Strange American sayings from an English Perspective

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  • Alluminati
    Alluminati Posts: 6,208 Member
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    In a bit of turnabout I would like to point out that the English phrase "taking the piss" is completely baffling to Americans.
    Doesn't that just mean "teasing/putting someone on" and "going out on the piss" means "going out drinking"?

    I thought it meant "beat the ish out of you".

    That would be braying someone, kicking the ish out of them, or hammering them. Which is also as a term for drinking "getting hammered".
    This thread has been very educational :laugh: thanks
  • TamTastic
    TamTastic Posts: 19,224 Member
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    This is a fun read! :laugh:
  • VpinkLotus
    VpinkLotus Posts: 849 Member
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    twerk team

    I have no idea why that struck me so funny but I just legit spit beverage across the room. :laugh:
  • sbrownallison
    sbrownallison Posts: 314 Member
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    I love many, many British expressions: "Done and dusted" is one. Anybody know where that one came from?
  • arghbowl
    arghbowl Posts: 1,179 Member
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    They snicker at you if you order a "Scotch" in Scotland.
    Cheeky buggers.

    What do they call it over there? A whiskey?

    Why would you ask for Irish or American whisky anyway? Asking for scotch whisky is a tautology. :drinker:

    Not a fan of Irish whiskey, but there are some damn fin American bourbons out there to match anything from Scotland. A different experience to be sure, but the quality is there.

    I'm happy to take your word for it :wink: Now, where's my Glenfiddich?

    There are some incredible bourbons, and honestly bourbon and Scotch are two different drinking experiences. I'm a big fan of Woodford Reserve, for example. The area where Scotch really differentiates itself though, at least for me, is with the heavy peat notes in whiskeys like Lagavulin, Oban, Talisker, and to a lesser degree, Highland Park. Those are in their own special, and rarified, world.

    Woodford Reserve is fantastic!
  • VpinkLotus
    VpinkLotus Posts: 849 Member
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    I <3 British expressions...and people. I do! I have an obsession with the BBC and British television in general. Because I love to hear them speak. So wierd I know.
  • Alpina483
    Alpina483 Posts: 246 Member
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    I was very impressed the first time I learned the term uisge beatha. Any culture that calls whisky the water of life has got their sh1t together.
    Well, to be fair, that expression is used in the local idiom in a surprising number of cultures (from Scandinavia through Europe to southern Russia), given that distillation of alcoholic beverages is a relatively recent phenomenon in human history. Before then we had to get by what the yeast could do for us. Not that I don't love a really delicious beer too!

    would love to hear more about southern Russia culture and its local idioms re water of life ))
  • Camera_BagintheUK
    Camera_BagintheUK Posts: 707 Member
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    I love many, many British expressions: "Done and dusted" is one. Anybody know where that one came from?

    one suggestion is it refers to writing with dip nibs when they used to use pounce after blotting the ink to ensure it's quite dry. So for example, lawyers relied on long written documents, copied out by their clerks, so the deal was complete when the legal documents had been "done and dusted".

    ETA sorry, forgot to explain, pounce is a white powder, bit like talcum powder, not quite as fine I think. The clerks and scribes would sprinkle the powder on the page when they'd finished writing, than dust it off after a minute or two. Calligraphers still use it today. I have some!
  • lwoodroff
    lwoodroff Posts: 1,431 Member
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    heard one the other day on a bastion of cheap TV set somewhere oop North where the only entertainment was going out, bingeing and getting trollied. Except they called it 'getting mortal'. Even within the UK there are many and varied local idioms!
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    heard one the other day on a bastion of cheap TV set somewhere oop North where the only entertainment was going out, bingeing and getting trollied. Except they called it 'getting mortal'. Even within the UK there are many and varied local idioms!

    LOL

    I have absolutely no idea what you just said!
  • andiechick
    andiechick Posts: 916 Member
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    heard one the other day on a bastion of cheap TV set somewhere oop North where the only entertainment was going out, bingeing and getting trollied. Except they called it 'getting mortal'. Even within the UK there are many and varied local idioms!

    Yeh if you're 'mortal' then you are completely off your face drunk. You could also say you were $hitfaced!!

