Expressions/Words UK style
Since I'm going to be "stuck" over at Imperial College most of tomorrow "cleaning" our room so that the engineers can work on it Monday & Tuesday (while I'm at Porton tryin to convince the British military they should keep funding me :) I'm going to post this now (even though it's really half 8 on Wednesday . . . back to the differences between US & UK, this time words & expressions the American English followed by the "Queen's English"1st Floor - Ground Floor
2nd Floor - 1st Floor
3rd Floor (and so on) - 2nd Floor
Apartment - Flat
Apartment with two floors - Maisonette
Appointment calendar - Diary
Baby carriage - Pram
Bandaid (bandage) - Plaster, elastoplast
Bathing suit - Swimming costume
Blown away - Gob Smacked
Braid (hair) - Plait
Broke - Skint
Divided highway (4 lanes) - Dual carriageway
Dumbass - Git, twit, right tosser
Frazzled, miffed - Gutted
God damn it/Bummed out! - Bugger!
Hook up - To pull
Jello - Jelly
Jelly - Jam (those both still throw me off!!!)
Kiss, make out - Snog
mouth - gob
No Way! Shut Up! - Bloody HELL!
Pacifier (baby) - Dummy
Pants - Trousers
Panties - Knickers
Panty hose - Stockings
Popsicle - Ice lolly
Saran Wrap - Cling Film
Sidewalk - Pavement
Sleep - Kip, doss
Smart ass - Cheeky (one of my fav words)
Speed bumps - Sleeping policemen
Steal - Nick, pinch
Stove/burners - Hob/hot plates
Stroller - Push chair
Styrofoam - Polystyrene
Thanks - Ta, mate!
Umbrella - Brolley
Undershirt - Vest
Walker - zimmer frame (I still laugh at this one when I hear it)
Wrench - Spanner
And if from the US you're a "Yank", but if from the UK you're a "Pom" or "Limey" . . . Can you think of any I've missed out?!?!?!
Labels: differences in the UK, expressions, NaBloPoMo
posted by Sara @ 8:45 am
6 Comments:
Hob, taking the piss...
Have fun tomorrow. Hope it goes well!
I had a friend from Liverpool that called a "rental car" a "hire car". We actually occasionally rented cars where we both worked, so with this thick accent, this threw me off quite a bit.
Shagging! Of course! ;-)
And to second Amanda: please, please, please define "taking the piss." I have never figured that one out. And when would one use it?
Amanda:
hob I think I had saved for the post about food, but maybe not, so for those who don't know a hob is the burner on your stovetop
K&D:
very true, hiring things instead of renting them is another good one for sure!
Zee:
how could I forget shagging - lol. "taking the piss" is to make fun of someone. you can use it as a question like when asking if someone is making fun of you, you could say, "are you takin the piss?" Piss can be alternated with "mick" we often take the mick outta Rob since he's Irish. it's used a lot!! nothing to do with getting drunk (that would be going out on the piss) and nothing to do with urination either!
i hear "fanny" means something very different in the UK.
this reminds me, when i started watching the british version of "the office" there were all these words we didn't understand. i looked them up and almost all of them were various slang words for "homosexual." i take it that calling someone gay as an insult is a bit more accepted in the UK than it is the US?
in general, what do you think are the major differences, if any, between the british sense of humor and the US sense of humor?
Jen:
Ah yes, fanny is not the back it's the front on girls, so NEVER say, "oh I slipped on ice & fell on my fanny" cause that will only get your VERY strange looks!!
As for the word gay, I don't hear it as an insult that much, but on the rare occasion I'm thinking about it wasn't a really bad insult. The culture is much more accepting of homosexualness. Most poeple speak of their partner, from which you can't tell their gender & I sorta think that's cool b/c in my experience in the states if you have a partner that is some how different, but maybe that's just me.
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