English to USA Translations

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  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    "He made me mad, but I didn't tell him off." I believe telling someone off is yelling at them or getting angry with them.

    From the context of Harry Potter, you get told off in England when you've misbehaved, so kind of a lecture.

    In the US, being told off is pretty much that you've been insulted and reduced to about 3 feet high.
  • LordBezoar
    LordBezoar Posts: 625 Member
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    I apologise for generalising on the UK to USA translations... all translations are fun!

    I didn't want to have Eggplant in the USA because I literally thought it would taste of egg! Didn't realise I was missing out on Aubergine at the time!

    Oh, and I'm Southern UK but I still think "*kitten*" sounds better the way it's pronounced oop north, which is how I always say it!

    You just reminded me of one there. In the UK you say that something "Tastes of" In the US we say it "Tastes like"

    Others that I can think of (UK/US):

    Bonnet - Hood
    Brilliant - Awesome
    Take the Micky (Piss) out of - Ridicule/Harrass/Annoy (We don't really have a direct equivalent in the US...)
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    And is the English equivalent to fanny to dirty or something to discuss on here? I really have no idea and am too nervous to google it here at work!!

    It's what's on the opposite side of an American fanny, but only on a woman.
  • jcstanton
    jcstanton Posts: 1,849 Member
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    Question for the British: What do you call the cart you put your groceries in while shopping? We have a few variations between northern and southern US. In the north, it is either carriage or shopping cart. In the south I have heard people call them buggies.
    I'm from NY, so they're carts. But some people here in VA call them buggies. Also, they put my groceries in bags, but Southerners' in sacks.
    hmm, must be a VA thing. I've lived a long time in GA and NC/SC, and we call them bags here. Shopping cart. And grocery bags.

    I've lived in Georgia and Florida and I always hear the people with the Southern accents call them buggies. It's us Yankee carpetbaggers who call them carts. :-) So I hear both. I can't remember hearing anyone call a bag a sack, though. Not saying it isn't the case, I just haven't noticed it.

    We definitely call them buggies in the south!!
    Maybe it's b/c I live in the large cities of the south, like Atlanta and Charlotte. I've NEVER heard someone call it a buggy. Maybe in the smaller towns, perhaps?

    You probably ran into more Northerners in those places. Where I lived in GA was a TINY place. 50,000 total population for the county, so a lot of "natives."

    Where I live now is bigger and we still have a lot of transplants, but there are a lot of people here who grew up in the rural South and they call them buggies.

    I'm from Michigan originally, but I have lived in South Carolina for the better part of my life. Here in SC, I've heard both terms used. However, I live in the Greenville/Spartanburg area and there seems to be almost as many northerners here as native South Carolinians. The further south in this state you travel, the less likely you are to hear them referred to as shopping carts.
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
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    And is the English equivalent to fanny to dirty or something to discuss on here? I really have no idea and am too nervous to google it here at work!!

    vagina
  • jcstanton
    jcstanton Posts: 1,849 Member
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    Just thought of another one:

    Holiday=Vacation

    To us a "holiday" is usually an annual event celebrating some historic event or other, like CHRISTmas. A vacation is when you take a long weekend or a week or two to go out of town on a special trip for the purpose of relaxation or visiting out of town relatives.
  • LordBezoar
    LordBezoar Posts: 625 Member
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    What about the thing you sit on in a sitting room? We have sofas. WHat are they in the US?

    We call this a sofa, couch....if it's a 2 seater, we sometimes call it a love seat....because two people in LOVE can sit together. ;)

    ...or two people can uncomfortably sit too close to one another if at a party and all the other good spots are taken. haha.
    depends on the love seat though

    If you are from a really old, snooty family back east you might call it a "davenport" as well.
  • shannairl
    shannairl Posts: 65
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    I love these! I'm in Ireland.

