The Britishisms that are taking over America

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19929249

I didn't even realise that 'cheeky' and 'fancy' weren't used in America and only recently discovered that Americans don't say 'queue'.

Poll!

There was a NYT article about this the other day, too:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/11/fashion/americans-are-barmy-over-britishisms.html

cool NEWSY WEWSIES

I heard blood sausage tastes lovely over the pond.

haha, xpost

only recently discovered that Americans don't say 'queue'.

Probably because they don't have to do it as regularly as we do

what do they say? line?

do Americans say Posh?

cheeky monkeys still won't make a bloody pineapple pizza though will they

mr queue

no we just call it a LINE because queue implies first-in-first-out which is not how waiting for things works in practice

Get your arse in queue, soldier

cool NEWSY WEWSIES

― buzza, Wednesday, October 17, 2012 11:41 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

do Americans say Posh?

― make like a steak and beef (dog latin), Wednesday, October 17, 2012 11:43 AM (17 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Americans say Rich.

"Posh" gets used but I'd wager 40% of the time it's immediately followed with "and Becks"

From that NYT article:
...via their iPad apps over “a coffee.”
Why the scare quotes around 'a coffee'? Is this a Britishism? What else could you call a coffee?

get your pippa's arse in queue

we would say "over coffee"; saying "over a coffee" is an affectation

I think I may have heard someone say "in hospital" recently.

i think it's referring to coffee being used as a collective noun instead of a singular one; "over coffee" vs "over a coffee"

hmmmm...

"The word 'chav' is starting to catch on in the US, thanks to YouTube videos. I overheard someone say, 'Nah I'm not buying those sneakers man, they are so chavvy' at a sports retailer." Jeff Bagshaw, US

devastating evidence

"Let's meet in a pub bar and discuss it over beer" ... doesn't sound right

no one in the US says "chav" unless it's an involuntary noise made after they've been kicked in the neck

Anyone who uses the word "chav" should be kicked in the neck

'taking a decision'

chat up some ilxors at a FAP

... uh, is that US or UK? (xp)

what. xxp

Americans increasingly use "queue" for queues that don't involve physically standing in line. (Or, as New Yorkers say, standing "on line.") For example, tech stuff like printer jobs or music playlists, but also more abstract uses, like "Roger Clemens next in queue to discuss Mitchell Report."

Well first of all it should be 'beers'. Who ever has but one while discussing anything of import?

let's hope we never start making band names plural

blur IS shite not blur ARE shite

No-one says 'taking a decision', do they?

henfab not nearly as glamorous sounding as henfap

I hear "queue" all the time but I work in software and that's a common data structure

Curious about "pub quiz." Feel like a lot of Americans have been saying that instead of "bar trivia."

I've referred to my list of pending requests at work as my "research queue" for years, but my old supervisor who got me saying that was from South Africa. Just now wondering if everyone thinks it's weird.

Queue was a perfectly fine American word in the 19th century when we used it disparagingly to refer to Chinese men's ponytails.

Holy shit. When you guys are talking about the "pub quiz", are you talking about these things?

http://thefuntimesguide.com/images/blogs/ntn_trivia_box.jpg

I had assumed that the British version somehow involved a flip chart or something.

Queueing - where else in the English language would you get 5 vowels in a row?

Have said "pub quiz" forever because the only one I went to was in an Irish bar and that's what they called it. "Bar trivia" has the feel of those tv screen games where you push a button for your answer.

xp!

i recently referred to going on vacation as going on holiday, but i've also been watching a lot of peep show and inspector morse lately so yeah

I don't know what that thing is (xxxp)

"Pub quiz" in no way refers to blue plastic children's electronic toys.

blur IS shite not blur ARE shite

Would you say 'Blur was and remains shite' too? Because THAT'S AWFUL

fortnight 3 thumbs up

A night of drinking that consists of drinking only a forty oz. bottle of beer, usually when the person cannot have a hangover the next day but wants to have a good buzz.
I have an exam tomorrow at 8AM, so let's just have a fortnight.

Discussing it over a beer vs talking about it over coffee vs debating over tea

Coffee and beer are interchangeably singular/plural, but tea is always tea.

E.g. "dude, you want any beer?" Vs "hey, we only got like 10 beers left in the fridge!"

"Pub quiz" in no way refers to blue plastic children's electronic toys.

― ledge, Wednesday, October 17, 2012 11:55 AM (8 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

So you guys shout out the answers over one another or what?

"Shite" is a Britishism, yes?

we use ye olde pencile and papere you non-renewable resource depleting savages

had to explain "gastropub" to a NY-er the other week

okay that's insane

I don't believe British people are using typical Americanisms. I've never heard a Englishman say 'dude' but I am hearing Americans say 'mate'.

Dear Paul from Rockford, IL,
Spend half an hour on a bus full of British people and you will definitely hear the once-American "guy". If they are teenagers you will almost certainly hear "bro" and probably "dude" too.

Have never heard anyone younger than my grandad (RIP, born 1914) say "frock"; at least, not unless they are reading from a book of similar vintage.

Queueing - where else in the English language would you get 5 vowels in a row?

Aaaaargh!

I say these things all the time, but I have been a geeky anglophile since I was like ten.

I don't believe British people are using typical Americanisms. I've never heard a Englishman say 'dude' but I am hearing Americans say 'mate'.

I HATE when Americans way mate. It's annoying as hell and obnoxious. Even when I lived there for two years I was very conscious of not saying certain things because I didn't want to sound like an idiot. When I came back I quickly dropped any that I had acquired because it just sounds dumb and pretentious as hell when people use British terms over here.

sorry homo

cheers m8

I remember a friend telling me I'd developed a cute accent at one point and I irrationally worried I'd started sounding like Madonna or something. A couple months after I came back friends I'd talk to on Skype were saying "OMG you sound so American!" so I guess I adapt quickly idk.

http://www.vice.com/shorties/in-the-queue

I definitely do not say 'mate'

that reminds me of crocodile dundee

"cheers m8"

AWFUL

Spend half an hour on a bus full of British people and you will definitely hear the once-American "guy".

"Hey, guy! Just relax, buddy!"

http://images.wikia.com/southpark/images/1/1d/Ministermovies.png

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20111130105550AA839w1

I've heard lots of English ppl say "dude" btw.

I did once call the garbage can a bin but my mom looked at me like I had 8 heads so never made that mistake again.

okay I hadn't scrolled up to see that homosexual II had posted so I really thought "sorry homo" was a totally random, arcane correction to something in ENBB's original post

'lift' and 'flat' are totally better than 'elevator' and 'apartment' btw

Yeah but that still doesn't mean you should use them.

I used "sussed" yesterday but I didn't realize that was a British thing.

All the mates round the ends, s'jokes bruv

― Dom Passantino, Wednesday, July 11, 2007 5:06 AM (5 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

What does "all the mates round the ends" mean?

I say mate all the time, apparently, but then I spend a lot of my weekends with Britishes watching "football". I kind fo feel that English is my language and I can borrow from any dialect, regionalism or slang I want to. Americans' overweening fear of looking pretentious is risible, anyway. In a country where 5% of the world's population consumes 25% of the world's resources, worrying about looking like a twat is so much less important than realizing that we all are twats.

Wait, I guess you will not hear "guy" in the vocative (i.e. "hey guy") in the UK, whereas you will mainly hear "bro" as in "hey bro". "Dude" goes either way.

I think I type "dude" but don't say it, cz to me it still sounds wrongish in an English accent, but I type it so naturally that I may just say it without noticing. People younger than me would prob have no such qualms.

'lift' and 'flat' are totally better than 'elevator' and 'apartment' btw

In SF parlance, a flat is an apartment that takes up an entire floor.

"going to the cinema" just sounds cooler than "going to the movie theater"

no 'cunt' as joviality, no credibility

MW - Nope, still sounds dumb.

