Apr 01 - 04:24 PM Jewellery is one that still gets me. I can't get used to saying joolree. |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: Bedubya Date: 11 Apr 01 - 05:22 PM Okay. Somebody from the Eastern side of the Atlantic help this poor dumb Yank out on this one. "Shrubbery" as used by the Monty Python guys in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" when the evil knight says, "We want a shrubbery!" Is this accepted usage or a joke? In the States we would never say "a shrubbery" to indicate a single plant. We would say "a shrub". A mass planting of shrubs would just be "shrubbery", or a specific mass planting would be "the shrubbery", but never "a shrubbery". Cheers, Bruce |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: mousethief Date: 11 Apr 01 - 05:37 PM The one I was always puzzled by was the use of "presently" to me "in just a little bit now." In America, "presently" means RIGHT NOW (in the present). Alex |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: Bert Date: 11 Apr 01 - 05:41 PM You're right Alex, Americans however seem to misuse "momentarily" to mean soon. |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: Les from Hull Date: 11 Apr 01 - 05:41 PM Yer losts of shrubs = a shrubbery. Although for some reason lots of rubs is never a rubbery. |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 11 Apr 01 - 06:14 PM Generally English speakers on the right side of the Atlantic understand most of the American idioms which have been mentioned, even when we don't use them. Well, we see enough American films and telly to keep us fairly bilingual in such matters, and able to manage most American accents without needing subtitles.
The other way round I gather is a bit more of a problem. Nothing quite so parochial as a really big country, which is big enough for the inhabitants to fall into the habit of thinking it's a whole world. (cf China) |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: Sorcha Date: 11 Apr 01 - 06:14 PM Ahh, shades of Ghallagher!! Around here, (way out West in US of A) "trousers" is only used if you are buying a suit or renting (hiring) a Tux. Otherwise, it's pants,slacks, or jeans. We never use "denims" to mean jeans pants. "Denims" and "Leathers" imply that you are dressed head to toe in that fabric.......no specific item implied.
I guess I have read too many British novels, because I have always used "braces" instead of "suspenders". Mind you, we have fancy elastic suspenders with alligator clips instead of button loops, and if you want brace buttons on your trousers, you'll probably have t sew them on yourself. Fancy meaning, wide rainbow stripes; red, white and blue with stars, etc. We also have the more sedate plain, narrow blue/brown/black with button loops but you have to look harder for them. "Knickers" is becoming more common everywhere in the US. Of course, sometimes it still means "plus fours" or pants that stop just below the knee.... As a result of (probably)way too much Mudcatting, I now use "bonnet" and "boot" more than "hood" and "trunk". Come to think of it, British novels and Mudcat are also responsible for my asking the bartender to "pull me a pint".........ain't international communication wonderful?!! |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: GUEST,Les B. Date: 11 Apr 01 - 06:29 PM When I lived in a British colony the differences between American and British word usage & spelling were just the spice of life, I thought. What did make me scratch my head were the brand name and regional words I'd never heard of: - Brawley, Biro, scrumpins, burk - (spellings ??) and the old British monetary system, which I could never figure out in American dollars & cents: -- tuppence, shilling, crown, etc. Then there was the British habit of combining a statement and a question; "Well, you didn't remit the full amount, did you ?", which I thought was "cheeky" at first, but came to realize was just everyday usage. |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: mousethief Date: 11 Apr 01 - 06:31 PM What does "momentarily" mean on your side of the pond? Alex |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: Amergin Date: 11 Apr 01 - 06:40 PM Hey, Scorch, I'm with you there....I have realised the other day that I have taken to calling folks Mates......oh well... I got a friend who grew up in Switzerland, and in school there learned British English....well, she came to the States to go to a Christain College.....Well, in class one day, she asked a male classmate if he had a rubber she gcould borrow..... |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 11 Apr 01 - 06:43 PM Momentarily = right at that moment. "I was momentarily lost for words, but I quickly recovered, and had plenty to say." |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: catspaw49 Date: 11 Apr 01 - 07:14 PM One of the great joys of this joint is just this thread Murray. Before this my education was one way and now sharing is so much more fun. From the comedies and "Britcoms" to actually dealing with understanding the differences as we converse here is a big leap......and a fun one, although I have made the occasional joke that someone felt they should explain to me! I remember saying that it would be hard to imagine some 250 pound redneck named Bubba saying, "Gimmee some uv them bangers and some scones."