Forums > Social Chat > US / UK Translation

Posted: 28th Jan 2002
Are you sure?US vs UKfender = bumperWe call the part around the wheel the fender. Is that what you intended? We call the part on the front that's intended to take damage at low speeds the bumper.I get a kick out of things like this. It helps me prove when I say that I don't speak English. I speak American.Or is it that I speak English with an American dialect?------------------FYI: I am not Pele. If you wish to reply to me and use a short version of my name, use: PWB."Those who can, do. Those who can't, critique"Pyromorph.com - Let the fire change you

FYI: I am not Pele. If you wish to reply to me and use a short version of my name, use: PWB.

English? Who needs that? I'm never going to England. - Homer Jay Simpson

Posted: 28th Jan 2002
Heh heh.. no no no PWB... you speak English with an American *accent* Fender = bumper ?? Who give a 'toss', as we say here.. Part around the wheel in the UK = wheelarch/wing.Hmmm.. this could be fun.....or start WW3 ------------------Kato[This message has been edited by Mushinkato (edited 29 January 2002).]

Kato

Posted: 28th Jan 2002
some oters that i know of from Australia (which may be similar)red/green pepper (the vegetable) - capsicumeggplant - auberginesquash - pumpkinsweater - jumpersweatpants - runnersdrunk driving - drink drivingexit (as in parking garage) - way outno parking - no standing magic marker - tickster ( i think this mayb be just aus.)pere

Posted: 28th Jan 2002
Yo Pere... I knew this REALLY annoying Australian girl at school once who always asked to borrow my 'textures'.Textures = felt-tip's/colours (UK) = markers/colors (US)Hmmmm..??------------------Kato

Kato

Posted: 28th Jan 2002
that could be it....I know my first day in genetics prac (thats lab class for you americans) someone asked to hand me the tickster and I had NO idea what she was talking about. and dont know if she said it on purpose to fool the dumb american either... my australian/american household could not decide on what to call a "bathing suit" which was a problem since we lived at the beach. is it a cossie, swimming costume, swim suit, swimmers, swimming costume, bathing suit what? oh yeah, in australia anyway, you dont have classes you have subjects. you dont have grades you have marks which are (at unsw anyway) high distinction, distinction, credit, pass, fail. instead of A, B...they are different percentages so i dont know what my university GPA is.you also dont have grades like freshman, sophomore, junior, senior you have first year second year, third year, honours year. or in high school year 9, year 10 .... this was really confusing for some people.pere

Posted: 28th Jan 2002
Im just glad we dont have this problem with poi/staff terminology !!ps: Your weather forecasters over there in the US say 'precipitation' instead of rain, dont they..?? In fact, isnt the whole 'politically correct' thing a lot bigger over there than it is here..??------------------Kato

Kato

Posted: 28th Jan 2002
Not sure about the weather terms, don't watch the news. But it is pretty PC crazy. Most people are sick of it though.I know for sure that many black people hate the term "African American" because many aren't from Africa.And re cars: US Fender == UK wheel arch, US Bumper == UK Bumper.I like "Who gives a toss?" It sounds like swearing, but it's not.English also has "Piss Off" as a common term for "Go away for a while." Where in US "Piss Off" is the same, but it's angry in intent.------------------FYI: I am not Pele. If you wish to reply to me and use a short version of my name, use: PWB."Those who can, do. Those who can't, critique"Pyromorph.com - Let the fire change you

FYI: I am not Pele. If you wish to reply to me and use a short version of my name, use: PWB.

English? Who needs that? I'm never going to England. - Homer Jay Simpson

Posted: 28th Jan 2002
Ok then Mr.Fender Bender... If someone here is making fun of you, you say theyre 'taking the piss'. Or, in a similar context, if, par example, you offer them a sweet (candy ), and they take the whole bag; again, they can be said to be 'taking the piss'.What do you say... I've heared things like.. "You rippin' the shit outa me boy"!? (which I think in Shakesperian English translates as.. 'Doth thou mocketh me..??)------------------Kato[This message has been edited by Mushinkato (edited 29 January 2002).]