    *Tea for me is definitely evening time. Lunch is Midday, Dinner is 3-4, Tea is later in the evening.
    *Also thought Americans were talking about being drunk when they said they were pissed.
    Nearly DIED the first time the word 'fanny' was mentioned on a U.S tv show - it's DEFINITELY not the same meaning here - we used to call fanny packs bumbags!
    *You say cigarettes, we say *kitten*.
    *You say potato chips, we say crisps.
    *You say soda, we say minerals or just call them by name - coke, 7-up, etc.
    *You say jelly, we say jam.
    *You say sidewalk, we say pavement.
    *You say diapers, we say nappies.
    *You say pacifiers, we say dummies or dodies.
    *You say boogers, we say snots.
    *You say cooties, we say germs, or no reference - did not have a clue what this meant, it took me years to find out!
    *You call them barrettes, we say hair clips.
    *You call it a pocketbook, we say handbag or purse.

    And I don't get the whole 'oz(ounce)' thing at all. We're all ml and litres!
  • leynak
    leynak Posts: 963 Member
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    I have one

    Washroom (Canada) - Bathroom (US)
    Washroom (US) - Laundry room (Canada)

    Maybe I should be more specific. I heard this in West Virginia, I don't know if it's true across the US

    I'm from West Virginia & have heard the laundry room called washroom. But I use laundry room. And it's usually pronounced Warshroom :laugh: I hate it how they add random r's into certain words...
  • Qarol
    Qarol Posts: 6,171 Member
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    I think I saw as I was scrolling...pants. Yea, means trousers in the US from what I've seen. Pants means panties/underwear in the UK, right?
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    I love these! I'm in Ireland.

    *Tea for me is definitely evening time. Lunch is Midday, Dinner is 3-4, Tea is later in the evening.
    *Also thought Americans were talking about being drunk when they said they were pissed.
    Nearly DIED the first time the word 'fanny' was mentioned on a U.S tv show - it's DEFINITELY not the same meaning here - we used to call fanny packs bumbags!
    *You say cigarettes, we say *kitten*.
    *You say potato chips, we say crisps.
    *You say soda, we say minerals or just call them by name - coke, 7-up, etc.
    *You say jelly, we say jam.
    *You say sidewalk, we say pavement.
    *You say diapers, we say nappies.
    *You say pacifiers, we say dummies or dodies.
    *You say boogers, we say snots.
    *You say cooties, we say germs, or no reference - did not have a clue what this meant, it took me years to find out!
    *You call them barrettes, we say hair clips.
    *You call it a pocketbook, we say handbag or purse.

    And I don't get the whole 'oz(ounce)' thing at all. We're all ml and litres!

    Ah ... the soda thing! That totally depends on where you are in the US. Some regions say "Coke" for all of them. Some places it's "pop," and I'm pretty sure there are several others.

    We also say handbag and purse here, as well as germs. Only children say cooties. We also use hair clips AND barrettes. And we say jam, but jelly is more common.
  • BigAardvaark
    BigAardvaark Posts: 43
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    I think I saw as I was scrolling...pants. Yea, means trousers in the US from what I've seen. Pants means panties/underwear in the UK, right?

    Depends where you're from. Pants to me are trousers. I call panties, knickers. And I don't wear underpants. Much ;-)
  • grapeeyes1
    grapeeyes1 Posts: 237 Member
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    And is the English equivalent to fanny to dirty or something to discuss on here? I really have no idea and am too nervous to google it here at work!!
    Female genitals
  • Tree72
    Tree72 Posts: 942 Member
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    For the jam and jelly thing, we use both words. Jelly might be a bit more common. They are actually different things though. Jelly is very smooth, firmly gelled, and often made with just juice. Jam is a bit less gelled, a bit rougher in texture, and is usually made with pureed fruits. Preserves are even rougher and often have whole bits of fruit in them.

    The large piece of furniture in the living room can be either a couch or a sofa. It's definitely a living room to the average family though. Sitting rooms, parlors, and dens are usually only found in larger homes and in addition to the main living room.

    I've always just called the thing you use at the grocery store a shopping cart or cart for short.

    One I haven't seen on here yet is the English "bunches" referring to a hairstyle that (if I remember correctly) is what I grew up calling "dog ears". (Parted down the middle and made into a high tail on either side of the head generally above or slightly behind the ears.)
  • AmyLRed
    AmyLRed Posts: 894 Member
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    bump
    love this will read it all later
  • TeachTheGirl
    TeachTheGirl Posts: 2,091 Member
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    Tea = Dinner in my household.