............Didn't go over too big and it was stated to me that perhaps if Bubba had grown up calling them by those names.........Anyway, I really enjoy this part of the 'Cat!!! I started riding British scoots (Beezers and Trumpets) when I was 14 and that was an early intro to the language we "don't share." Carbuerettor?? Hmmm, must be a Carb.......and it says I'm supposed to "tickle it"..............Okay....Never heard one laugh, but I'll tickle its ribs if I can find them............"Spring Dampeners" huh?........Hmmm....look like a shock to me but............ Later on I worked as a mainly English car mechanic and reading the manuals was always a treat. Spaw
|
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: Sorcha Date: 11 Apr 01 - 07:29 PM Oh god, Alex, borrowed rubbers!! Used or unused?? But even in Brit, rubbers has two meanings.......overshoes and erasers.....What is British for condom? I feel like I have heard it/should know, but can't remember....... and Spaw, that is so right!! "English" from around the world.......even American English has too many words for motorcycle--bike, scooter, hog, bitch-ride (a rather new one, I gather) that it's hard to keep track. |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: Chicken Charlie Date: 11 Apr 01 - 07:29 PM Getting under the bonnet were you? |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: Ebbie Date: 11 Apr 01 - 07:32 PM In 'Dictionary of American Usage and Style', it says, "Judgment: This is the preferred form in AmE and in British legal texts, even as far back as the 19th century. Judgement is prevalent in British nonlegal texts." You learn something every day- I always assumed that in Great Britain it is always with that extra 'e'- guess I've not read many British legal texts. Ebbie |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: Bill D Date: 11 Apr 01 - 07:32 PM being an older country with far more history and sustained local language varieties, the UK has, it seems to me, a lot more idioms and colloquialisms than the USA with its mixed population and disdain for 'custom'... I have to say that some expressions from the old country make more sense (i.e., petrol instead of 'gas'),,,but it's what you are used to)...but some, like 'knickers' don't mean anything to me...trousers would not be mis-understood here, but 'pants' are a simple word...and 'panties' as diminutive 'pants' just seems to follow. What really amuses me is the words people use for intimate & sexual terms....another country's idioms just don't have the built in 'charge', and we will say things using the other country's slang/idiom that we would NOT say out loud in our own. |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: catspaw49 Date: 11 Apr 01 - 07:33 PM Of course CC, til Colin decided to put a hatch behind the cockpit where the boot had been. Spaw |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: Seamus Kennedy Date: 11 Apr 01 - 07:34 PM Americans! Attention! When in Ireland or Britain, never compliment a lady on her "fanny." All the best. Seamus |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: artbrooks Date: 11 Apr 01 - 07:38 PM On a more important note, draft (draught) beer in the States comes in regular (12 ounce) and tall (22 ounce). You rarely get it in a pint, which is only 16 ounces here, anyway. I wondered why I got fuzzier on two or three glasses in Ireland than I did at home...then I stopped caring. |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: Kim Hughes Date: 11 Apr 01 - 07:56 PM Well, the ones that I bumped into the hardest were were "anorak," "kagool" (sp??), "dandy brush" (that's for horse types), and the inwardness regarding "tea" as something you drink or a meal. I also had difficulty with stores that didn't "do" something, (e.g., "Oh, we don't do milk,")and (in Ireland) items that were "all," (as in, "The sugar is all," meaning "the sugar is finished, there isn't any more." I could go on and on, but will refrain. Kim |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: Irish sergeant Date: 11 Apr 01 - 08:08 PM Great thread Murray! I misspent a summer in Antigua in the very early 1970s and started to learn to speak the Queen's English there. Later I learned that proper usage in the U.S. until shortly before the turn of the century (Meaning 1901) was British usage. At least as far as spelling was concerned. SOme of my favourite British Terms; Loo for Lavatory. Lorry for truck Lift for elevator. I could go on but you get the drift of it George Bernard Shaw was right, We're two people separated by a common language. Have a lovely day all, Neil |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: Sorcha Date: 11 Apr 01 - 08:09 PM Strangely enough, the only unacceptable word that I can think of for a lady's back side in the States is "ass".....bum, butt, fanny, rear, be'hind, cheeks, are all more or less acceptable. But not ass.......in Spain you can say "cula" at the dinner table, it's sort of like "bum", but not in Mexico or Cuba. There, it's far worse than "ass", more closely related to "cunt".