I have full immunity because I lived in a former British colony for three years, so HAH

Hhhhhhmmmmmmm, mayyyyyyyyybe

The US is a former British colony . . .

apart from its literal meaning as "friend" i can't stand british people saying "mate" either. cf "got a question for you, mate!" uggggggh

i say dude a lot, anybody want a fight?

sorry boss

wossa problem tracer mate?

Similar to 'dude', apparently:

guy1    /gaɪ/ Show Spelled (gahy) Show IPA noun, verb, guyed, guy·ing.
noun
1. Informal . a man or boy; fellow: He's a nice guy.
2. Usually, guys. Informal . persons of either sex; people: Could one of you guys help me with this?
3. Chiefly British Slang . a grotesquely dressed person.
4. ( often initial capital letter ) British . a grotesque effigy of Guy Fawkes that is paraded through the streets and burned on Guy Fawkes Day.

okay, recent former British colony

It's literal meaning would be "someone you have sex with" wouldn't it?

here's another britishism i can't stand, "legend"

"cup of tea?"

"LEGEND"

3. Chiefly British Slang . a grotesquely dressed person.

Eh? I have *never* heard this.

xp: Now that's some Lord of the Flies shit right there.

Wizard!

lol legend? wtf? what does that even mean!?

brilliant!

Smashing work, chums.

A compliment to someone saying they are great or have done a great thing

huh! Never heard that one before.

guys it's spelled "legeeeeeernd"

Such as make a cup of tea....LEGEND

England? That's where I'm a legend!

as in "OMG BORIS IS SUCH A LEGEEEEEEERND. OUCH, YOU APPEAR TO HAVE COCKPUNCHED ME"

Eh? I have *never* heard this.

Perhaps, chiefly obsolete British slang.

Slang generally fascinates and repulses me in equal measure but I'm far less resistant to it than I used to be since hardly anyone I know actually bothers to learn English

Xxxxxp
Ends=neighbourhood you live in

yeah you don't see many people parading Guy Fawkes round wicker man style either.

maybe in northern ireland.

Oh, that's coming up soon, huh? Fireworks!

xp: thank you pandemic

Get in!

EHRMAGERG! LERGERND!

x-post - lol spiralli says that a lot esp while watching sports - never heard an American use it though

Can't remember if it was ILX or somewhere else where someone recently griped about Americans saying "cheers" because they use it too emphatically, not offhandedly enough. Only skimmed thread, sorry if it's already been mentioned.

The only time I hear Americans say "Cheers" is if they're raising a glass with friends. There it's supposed to be said emphatically.

legend stuff guys

'queue' was the first word I had to make a real effort not to use in the States. Asking 'are you in the queue?' only ever got a bewildered look. My o/h never learned and got incredibly confused, same when asking for the bill, which he learned to change to 'check' just in time for our move back to England.

Americans use bill though too!

I mean check is more common but it seems weird that using bill would confuse people.

Nah he was just trying to fit in and ended up getting befuddled.
Legend bants mate!

The only time I hear Americans say "Cheers" is if they're raising a glass with friends. There it's supposed to be said emphatically.

― o. nate, Wednesday, October 17, 2012 11:26 AM (2 minutes ago)

Yeah...the complaint I think was that the emphasis is overblown or misplaced when using the words as "thanks"

That was in the New York Times article, WmC.

I tried to introduce 'cheers drive' when getting off the bus but it didn't catch on

I don't know for sure, but I would guess "queue" gained popularity in the US because of Netflix.

I mean check is more common but it seems weird that using bill would confuse people.

I worry sometimes that regional usage gets conflated with national usage. Bill/check sound totally interchangeable to me in SF.

We call it compu-films xp

every journey shd end with a hearty "cheers drive"

Otm

but I would guess "queue" gained popularity in the US because of Netflix.

It's also curious since it's typical of English to use foreign words for a meaning far more precise than they might have in their orginal language only, in this case, it's British English that is the foreign tongue.

every journey shd end with a hearty "cheers drive"

Preferably over a pint

britishest of greetings are "alright" and "wotcha" preferably followed by "cock"

Don't be silly, you can't take a pint on the bus

That was in the New York Times article, WmC.

― sorcery is in the gutter (how's life), Wednesday, October 17, 2012 11:32 AM

Ah, thanks. It concerns me that I'd forgotten the source of something I'd read so recently.

I have observed that a lot of Americans have only seen 'queue' in print and do not know how to pronounce it.

Okay kinder, how about a flask, then?

It's kay-oo-way, right, homo II?

Kooway? Kway? Kweeoo? Kewuhwoowuh?

Concealed can of white lightning allowed.
Other words Americans didn't have: lurgee, helter-skelter

i notice that Americans use "flag post" for our "suggest ban"

Surely they know Helter-Skelter from Beatles/Manson? Or does it just = murder in America?

Yeah they knew it from Beatles but the ones we talked to thought it was a made-up word

I had never seen a Helter-Skelter ride until a couple years ago, despite knowing it from Beatles/Manson and also sometimes meaning "a mess".

Naw, we know helter skelter as a term for chaos. I think. I do, anyway. Now I can't remember whether I've actually heard it used that way or I just read it in books.

Wait, "mess" isn't exactly accurate. Maybe more like "confused".

yeah i think we know helter-skelter

i have no idea what "lurgee" is but it will never catch on here because it sounds like loogie (sp?)

"lurgee"

I have never seen it in print before. Probably would have not spelled it that way.

x-post - It means sickness.

Maybe n/a and I just sit around talking to each other about how helter skelter things are and are universalizing our experience.

I'd spell it lurgy myself - it's a casual/juvenile way of saying illness, as in "I'm not going to work today, I've got the lurgy".

You could say "I've got the lurgy" meaning I'm really sick.

x-posts

Yeah, internet says lurgy too.

It's "lurgy", isn't it? Urban dictionary says it's equivalent to "cooties", but that's not right as you wouldn't call in sick to work going "I've got that cooties that's going around". Although that would be kinda great if you did. xxxp

that word grosses me out. it just sounds disgusting. i hate it.

I almost likened it to cooties but then didn't for exactly that reason.

The term originates from an episode of the 1950s radio comedy "The Goon Show" in which an epidemic of "The Dreaded Lurgi" was said to be about to sweep across Britain. It turned out that the lurgi was in fact a ficitious disease created by brass instrument makers who had claimed that no brass band player had ever died of the lurgi (thereby increasing sales hugely).

well the things you learn idk

i thought it was spelled lurgi?

ou wouldn't call in sick to work going "I've got that cooties that's going around". Although that would be kinda great if you did.

Gonna try that next time. Will report back.

xposts SEE IT IS

m. white otm, i hear about "queues" all the time but specifically dealing with data or other things that are ordered conceptually. not people!

English

Alternative forms
lurgey
lurgee
lurgi
lurghi (original spelling but now rare)

Think really should try to bring back lurghi.

queue is way more fun to say than line, fwiw

Cause then it's like loogie and funghi and it's 2x as gross.

no we just call it a LINE because queue implies first-in-first-out which is not how waiting for things works in practice
― ciderpress, Wednesday, October 17, 2012 3:43 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

flag post

queuing for a slash

ew hate slash

how about 'wazz'

reminds me of gash and all the other many HORRIBLE Britishisms for lady parts.

'wazz', 'wazzock', 'wazzard', and 'shite' are more Scottish-isms really.

Hard to get worse than clunge imo

sucks to your ass-mar

I love 'slash' he was great in Guns'N'Roses because it really captured the sound and to some extent motion of the action.

Also, no 'wanker'?

AND NO BOLLOCKS

fwiw the OED thinks wazzock is from northern England but origin is unclear. I always thought it came from the west country!

Do Britishes snort queues of cocaine?

HORRIBLE Britishisms for lady parts.

Is 'gash' a Britishism? I've heard that for ages.

I used "wazzock" and "shite" in the Midlands.

pillock >>> wazzock

Also "prannet".

