Different words for the same things depending on which country you're in.
Replies
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williams969 wrote: »nutmegoreo wrote: »nutmegoreo wrote: »CurlyCockney wrote: »nutmegoreo wrote: »CurlyCockney wrote: »nutmegoreo wrote: »Oh my. I was working internationally and we were having a similar conversation about different word meanings. The looks on the girls faces when I used the phrase "sitting on your fanny watching the boob tube." It was all kinds of fun!
LOL Thank you Wikipedia, for explaining that Americans call boob tubes 'tube tops'
Actually, we used the term boob tube to refer to televisions.
Yes, but what we call boob tubes you call tube tops.
I get it. I misinterpreted your previous post.
So up the girls interpreted the saying as siting on their kitty staring at their rack.
Rack?? Is that one Australian, American, or British??
Canadian slang.
American, too. Awww, a slang term that we all share! Unity through boob admiration
YAY!!!2 -
A very serious one:
US/Canada: Poop
Australia: Poo.
:laugh:As a Canadian who moved to Australia in 2009 ... I had to learn a whole new language. My first year here I was constantly coming home and asking my husband what on earth certain terms meant. But I'm almost fluent now.
arvo
barrack
bluey
chook
etc. etc.
Even "bring a plate" still sounds weird to me.
I'm the opposite. Aussie moved to Canada in 2006. It took my Canadian family (well, husbands family) 3 freakin' years to stop quizzing me on the Aussie language. Heck, they still ask me to pronounce certain words.
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CurlyCockney wrote: »nutmegoreo wrote: »williams969 wrote: »CurlyCockney wrote: »Ah tank tops are knitted pullovers (sleeveless sweaters) that our mums used to make us wear in the 70s.
We had a matching macrame owl hanging on the wall
I loved the macrame owl!
Did you have a frog, pot scrubber holder?
OMG We had the frog, we kept the Brillo pad in his mouth!
I have one sat on my kitchen window sill. He's currently chewing on a nail brush.2 -
Christine_72 wrote: »As a Canadian who moved to Australia in 2009 ... I had to learn a whole new language. My first year here I was constantly coming home and asking my husband what on earth certain terms meant. But I'm almost fluent now.
arvo
barrack
bluey
chook
etc. etc.
Even "bring a plate" still sounds weird to me.
Good Arvo to you, what footy team do you barrack for. We had a roast chook for dinner last night, might get chilly later so will have to the throw the bluey on.
I gave up the durries/*kitten* 12mths ago, good thing as I always drank too much goon juice when i smoked. Might have a barbie later
Over here we "cheer" or "root" for a team.
I understand that "rooting" for a team would have a quite different meaning in Australia.
Yes - a VERY different meaning.
True story - there was an american lady, not long out here, whose son was same age as mine and played in same basketball team.
This lady used to barrack very enthusiatically - somebody asked her if she alsways go that excited - Oh yes, she says , I root for all his basketball team and his football team and....
She did not know why we all burst into laughter.
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In Australia we go to a shopping centre (mall) to go to the shops. Shopping centres are indoor places with lots of shops, we have malls but they are open streets with shops (pedestrianised). We get a lot of our food from the supermarket (grocery store)1
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"Normal" football is called Soccer in America. American football looks more like Rugby to me, but I never got that clarified.
American football bears not much more than a passing resemblance to rugby and vice-versa. They're both rough contact sports involving an oddly-shaped ball, but that's about where the similarities end. Rugby and Aussie Rules Football seem to be much more similar.
The sport I've never been able to figure out is Cricket. Oddly fascinating, but completely alien to most Americans.
Yes I understand cricket. Not much of a sportsman, but would play that before I would play football (soccer).0 -
Skyblueyellow wrote: »skinnygirl4u wrote: »U.S./Canada
candy bar/chocolate bar
trash/garbage
gutter/eavestrough
railing/bannister
I'm in the US and I say chocolate bar, garbage and bannister, but not eavestrough.
I say soda and not pop. We do have scones here as well. I live in an area that was originally settled by the Germans.
Also, I "use the restroom".
I use the term restroom, too. For some reason, it drives my 14 year old crazy. So now I make sure to do it more.