Oh, and I forgot "vest". In the US, it's always vest, unless you are talking a tuxedo. Then, it is "waist-cot"--pronounced waste-kot......never weskit. When I say "weskit" I get a lot of strange looks. Ladies never wear waistcots/weskits, they are always vests......
and, the British system of numbering floors has always made more sense to me. Why can't we just all call the ground floor the Ground Floor, and the first floor above that the First Floor? More and more elevators (lifts) are offering "G" instead of "1" as a choice.......therefore, "1" is the first floor above "G" or Ground Level.......same for basements.......1BG (or 1B, 2SB) meaning Below Ground or SubBasement....... Is an "attic" always the very top (usually unfinished/uninsulated) floor? What about garret? |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: Murray MacLeod Date: 11 Apr 01 - 08:29 PM Kim, isn't a "dandy brush" universal, at least in racing stables? Maybe not .....
Sorcha, I had no idea you had become so Anglicized. Bonnets and boots, indeed ! Do the garage mechanics in Wyoming understand you ?
Back in the sixties an acquaintance of mine, a plasterer by trade, claimed to have seen an advertisement in a USA newspaper which read : "Plasterer wanted, must be first-class mechanic". He found this incomprehensible, until I ventured a suggestion that "mechanic" in the USA might just be their word for "craftsman" or "tradesman". (In Britain of course, a mechanic is a motor mechanic.) Now, was I right? I remember in some movie (Five Card Stud, maybe ) hearing a card-sharp referred to as a "good mechanic".
Vive la difference
Murray
|
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: Sorcha Date: 11 Apr 01 - 08:41 PM Card sharps are referred to as mechanics---as in manipulating the cards, but I don't understand the plaster/mechanic thing either. Generally here, mechanic means car/auto/vehicle fix it person......son is mechanic, hubby is full time Cop/Bobby (Sgt) and part time auto mechanic. |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: sheila Date: 11 Apr 01 - 10:07 PM sorcha -
"Is an "attic" always the very top (usually unfinished/uninsulated) floor? What about garret?" Loft is often used for the under-roof area. |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: alison Date: 11 Apr 01 - 10:23 PM sorcha in the UK they are called condoms.. but were more commonly known as "durex" (the brand name)..... in Oz Durex apparently was a brand of sticky tape (cellotape).... ouch!!!!! and don't make the mistake (as I did) of telling an Aussie that I had been "rooting around in a cupboard".... same problem asking the best "route"(pronounced "root") to somewhere.......... slainte alison |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: Sorcha Date: 11 Apr 01 - 10:29 PM Loft in US usually means a higher than main floor space, often an open or half walled sleeping space. A loft could be an entire flat/apartment, or a higher space in the flat near the roof meant for sleeping. "Main floor" usually meaning street level or ground floor.......lofts are usually found in converted warehouses (in large cities) or in log cabins in the woods. In the latter case, they are usually half floors.....a one room place with a foot ladder to the loft/half floor. The entire room has a Cathedral ceiling with a half floor covering half the floor (which is actually Air) space. A railing is required for these. Clear as mud? |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: Amergin Date: 11 Apr 01 - 10:39 PM Well as clear as Scorch..... |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: CRANKY YANKEE Date: 11 Apr 01 - 10:48 PM I'd already been in England a year when I was transferred to RAF Lakenheath, and I got used to thinking, "let's just wait and see what he means" For instance, Knocking up is "Waking up" Makes sense when you realize (realise) that each little villiage had a professional "Knocker upper" who worked on subscriptions. You paid him and told him what time