Pillock is an excellent word; better than oaf or churl even.

I always thought 'wassock' was West Country. There's also 'pillock'. Prannet - yes, this too! (xp)

Had aged British neighbour for the 10 years before I moved to London and since he was really old, we got lashings of between-the-wars public schoolboy/Oxbridge slang eg. 'wizard' and archaic UK terms for erections eg. 'stand'. After two decades in London I have British sentence structure (where you say 'as well' instead of 'also') and it is THAT which confuses Minnesotans into asking if I'm English sometimes. FYI British people now use 'you're welcome' as standard whereas back in the day, it was considered an appalling Americanism so I trained myself to say 'no problem' or '(a) pleasure' instead.

SEMINAL TEXT: the c. 1984 Star Hits (US Smash Hits) British slang glossary that introduced 'wanker' to my peer group.

HORRIBLE Britishisms for lady parts.

Is 'gash' a Britishism? I've heard that for ages.

Was used in this manner on the season premiere of "Family Guy."

i would feel like a right spanner if i ever used the word 'prannet'

'wizard' is due for a revival

it is almost christmas

I thought both Lurgee and Helter Skelter were words made up for the songs, though. I did find out about HS a few years back. IME in Toronto, most waitresses say cheers when they give us drinks at our trivia night. We like to mix it up. My husband 'queues' but I would likely 'line up,' however his family is a lot more educated than mine so it seems natural from him and not too pretentious (I may be biased. Though I do tease him from time to time.)

ENBB: legend = "beauty!" :D or at least it sounds like the same term I would use. Heh.

http://images.wikia.com/southpark/images/1/1d/Ministermovies.png future canadian hoos??

Only just thought: is "whizzer!" from "wizard!"? Or different derivations?

Also, lol Nick.

lol Lex, beauty must be a Canadianism cause I've never heard anyone say that!

HORRIBLE Britishisms for lady parts.

Is 'gash' a Britishism? I've heard that for ages.

Was used in this manner on the season premiere of "Family Guy."

― C-3PO Sharkey (Phil D.), Wednesday, October 17, 2012 1:19 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

As a Britishism you mean?

I've never heard an American say gash in that context. TBH I don't think I'eve ever heard a British person actually say it either but it was definitely either over there or from one that I first heard it at all.

xxxxxps - Clunge is awful. It might even be worse than ew ew ew minge.

minge sounds like mange and it's just not good at all

^Yep. 'You beauty' is yelled by drunk men when a ball is kicked into a net. 'You legend' is, to drunks, the man who kicks it.

I would argue that the first British slang song for the US market is this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpXcSN_6K-4

quite often hear 'gash' used to mean waste or in bad condition or useless

xp aww crap I just looked it up and "beauty" is from Bob & Doug

me, yesterday:
http://vreaa.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/bobanddoug1.jpg

/hoser

minge sounds like mange and it's just not good at all

OTM

is wizard ever said by britishes over the age of ~14 ?

hear 'beauty' from hockey players too

As a Britishism you mean?

I've never heard an American say gash in that context.

No, as a ladyparts dysphemism. Or, actually, both that and referring-to-a-woman-by-her-genitals.

Peter is attacked by a mob and someone hits him in the head with a bottle. They go to the hospital and the following conversation takes place (roughly, from memory):

Doctor: Oh, you're Peter Griffin, that guy who ruined TV shows. I can't treat you.
Peter: But doc, you gotta do something about this nasty gash!
Doctor (turns to Lois): What seems to be the problem with her?

After two decades in London I have British sentence structure (where you say 'as well' instead of 'also') and it is THAT which confuses Minnesotans into asking if I'm English sometimes

I think this happens to a lot of people and don't know if it's avoidable. Living with an English person for the better part of the last decade I know for a fact that while I don't have an accent there are certain structural things that I do that are distinctly British. I think that my phrasing and inflection have probably changed to relect his a bit too.

lol Lex

minge mange

just ... no

I've got seasonal allergies, never had the lurgy

pip pip cheerio newsie wewsies

and suddenly things come full circle as the first thing I posted today was in response to someone asking about what merkins were used for

moist minge

STOP IT RIGHT NOW

Really old mad scientists? That's who used wizard around me. xp

ENBB, my mom absolutely rips the piss out of me for saying 'as well' in addition to the content used in the rest of the sentence. But she knows 'wanker' now, so we're all good.

Canadian 'beauty' is 'beauty, eh?' but as Canada is Commonwealth let's assume it came from the same place as their word spellings.

A Republican called David Minge ran for Congress in MN and the stack of flyers I took back to London to show people caused great amusement.

Americans still don't really say "boffins" although I've heard people try to make it catch on

haha i was just gonna bring up david minge, i remember seeing his name on popbitch!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Minge

(he was a blue dog, btw)

It's true that we append the almighty 'eh?' to a lot of things but beauty is just beauty unless you are looking for confirmation from a fellow hoser.

so "I'm hungry as well as tired" is a British structure? huh

Supposedly British terms from the BBC and NYT articles that I've heard all my life in America:

autumn
bum (buttocks)
cheeky
gobsmacked (there has been a candy called "Gobsmackers" as long as i can remember)
knickers
a coffee (what else has it ever been called?)
proper
queue
roundabout (only in the northeast US do i hear these called "rotaries")
ring (as in make a phone call)
sussed
have a look (this is super-common)
posh
rubbish
twit

Words I only started hearing in the US in the last 10-15 years, but are now common:

holiday (as in vacation)
kit (as in equipment)
brilliant
innit
mobile (phone)
shag
cheers
flat (except for some reason in San Francisco where apartments have always been called "flats")

"Mate" I always thought was distinctly Australian

Some of these terms, like "loo" or "chap" have always had an American presense but are less commonly used here - for example, I think of "fortnight" as an alternate way to describe a 14-day period, but I'm more likely to say and hear "two weeks", whereas in the UK "fortnight" seems to be the default. However, I've completely rejected the incredibly clunky Americanism "bi-weekly" in favor of "fortnightly" which is much more elegant, even though i rarely hear it in the US.

Most people here would just say hungry and tired. As well as does scan as British to me, yeah.

I would say "let's get coffee" not "let's have a coffee"

lol and where exactly was this little England where you grew up?

yeah nobody here would say "let's have a coffee".

coffee isn't quantifiable, it's ever-flowing and a state of being, not a commodity

let's get coffee
wanna grab some coffee
let's meet over coffee

Do you want coffee?
Want a cup of coffee?

Never "a coffee".

It's "take a look"

And nobody has said "roundabout" for the most part because the US has about one per billion people, although they're installing 3 (!) on the road I work on, so they're apparently catching on.

gobsmacked (there has been a candy called "Gobsmackers" as long as i can remember)

you are thinking of gobstoppers

I thought rotaries were called traffic circles everywhere else aside from here in the NE.

I honestly don't think an American would say roundabout. If they did it would seem unnatural.

I have never heard them called anything but "traffic circle," both in Cleveland and in Washington, DC, where they are abundant.

A coffee is bought in a cafe. Coffee is something your host/ess offers you, most likely in quantites exceeding one cup.

wow I have never heard the word rotary except for w/r/t phones! Crazy.

I remember being really confused by "rotary" when I moved to Boston though I'm struggling to remember what they are in NY. I think traffic circle. Right?

ok yes, traffic circle

I do hear people say "I'm going over to Starbucks to get a coffee," though. It's not that unusual.

a CUP of coffee is bought in a cafe not just a coffee

kit (as in equipment)

no fucking way.

I never realised Americans didn't say 'sussed'. It's ingrained in my brain as "To be sussed is a must, but remember sex under 16 is illegal!"

although they're installing 3 (!) on the road I work on,

The Basingstoke of the West.

traffic circle is in the realm of bready stacks to me

although roundabout is hardly un-whimsical I suppose

let's have a cuppa joe

had no idea that 'wizard' existed outside of the 'Jennings...' books of the 50s/60s

'wazz', 'wazzock', 'wazzard', and 'shite' are more Scottish-isms really

Wazzock's English not Scottish. A Scottishism is a Britishism.

