| Author |  Topic  |
chrizzy100
 USA
7111 Posts
Joined: 26 May 2003
Status: offline |  Posted - 28 Sep 2003 : 00:32:21  
| quote:
Originally posted by MTP
Another word used commonly in the UK that causes confusion in the US (in my experience) is fortnight.
I've given up using fortnight over here....
We saw the American version of Coupling over here the other day....it is real bad......I love the English show and watched it again last night a repeat of a repeat...and still found it funny..... | | Report this post to a moderator | goto top of page |
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chrizzy100
USA
7111 Posts
Joined: 26 May 2003
Status: offline | Posted - 28 Sep 2003 : 00:35:56
| quote:
Originally posted by ctgirlscout
Thanks, Chris for the translation. I just got such a kick out of reading this thread. It reminds me of the differences in the vocabulary of the southeast part of the US. My mother was from South Carolina, and I was raised in NY. Needless to say, there were often translation problems with my cousins. Even worse, I would pick up odd words and bring them back to NY. No one in NY, or CT, knows what a spigot is (outdoor faucet) and no one in SC knows what a stoop is (concrete steps leading to your front door). I also tend to talk too fast for my southern relatives. I have to make a conscious effort to slow my speech when I visit them!
People from England have a upperhand because we have so many American TV shows in the UK...where as like Coupling it has to be redone in American for the USA TV... when really most Americans would love the real Brit shows..... |
Edited by - chrizzy100 on 28 Sep 2003 00:37:52 | | Report this post to a moderator | goto top of page |
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ctgirlscout
 USA
4037 Posts
Joined: 17 Aug 2003
Status: offline | Posted - 28 Sep 2003 : 15:50:29
| | We do get a couple of the British shows on our satellite dish. We get the BBC station, and some others on the comedy network. One of my favorites to compare is "Whose line is it Anyway". They used many of the same comedians, but for the American version it is greatly "cleaned up". I do have to make sure my kids are not in the room while watching the British version! Still funny, although we don't always get all of the jokes! |
Teresa
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kaysvacationvilla
 USA
1256 Posts
Joined: 08 Sep 2003
Status: offline | |
floridadreamvilla.co.uk
 United Kingdom
17381 Posts
Joined: 21 Jan 2002
Status: offline | |
chrizzy100
USA
7111 Posts
Joined: 26 May 2003
Status: offline | Posted - 28 Sep 2003 : 17:17:38
| quote:
Originally posted by kaysvacationvilla
I am in the US and usually do not have a hard time understanding the different expressions. My daughter recently traveled with the People To People Ambassador program to England and France and the leaders made sure that the kids called their fanny pak a bum bag due to the fact that the leaders said it is considered a swear in Europe.
Kay
My son had the same trouble learning to not ask for a rubber in class... | | Report this post to a moderator | goto top of page |
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floridadreamvilla.co.uk
United Kingdom
17381 Posts
Joined: 21 Jan 2002
Status: offline | |
ctgirlscout
USA
4037 Posts
Joined: 17 Aug 2003
Status: offline | Posted - 28 Sep 2003 : 17:47:06
| quote:
Originally posted by floridadreamvilla.co.uk
Reminds me of someone I know who got some strange looks because he said "I'm dying for a fag" in a NY nightclub (fag = cigarette for those who don't know)
LOL--Wow, that could really get you into trouble, especially in NY! Did he get any offers?!? |
Teresa
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chrisj
 United Kingdom
3273 Posts
Joined: 28 May 2003
Status: offline | Posted - 28 Sep 2003 : 18:08:50
| hehehe that happened to me in New York, I knew you couldnt smoke in public, so asked a taxi to take
me to a bar where I could have a fag, yep you guessed it we ended up in a gay bar. |
Chrisj | | Report this post to a moderator | goto top of page |
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chrizzy100
USA
7111 Posts
Joined: 26 May 2003
Status: offline | Posted - 28 Sep 2003 : 18:16:04
| quote:
Originally posted by chrisj
hehehe that happened to me in New York, I knew you couldnt smoke in public, so asked a taxi to take
me to a bar where I could have a fag, yep you guessed it we ended up in a gay bar.
Are there any pictures of the look on your face when you got there....cus that would be priceless.... | | Report this post to a moderator | goto top of page |
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ctgirlscout
USA
4037 Posts
Joined: 17 Aug 2003
Status: offline | Posted - 28 Sep 2003 : 18:26:53
| quote:
Originally posted by chrisj
hehehe that happened to me in New York, I knew you couldnt smoke in public, so asked a taxi to take
me to a bar where I could have a fag, yep you guessed it we ended up in a gay bar.