you wanted to be awakend and he knocked on your bedroom window, with a long padded pole at precisely the time that you had stipulated. A lot morereliable than a clock. Needed some alligator clips once, sent into an electronics parts store( shop) took a moment to think about what I would ask for, remembered that Britts were more familiar with crocodiles than alligators. Asked for "crocodile clips. It worked. But, the one that really almost took me aback was when my friend Terry Wood of Leicester was going to spend a weekend with us at Lakenheath, he called u p and said that he couldn't make it that week, "Because Granny is having a blow job" A guy was coming over that weekend to burn the paint off her cottage walls with a blow torch. |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: CRANKY YANKEE Date: 11 Apr 01 - 10:59 PM I now live in a city (Newport Rhode Island) where the main street is named Thames St, and is pronounced by the locals exactly as it's spelled. Britts kind of do a double take when they hear this, but we, very politley, don'e even flick an eyebrow when they pronounce it Tems. Est Greenwich is , East Green-witch. Warwick is, you guesed it, War-wick and Stockholm Street is, Yup, Stock Hollum st. but Stockholm tar is still Stockholm tar. Go figure. South Baptist st. is on the other end of town from North Baptist st., and to make it even more confusing to visitors, they both terminate n Thames St. Emmanuel Episcopal Church is on S. Baptist St. All this is quite normal to us, and you can keep your smart remarks to yourself. |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: Sorcha Date: 11 Apr 01 - 11:57 PM LOL, Yankee! That's the way to handle them Brits! Nathan, I'll scorch you for that. After all, it was clearer than mud........(wasn't it?) My personal favorites are still Cholmdomley (chumley) and Worchestershire (Wost-te-shr)......of course we don't have any of these in the US....... Ar-kan'-sas vs. Ar-kan-saw' bag vs sack cattle gaurd vs auto gate kill, as in hunt--bag or get And we have two Washingtons to boot....... (and where did "to boot" come from, anyway?) |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: Gervase Date: 12 Apr 01 - 07:25 AM Condoms were always Johnnies when I was too young to use 'em. That or the euphemism "a packet of three" when they were sold in barber's shops and the question "Would Sir like anything for the weekend?" was posed. Heck, that takes me back: The barber's shop window full of pictures of matinee idol models with impossibly neat hair and a glowing red neon "Durex" sign, and me sitting on a plank across the arms of the chair for a short back and sides. Then back via the chippy for a bag of scraps... I think I'm getting old. I remember when this place was all fields! |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: kendall Date: 12 Apr 01 - 07:30 AM Do you British types universally mis- use "hopefully?" do you mispronounce: particularly? jewelry? nuclear? regularly? |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: Les from Hull Date: 12 Apr 01 - 08:12 AM Us British types don't misuse or mispronounce anything. After all, it's our language. You should be paying us royalties everytime you speak or write! I'm sure it would be different if instead of the Queen's English it was Microsoft's English. (Actually that's getting too close for comfort - so that's why they brought out that Encarta Dictionary)**BG** But seriously, we can't agree among ourselves how to say things. Don't get started on regional variations. You American types do what you like with the language. It's broken beyond repair anyway. And there's a lot more of you than there are of us. Cheers, Les |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: JudeL Date: 12 Apr 01 - 08:13 AM so what does route/root mean to an aussie? |
Subject: RE: BS: Transatlantic Idioms From: Gervase Date: 12 Apr 01 - 08:20 AM It's what the wombat does - "The wombat eats roots, shoots and leaves". Jammy little bugger! |