How is Autumn a British word? Bizarre. I use fall most of the time, but I don't associate autumn with being a Britishism. My childhood best friend was named Autumn.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/58/Magic_Roundabout_Schild_db.jpg/640px-Magic_Roundabout_Schild_db.jpg

that is fucked up

x-psot It is insofar as I think most British people would use autumn exclusively. Is that right, guys?

You just would never really say "fall" when referencing the season?

if you listen to americans living near where a normal-style roundabout (traffic circle) is being installed, you would believe no one will ever figure out how to use it properly and there will be accidents

that magic roundabout is obviously a deathtrap

I say both but def use fall way more often.

Wait wasn't the magic roundabout a show or something?

"Fall" sounds poetic this side of the pond

when i speak of the fall, people know i mean... the fall of man

just imagining talking to some britishes and theyre all i hear youre saying all our words now and im like huh and theyre all yeah this bbc piece said you say and they give some examples and and im all yeah i dont know dude do u guys say dude

xxxp yes
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e9/Swindon-Magic-Roundabout.svg/500px-Swindon-Magic-Roundabout.svg.png
Like a planetary gear, but with cars...

dudies wodies

Autumn is never fall here, no. Although the knowledge that fall is the American way of saying it is widespread enough that "spring forward, fall back" is a useful way of remembering the clock changes.

xposts

My GPS satnav always calls those circular roadways "roundabouts", and since there's one at the end of my street I hear that alot. "Traffic circle" is reserved for a larger circle that's an actual street, like Dupont Circle in DC.

Am I the only American that listens to British music? I mean, anyone who's heard the Beatles, Stones, or Who for the last 40 years has heard "knickers" and "sussed" and "queue".

ENBB yeah, we wouldn't say fall.
In the US you can go out in your vest and pants and it's not weird btw

jesus christ are there stops anywhere in that mess?

Oh man the vest/pants thing is very confusing!

"Fancy, as in I really fancy a pint." Paul W, New York City, US

uh, we've heard that music, Lee, but do you use those words daily? hearing a british person sing the word isn't the same as americans using the word in common conversation, unless you've been conversing with your radio

Am I the only American that listens to British music? I mean, anyone who's heard the Beatles, Stones, or Who for the last 40 years has heard "knickers" and "sussed" and "queue".

― Lee626, Wednesday, October 17, 2012 1:57 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

No. We're talking about in real life not in music. Duh.

Sorry - I think my blood sugar is low or something. I am cranky.

autumn - nonsense
bum (buttocks) - a bum is a hobo
cheeky - and related 'cheek' may be known but aren't used much
gobsmacked (there has been a candy called "Gobsmackers" as long as i can remember) - Again, I've known it for ages but it's not American
knickers - When I was a kid, I had knickers. They were knee-pants we wore when cross-country skiing.
a coffee (what else has it ever been called?)
proper - Different usage between us and it's more literal I assume in US. We're never likely to give you a proper beating but it is in the Gettysburg Address.
queue - It's not a verb in the US or only very recently.
roundabout (only in the northeast US do i hear these called "rotaries") - That's what we call them in CA but there aren't a whole lot.
ring (as in make a phone call) - 'Ring' sounds archaic. 'Ring up' sounds British to me.
sussed - I read this but never heard it in the US
have a look (this is super-common) - Ppl def say this here
posh - Is there any less posh adjective than posh?
rubbish - As an exclamation, it's entirely Brit. It's almost always 'trash' or 'garbage' here.
twit - Not common in Am Eng.

I feel like years of reading British novels or histories and watching British comedies and listening to albums and visiting have blurred my Brit/American divide linguistically at a personal level but most of the above are predominantly British.

It is insofar as I think most British people would use autumn exclusively. Is that right, guys?

Ah, okay. Autumn isn't as commonly used as fall in the U.S., but it's always been in usage.

Oh man the vest/pants thing is very confusing!

One time at work an American colleague said out loud "man, I need to buy some new pants!", oh how we laughed!

Michael White otm

Yeah, yeah. Same thing happened to me at work over there when I referenced my wool pants. HILARITY ENSUED.

what's a vest?

undershirt

also, apparently referencing your underwear isn't seen as odd in england, just hilarious

olde timey new englanders call garbage rubbish fwiw m8

yeah MW otm but I'm still not giving you "a coffee". It's used but not in the same way or with the same frequency as it is over there.

Autumn Leaves was a Johnny Mercer song.

Fall is from the UK orig, it just went out of favor there and stayed in, here. But then that's probably true of all of these that aren't made up/Scottish?

old timey new englanders also call milkshakes cabinets so clearly they are insane

A vest is a tank top in the UK.

"tank top" is pretty funny when you think about it. what did we call them before WW2?

go down cellah erica

lol what

xp re "cabinets"

or an undershirt

What we call vests they call waistcoats. I think.

britishers: an example please directing how to properly use the word 'kit', tyia

I called a 14 year old tomboy "spunky" in front of her parents in Great Yarmouth (I was staying with them) when I was 15. There were about 15 seconds of silence before they sussed out I was speaking American.

massive gobshite

lol what

xp re "cabinets"

― fish frosch (seandalai), Wednesday, October 17, 2012 2:04 PM (3 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I KNOW.

I actually think this might be a Rhode Island thing in particular. It was very confusing a couple weeks ago to see "cabinets" on the menu at an ice cream place. I mean COME ON NOW, cabinets?

our tank tops are your... sleeveless jumpers, sorry, sweaters?
Actually I think I've always assumed sweated vests are tank tops but I guess not?
IT'S A MINEFIELD

oh yeah never call anyone spunky

xxxxxp "my football kit is in the wash"

mostly they call milkshakes frappes tho

Oh yeah that's right. They call tank tops vests and use the term tank top to describe sweater vests!

I mean, unless...

xx-p

Yeah, I'm used to frappes by now though. Cabinets is a whole other level.

britishers: an example please directing how to properly use the word 'kit', tyia

I need a van to move my kit
Grab your kit and let's go to the gym

Fall is from the UK orig, it just went out of favor there and stayed in, here. But then that's probably true of all of these that aren't made up/Scottish?

― purveyor of generations (in orbit), Wednesday, October 17, 2012 7:03 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think this is true of quite a lot of differences, yeah. Pretty sure, for instance, 'faucet' was once in use over here. Have you guys changed to 'taps' yet?

a tank top is like a tshirt but with a scoop neck and no sleeves

xps just never call anyone spunky on any continent

more xps that is so stupid why would wear a sweater in a tank?? it's fucking hot in there.

Nope to taps.

Though we do say "tap water" when describing water that comes out of the sink.

britishers: an example please directing how to properly use the word 'kit', tyia

What do you mean? Like "get your kit off, darling?"

we might say "the faucet" or "drink from the tap" interchangeably, but tap isn't likely to ever be plural, mostly because a single faucet is more common on american sinks

xxxp so that you will sweat and feel cool, duh

ty britishers

BTW that 5-roundabouts-in-one up there is from XTC's hometown and probably has a little something to do with the song English Roundabout.

I went round it on my 4th driving lesson. 8 years later I still can't legally drive...

(you can go clockwise round the outside edges in the usual roundabout manner but if you go more than two exits you find yourself going anticlockwise round the inner big circle as well as clockwise round the small outer circles </confuse-a-cat>)

I think taps v faucet is a regionalism here.

yeah MW otm but I'm still not giving you "a coffee".

