Differences between US and UK English (and others....)

[FantasyWitch]

Re: Differences between US and UK English (and others....)

Ok. Lets get a wee bit of Scottish in here!

Wain or Bairn- child.
Gantin- Horrible or gross. Normally gross.
Coupin'- Face
Driche- "It's well driche outside"- wet, windy... basically Scottish weather.


I have more but that's a start I also have loads of British army phrases... I wonder how they translate across the water? x

[ChainLightning]

Re: Differences between US and UK English (and others....)

I probably annoy the shit out of people, for borrowing so many regional and cultural phrases. From dog's bollocks to bonnie lass, I just enjoy expanding the range of words I can use for whatever situation.


Bugger it! If someone gets annoyed by it, it ain't my smeg! Let them sort it out.

[Tylluan Penry]

Re: Differences between US and UK English (and others....)

Here's a bit of Wenglish.... dwt (you pronounce it to rhyme with put.) It means something very small.... or not. My St Bernard, Noah Penry, for example, is just a sweet little dwti.

[thalassa]

Re: Differences between US and UK English (and others....)

I have more but that's a start I also have loads of British army phrases... I wonder how they translate across the water? x

lol! I know we got a good chunk of our Naval phrases from ya'll...some of it originated on its own though too

(Notice the proper use of the term ya'll)


only because I don't remember if I did this before or not, and I'm too lazy to check...

some not so common Naval terminology (since we all know what port and starboard are):
english-->navy

a phrase used when you know you are getting screwed-->bohica (bend over, here it comes again)
a person that will make themselves look good at your expense-->Bravo Foxtrot (which stands for "buddy fucker")
water fountain or gossip-->scuttlebutt
going to the bathroom (#2)-->Combat Dump, Putting the Marines ashore, Inserting the SEAL team
warm weather gear (like a snowsuit)-->fart suit
junk food-->geedunk
white US Navy sailor's hat-->Dixie cup
slacker/messy and disorganized person-->a soup-sandwich...example: Seaman Schmuckatelli is such a soup sandwich, he showed up late for watch in yesterday's uniform, AGAIN!
in the wee hours of the morning--> O'dark thirty (referring to a time like 3:30 am---which would be 0330 in military time)
PA system-->1MC (really the circuit that a ship's main announcements are made over, but sailors will call any main announcing system the 1MC)
when you try to restart an aircraft's engines in air-->blowjob
garrison cover (which is a type of hat)-->pisscutter
junior enlisted medic (hospital corpsman)-->Baby Doc
any period of time that starts at midnight-->Balls to ______ (for example, Balls-to-4 would be a time period from 0000-0400 or midnight to 4 am)
anonymous-->any mouse
self serve icecream machines-->auto dog (because it looks like a pile of dog poop when it comes out the dispenser)
when someone leaves you with their work for you to do--getting bagged
going really fast-->balls to the wall (its some sort of submarine slang)
taking a urinalisys for drugs--> Whiz Quiz, Command Pee (when everyone at a duty station has to do it at that same time), Pissin' for the Man
getting kicked out of the navy as a "Bad Conduct Discharge"-->Big Chicken Dinner

[RiverSong]

Re: Differences between US and UK English (and others....)

I probably annoy the shit out of people, for borrowing so many regional and cultural phrases. From dog's bollocks to bonnie lass, I just enjoy expanding the range of words I can use for whatever situation.


Bugger it! If someone gets annoyed by it, it ain't my smeg! Let them sort it out.

LOL! Me too. I worry about offending, but then I like to expand my vocabulary and I admire all things British completely. Even since I heard Amy Pond use the word "sorted", I can't stop using it. She is my mum, after all. ROTFL! ;^_^

[Jembru]

Re: Differences between US and UK English (and others....)

Scapegrace? What the heck is this? I just came across it now. Okay, I know what it means, because I know what the word translated as 'scapegrace' means, but.. what the hell? Who uses this word? I have never in my life heard someone or something called a scapegrace. Anyone know this word?

[thalassa]

Re: Differences between US and UK English (and others....)

Scapegrace? What the heck is this? I just came across it now. Okay, I know what it means, because I know what the word translated as 'scapegrace' means, but.. what the hell? Who uses this word? I have never in my life heard someone or something called a scapegrace. Anyone know this word?

only in reading older stuff...like (American) Civil War era stuff.