LOL--that is too funny! Maybe you should travel with an American translator! |
Teresa
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floridadreamvilla.co.uk
United Kingdom
17381 Posts
Joined: 21 Jan 2002
Status: offline | |
chrisj
United Kingdom
3273 Posts
Joined: 28 May 2003
Status: offline | Posted - 28 Sep 2003 : 20:51:09
| Chrizzy
No but I do have some when I was 40 and we went to Brighton for a long weekend and for once
I had quite a lot to drink and as we were all walking I went into this pub and everyone else
stayed outside, They noticed it was a gay bar, but me being under the influence just wandered
in.
Within a few minutes I came running out as some bloke at the bar kept pinching my bum, and they
were waiting outside and took a few piccies as I came running out |
Chrisj | | Report this post to a moderator | goto top of page |
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ctgirlscout
USA
4037 Posts
Joined: 17 Aug 2003
Status: offline | |
asbaum
 USA
33 Posts
Joined: 06 Aug 2003
Status: offline | Posted - 29 Sep 2003 : 07:16:45
| Don't tell an American Villa owner that the power and lights went out and you needed to use a torch to get around in the dark!!
A torch to us is "fire at the end of a wooden stick" and not the "flashlight", that we call it, and what you had meant.
I can follow this forum because I can read. There is no doubt that if these threads were in "voice messages" with British and American accents we'd all have a harder time understanding each other with our many different dialects and accents.
The US is so large of a country with so many diverse dialects and accents which affect the way English is spoken that I have a hard time understanding people from certain parts of this country. Especially, those with heavy local accents in New Orleans, the Deep South, New York, New Jersey and New England.
Consider this link:
http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/askncela/20natlang.htm
which asks and discusses "How many indigenous American languages are spoken in the United States? By how many speakers?"
The site lists 155 indigenous American languages which are still spoken in the United States and over 361,978 speakers of indigenous American languages.
Now consider this link:
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_in_the_United_States
which makes the claim that The United States federal government has no formally established official language. In some states, English, French, Spanish or Hawaiian are official. In 2000, the census bureau printed the standard census questionnaires in six languages: English, Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Tagalog.
Primary Language at Home (2000)
English 82.105%
Spanish or Spanglish 10.710%
Chinese 0.771%
French (incl. Patois, Cajun) 0.627%
German 0.527%
Tagalog 0.467%
Vietnamese 0.385%
Italian 0.384%
Korean 0.341%
Russian 0.269%
Polish 0.254%
Arabic 0.234%
Portuguese or Portuguese Creole 0.215%
Japanese 0.182%
French Creole 0.173%
Other Indic languages 0.167%
African languages 0.160%
Other Asian languages 0.152%
Greek 0.139%
Other Indo-European languages 0.125%
Hindi 0.121%
Other Pacific Island languages 0.120%
Persian 0.119%
Other Slavic languages 0.115%
Urdu 0.100%
Other West Germanic languages 0.096%
Gujarati 0.090%
Serbo-Croatian 0.089%
Other Native North American languages 0.078%
Armenian 0.077%
Hebrew 0.074%
Mon-Khmer, Cambodian 0.069%
Yiddish 0.068%
Navajo 0.068%
Miao, Hmong 0.064%
Scandinavian languages 0.062%
Laotian 0.057%
Other and unspecified languages 0.055%
Thai 0.046%
Hungarian 0.045%
And to not leave you Brits out, here is a link that discusses the British English, and it's dialects:
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_English
it notes, Outside the south east there are, in England alone, at least seven families of accents easily distinguished by natives:
West Country (South West England)
East Anglian
Birmingham, Black Country and other industrial Midland accents
Liverpool (Scouse)
Manchester and other east Lancashire accents
Yorkshire
Newcastle (Geordie) and other north-east England accents
And on a final note, read this quickly and out loud:
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteers are in the rghit pclaes.
The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.
Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by itslef but rthahter the wrod as a wlohe.
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Arnie
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chrisj
United Kingdom
3273 Posts
Joined: 28 May 2003
Status: offline | Posted - 29 Sep 2003 : 09:13:03
| Arnie
Those are great facts, one thing males me laugh is me being a Brit. Always tell people
im English, Think its similar to calling a texan an american |
Chrisj | | Report this post to a moderator | goto top of page |
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floridadreamvilla.co.uk
United Kingdom
17381 Posts
Joined: 21 Jan 2002
Status: offline | |
floridadreamvilla.co.uk
United Kingdom
17381 Posts
Joined: 21 Jan 2002
Status: offline | |
chrisj
United Kingdom
3273 Posts
Joined: 28 May 2003
Status: offline | |
ctgirlscout
USA
4037 Posts
Joined: 17 Aug 2003
Status: offline | Posted - 29 Sep 2003 : 14:20:06
| quote:
Originally posted by floridadreamvilla.co.uk
WC = toilet (restrooms)
What's a half bath? (I've got visions of someone trying to take a bath in a toilet now )!
We also have 3/4 baths that you can only shower in!
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Teresa
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US - UK Dictionary