I'm not sure I'm all that interested in a coffee in Britain anyway. My point was that in AM Eng, a coffee, more often than not, is a single takeaway cup. If we were to meet at a cafe, we'd likely 'get coffee'. If we stopped en route somehwere else, we'd 'get a coffee'. I think it's pretty similar in French: Voulez-vous du cafe? vs Vous voulez un cafe?

anticlockwise <-- britishism

we say counterclockwise

British tank tops:
http://www.patternsgalore.co.uk/images/samples/298%20jpeg.jpg

I've been slowly trying to incorporate the British pronunciations of 'urinal' and 'debris' into my regular usage. "Excuse me, Mr. Weatherbee, but it appears you left some DEB-ree in the yoo-RYE-nal."

my biggest ever who's on first moment in regards to UK v US terminology was when I went to the store (sorry, shop) with a friend to get a pudding to bring to a dinner party and was very very confused when she headed for the cakes. But I thought we were supposed to bring pudding? That's right, so which cake do you think we should get? But, that's not pudding! . . .

I usually get tap water in restaurants in SF but I assume it comes from a faucet.

uh, we've heard that music, Lee, but do you use those words daily?

I learned lots of words from songs when I was growing up, and I didn't usually think to myself "hey, that singer's from another country, I shouldn't say everything I hear in the song". Certainly I used "queue" all my life and never thought of it as a British term.

I probably picked up a dozen Britishisms from Beatles songs alone, like "when I call you up/the line's engaged" - I said "engaged" for years before I realized that most of my fellow Americans referred to an in-use phone line as "busy" rather than "engaged". Now I rarely hear either of those terms anymore since call waiting is ubiquitous.

ime, when an American uses a specifically british slang expression, such as 'posh' or 'knickers', they do it not out of admiration and emulation, but in order to sound cute and funny, and to show off their command of such quaint sayings.

I like that the guy in the tank top can't even bear to look at the camera.

do britishes say "swanky"?

I was thinking about busy signals the other day because a friend pointed out to me that ppl who are kids now will never have heard them. So weird!

Lee, I hate to tell you this, but people have thought you were putting on an affectation

swank magazines

I want to post the guy from Great British Bake-Off re tank tops but I haven't seen the final yet so don't know if he won and don't wanna spoiler :(

swanky
skanky
manky
wanky

Yes to swanky

lanky
we say em all

swanky/skanky are used, but probably not in the same way?

well they mean different things if that's what you mean

also if Britishers could help me out here - I've always found that 'Uranus' is hard to wrap my lips around. if you could tell me how Britishers make the sound of 'Uranus' that would be really helpful. tyia

OO rah nos

The very first question asked of my by an Englishman outside of the transport services on my first visit was, "Oi, mate, spare a fag?" I was somehat nonplssed to have been taken for a teenage pimp of homosexuals.

mh, i wasn't, at least not in that way. I should perhaps note I have lots of British and Canadian relatives who exposed me to lots of non-American terms and phrases

I love Uranus!

oh yeah never call anyone spunky

This word has always sounded weird and wrong to me even before I knew the other meaning for it.

Pronunciation of Uranus = Depends on if you're looking to get a laugh out of it or not

The very first question asked of my by an Englishman outside of the transport services on my first visit was, "Oi, mate, spare a fag?" I was somehat nonplssed to have been taken for a teenage pimp of homosexuals.

― The windiest militant trash (Michael White), Wednesday, October 17, 2012 7:15 PM (26 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Oh, this old thing. Just gonna shoot outside and smoke a fag, okay?

your anus
urine us

See, fag is one I think I def knew before because of music.

can I bum a fag?

etc.

speaking of fags

Ordering by the number of cigarettes is something that English people do here that can be pretty funny since we don't ever do that. I've seen some very confused looks from cashiers when friends/family ask for 20 Marlboro lights.

You mean, you want 20 packs?

See also the public (meaning private) school meaning of 'fag'.

public v private school - ALSO VERY CONFUSING

A lot of bumming of fags goes on at Engoish public schools

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fagging

that swindon roundabout is gash, the plough roundabout in hemel has got six mini ones.

I was fifteen and I might have heard "fag" for cigarette but I somehow didn't quite entirely believe it or something. Tbf, I was having more difficulty with the accents than I had expected.

Not to be confused with...
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2403/2095637224_7dba59cff1.jpg

also confusing, from what I understand the terms "real estate" and just "estate" are roughly reversed in the US and UK in some instances

I'd never heard that ordering of cigarettes by number thing! Is it a differentiation between a size of packs or something?

yes - cigarettes are usually sold in packs of 10 or 20.

Yes. In England they do packs of 10 and packs of 20 so you ask for them by number to indicate which you'd like. "Could I have 10 Camel Lights".

hence the band name Ten Benson

I don't smoke anymore (mostly) but I always really wished they sold them by 10 here too.

Wow, I've never started smoking because buying 20 seems like quite a commitment, but if it was just 10 of them...

many xps re roundabouts

jesus christ are there stops anywhere in that mess?

― there is no dana, only (goole), Wednesday, October 17, 2012 5:57 PM (18 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

No stops as such, you just give way to traffic entering from your right.

I haven't seen an appreciable rise in the use of "fanny" to refer to privy parts, hereabouts.

Or "snog", for that matter.

kind of seems like it's another way to take advantage of people being poor, I'd bet the price for a 10 pack is more than half that of a 20

x-posts - But fanny already means butt here.

'liquor' in the context of 'pie, mash & liquor'

Or "snog", for that matter.

― ‽ Interrobang You're Dead ‽ (Sanpaku), Wednesday, October 17, 2012 2:27 PM (57 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This film got considerable play on one of the kid's cable channels. Nickelodeon or Disney.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angus,_Thongs_and_Perfect_Snogging

Only multi-millionaires can afford to smoke manufactured cigarettes these days. I'm a good few years on the rollies now.

also confusing, from what I understand the terms "real estate" and just "estate" are roughly reversed in the US and UK in some instances

― Lee626, Wednesday, October 17, 2012 7:24 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Not sure about this. Don't think we ever use 'real estate', to be honest, though I might be wrong. You go to an estate agent to look for a place to buy or rent, but you can also live on an estate (private plot with big house and gardens/land) if you're rich or an estate (group of houses/blocks of flats, often with many council houses) if you're poor.

x-post - Yeah. Never used here. Is that used everywhere in the UK though? That seems sorta regional or maybe specific to a certain kind of sauce.

oops that was wrt liquor

man this thread is great for an afternoon when I've already decided I'm doing literally NO WORK

I never heard 'ginger' as a kid, though, admittedly, Ginger on Gilligan's Island was redheaded. It seems to be ubiquitous now. Is this Harry Potter related?

xp u skiver

'pie, mash & liquor'

Never heard of this

The different UK/US meanings of 'pissed'. UK 'pissed' = drunk, US 'pissed' = angry.

OH GOOD ONE

I always thought of that as a particularly British thing. Never heard it used at all until I met RS. People here now use it a lot and it sounds very strange to me. STOP IT LADY YOU'RE FROM WORCESTER AND I DON'T MEAN THE ONE IN ENGLAND.

'liquor' is the green stuff - a sauce made from parsley and the water used to boil eels
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Pieandmashthumb1.jpg

I think pie/mash/liquor is an East End thing?

Well it's not ventured too far out of the East End!

I suspect you'd get liquor at the same sort of place you'd get jellied eels.

Neeps & tatties

Yeah, I only heard of it for the first time a couple of years ago. Definitely not a UK-wide phenomenon.

mate is one of the greatest words in the world

turnips and potatoes, yeah?

is that a regional thing too though?

Scottish. You don't want to start on Scottish cuisine... or eat it any of it for that matter

xp yes and yes (Scotland mainly)
oh, and more UK/US confusion - 'pasties'

pasties here go on your tits

Neeps & tatties is Scottish, I believe. But that's travelled better, as I heard it when I was but a wee nipper, despite not living in a place where it was common parlance.

pasties there are delicious

could murder a munchie box right now

Crumpets/ muffins = we've done this at some length before

Also biscuits/cookies! And waffles! Argh the terrible confusion.