Kato

Posted: 28th Jan 2002
Not sure I've heard the ripping shit one.I've heard "Just givin' him shit" as a similar statement of mockery giving. Oh, my accent is Rochester New York accent of the American English.Since American accents differ as often those from England's.Around here we don't say ya'll or boy much either.We have soda for regular flavored carbonated beverage. But we respond to pop and Coke.soda and pop are both short for soda pop, but we don't recognize soda pop. ------------------FYI: I am not Pele. If you wish to reply to me and use a short version of my name, use: PWB."Those who can, do. Those who can't, critique"Pyromorph.com - Let the fire change you

FYI: I am not Pele. If you wish to reply to me and use a short version of my name, use: PWB.

English? Who needs that? I'm never going to England. - Homer Jay Simpson

Posted: 28th Jan 2002
Speaking as a Londoner... I can't speak for the rest of the country, or even all of london due to pockets of extreme slang usage, but where /I/ come from:dude = bloke/geezerA 'bloke' is synonymous with a 'guy', so you can't say 'hey bloke', but you can say 'there was this bloke...' Geezer means something completely different; variable under context. Dude is used, rarely, at the end of greetings. obviously we understand what it means if it is used.'thanks' etc = cheers/'ta'Is this for the benefit of americans? I assume so, because of course we know what "Thanks" means. 'ta' is becoming increasingly rare.'cool'/'wicked' etc = 'ace'/pukkerWe have a special word, 'prat', for people who use the word 'pukker', which is actually generally spelt 'pukka' if ever, god forbid, it is committed to print. No-one ever uses ace or wicked, except for small children in the case of the latter. Cool is ubiquitous, althogh has many regional variations, e.g. tyte, deep, safe, dark, phat, bo, bras etc. Actually, bras might mean bad, I'm not sure. Anyway, there are lots.pals/friends etc = matesSurely americans know the word mates?rubber = condom/jonny/hat/something for the weekend, Sir??Um... Condom is the most common term. I have /never/ heard it called a hat, but whatever. Everyone will know what you are talking about though. Also common is "protection", as in, 'have you got protection?'lawyer/attourney = solicitor/barristerEveryone calls them lawyers. The other are essentially technical terms, with regards to everyday usage.Anyway, English people will /basically/ understand anything you guys say, unless it is verging on technical. Hell, I'm not even sure what that bit of a car is called in english. Mudguard, isn't it?And yes we do have differences in poi terminology. Paraffin and Kerosine?No-one ever, ever, ever says either soda or pop. Soda is only used, /rarely/, when describing carbonated water, and only really for mixers for drinks. If you call something pop, you will be mocked. Consider this a warning.We say coke, or whatever drink specifically we are referring to, or fizzy drink, or soft drink as in 'what kind of drinks do you have?' 'soft drinks, beer, spirits...'And no-one says "My 2 cents". Ever.admittedly, probably because we don't have cents, we have pennies/pence. But we have no equivalent.------------------"O! for a muse of fire, that would ascend the brightest heaven of invention." - William ShakespeareCheck out my Online Gallery!ß £ Å Ĉ К ß î я Ð

x X x ß £ Å Ĉ К ß î я Ð x X x

Posted: 28th Jan 2002
Actually....A we speak in an American Dialect. A dialect is a difference in the speech of your original language. EX: English: American, British, Australian, Canadian are all **dialects** of English.Accents are what you have when you learn to speak a different language. For instance, I speak spanish with an American **accent**. Nomad speaks American with his French/Turkish **accent**. PWB was right when he said we speak with a dialect, not accent Kato. (The cast just had this drilled into my head by my dialect coach for the Christmas show I did.)My friend from NZ who translplanted to England said that the words for yard, garage and sofa are different as well. Can't remember what they are though.Solicitor: the person who takes your claims and files them, sometimes can represent them in the really low courts. The equivalent to a paralegal these days.A Barrister: the person licensed to go before a judge in a high court as a formal representative. The equivalent to a lawyer.(I had to know this for historical accuracy in that Christmas show as well! )I call condom's condoms, as do most people I know. Calling it a rubber makes me think of golashes, cause that is what my granma used to call them.Oh, and precipitation is any form of water falling from the sky...rain, snow, foggy mists....What about mom = mum------------------Pele Higher, higher burning fire...making music like a choir...https://www.pyromorph.com[This message has been edited by Pele (edited 29 January 2002).]

