Things that Brits can say that Americans might not understand

[zigs]

This amused me

 

[Donatello]

I'm every bit as confused as my Icon.
I never could understand the english saddles. They have no roping horn and no cutting bridge. Can't work cattle with that. No place to brace during steer makin' time. "Bout as useless as huggin' a black jack tree.

 

[cpp gardener]

I got a few of them, but only because I watch a lot on Britbox. 4,6,7,8,11. Some of the others have some slang I’m not familiar with.

 

[Sheal]

@zigs are you going to put up the translation?

I think it probably works both ways, us Brits have problems with some Americanism's.

 

[cpp gardener]

Took me awhile to figure out #9 and my guess would be no.

 

[zigs]

It did what it said on the packet then

1. First day at Elementary School, kids have to bring a 12 inch rule, hard and soft pencils and an eraser.

2. Sat on my ass smoking a cigarette, I died laughing watching a girl trying to put a lot of loose change into her handbag.

3. Three policemen brought back an absent sailor.

4. On the 1st of April the Brits try to play tricks on each other, known as April Fools Day. There are often very odd newspaper headlines or TV stories. One that springs to mind was the failure of the Spaghetti harvest due to bad weather. I put a picture up on Youtube last year of a Norwegian Cactus.

5. She sold tickets on the bus for a job.

6. French fries for our evening snack at the end of the work day.

7. Please put your suitcase in the trunk of the car.

8. They dug up the sidewalk because a natural gas pipe had fractured.

9. The Queen used to send everyone a personal telegram on their Hundredth birthday.

10. The car has broken down completely, I had to dispose of it when it didn't pass the compulsory government test.

11. The large gentleman couldn't hold his liquor. He would be drunk after a few hard ciders.

I hope that make's it all as clear as mud and ta for not having a paddy everyone

 

[Donatello]

#9 ? Is that the Queen?

 

[zigs]

#9 ? Is that the Queen?

Yep, we cross posted

 

[Donatello]

It did what it said on the packet then

1. First day at Elementary School, kids have to bring a 12 inch rule, hard and soft pencils and an eraser.

2. Sat on my ass smoking a cigarette, I died laughing watching a girl trying to put a lot of loose change into her handbag.

3. Three policemen brought back an absent sailor.

4. On the 1st of April the Brits try to play tricks on each other, known as April Fools Day. There are often very odd newspaper headlines or TV stories. One that springs to mind was the failure of the Spaghetti harvest due to bad weather. I put a picture up on Youtube last year of a Norwegian Cactus.

5. She sold tickets on the bus for a job.

6. French fries for our evening snack at the end of the work day.

7. Please put your suitcase in the trunk of the car.

8. They dug up the sidewalk because a natural gas pipe had fractured.

9. The Queen used to send everyone a personal telegram on their Hundredth birthday.

10. The car has broken down completely, I had to dispose of it when it didn't pass the compulsory government test.

11. The large gentleman couldn't hold his liquor. He would be drunk after a few hard ciders.

I hope that make's it all as clear as mud and ta for not having a paddy everyone

Hugging a black jack tree is not good. It has poisonous thorns all up n down the limbs

 

[zigs]

Hugging a black jack tree is not good. It has poisonous thorns all up n down the limbs

Sounds a good one to use as a boundary fence then

 

[Oliver Buckle]

There are often very odd newspaper headlines or TV stories.

A newspaper called 'The Guardian' did a series of pull outs about various countries. On April the first they did a several page pull out about two islands called Upper Case and lower case which made the country of San Serif, supposedly somewhere in the Indian ocean. It described the economics and politics, and I was half believing up to the point where they described how the tide was washing gravel from one side of the island to the other so it was continually moving West, this was incremental so it was picking up speed and would collide with Sri Lanka at some point in the future at a speed a bit over a hundred miles an hour. This was an eight or ten page pull out complete with adverts, and when you started looking at the map all the place names were slightly obscure printer's terms. A complex April fool.

 

[zigs]

A newspaper called 'The Guardian' did a series of pull outs about various countries. On April the first they did a several page pull out about two islands called Upper Case and lower case which made the country of San Serif, supposedly somewhere in the Indian ocean. It described the economics and politics, and I was half believing up to the point where they described how the tide was washing gravel from one side of the island to the other so it was continually moving West, this was incremental so it was picking up speed and would collide with Sri Lanka at some point in the future at a speed a bit over a hundred miles an hour. This was an eight or ten page pull out complete with adverts, and when you started looking at the map all the place names were slightly obscure printer's terms. A complex April fool.

Brilliant Oliver

 

[cntrlwagdnr]

This amused me

View attachment 102357

We do April Fool's day here in the USA too. I was born in the UK, so I see both sides of it.... so for those Brit's reading GFs:

Don't walk on the pavement if you visit the US - you'll get run over. Use the sidewalks.

Don't tell someone you will knock them up in the morning - they will get very offended (...or not...?) Actually happened when I worked at Boeing. We had to go in early Saturday to pack for an office move. Dept. admin's car was in the shop (garage for repair) - Brit drafter lived in apartment (flat) above her. Said he would give her a ride (lift) to work but had to be ready by 6:00am. She said she would never be up that early. He said "Don't worry, I'll nip (run) down and knock you up" (bang on the door and wake you up). She wouldn't speak to him for a couple of weeks till we figured it out and explained to her. Apparently she was not enamored of the idea of him offering to get her pregnant!

Chips are indeed fries in the US, but only on a menu as "fish and chips". Sometimes they are listed as "authentic English fish and chips"- except that they are not. Only a real UK Chippy (takeout fish and chip shop) can make real fish and chips. You need the right equipment and method. No cute little pieces of fish - a whole fillet deep fried in crispy batter that will hang over both sides of a plate. And the chips are just unique - even regular UK restaurants can't really duplicate them. I can do a reasonable facsimile, but I lived above chippy when I was at college.

Black-top is asphalt - what pavement is usually made of.

BTW: Hoods and bonnets both cover heads, whether human or automobile - so there's really nothing weird about that.

We do have boots in the US (not the ones for your feet). That triangular thing at the back of a stage coach for putting luggage in, is a boot. But the early car pioneers used to strap a cabin trunk on the back to put their stuff in. The Brit did too but they continued to use "boot" from coach and horses days.

I have a lot more - I wrote a presentation on the subject once for a class.

 

[zigs]

Nice explainations @cntrlwagdnr

I noticed on Quora earlier that someone's comment "I had a butchers and fancied a faggot with a barm" was deleted as "hate speech"