WAIT

what is a waffle over there?

US chips = UK crisp
UK chips = US fries (well sort of, because UK fries = US fries)

what words has white america exported to england?

A lot of these foodstuffs are different in different parts of the UK, let alone the US

Michael White you might have hit the nail on the head in terms of ginger coming from Harry Potter. I've never read/seen any of them but that one kid's a read head, right? That has to explain it.

ogmor - dude

"real estate" and just "estate"

As in you buy a house from an estate agent but "real estate" in the UK generally refers to the land rather than (or in addition to) the properties on them, whereas in the US you go to a "realtor" to buy a house? That sort of makes sense to me but I know basically nothing about such things.

Also, if "specialty" is American for "speciality", shouldn't "realty" be equivalent to "reality"? I think I need to go to a reality agent.

Waffle's are small mammals.

oh I have a good one "emo" but the way English ppl use it is hilarious

We had this discussion elsewhere. South Park had a big episode with Cartman mocking gingers

Birdseye potato waffles, they're waffly versatile:
http://www.jackfrostdirect.com/prod_cat2/images/ABPW__________wi640he480moletterboxbgwhite.jpg

re: traffic circle, one time I told a britisher that this is what we call roundabouts and he didn't believe me, like it was too ridiculous to be a thing anyone would say

re: helter skelter, when I finally learned what this actually was I was pretty disappointed. it looks like the runt of all fairground rides ever. zzz

also, pancakes. ppl in the UK call crepes pancakes. WHY

xp grill 'em bake 'em fry 'em 'eat em

There was a group of emos on the other side of the street.
I was stood next to two emos.

They can be cooked in the toaster (unofficially), you know.

also, pancakes. ppl in the UK call crepes pancakes. WHY

This is a good one.

Pankcake day was not what I expected. Don't get me wrong, it was still awesome but I felt I'd been mislead.

also, pancakes. ppl in the UK call crepes pancakes. WHY

No, we don't. Our pancakes are slightly thicker than crepes. Your pancakes are giant stodgy monstrosities.

Don't forget the crepes on Jif Lemon Day.

or the creeps even

Oh c'mon, yours are basically crepes.

xxxxp The box even says NOT to cook in the toaster! We always do anyway.

(I figure it has something to do with ice shavings melting, shorting your toaster and setting your kitchen on fire, but I dunno)

Surely that should be .gif Lemon Day?

xpost

The ones I ate were definitely pretty much crepes

was I doing it wrong?

dude has not been fully naturalized imo

I was totally disappointed when I went to an ~International House of Pancakes~ and realised that American pancakes are more like what Britishers call Scotch pancakes or drop scones.

If you were then the people who made the ones I had were doing it wrong too.

UK pancakes have to be thicker then crepes but not as thick as US pancakces, IMO

xxxxxp PNG Lemon Day?

then let us redub them PANCREPES

Maybe they seem like crepes to use in comparison because I do see what Emily's saying, they are a bit thicker. They're very similar to German pancakes which are a bit thicker than crepes but much thinner and floppier than American pancakes.

Pretty sure the French would be madder than the Brits at Brit pancakes being called crepes. They're both a gazillion times thinner than US/Canadian pancakes, but there is a noticeable difference.

xp: lol, pancrepes. I like it.

its all pancakes m8

The French can suck it.

Do American pancakes ever work with savoury stuff? I much prefer pancakes/crepes with tomato ragout or ham'n'cheese to ones with sugar or honey...

pancakes + maple syrup + bacon and sausages

Argh, of course - that still incorporates a sweet taste into the mix, though, but yeah, only in the same sort of way that you get apple sauce with pork, I imagine?

People eat sausages and bacon on the side but you would never have savory pancakes using our kind the way you're thinking of, em.

There was a group of emos on the other side of the street.
I was stood next to two emos.

― (✿◠‿◠) (ENBB), Wednesday, October 17, 2012 2:41 PM (18 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

They can be cooked in the toaster (unofficially), you know.

― 'uckin' leg-end (snoball), Wednesday, October 17, 2012 2:42 PM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Good lord, that's barbaric.

I make cornbread pancakes sometimes to go with chili, no sweets.

That sounds good. Our cornbread is still considered sweet to them though. Lee's dad (who hates sweets) once tasted some and was like that's not bread, that's cake!

true southern cornbread is savoury though, innit?

like it's made with no sugar and salt and bacon fat.

I was were stood next to two emos.

― (✿◠‿◠) (ENBB), Wednesday, October 17, 2012 2:41 PM (18 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

much better.

Huh, interesting! This one was def not that kind.

'was stood' is my absolute least favourite britishism ever, I want to punch anyone who uses this construction

a close second is 'whilst'

I should just give up my uk citizenship now shouldn't I

hahaha

Was stood still sounds really weird to me, yeah. This might be a regional thing but "Give it me" instead of "give it to me" drives me a little nuts.

'bugger'

What do you guys say instead of "I was stood" or "he/she/it was stood"?

athwart

was standing

hark

one Americanism i really hate is 'on accident'

do british people say "dude" or "like"

xp

I *think* there's a distinction:
was standing = had decided to stand there themselves
was stood = had been placed there by someone else.

I feel that I start all my sentences off by saying "dude, like, dude"

'crikey'

"bruv, like, bruv,"

xp
only Australians say crikey.

Oh shit, I hate on accident so much. Also standing on line instead of in line (as mentioned upthread), but nothing makes me want to smash stuff as much as on accident.

And yes, I say both 'like' and 'dude'.

that's the distinction I make, thomasintrouble. xpost emily, 'was standing' or just 'stood' without the 'was'

'blimey'
'guvnor' / 'guv'

emil.y do british ppl say those words in every sentence

Cripes criminy chim chim chiree.

xposts: not, like, every sentence, dude, but, like, a fair few.

i noticed a lot of "bro"-ing in four lions, but no "bro"-ing in nathan barley. did the bro-ification of UK happen recently?

what about being stood up?

one Americanism i really hate is 'on accident'

― Number None, Wednesday, October 17, 2012 3:15 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is not an americanism, ive honestly never heard anybody say this.

If if they have they are an idiot. It's "by accident"

The thing is that you would never hear an American "I was stood". Not in a million years.

xp Philip, yes, UK culture is entirely homogenous, we get ificated en masse.

have we talked about how british ppl pronounce taco

I feel like 'was standing', 'was stood' and 'stood' are all slightly different tenses with everso teeny connotational differences. But then language changes kind of mean that those get smoothed over and everything can be interchangeable.

I hate how they pronounce taco. Also pasta.

and yogurt

TACK-O

fuckin redcoats

According to Barratt's study, use of the two different versions appears to be distributed by age. Whereas on accident is common in people under 35, almost no one over 40 says on accident. Most older people say by accident. It's really amazing: the study says that “on is more prevalent under age 10, both on and by are common between the ages of 10 and 35, and by is overwhelmingly preferred by those over 35.”

you're old Bill (another Britishism)

for my job i have to write the british way and i make EVERY "-ize" verb into "-ise" but i don't think it actually holds true in all cases and it keeps me up (at) night(s)

wait, what does "I was stood' mean

If if they have they are an idiot. It's "by accident"

There's a really clear age gap (I want to say 24-25 years old right now) where people under the age say "on accident" and those older say "by accident".

I AM UNDER 35 (barely but still) and say by accident so nurrrrrrr.

we have probably talked about this before too a great many times, but e.g. Carlito's Way will never not crack me up when they start talking about picking up that one guy from the water by the boo-ey

I discovered the taco difference in another thread recently, but... pasta? How do you pronounce pasta? Surely not payst-ah? Pay-star? Past-ay?

ah xp'd to the actual science

They use it to mean I was standing. For example if I were English and recounting a tale about something that happened while I was waiting in line at the PO I might say.

Earlier I was stood in line next to quite a character.

Ive seriously never heard "on accident".