But why is it a "restroom"? You don't go there to rest!!2 -
paperpudding wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »As a Canadian who moved to Australia in 2009 ... I had to learn a whole new language. My first year here I was constantly coming home and asking my husband what on earth certain terms meant. But I'm almost fluent now.
arvo
barrack
bluey
chook
etc. etc.
Even "bring a plate" still sounds weird to me.
Good Arvo to you, what footy team do you barrack for. We had a roast chook for dinner last night, might get chilly later so will have to the throw the bluey on.
I gave up the durries/*kitten* 12mths ago, good thing as I always drank too much goon juice when i smoked. Might have a barbie later
Over here we "cheer" or "root" for a team.
I understand that "rooting" for a team would have a quite different meaning in Australia.
Yes - a VERY different meaning.
True story - there was an american lady, not long out here, whose son was same age as mine and played in same basketball team.
This lady used to barrack very enthusiatically - somebody asked her if she alsways go that excited - Oh yes, she says , I root for all his basketball team and his football team and....
She did not know why we all burst into laughter.
Sorry, I'm not getting this other meaning of "root". Is it something that can be printed in a public space? Please tell.1 -
"Normal" football is called Soccer in America. American football looks more like Rugby to me, but I never got that clarified.
American football bears not much more than a passing resemblance to rugby and vice-versa. They're both rough contact sports involving an oddly-shaped ball, but that's about where the similarities end. Rugby and Aussie Rules Football seem to be much more similar.
The sport I've never been able to figure out is Cricket. Oddly fascinating, but completely alien to most Americans.
Cricket, the only sport where the game goes on for days and nobody wins.2 -
paperpudding wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »As a Canadian who moved to Australia in 2009 ... I had to learn a whole new language. My first year here I was constantly coming home and asking my husband what on earth certain terms meant. But I'm almost fluent now.
arvo
barrack
bluey
chook
etc. etc.
Even "bring a plate" still sounds weird to me.
Good Arvo to you, what footy team do you barrack for. We had a roast chook for dinner last night, might get chilly later so will have to the throw the bluey on.
I gave up the durries/*kitten* 12mths ago, good thing as I always drank too much goon juice when i smoked. Might have a barbie later
Over here we "cheer" or "root" for a team.
I understand that "rooting" for a team would have a quite different meaning in Australia.
Yes - a VERY different meaning.
True story - there was an american lady, not long out here, whose son was same age as mine and played in same basketball team.
This lady used to barrack very enthusiatically - somebody asked her if she alsways go that excited - Oh yes, she says , I root for all his basketball team and his football team and....
She did not know why we all burst into laughter.
Sorry, I'm not getting this other meaning of "root". Is it something that can be printed in a public space? Please tell.
It's when a man and a woman are intimate ...
Another example is the word "bonk". In British English it means "root" (as above) ... in North American English, in the cycling community especially, it means when your blood sugar level drops too low and you seriously run out of energy. Kind of like "hitting the wall" in running terms.1 -
paperpudding wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »As a Canadian who moved to Australia in 2009 ... I had to learn a whole new language. My first year here I was constantly coming home and asking my husband what on earth certain terms meant. But I'm almost fluent now.
arvo
barrack
bluey
chook
etc. etc.
Even "bring a plate" still sounds weird to me.
Good Arvo to you, what footy team do you barrack for. We had a roast chook for dinner last night, might get chilly later so will have to the throw the bluey on.
I gave up the durries/*kitten* 12mths ago, good thing as I always drank too much goon juice when i smoked. Might have a barbie later
Over here we "cheer" or "root" for a team.
I understand that "rooting" for a team would have a quite different meaning in Australia.
Yes - a VERY different meaning.
True story - there was an american lady, not long out here, whose son was same age as mine and played in same basketball team.
This lady used to barrack very enthusiatically - somebody asked her if she alsways go that excited - Oh yes, she says , I root for all his basketball team and his football team and....
She did not know why we all burst into laughter.
Sorry, I'm not getting this other meaning of "root". Is it something that can be printed in a public space? Please tell.
Australian slang, widely used throughout the country - means same as universal word starting with F and rhyming with duck.
