American/english

[zigs]

No worries, I only eat fish, don't eat land animals.

 

[lemonzest]

My mother tricked me into trying them once. They were deeeeelicious. But she called them "rocky mountain oysters".

 

[TheCrazyPlantLady]

My mother tricked me into trying them once. They were deeeeelicious. But she called them "rocky mountain oysters".

LOL - that's hilarious. I guess the moniker depends on whereabouts in cattle country you are

 

[gata montes]

Oh, now you have to watch out, for offers of both "prairie oysters" and "rocky mountain oysters" depending on which part of the country the cattle come or which part of the country you are visiting. No amount of e's in delicious, is ever going to convince me that this delicacy, is at all likeable


Heres another UK / US translation for you - braces = suspenders

In the UK - braces are known as something, if you look at Zigs's avatar, that men hold their trousers up with.

These are known as suspenders in the US and would translate in the UK to something that women hold their stockings up with.

 

[RomanAnthonysMama]

They call cigarettes fags still in England? That's so interesting! Around here that word is awful, so we'd get shunned for saying it. I think it's kind of like how here, gimmies means sprinkles on your ice cream, but in southern states it is another word for a condom! I'd be so embarrassed if I asked for that on top of my ice cream!

 

[TheCrazyPlantLady]

They call cigarettes fags still in England? That's so interesting! Around here that word is awful, so we'd get shunned for saying it. I think it's kind of like how here, gimmies means sprinkles on your ice cream, but in southern states it is another word for a condom! I'd be so embarrassed if I asked for that on top of my ice cream!

LOL - here a "gimmie" is something obvious!

 

[zigs]

My mother tricked me into trying them once. They were deeeeelicious. But she called them "rocky mountain oysters".

My Auntie pulled the same trick with me when I was little, when she said she was feeding me "Sweetmeats" what she really should have said was Bunny Rabbits naughty bits

 

[zigs]

They call cigarettes fags still in England? That's so interesting! Around here that word is awful, so we'd get shunned for saying it. I think it's kind of like how here, gimmies means sprinkles on your ice cream, but in southern states it is another word for a condom! I'd be so embarrassed if I asked for that on top of my ice cream!

Yep, its not uncommon for someone to ask "Can I bum a fag off you mate?" Meaning can I pinch a cigarette off you buddy.

 

[zigs]

I agree with Jed and TheCrazyPlantLady that the swear words in each language can really mess things up, with what are sometimes, some very amusing consequences, particularly with one word that the Americans and Canadians, sorry Jed don't know about the Australians, use in a totally different way from the English.

The word shit is classed as a swear word in England and is something that you would do in the privacy of the bathroom, whereas in The States and Canada means, rubbish, things, stuff and many more, therefore, the English would totally misinterpret the following

Grab your shit and leave with it (US) meaning Pick up your things and go (UK)
Whats this shit in my pocket (US) = Whats this rubbish doing in my pocket (UK)
Get your shit off the table (US) = Move your things off the table (UK)

There are many more, which I have to say never fail to amuse me.

Just seen someone use the word shite on our Engish Gardening forum, oddly enough we don't mind that as it just means something's useless, funny lot us Brits

 

[gata montes]

LOL. Zigs. Hopefully this won't become something that happens too often, otherwise we may find that you've installed a deterrent, to stop these naughty people from depositing naughty words all over the Forum, just like I did just recently

As far as I understood it, the word I was using was perfectly acceptable in all types of company, unless used in a derogatory manner, which then of course was offensive but never obscene.

While online, trying to describe a type of music, which there was no particular genre for, I innocently put " hillbilly style " - to my astonishment, a message suddenly appeared on my screen, which read " wash your mouth out with soap and water immediately, you have used extremely explicit language " after recovering from the shock, realized the only possible word that could be causing offense was the word " hillbilly ", for lack of another word changed the ' y ' ending to an ' ie ' ending, so that the text now read " hillbillie ", which seemed to solve the problem.

This is where someone from the US may well be able to help out. If the word " hillbilly " has a different meaning, depending on how you spell it, what happens when you are speaking rather than writing, how on earth do you make sure that you emphasize the ' y ' and ' ie ' ending enough, so as not to offend ?

 

[zigs]

I think we're all being quite grown up about the swear words. We've got a swear filter on our UK forum, but thats a lot bigger and we do get some heated debates.The default on the filter was set to TreeTreeTree as a replacement word

Hmm, not sure about the Hillbilly bit?

 

[zigs]

I've noticed that a lot of you refer to a drupe type seed as a pit.

Now apart from pitted olives & dates, its a bit of a alien term over here, the seeds from Apples, Mangoes, Grapes etc. are called Pips.

Also, how much space do Americans consider personal space? Reason for asking is that us Brits like at least 2 feet around us to feel comfortable, any less than this and we think you are going to fight us or try to have sex with us.

I showed an American around my house today, and he was definitely too close for Brit comfort

 

[BradHemphill]

Wheat is my friend and the bass player in our bar band, Showdown. Did someone say Mackintosh/Slicker/Rain Coat yet? I know it's spelled differently, but maybe someone else also knows the story of how the Apple computer got its name.

 

[MaryMary]

Yes, I am kicking a zombie.

I got here by reading zigs' thread, "An American's view of England," and scrolled to the bottom of the page to "Similar Threads."

Mainly I am kicking this thread to life because zigs never got his answer...

Also, how much space do Americans consider personal space? Reason for asking is that us Brits like at least 2 feet around us to feel comfortable, any less than this and we think you are going to fight us or try to have sex with us.

I showed an American around my house today, and he was definitely too close for Brit comfort

As a general rule, I should be able to hold my arms akimbo, and if I could hit you with an elbow - you're too close. (That distance measures front and back as well as to the sides.) I'd say it'd vary depending on how territorial the person was to begin with, and well... how much space they take up with arms akimbo.

I'm curious to see how other Americans feel about their personal space.



Some other things I'll add - cider is not apple juice. It's not alcoholic, (unless it's hard cider,) but it is definitely not regular apple juice. It's darker than juice. It's got more bite. Cider is cloudy, apple juice is not. I don't particularly like apple juice, it's almost sickeningly sweet. I LOVE cider.

The corn on the cob that we eat is also called "sweet corn." If it is animal fodder, it is called "field corn."

Buoy is pronounced "Boy" and. "Boo-ey," It all depends on where you are from.

 

[zigs]

Thank for clearing that up @MaryMary

We really are divided by a common language