But yeah, it means someone so awful they are outside of the grace of God...

[Tylluan Penry]

Re: Differences between US and UK English (and others....)

Again I've only seen it in historical stuff... and then only once or twice...

[Jembru]

Re: Differences between US and UK English (and others....)

Peter from the podcasts I listen to, just said something interesting and I was wondering what others make of it.

He said that the word 'toilet' is considered quite wait, what was his word.. crude in the US (I scrolled to exactly the moment he said this, first time, but there was no one here to hi five me...). He then went on to say that even between friends, people tend to avoid this word and usually say 'bathroom'.

Is this true? Do any of my fellow Brits think toilet is a crude word? Around here, people always use it and I am far more likely to say, 'I'm going to the toilet' or 'do you know where the toilets are?' than bathroom. I mean, there's no bath in a public toilet so it seems a bit weird to say 'bathroom' unless you are at a home where they have a combined toilet and bathroom.

'Where is the toilet?' was brought up in one of the Japanese threads at some point and I'm sure it was Americans who were discussing it. So it can't be so bad, right?

[Maria de Luna]

Re: Differences between US and UK English (and others....)

Well regarding toilet vs bathroom. It depends on who you talk to, I asked if I could go to the bathroom the other day adn was told, that was too much information... toilet is the word used to refer to the porcelian apparatus, while bathroom is the room it is kept in for the most part, the other room is the powder room the one without a tub or shower, but not many people use that word anymore. like watercloset it has fallen out of common usage.

[Tylluan Penry]

Re: Differences between US and UK English (and others....)

I don't know anyone with a problem with toilet in the UK. Crapper and bog might be considered a bit crude though

And in welsh we say 'Ty bach' meaning a little house. Some places here still have an outdoor loo down the bottom of the garden....

[Jembru]

Re: Differences between US and UK English (and others....)

I don't know anyone with a problem with toilet in the UK. Crapper and bog might be considered a bit crude though

And in welsh we say 'Ty bach' meaning a little house. Some places here still have an outdoor loo down the bottom of the garden....

Haha, yeah. Up here, an outdoor toilet, in the garden, is called a 'netty'. My Gran still has a netty, but they're getting rare now. When I was a little girl, I used to see them quite often, but now it seems most people pull them out. You will sometimes hear Geordies use netty to mean any toilet, but it tends to be older people I think.

Oh and Maria, yeah, we still get told it's TMI to announce it, but not because 'toilet' is necessarily a rude word.

[RiverSong]

Re: Differences between US and UK English (and others....)

It's like Marie says, using the word "toilet" in the US depends on who you are around. For the elderly people in my family or older people around me, I say "bathroom" to be polite. Around my friends I may say "toilet" or "bathroom". With close friends I'm a lot crude and will say, "Be right back, I gotta take a dump!" or "Excuse me, I have to piss like a Russian horse." That kind of bar room talk isn't good around my mother or older conservatives. My close friends don't mind and think it's funny. ;^_^

[thalassa]

Re: Differences between US and UK English (and others....)

Peter from the podcasts I listen to, just said something interesting and I was wondering what others make of it.

He said that the word 'toilet' is considered quite wait, what was his word.. crude in the US (I scrolled to exactly the moment he said this, first time, but there was no one here to hi five me...). He then went on to say that even between friends, people tend to avoid this word and usually say 'bathroom'.

Is this true? Do any of my fellow Brits think toilet is a crude word? Around here, people always use it and I am far more likely to say, 'I'm going to the toilet' or 'do you know where the toilets are?' than bathroom. I mean, there's no bath in a public toilet so it seems a bit weird to say 'bathroom' unless you are at a home where they have a combined toilet and bathroom.

'Where is the toilet?' was brought up in one of the Japanese threads at some point and I'm sure it was Americans who were discussing it. So it can't be so bad, right?

In public/polite company around here, its usually the "restroom" rather than "bathroom" (which we use at home)...the "bathroom" being a place with a bath/shower. I don't think its that it is rude, but rather incorrect. Toilet being the actual thing you sit on, not the name of the room where you go to do your business.

[Jembru]

Re: Differences between US and UK English (and others....)

So if someone wanted to use the word 'toilet' it would actually be better to say, 'I'm going to use the toilet', rather than 'I'm going TO the toilet' as we would, which could be taken as the room or the thing you sit on?

I'm sometimes surprised myself by what interests me!