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Ones I specifically learned here on MFP:
Chemist (in England?) we call Pharmacist/Pharmacy in Canada
Surgery (in England?) is what we call the Dr. or Dr. Office in Canada (this one really got me the other day in a thread where people kept telling a guy to go to surgery - I was like WTF, he just needs a dr.)
Tea (in England?) is our dinner/supper.0 -
Yeah, my language doesn't make sense sometimes..7 -
Not sure if it has already been mentioned but ...
lollies = candies
biscuits = cookies
As I mentioned, I'm a Canadian who moved to Australia and I really struggle with the word "biscuits". To me "biscuits" are more like dumplings, "crackers" are hard salty things, and "cookies" are sweet. It still throws me off when someone asks if I want a "biscuit". A dumpling? Now? No! Oh wait, you mean a cookie!
Also meals ...
In Canada it is:
breakfast
brunch
lunch
coffee break
dinner or supper
and something my family called "little lunch" which was a late evening snack.
In Australia it is:
breakfast
brunch/morning tea/smoko
lunch
arvo tea/smoko
dinner or tea
supper = my "little lunch" or late evening snack.
Here in cape breton, nova scotia (which has it's own slang) we have breakfast, dinner, supper, bed lunch. I am from ottawa and the dinner as lunch thing drove me crazy lol. Also the word wasted. In ottawa we used it to mean drunk but here they use it as meaning exhausted. I was shocked the first time I heard my friends proclaiming how wasted they were after a long church choir rehearsal!2 -
Heh the whole dinner vs lunch thing is a minefield, even within the UK! Northerners tend to have dinner as their midday meal, where us southern softies have lunch. To further complicate it, at school the midday meal is called dinner (served by Dinner Ladies), but as soon as we leave school and join the workforce we have lunch in a lunchbreak.2
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Speaking of schools: In the US 'public schools' are what we in the UK call 'state-run schools'. Public schools here are fee-paying, and these days the term is interchangeable with private schools. We just call them posh schools ;-)2
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Skyblueyellow wrote: »skinnygirl4u wrote: »U.S./Canada
candy bar/chocolate bar
trash/garbage
gutter/eavestrough
railing/bannister
I'm in the US and I say chocolate bar, garbage and bannister, but not eavestrough.
I say soda and not pop. We do have scones here as well. I live in an area that was originally settled by the Germans.
Also, I "use the restroom".
I use the term restroom, too. For some reason, it drives my 14 year old crazy. So now I make sure to do it more.
But why is it a "restroom"? You don't go there to rest!!
I've always wondered the same thing about why we drive on a parkway, but park on a driveway. 5 -
This thread is awesome. Thanks @Christine_1972.
One I will add is a phrase we use in Texas. "Fixing to". They may also use it in parts of the south. And it is properly pronounced as "fixin' ta". As in, "I am fixin' ta go to the store." I was an adult before I realized that not everyone says that.
We also use barbeque as both a noun and a verb. It is the act of cooking meat over a smokey fire. Not grilling which is cooking hamburgers and hotdogs over a flame. Grilling can be done on a propane cooker. Barbeque requires a wood fire. We use mesquite and pecan mostly. Charcoal is acceptable but won't give you the flavor of wood, but it beats propane any day. Barbeque as a noun is something you eat, and it has been barbequed.
We also drink cokes and we will get you any flavor of coke you want. Although I have started using soda and you will hear soda or soada pop a little around here, but nobody says pop.1 -
singingflutelady wrote: »Not sure if it has already been mentioned but ...
lollies = candies
biscuits = cookies
As I mentioned, I'm a Canadian who moved to Australia and I really struggle with the word "biscuits". To me "biscuits" are more like dumplings, "crackers" are hard salty things, and "cookies" are sweet. It still throws me off when someone asks if I want a "biscuit". A dumpling? Now? No! Oh wait, you mean a cookie!
Also meals ...
In Canada it is:
breakfast
brunch
lunch
coffee break
dinner or supper
and something my family called "little lunch" which was a late evening snack.
In Australia it is:
breakfast
brunch/morning tea/smoko
lunch
arvo tea/smoko
dinner or tea
supper = my "little lunch" or late evening snack.