Also any American who uses "whilst" should be shot.

x-post - or something like that

I would say that I did something "ON" purpose but "BY" accident.

I *think* there's a distinction:
was standing = had decided to stand there themselves
was stood = had been placed there by someone else.

― thomasintrouble, Wednesday, October 17, 2012 7:16 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It has been explained to me by a native Britisher that these are actually synonymous in his dialect. I'd make the same distinction that you do.

"I was stood in good stead" - like this?

we have probably talked about this before too a great many times, but e.g. Carlito's Way will never not crack me up when they start talking about picking up that one guy from the water by the boo-ey

― jiff boycott (NickB), Wednesday, October 17, 2012 3:24 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, Lee hates when I say boo-ey.

I was stood in good stead on the stool by a stooge?

xp emily, it's parstah - a pronunciation shared by my very old, very upper-middle, and very english grandma.

WHAT? THERE IS NO R!!

what the fuck? how am i sposed to pronounce taco?

pahsta maybe? I can't work out how to spell it phonetically.

TAHCO

Now that we're talking about this and I'm conscious of what I'm writing the way I just used "work out" sounds really British. Weird. I should have said figure out.

oh yeah that would make no sense in a rhotic accent :-) pahstah, then with the first ah longer than the second. damn, YOU explain it.

never mind, Forvo is awesome.

so we apparently pronounce it like Mexicans do. now forgive me if i'm wrong but

pahstah, then with the first ah longer than the second

Yes! That's good!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX18yNwqnMg

weird al is a pretty good guide to pronouncing anything.

http://www.forvo.com/word/taco/#es

contains sample of a nice Mexican lady saying it wrong, apparently

'whilst' is dying out. you don't ever hear it on the west coast.

pronounce taco like an american

^^^ new board description please

The park bench was stood on end and we had to right it before we could sit down.

u guys appear to be serially incapable of pronouncing Nietzsche and Van Gogh, i don't think i'll defer on the taco ish

I've never heard an American say "whilst" and if I did I think I'd react like Diedrich Bader does in Office Space when Peter asks him if anyone at his office ever says they have a "case of the Mondays".

britishers, is there a moment of editing where you have to translate Jay-Z to Jay-Zed back to Jay-Zee, or does he fall under a separate language processing realm?

Listen I don't care if it's how the Dutch say it I am never ever going to say VAN GOFF.

this is how the empire started

How do you guys pronounce Nietzsche? I can't hear it in my head.

I worked in a UK law firm and they changed the name of the 'property' dept to the 'real estate' dept. It was quite bizarre, I'm pretty sure no-one really uses that term here

nah Jay-Z is just Jay-Zee but Zed Zed Top was a problem when i was a kid

Neet-shuh. like the Germans do.

Next you're going to try to get us to say "Nike" with out the "e" sound on the end. Savages.

I automatically say jay-zee but only cos i know he was in haysi fantayzee before he went solo

Neet-shuh. like the Germans do.

That's what we say too!

nee-chee

Pasta rhymes with patter btw, at least in my bit of England

i thought Nik-ee was legit tbh, Greek innit?

is Gerdle and Garing how you're supposed to pronounce Gödel and Göering?

more or less yeah

altho Matt Groening threw me when i heard it

Huh - RS said the opposite that they way you say it is legit how it should because of the Greek.

Addy-dass

anyway i will rep again for Forvo

http://www.forvo.com/

it's one of my fave websites

xxxp Göering is more Gerring I thought.

Wait never mind I just called to check and he said you're right. The e part should actually be pronounced. I had it wrong.

umlauted "o" is somewhere between air and oor i think

Addy Dass is more correct though cause wasn't the guy who started it named Ady Dassler or something?

Adolf Dassler - yeah so you guys and the rest of the world right on that one.

The French can suck it.

So they can...

I kind of loathe the Anglo-American tendancy to make everything too big and too soft; fries (chips), pancakes, bread. It's as if they preferred their starch to be baby/elderly friendly as opposed to optimal.

Oh wait - I'm confusing myself now. Do you say Addidas like us or Addy Dass like they do in Europe?

x-post - I was kidding! I prefer crepes and frites any day fwiw.

ö

Round your lips to see 'oh' but say the 'u' in but instead.

I am now trying to sing Run–D.M.C's My Addidas but pronouncing it the Euro way. It's sort of impossible. Also, hilarious.

yeah we say Addydass mostly unless we are listening to Run DMC

VAN GOFF

More like Fahn Khokhkhkh

Yes, that.

Addy Dass

Actually, we say All Day I Dream About Sex instead.

Dutch mostly sounds like someone trying to hock up a loogie interspersed with really off vowels to my ear.

Listen I don't care if it's how the Dutch say it I am never ever going to say VAN GOFF.

The Dutch way is more like "f'n hhhHHHOkhhhhhh" iirc and nobody who isn't Dutch should ever want to make that noise.

Also not gonna pronounce the Dutch hairball noise in M C Escher, totally happy to pretend his name in German, thanks.

(xps)

...though I do take some pleasure in saying "Howkhins" when everyone else is saying "Hoygins" for Huygens, but I suspect the "uy" sound was completely different in the C17th

http://www.wimp.com/betpronounce/

don't even get me started on pronunciation...

state-us

singa-PORE

would you like some hot SAUCE on on your ta-coe?

seriously, they say hot SAUCE. it's amazing.

?

Wait - Tracer, who? And sauce as opposed to what?!

emphasis thing

they say hot SAUCE instead of HOT sauce

or maybe he means they say SAUCE instead of BEEF INJECTION, I dunno

no, yeah, DJP's got it

when you add in the way the short o and the au is pronounced it's just this delicious thing

ha right, I get it

I don't think RS does that anymore wrt hot sauce but if I think about how people say brown sauce I totally get what you mean.

emphasis shd be on "beef" in "hot BEEF injection"

oi

Re: 'pasta'

British say /pæstə/ (using the /æ/ sound in 'cat').
Americans say /pɑ:stə/ (using the /ɑ:/ sound in 'father' (and 'car' if you're British (and 'last' if you're from the south of England))
Italians say /pasta/ (using the /a/ sound which we don't have, but is somewhere between southern English /ʌ/ sound in 'cut' and /æ/ sound in 'cat')
The American /æ/ seems to be higher and closer to the /e/ sound (to British ears), which probably makes the Italian/Spanish /a/ sound seem lower to them.

american pastaral

has "hasta la pasta" or "hasta la bye-bye" made it to UK shores yet?

My general rule of thumb when speaking any foreign word (Italian, Japanese, whatever) is to pronounce "a" like "father" rather than "cat." To my ears, the British/Canadian pronunciation of "pasta" seems parochial.

tahmahgotchi?

Americans don't seem to have the word 'faff' which is o_O because it's such a great word

american 'pawstaw' sounds forced imo

faff is a good word and no we don't have it

I have no spent nearly the entire afternoon faffing about on this thread. Pretty impressive imo.

where did 'phwoar' come from, and why is it phwoar and not fwar?

cos it has an o in it

it's the correct face to make when saying it imo, without the :o it wouldn't work

fnarr

is it greek in origin? why the 'ph' for phwoar but 'f' for faff?

the 'ph' comes from the high alkali levels in the cliffs of dover

i don't know if Kenneth Connor invented it but the absence of good Youtube clips of him saying it is a disgrace tbh

big bottom birds

phwoaring

Don't think we ever use 'real estate', to be honest, though I might be wrong. You go to an estate agent to look for a place to buy or rent, <snip>

― emil.y, Wednesday, October 17, 2012 2:30 PM (1 hour ago)

I worked in a UK law firm and they changed the name of the 'property' dept to the 'real estate' dept. It was quite bizarre, I'm pretty sure no-one really uses that term here

― kinder, Wednesday, October 17, 2012 3:36 PM (52 minutes ago)

Per Wiki:

In British usage, "real property", often shortened to just "property", generally refers to land and fixtures, while the term "real estate" is used mostly in the context of probate law, and means all interests in land held by a deceased person at death

That's what in the US would be referred to as someone's "estate"; a sale of a deceased's belongings, including their home, would be an "estate sale".

