International Language Differences

Heheheheeee!! I just love reading people's posts sometimes. I find our language differences to be very fascinating. In the united states, a torch is called a flashlight & a portaloo is called a porta-potty. Sometimes I don't understand ceratin terminologies. Like what does "skinny up" mean? So i thought I'd start a post on our language differences, if anything else it'll help me decifer what people are saying.

skinning up is another term for rolling a j

ahhh! gotcha! thanks

Heh heh - I knew this rang a bell...

HoP Slang Dictionary

Ahhhh, circles within circles

HEHEHEEE! I love it. I'm goign to start using everyone else's slang terms & completly confuse all my friends! This should be great!

Not just slang, either. In another online community I belong to, I started this thread to discuss the differences on the two sides of the Atlantic (extended later to both sides of the equator, too). You should have seen us trying to get across the fact that there are two different kinds of "biscuits" in America, and that neither of them is a biscuit in the UK sense. I think we concluded that they're scones, but it was difficult.

i first came across this when i was little, i had been at a predominately british school (i grew up in hte middle east)and changed schools this second school was an international school but mainly brit and american kids. nehoo i remember i was in 5th grade (about 10 yrs old) and asked the kid nxt to me for a rubber, the whole class fell about laughing, i hadnt a clue why until someone explained that a i call rubber at this school was an eraser and a rubber was a condom ... .. not that i knew what that was either

That reminds me of this one time...My family and I had a Japanese exchange student, who didn't speak a word of english & we took her out for pizza. We ordered a taco pizza & she was sooo disgusted that she wouldn't even try it. I guess that taco in Japanese means octopus, or maybe it was squid...something like that.

I don't think that was it. She probably would have eaten THAT. It was probably all the beef, dairy, and bread.

Most nonwhite adults have trouble digesting dairy, did you know that? That's why there's no dairy in Japanese cuisine. Also Chinese, not counting the Red Bean Ice Cream in Chinatown, which...isn't really aimed at the Asian population there.

madame flame, "tako" is octopus in japanese.

i love language differences! for example, i train with american rowers who ask "which team are you rooting for?"....now over here that is NOT something you'd ask

hmmm...rooting a team...*cough*

That's kinda bad if you say that over here....well more so if you are a chick...
Here's a strange one for you...I stupy Australian sign language...so you know the international sign for Bong *cough* in Australian Sign Language the same sign only means beer.

So no use asking a deaf person if they want to mull up....heheheh

what we call bum-bags are also called "fanny packs"
ah! endless fun one can have with visiting americans (speaking of which, i havent heard from them in ages...must email them!)

so do you know what AUSLAN for mull is? (by the way, do non aussies actually understand mull? cos i remember talking to some americans when i was in japan and they had no clue what us aussies were on about! not to say that our topic of conversation in japan was....mmm......*hides*)

OK, what's mull?

Yes, there are many jokes about the word 'fanny', which means something everyone has in America, but which only women have in the UK (and Oz?).

At US baseball games, they sing "Take me Out to the Ball Game" every time. "Root, root root for the home team /If they don't win it's a shame" is one of the lines.

And 'bum' means a disreputable person, or a failure in some way. "Ah, yer a bum" doesn't mean "you're an arse" (or ass, or fanny). It means "loser, you're no better than the panhandlers in the street."

I'm sure there are Oz expressions that sound drrrty in America, too. The famous UK example of 'knock up' might be archaic now, but it used to mean 'rouse someone from sleep by knocking loudly on their door' in the UK. In America, it did and does mean 'make pregnant'.

Hmmm...I wish I could find this book i have called The American Slang Dictionary. It's got stuff in there I've never even heard of & it tells when it was most commonly used. It's quite interesting, but it does me no good if it's lost.

i like the austrailian reference to flip-flops... aka "thongs" !!!

ive had much fun with that one:)

I grew up calling them thongs too, in Michigan, USA. Then learned in college to call them zoris. "Flip-flops" still sounds silly to me.

BTW, thongs in the modern sense were invented in the 1970s. I was in high school. They didn't get their name until later.

No...I haven't learnt mull in Auslan yet...will have to look it up in my dictionary when I get home tonight....

bum can also mean a slacker over here in Australia.

It just "depends on the context" that you put it in (sorry my Auslan teacher says those words alot).

See fanny over here is not something people would really say because it more refers to the private parts of a woman down south.

Some of the things I've said and my german teacher didn't know:

kicked the bucked - died
baked - stoned

There's been others, but I just can't remember them.

Also, in NS, we use the word "right" differently... So instead of saying "I'm very tired" or "that was really amazing!" It'd be "I'm right tired", and "That's right amazing" ( I'm guilty for that a lot)

And the most confusing thing of all... when we came here (Halifax) and Weed whackers were called "whipper-snipper"s.

~ Bobo

i love it! all this stuff is hilarious!!

and what's funnier - here in oz there are names for things and sayings that mean different things too!!! like 'togs'...in some parts of the country they're called 'bathers' or 'swimmers'!

and rougie mentioned "what we call bum-bags are also called "fanny packs"
how funny is that! we all know what is meant by fanny packs - but here in oz that's farkin funny! it's like the 'map of tassie' jokes! silly silly language differences!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i'm probably making no sense any more so i'll go...

ok i need help i guy from the uk was spinning with me and in the middle of his poi set he started shouting oh go oh god my sack is on fire!!! what does this mean

(drug references and body parts, hrm.... methinks I need to gently remind all members that we are a PG rated site, so let's try and keep it out of the trashy gutter.)

i am sorry flash i promis to behave ::(:

Lets not get started on Chips then!

In an american theme............

What we call an Articulated Lorry is a Truck in America(although we do call it truck too)

And I'm amazed no one has said paraffin is called kerosene

erm...also we have Tights but americans have panti-hose. School "Terms" are called semesters and a roundabout is called a Traffic Circle

That's enough or now me thinks

we irish folk tend to get strange looks anytime the word craic (pronounced crack) is mentioned. it's a gaelic expression used to describe a good time spent in good company, with entertaining conversation and/or good music.

e.g.
"i was out last night and the craic was ninety" - literally means that the evening was great fun, though in the past i've unknowingly confused americans into thinking i was refering to the price of my next fix......

"what's the craic?" - what's happening, what's going on?
"good craic" - great fun
"come on and we'll go out and have some craic" - let's go out and have a great night

I don't know if many foreigners use the word bugger for many different things but here in the UK not only does it mean sex in the butt it also means......

Broken - This tin is buggered
Naughty - He's a little bugger for doing that
To Leave - I'll bugger off then
Surprise - Bugger me I didn't expect her home till 10! (can also be used when caught buggering )
Nothing - I have bugger all money in the bank
Tired - I was buggered after spending all weekend dancing

Thank you please

Faberge, 'craic' is also the source of the American English word 'crack' in the sense of 'snide remark'.

Custom Bug, we use the F word (PG site, right?) for some of those purposes, but not all. We would say "my computer is f***ed," and "that's worth f***-all," but not *"I was f***ed after...dancing."

Also, 'tights' refers to a slightly different garment here. Usually somewhat thicker fabric, and worn by dancers of both sexes. Considered QUITE (meaning very, not slightly, in American English) distinct from 'pantyhose', which no man other than a drag queen ever, ever wears.

men!
I study foreign languages (English being one of course, with German) and I'm supposed to be pretty good
But ow I'd love to laugh as much as you guys do because I don't get half the jokes....!!
Anyways I really like to hear about all language differences as well...