Pele
Higher, higher burning fire...making music like a choir
"Oooh look! A pub!" -exclaimed after recovering from a stupid fall
"And for the decadence of art, nothing beats a roaring fire." -TMK

Posted: 28th Jan 2002
another one:aust. lemonade = sprite or other lemon/lime soda equivalent, not lemonjuice with sugar, which is lemon cordial.pere

Posted: 28th Jan 2002
Blackbird - I say wicked, probably a bit too much. But I'm allowed to, it makes me feel younger And I say 'ta' too, but I reckon that's a side effect of once living off the Roman Road.Talking of which, I reckon we start using Cockney slang Cockney Dictionary. Also a Dialect Translator.

Posted: 28th Jan 2002
Dude can be used as a reference, or when addressing."Dude, how are ya?""Hey, I know that dude?"Geezer is a term for an old person here.We know mate, but it's not used as a term much anymore. I may refer to my girlfriend as my Mate. I call my friends, friends.We use roommate as a term for the people we live with.If you say "G'day mate!" in an Australian accent, then it's okay.Oh, another one.Along the lines of cool is: Sweet!In a given day I may use the following to describe something that I like (in no particular order):That's sweet! That's wicked! That's cool! That's awesome!All the while, inserting Dude! into the mix.Pele, I agree condom is said and not rubber.------------------FYI: I am not Pele. If you wish to reply to me and use a short version of my name, use: PWB."Those who can, do. Those who can't, critique"Pyromorph.com - Let the fire change you

FYI: I am not Pele. If you wish to reply to me and use a short version of my name, use: PWB.

English? Who needs that? I'm never going to England. - Homer Jay Simpson

Posted: 28th Jan 2002
How about these: (bit crude but nevermind)...if you're 'sh!tting yourself / bricking it' = you're very scaredif you're wetting / p!ssing yourself = you're laughing your arse offare these worldwide?

Geologists do it in the dirt................

Posted: 28th Jan 2002
There's another one: Arse. People will laugh at you for saying that here...... unless you're pretending to be British (which really gets the bitches out here, by the way).Some others that were forgotten, I believe:Flashlight = torchElevator = LiftTV = telly (but everyone allready knows that, I think)Bar hopping, or on a bender = On the lash/pissLiquer store = Off licence/offieBeer = (usually) lager or bitter (depending on whether is lager or bitter)Whisky/vodka/gin drinker = alcoholic I was totally amazed when I saw, first hand, how totally seriously The Brits (Aussies and New Zelanders) take the word "Bugger". If you tell someone out here to Bugger Off they will think that that was really cute. Tell a Brit to bugger off and he'll knock your teeth in.------------------If you love something, set it on fire.

Jesus helps me trick people.

Posted: 28th Jan 2002
And by the by, Mushin, only people in Texas say howdy, and even then only the ones who fancy themselves cowboys. Most people in the US (or my part of the US) feel about Texas the way Cantus feels about Londoners.

Jesus helps me trick people.

Posted: 28th Jan 2002
Going to have to agree with Sickpuppy on the Howdy thing. I will say it as a joke but that is about it. My sister used to live in Texas and even people there didn't say it regularly, it is one of those damn things that makes it around the world but isn't even that used. It's more of a joke thing.I am beginning to call those types of things "Buffy-isms". Too many people think the way those tv kids talk/look is representative of USA-ers. Ummmm...no.Shitting/pissing self here Ros can both mean frightened.However..pissing self can also mean laughing hard.It's all context! Damn American language! Oh and we say Bugger here (in my area) but as a way of saying Darn or Shoot.*shrug*------------------Pele Higher, higher burning fire...making music like a choir...https://www.pyromorph.com

Pele
Higher, higher burning fire...making music like a choir
"Oooh look! A pub!" -exclaimed after recovering from a stupid fall
"And for the decadence of art, nothing beats a roaring fire." -TMK

Posted: 28th Jan 2002

quote:

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pals/friends etc = matesSurely americans know the word mates?