Here in cape breton, nova scotia (which has it's own slang) we havebreakfast, dinner, supper, bed lunch. I am from ottawa and the dinner as lunch thing drove me crazy lol. Also the word wasted. In ottawa we used it to mean drunk but here they use it as meaning exhausted. I was shocked the first time I heard my friends proclaiming how wasted they were after a long church choir rehearsal!
My father's family (Belgian Americans living in rural Wisconsin) say breakfast/dinner/supper. I think it's common in Wisconsin, perhaps from immigration history shared with Ottawa/ NS / etc. surrounding fur trade back in the day.
I haven't heard bed lunch before, but I love it. Going to call it that from now on, lol!0 -
My dad is from South Carolina. They say breakfast/dinner/supper there too. I use lunch or supper and dinner. Dinner for me is the largest meal of the day which is usually at suppertime. But sometimes on the weekends we have dinner at lunchtime. When my son was about 6 he was staying with my dad one day while I was gone to work. My dad asked him what he wanted for dinner and he told my dad he wasn't eating dinner there since I would be home before then. It took a few minutes for my dad to realize why he was confused.1
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I'm just getting through page 1. I take it someone has mentioned the different meanings of "shag?"1
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Thank you @Christine_72 , for that video a few pages back. I literally had tears.
Regarding cricket: I've stared at the television screen a few times - watching, trying to figure out what was going on, listening to the announcers - and gave up after 20 minutes or so because none of it made any sense.2 -
The last time I was in Afghanistan I was running a predominantly American team, which created a few challenges at times. One of the team came back from a meeting at the NATO HQ in Kabul and was talking about "do outs", which baffled me until I realised that he was on about "actions"0
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CurlyCockney wrote: »Heh the whole dinner vs lunch thing is a minefield, even within the UK! Northerners tend to have dinner as their midday meal, where us southern softies have lunch. To further complicate it, at school the midday meal is called dinner (served by Dinner Ladies), but as soon as we leave school and join the workforce we have lunch in a lunchbreak.
In my world, dinner can happen mid-day, or as the evening meal. The trick is that it's a bigger or possibly more formal meal. For example, people might have "Sunday Dinner" or "Christmas Dinner" mid-day - some more formal kind of meat (turkey, roast beef, maybe fried chicken) with vegetable sides & dessert. "Lunch" or "Supper" are somewhat more routine (lighter, less formal) meals at mid-day and early evening respectively. People who have a full-sit down with meat/sides/dessert in a routine at-home evening are more likely to routinely refer to the evening meal as "dinner".2 -
After having moved to denmark, they have quite a few funny "english" terms.
All types of lettuces and greens are called "salad"
Scratch that, any vegetables on a burger are also called "salad"
French Fries are called Pommes Frites
mayonnaise is called "Pommes Frites sauce"
Diet coke is "Coke Light"
Bathroom/Restroom is often referred to as "toilet" or "wc"
baby carriage is referred to as a "pram"
Trunk of the car is called a "boot" depending on whether they learned oxford or american english
Fanny means vagina whereas to me it means your butt (sit your fanny down!)
Chest of drawers is refferred to as a kommode (which to me means toilet)
I've also thrown out the words "britches" "my drothers" and have gotten some hilarious responses.0 -
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I am Canadian but I moved to Ireland in 2013 for a year. When I was working at Starbucks, I had an Italian colleague who wanted to improve her English. Both myself and the Irish and then the American tried to help her and she kept on getting so confused.
It's hard enough being Italian and trying to learn English, but then when three English speakers who all say things differently are getting involved...poor girl was getting a headache.
Saran wrap/plastic wrap (North America) = Cling film (Irish)
And don't forget about the fact that when asking for someone to bring you something, you can say 'pass me the syrup' or 'hand me the syrup' or 'bring me the syrup' or whatever and in a language like Italian or Spanish, there is generally only one way to say it.
Edited to Add: (These are mainly Canadian/Irish differences)
Gas station/Garage or petrol station
Pop/Fizzy drink
Mail(man)/Post(man)
Takeout/Takeaway (I think the British use this as well?)
and this one may be just me and people in British Columbia but we generally refer to the United States of America as 'the States' whereas everyone else seems to say 'America'.1 -
The one that got me forever was "jumper." I only read it in stories and could not figure out what it meant. US translation = sweater.
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