From the past 500 or so postings I think it is safe to conmclude that any convergence between British and American slang is marginal at best and most likely a complete illusion.

(dances about like a jackanapes whilst pointing at Britishers)

Can confirm "frocks" was just used in our house

Oddly enough, the one place where there does seem to be some convergence is on ILX itself. Slang terms of British origin seem to often become board memes.

frocks are worn every weekend the weather allows in my house

ilx is pretty marginal, tbh

need to get myself a nice frock coat

haha I'm pretty sure I've said "whilst"

i hear "summer frock" in london, doesn't seem that rare

no surprise there crut, when you changed usernames you easily passed as britcrew imo

britcru obv

it was only a couple of years ago that i realized whilst is assonant with "while" #duh

I heard someone say "snog" a few weeks ago. I blame J.K. Rowling.

'whilst' just looks like an I Pwn Everything abbreviation tbh

In British usage, "real property", often shortened to just "property", generally refers to land and fixtures, while the term "real estate" is used mostly in the context of probate law, and means all interests in land held by a deceased person at death

I tried to make a habit of omitting 'whilst' from my writing and sticking to just 'while', but there's a difference god damnit!

My general rule of thumb when speaking any foreign word (Italian, Japanese, whatever) is to pronounce "a" like "father" rather than "cat."

i would recommend doing the opposite! the japanese "a", like the italian "a", is way way closer to the "a" in "cat" than "father". so too the korean "a". and the javanese "a", for that matter (but not the javanese å or the korean ǒ).

i hear "summer frock" in london, doesn't seem that rare

Were you working at a care home for the over-90s?

Annoying american fashiony girls have started using "frock" on the internet a lot. Sadly.

paleopolice, not only do I disagree (unless your accent is consideably different than mine) but generally non-European languages which adopt the Roman alphabet or adapt it as an alternative to their native or previously adopted one, use the Roman pronunciation which largely carries over into the standard IPA.

Wait, what's wrong with frock? It's a kind of dress.

worn by little old ladies in the 1900s

...use the Roman pronunciation...

which is not the 'a' in 'father' (or in American pasta)

this made me hungry for pancakes

pahncakes

tahmahgotchi?

Yes. Mind you, I don't know if this is actually correct.

which is not the 'a' in 'father' (or in American pasta)

It's pretty similar in my accent

cmon ipa or gtfo

http://ipa.typeit.org/full/

my civic duty is done

worn by little old ladies in the 1900s

I'd argue that a goodly number of summer dresses are frocks.

i would recommend doing the opposite! the japanese "a", like the italian "a", is way way closer to the "a" in "cat" than "father". so too the korean "a". and the javanese "a", for that matter (but not the javanese å or the korean ǒ).

― paleopolice (c sharp major), Wednesday, October 17, 2012 4:54 PM (52 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

in my dialect, at least, the a in cat sounds nothing like the a sound in japanese. here is a recording of a 3 year-old japanese girl singing the japanese syllabary:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrXHizFaol0

pronouncing "cat" like "caught" seems a little posh. or is it r.p.?

you all must pronounce father in a really weird way

never heard it pronounced like that even by uber-poshoes

cat i mean. the "a" sound in that japanese vid sounds pretty close to cat to me

i mean, lol americans i guess? but the "a" of father is to me a million miles from the a of あいうえお

hm.. maybe not cat like caught but cat like cot?

pronouncing "cat" like "caught" seems a little posh. or is it r.p.?

― Philip Nunez, Wednesday, October 17, 2012 11:02 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark

ok so i understand that there is some us thing where like cot/caught/something else all sound super similar? but ppl from the south of england like me pronounce 'caught' as 'cawt' and so your sentence makes 0 sense to me.

sounds closer to rp but still not quite. you have to understand i don't hear much rp in my day to day life

yeah i guess this is partly a cot/caught merger thing. truly, we should all be taught IPA as children.

well i was taught ITA as a children

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initial_Teaching_Alphabet

http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/guides/itaa/images/ITAA00042.jpg

this was my first couple of years of reading

yeesh that looks like irvine welsh.

it was a weird fad thing in the mid-60s to mid-70s. didn't stop me learning to read, i was one of the quickest in the class to go thru the ITA books and then on to Traditional Orthography which i didn't realise at the time was what TO meant. weird i don't remember ever asking either.

that is obviously how noddy holder learnt to read

I tried to make a habit of omitting 'whilst' from my writing and sticking to just 'while', but there's a difference god damnit!

― make like a steak and beef (dog latin), Wednesday, October 17, 2012 4:52 PM

A semantic difference? What is it?

I pronounce 'father' like 'faygo'

is that the way they do it in former british colonies?

yeah i guess this is partly a cot/caught merger thing

Except 'cat' doesn't sound remotely like 'cot' or 'caught'

I tried to make a habit of omitting 'whilst' from my writing and sticking to just 'while', but there's a difference god damnit!

― make like a steak and beef (dog latin), Wednesday, October 17, 2012 4:52 PM

A semantic difference? What is it?

― WmC, Thursday, 18 October 2012 01:54 (10 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It's a more a subtle difference of form. I'm nto enough of a grammarian to explain it properly. It's like the difference between among and amongst I guess. Hold on, I'm at work and I need to think of some examples, but there are definitely moments where I try to write "while" and it doesn't scan well, whereas "whilst" does.

while yr at it see if you can differentiate obliged and obligated
see if you can differentiate obliged and obligated whilst yr at it

i think these intuitions are nonsense i.e. not rule based initially

^

yeah, I'd never say "whilst you're at it". I'd say "I was listening to the radio whilst stuck in traffic the other day. It was playing non-stop all the while."

Except 'cat' doesn't sound remotely like 'cot' or 'caught'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3OkXi5osfU

I've noticed Americans use the present perfect much less than brits, eg "Did you eat?" rather than "Have you eaten?", or "Did you see Avatar?" rather than "Have you seen Avatar?"

That kind of bugged me, it comes across as quite infantile for some reason

Good observation and totally otm.

that is obviously how noddy holder learnt to read

until recently the use of -t rather than -ed to indicate past tense was almost unseen in the US. Still not common.

sometimes when i'm visiting america people think i'm english and start speaking dick van dyke to me, i find it funny, the worse they are at it the better.

americans have done groundskeeper willie voices to me before.

Last time I was in the States everyone thought I was Australian.

a very drunk girl in a bar restroom spoke to me in a faux british accent then took off her glasses to show me they had 'made in france' stamped on them.

chap, did you hear endless complaints about a dingo stealing your baaybee.

that was me, sorry

xpost

oh i didn't mind, i like nonsense.

Me too. Hence our presence on ILX

too right

http://teamsuperforest.org/superforest/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/dick-van-dyke-porpoise-copy.jpg

Oh I thought of something earlier that's more of a usage thing but still interesting. If someone got a new short haircut that looked great I might say to them "Short hair really suits you!" but I've heard British people say "You suit short hair!". Always shounds very strange to my ears.

Ha, it actually looks quite strange written down, but I wouldn't blink at it being spoken. I mean, I guess it makes sense either way - it means all things are in accord with each other aesthetically - but yeah, you'd usually imagine that the human being is the thing that the style is being matched to, rather than the other way round.

@doglatin "while you're at it" and "all the while" are idioms; any place "while" is used generically it's interchangeable with "whilst"

"You suit short hair!" - I think this is regional. I've heard northerners say this, but it sounds weird to me. Same with "give it me" instead of "give me it".

While we're at it, I don't think there's any difference in meaning between among/amongst and while/whilst, I just think the latter is more formal.

On a similar note, "this car needs washing", "this house needs tidying", "his balls need booting" and similar constructions don't get much use in the US.