---

Yeah, but I don't think I've ever heard an American lad say "I'm goin' out for a few pints with me mates" It's more like: "Some of the guys are going to have a few beers""Lads", You'll never hear that here.Pints, They do a dispicable thing here. They serve 12 oz "pints" in bars. It's downright criminal. When I was in Finland they had only 2 sizes of beer, Piko and Iso (small and large) piko was 0.4 liters and iso was 0.5And the beer here! Sweet Jesus on toast! American beer is like making love in a canoe. It's F*cking close to water. I was born here and I can't stand that rice water Bud-Mill-Obe stuff. Of course, now that the whole "micro-brew" thing has happened you can find no end of $8 six-packs of fairly decent beer. Bass Ale, Guiness, and Newcastle Nut Brown are my favorites (Odd, they all come from around England don't they.)Oh, and the one time I was in England (at Heathrow between flights) I had a pint (a real pint mind you) of "Old Speckled Hen". Wonderful stuff. The bartender was three and a half sheets to the wind himself so he handed me back a pint of "Sod Heckled Pen".How about color vs. colour?And doesn't "tukka" mean "supper" over there? Who knows, The only one I hear say it is Jamie Oliver on "The Naked Chief".And what the hell does "And Bob's your Uncle" mean?Oh, and for my American brothers and sisters: "Y'all" is singular. "All y'all" is plural. Or so says my friend Pam from Atlanta. (That Pam as in "Pay-Yam")

For a good Prime, call:29819592777931214269172453467810429868925511217482600306406141434158089

Posted: 28th Jan 2002
Dru...you don't hang with a rennie crowd much do you? Lads is pretty common in that subculture of America.Going to have to support your analysis of US beer though...in the words of my wonderful German friend Par "It taste like SheetVata (shitwater)!"And if you live near the Canadian border you find yourself spelling things with an "ou" instead of "o", and not just colour but also neighbour, honour. And let us not forget the completely charming alphabetical difference of the pronounciation of the letter "Z". All who say "Zed" instead of "Zee", feel free to giggle!On some travel channel or something they sent a US woman to Australia and the Aus producer told her a bunch of names for picking up men, checking others out, drinking, etc...and then told her to use it when she mingled with the crowd. In the end only about half the phrases were actually real, she came across as even more bubble brained than when she started and I was embarrassed for her watching it. I have been warned of this happening in several countries. I, like many, enjoy the differences and try to learn as much as I can about other cultures so why do people do this? I am just curious.------------------Pele Higher, higher burning fire...making music like a choir...https://www.pyromorph.com

Pele
Higher, higher burning fire...making music like a choir
"Oooh look! A pub!" -exclaimed after recovering from a stupid fall
"And for the decadence of art, nothing beats a roaring fire." -TMK

Posted: 29th Jan 2002
Pele - your granma used to call condoms "galoshas?? Your granma used to talk to you about condoms?! Given that rubber is only really used by school kids. (They also use franger - eugh hate that word!)howdy is rather popular in Australia.Sidewalk(US)/pavement(UK) is the footpath here.No parking/no standing. We actually have both - no parking means you can pull over to the side and let someone out or wait for a few minutes, but no standing means you can't stop your car there.Pere/Kato that "tickster"/"texture" thing is actually a Texta. It is a brand name of markers/felt tips that has just become so inground in our dialect.Generally swimwear is referred to as bathers where I live, but it is different around the country.Blackbird - ta is becoming more popular here. It used to only be something that children used.Pere - lemonade is Sprite, 7-Up etc, but we use lemon squash or lemon twist for things like Lift/Solo/Mellow Yellow (where has that gone?)Dru - Bob's your uncle means "Bingo" or "there you have it" or "hey presto" or the like.

Courage is the man who can stop after only one peanut

Posted: 29th Jan 2002
I give up... I've gone and opened up another can of worms and get the impression I've raised a heckle or two.. or maybe its just me.. probably.. what the hell ?? Im off to do what we all understand - spin.ps: I'll just stick with the language of luuurve !! ------------------Kato[This message has been edited by Mushinkato (edited 29 January 2002).][This message has been edited by Mushinkato (edited 29 January 2002).]