    This thread has been such a laugh
  • andiechick
    andiechick Posts: 916 Member
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    heard one the other day on a bastion of cheap TV set somewhere oop North where the only entertainment was going out, bingeing and getting trollied. Except they called it 'getting mortal'. Even within the UK there are many and varied local idioms!

    LOL

    I have absolutely no idea what you just said!

    Basically our language varies from city to city and what means one thing is the south can mean something completely different up north! ha x
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    heard one the other day on a bastion of cheap TV set somewhere oop North where the only entertainment was going out, bingeing and getting trollied. Except they called it 'getting mortal'. Even within the UK there are many and varied local idioms!

    LOL

    I have absolutely no idea what you just said!

    Basically our language varies from city to city and what means one thing is the south can mean something completely different up north! ha x
    Oh. I got that was her point. I just don't know what she SAID! :-)

    It's the same thing in the US.
  • gkwatra
    gkwatra Posts: 431 Member
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    I <3 British expressions...and people. I do! I have an obsession with the BBC and British television in general. Because I love to hear them speak. So wierd I know.

    I love watching the public broadcasting station on Sat. evenings for all of the British sitcoms.
  • Fullsterkur_woman
    Fullsterkur_woman Posts: 2,712 Member
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    heard one the other day on a bastion of cheap TV set somewhere oop North where the only entertainment was going out, bingeing and getting trollied. Except they called it 'getting mortal'. Even within the UK there are many and varied local idioms!

    Yeh if you're 'mortal' then you are completely off your face drunk. You could also say you were $hitfaced!!

    This thread has been such a laugh
    Don't people also say "to get small"? I agree. I love this thread. I don't understand xenophobes. Learning about the ways other peoples/nations/cultures do things is fantastic!
  • Fullsterkur_woman
    Fullsterkur_woman Posts: 2,712 Member
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    would love to hear more about southern Russia culture and its local idioms re water of life ))
    яковита, which Google Translate gives as "Jacobites", which is funny all on its own in the context of this thread. I think Ukrainian listed it as оковита and I also saw аковитая. All of which clearly arise from "aqua vitae". But you live in Moscow, so I'm sure you have more direct access to info about it, right? Tеперь мне нельзя пить, к сожалению, кроме немножкo кваса, может быть.

    (edited because my Russian spelling is horrendous!)
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,082 Member
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    In a bit of turnabout I would like to point out that the English phrase "taking the piss" is completely baffling to Americans.
    Doesn't that just mean "teasing/putting someone on" and "going out on the piss" means "going out drinking"?

    I thought it meant "beat the ish out of you".

    Yes, taking the piss means teasing,mocking, making fun of..
    It doesn't mean beating them up

    Going out on the piss means going out drinking.
  • doc19822
    doc19822 Posts: 83 Member
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    You do actually know that the brits have some very odd sayings / food names as well right? for example (for the record I do not hate anyone and this is not ment as a hate statement..just a example) If you smoke a *kitten*, you are not going to jail for it for a long time. And if I would serve something called a spotted **** to my family, I would get in all sorts of trouble!
  • tiggerhammon
    tiggerhammon Posts: 2,211 Member
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    in view of the impending season...

    'it's brass monkeys out there'!

    What does this mean?
  • lwoodroff
    lwoodroff Posts: 1,431 Member
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    heard one the other day on a bastion of cheap TV set somewhere oop North where the only entertainment was going out, bingeing and getting trollied. Except they called it 'getting mortal'. Even within the UK there are many and varied local idioms!

    LOL

    I have absolutely no idea what you just said!
    [/quote]

    Basically our language varies from city to city and what means one thing is the south can mean something completely different up north! ha x
    [/quote]
    Oh. I got that was her point. I just don't know what she SAID! :-)

    It's the same thing in the US.
    [/quote]

    sorry.. there was a cheap-to-make (ie reality tv) programme on called 'bouncers' (do you call them bouncers too? chaps who stand outside a club or pub and make sure there is no trouble/check IDs etc - or as you'd say 'card people'), and the Northern youngsters were describing the act of getting ratted / drunk / whatever / as 'mortal'. new one on me.

    Lots of phrases for going to the loo for a no. 1 too in the UK, most not for polite company!
    - going for a slash
    - going to water the horses
    - going for a wazz

    :)

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