    My mother would always yell upstairs 'KIDS! TEA'S REDDEH!'

    In regards to car parts, as I saw someone mention hood/bonnet, the trunk is also called the boot in the UK. Hence 'Car-boot' sales, where you sell things out of the back of your car.
  • dunlunicor
    dunlunicor Posts: 189 Member
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    There are some fun ones region-to-region in the US, too.

    Soda=Coke=Pop
    Bag=Sack
    Cart=Buggy
    Hex wrench=Allen wrench/key
    Cut the grass=mow the lawn

    The worst Southern Indiana-isms I've heard:
    "To itch"="To scratch"
    "Old" sounds like "ode". So does "cold"
    "I'm gonna get me a (noun)." This one make my skin crawl.
    "I'm fixin' to (verb)." Same deal.
    No matter where you're going (north, south, east, west), you are "Going down to (place)."
  • devonette
    devonette Posts: 263 Member
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    UK Roundabout = US Rotary

    I've only heard them called roundabouts in the US. Rotary is a club (Rotary International).

    Depends on the location in the US -- here in New Jersey they're called Circles.


    a few more:
    profiterole = cream puff
    bum = bottom, rear end
    on the dole = on unemployment compensation
    custard = pudding
    pudding = dessert (various)
    tea (not the beverage) = lunch or supper
    dust bin = trash can
    rubbish bin = garbage can (although not too many towns have you separate the two anymore)
    bin diving = dumpster diving

    I am struggling to work out which side of the Atlantic you mean for which. I am English and say Profiterole, bottom, jobseekers, custard, pud, supper, bin (for bin you put rubbish in, be that dust or rubbish), and I have no idea what bin or dumpster diving are! I also say chips for the things you buy in packets that are made of slices of potato.

    Oops, sorry. British Word = American Word (or at least Southern New Jersey word!)

    bin diving/dumpster diving is going into the large trash dumpsters outside apartments (flats) or other buildings and "trash picking" stuff that's been thrown away and taking it home to use or sell. It's also what some street dwellers do for food, they'll go thru dumpsters and trash cans looking for discarded food.
  • RobynC79
    RobynC79 Posts: 331 Member
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    Here are few that stick out to me - I am an aussie with a very british family, living in Texas.

    Pissed in the US means annoyed, as we would say 'pissed off'. Just 'Pissed' is drunk.

    Taking the piss/having a go - teasing/provoking. Not sure what the US direct equivalent is, I can only confirm that Americans do not instinctively understand either of those.

    Comforter for doona or quilt. I find using the term 'comforter' for a bed cover to be very strange, almost juvenile.

    Jelly/Jam/Jello, etc... When I was young and we would watch Sesame St, my sister and I were equally horrified and utterly puzzled at the logistics of putting jelly (which to us is what americans call jello) on a sandwich. And then that it went with peanut butter took it entirely out of the realm of comprehension. Mysterious.

    Barbeque vs. grilling vs.broiling. Aussie's BBQ in the way americans 'grill'. We grill in the way americans broil. And American BBQ is closer to smoking, but we really don't have an equivalent.

    There are various very odd sounding American phrases that I can't bring myself to use. Being 'chewed out' sounds deeply vulgar to me (It means getting told off). And what does 'screw the pooch' mean? Because the literal translation doesn't give me a lot to go on...
  • carloc
    carloc Posts: 135 Member
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    Breakfast = Breakfast
    Lunch = Diner
    Diner = Tea
    n/a = Supper

    I'm English (near Manchester, actually Accrington to the English folks here.) and have lived in the US for 12 yrs.

    If your English in America and what a little fun, go the the market and ask for basil the English way, they won't have a clue what you mean.

    Me and my ex-wife (American) were once was at the supermarket, at the butchers counter and asked for 1lb of honey roast ham, the guy looked at me funny, so again I asked for 1lb of honey roast ham, he still did not understand what I was asking for. After repeating myself quite a number of time I looked at wife, she then says exactly the same thing with her American accent and the guy gets it instantly.
    I turned to my wife and said "You just translated English into English".

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