Tuesday 24 June 2008

British English, NOT American English

Alright, now a lesson in the English language. Originally I thought that moving to England would be relatively easy to adapt because they speak the same language…boy was I wrong. Here’s what I’ve learned thus far:

American-----British
Person with no friends-----Billy-No-Mates
Napkin----Serviette
Eggplant-----Aubergine
Zucchini-----Courgette
Inspection, for cars-----MOT (not sure what the acronym stands for)
To Go, as in food-----Takeaway
Temporary Assignment, for work-----Secondment
You’re joking!-----You’re taking the piss!
Pounds (person’s weight)-----Stone (1 stone = 14 lbs)
Sweatshirt/ Sweater-----Jumper
Vacuum-----Hoover
Tired/ Broken/ Messed Up-----Knackered
Bummed Out/ Down-----Gutted
Cash Register-----Till
Stand in line-----Stand in a queue

As if that's not confusing enough (and trust me that's only a START to the vocabulary differences)....there are apparently somewhere in the realm of 30 different UK accents. Again, stupid American, I thought they all sounded like Jude Law and Posh Spice. Keep in mind that I word in a loud environment as well....strange words, loud noise, strange accents I'm not used to...I'm just getting to where I don't have to fully concentrate on a person's lips when they talk to understand what they're saying!

Well, til next time...

2 comments:

mike said...

I remember Jarad Kerstetter's mom teaching us a few British terms I didn't forget, just in case.

Wanker = Tool
Spotted Dick = Raisin Pudding
Fancy A Fag = Need A Cigarette
Fancy A Shag = Yeah Baby!
Onward Ho = Go Forward
Stupid American Holiday = 4th of July

I seem to retain worthless information, unless I find myself at a EPL tailgate and need these...

Chris Gough said...

now most of those translations are ok but actually we use napkin here as well. Use of napkin/serviette usually indicates a sort of social status issue thingy, i.e. napkin is posh and serviette is common (so they say - whoever "they" are!). MOT is Ministry of Transport test. We do use sweatshirt but for those sort of tops not made from wool -jumpers tend to be made from wool (or wool-like synthetics). I also understand that we have managed to export "queue" to NA as well. My friends there say it is getting very common now!

Believe me, no-one in UK says "Onward Ho"! and if they do they are seriously a w@@@@r!!!! (and you know what that means).