Kato

Posted: 29th Jan 2002
my kiwi cousins and i didnt understand each other when they told me to g o get my togs on.eventually i said 'Oh! ya mean BATHERS!' and they looked at me funny.US/Australianflipflop (?) = thongthong = g-string/ginger (pronounced not jinger, not jinjer)

Posted: 29th Jan 2002
US / UKFries / ChipsChips / CrispsCookies / BiscuitsBiscuits / ?? (similar to a muffin)Sweater / JumperJumper / ?? (a type of dress)Napkin / ServietteSecond floor / First floorWhen I first heard the phrase "Don't come the raw prawn with me" I laughed out loud in disbelief, because it just sounded so weird.Puppy--Though I live in Texas, I was born and raised in Chicago, and grew up saying "howdy."

Laugh while you can, monkey-boy

Posted: 30th Jan 2002
I'm slightly surprised that nobody hasmentioned so-far in this thread that in the UK, the phrase "can I bum a fag"implies you'd like someone to give you acigarette.... It's been known to causethe odd problem for Brits in the presenceof Americans..a [uk]

Posted: 30th Jan 2002
adam - "second floor/first floor" that is funny. It is the same in Australia because we have ground floor, first floor, second...etc. I guess the same way some US buildings have "Lobby" in lifts (elevators).That is another Lobby(US)/Foyer(Aus).

Courage is the man who can stop after only one peanut

Posted: 30th Jan 2002
PWB: just a little point. Toss is kind of swearing (like in certain contexts you couldn't get away with saying it to a teacher) 'cause tossing off is the same as jerking off (eg. w**king - rhymes with banking) Also being pissed means something different in the US. Here it means drunk/intoxicated whereas there it means annoyed/angry.------------------Life in the circus ain't easy but the folks on the outside don't know yeah well the tent goes up and the tent goes down and all that they see is the show and the ladies on the horses look so pretty and the lions are looking real mad and some of the clowns are happy and some of the clowns are sad. Welcome to the freakshow.. here we go (Freakshow by Ani di Franco)

"I don't take drugs. I am drugs" - Salvador Dali

Posted: 30th Jan 2002
I dont know how to spell slang officially since you dont generally see it written down. i forgot about the lemon crush thing...we didnt generally drink that kind of thing though we were addicted to cordial. mmm orange mango....mmmm...and for some reason australian (maybe british too?) Mountain Dew does not have any caffeine in it which really makes it kind of a pointless excercise, since its my preferred non-cola caffeine vector.. also were quite fond of saying "for f**k's sake!"to be fired or laid off - to be sackedcrash a car - smash a car (why so many slightly different car words?)Pere

Posted: 30th Jan 2002
Thanks sunbeam, I kinda figured on that toss one. It's funny how in America "toss" means to throw something. "I tossed the ball."The piss one I had known from an old TV show. They sent an American to Aus for a while and the tour guide said to go "piss off" for a while. The American got quite upset. *laugh* same words, different meanings.------------------FYI: I am not Pele. If you wish to reply to me and use a short version of my name, use: PWB."Those who can, do. Those who can't, critique"Pyromorph.com - Let the fire change you

FYI: I am not Pele. If you wish to reply to me and use a short version of my name, use: PWB.

English? Who needs that? I'm never going to England. - Homer Jay Simpson

Posted: 30th Jan 2002
wow do i have some funny stories about miss interperated slang!!! ha ha hai had this english teacher who was a long term sub. she was from The U.K she was ok a little dry but one day. she ended up jokingly call a guy in my class a "twat"the whole class burst out laughing because she thought that mean a dork or something.we informed her that it was in fact a dirogitory (spelling?) term for the female genitalia.and then later on the same day. they same guy called someone else a "Wanker" which here it means dork/whiner etc.and apperently beaucse she threated to beat him with a ruler in the u.k it meant someone who masterbates profusely.. 8lmao* it was soooo funny.

Teach tolerance, not competition.
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