English to USA Translations

maryjaquiss

Manc girl here who has also never heard leery to mean wary. It sounds really old-fashioned to me!

maryjaquiss

Which reminds me - manky / minging = disgusting or dirty (not sure if slang words count though!)

Peta22

Where I am we called a pavement a footpath.
We throw out the rubbish.
We eat buscuits.
We change nappies.
We use dummies on babies.
Mate is not used often.. its just stereotypical.
Our car has a boot, bonnet and a windscreen.
We park our cars in a car park.
I go to university, not college.
I watch tv in my lounge room.
I prepare my meals on the kitchen bench.
I wear a jumper when I'm cold.

The list goes on...

I'd argue that 'Mate' is not just steriotypical... Spend some time in construction or the outback in general and I daresay you'll hear it a lot more!!

bathsheba_c

I once read the guide given to American soldiers serving in Britain in WWII. It said to be careful with slang as such common phrases as, "I feel like a bum," can be misunderstood.

rml_16

I always liked

Happy Christmas = Merry Christmas or

on holiday = on vacation

I always want to say Happy Christmas instead. I like how it sounds. But I think people here would look at me funny.

rml_16

And:
Autumn / fall
Dinner jacket / tux
Motorway / highway
Ladybird / ladybug
CV / Resume

Autumn and fall are interchangeable in the US.

BerryH

That reminds me:

Holiday / vacation
"OMG you've put your Christmas tree up already?" / holidays

:laugh:

tamsinwhitfield

Don't know if this one has already been posted (since this thread has approx. seven zillion pages, and I have not read them all), but "zucchini" annoys me. It is called a courgette. Similarly, what the hell is an "eggplant"? AUBERGINE.

Also, throwing it out there - a lot of "Americanisms" are actually the original English words, before it became super trendy to absorb French / Latin into English lexicon and no one bothered to let the colonialists know. "Fall", for instance, was the original pre-Renaissance term in England, and the introduction of the letter 'u' all over the place, plus -re suffix ('colour', 'centre', etc.) were all due to French influence, but the original equivalents were preserved in the colonies. Shakespeare is full of supposed Americanisms.

Just sayin'.

rml_16

Don't know if this one has already been posted (since this thread has approx. seven zillion pages, and I have not read them all), but "zucchini" annoys me. It is called a courgette. Similarly, what the hell is an "eggplant"? AUBERGINE.

You're seriously annoyed that people have a different word for a vegetable? This isn't the "our way is right and your way is wrong" thread.

In England, it is called a courgette. In the US, it is called a zucchini.

xSophia19

crisps -- potato chips
football -- soccer
rubbish -- trash

tamsinwhitfield

Don't know if this one has already been posted (since this thread has approx. seven zillion pages, and I have not read them all), but "zucchini" annoys me. It is called a courgette. Similarly, what the hell is an "eggplant"? AUBERGINE.

You're seriously annoyed that people have a different word for a vegetable? This isn't the "our way is right and your way is wrong" thread.

In England, it is called a courgette. In the US, it is called a zucchini.

Obviously neither is "right" or "wrong" - but because there's no logical reason for a deviation in etymology (within a single language) that can be easily explained, yes, I find it slightly irritating in a linguistic sense (because 99% of deviations have a logical explanation). It's similar to how English is more or less the only language to use a different word for meat in its cooked form versus "living" form (beef and cow, pork and pig, mutton and sheep, etc.) - even though this is still easily explained (i.e. original Anglo versus French class-distinction), it's slightly annoying that no standard arose in 400~ years of use. Pet peeve, I'm sure you have some too.

rml_16

Don't know if this one has already been posted (since this thread has approx. seven zillion pages, and I have not read them all), but "zucchini" annoys me. It is called a courgette. Similarly, what the hell is an "eggplant"? AUBERGINE.

You're seriously annoyed that people have a different word for a vegetable? This isn't the "our way is right and your way is wrong" thread.

In England, it is called a courgette. In the US, it is called a zucchini.

Obviously neither is "right" or "wrong" - but because there's no logical reason for a deviation in etymology (within a single language) that can be easily explained, yes, I find it slightly irritating in a linguistic sense (because 99% of deviations have a logical explanation). It's similar to how English is more or less the only language to use a different word for meat in its cooked form versus "living" form (beef and cow, pork and pig, mutton and sheep, etc.) - even though this is still easily explained (i.e. original Anglo versus French class-distinction), it's slightly annoying that no standard arose in 400~ years of use. Pet peeve, I'm sure you have some too.

OK, but you spent the second part of that post talking about how the American versions are the original English because of the French influence later in England, then said the French versions of those vegetable names are the "right" ones. Shouldn't you say the opposite?

Yes, I have my pet peeves. But the logical explanation for the deviations in English is that it's spoken in countries separated by oceans with different cultures and language evolves. Obviously, it would evolve differently in the US and Australia than in England.

tamsinwhitfield

Don't know if this one has already been posted (since this thread has approx. seven zillion pages, and I have not read them all), but "zucchini" annoys me. It is called a courgette. Similarly, what the hell is an "eggplant"? AUBERGINE.

You're seriously annoyed that people have a different word for a vegetable? This isn't the "our way is right and your way is wrong" thread.

In England, it is called a courgette. In the US, it is called a zucchini.

Obviously neither is "right" or "wrong" - but because there's no logical reason for a deviation in etymology (within a single language) that can be easily explained, yes, I find it slightly irritating in a linguistic sense (because 99% of deviations have a logical explanation). It's similar to how English is more or less the only language to use a different word for meat in its cooked form versus "living" form (beef and cow, pork and pig, mutton and sheep, etc.) - even though this is still easily explained (i.e. original Anglo versus French class-distinction), it's slightly annoying that no standard arose in 400~ years of use. Pet peeve, I'm sure you have some too.

OK, but you spent the second part of that post talking about how the American versions are the original English because of the French influence later in England, then said the French versions of those vegetable names are the "right" ones. Shouldn't you say the opposite?

Yes, I have my pet peeves. But the logical explanation for the deviations in English is that it's spoken in countries separated by oceans with different cultures and language evolves. Obviously, it would evolve differently in the US and Australia than in England.

That's my bad; I didn't actually mean to imply that either was correct or incorrect, but re-reading I can appreciate how it came across that way. Historically, that's how language evolution / ameliorisation / pejoration worked, and yes, makes perfect sense - but with the original examples (I'll use courgette for this), we're talking 20th century vernacular, so the languages weren't separate in the same way (obv. more communication). Modern English (20th century onwards), with exception of really localised dialect / colloquialisms, you're not really looking at the same degree of separation (can't really come up with any words that have developed recently with the same sort of distinctions, because there's so much cultural overlap - it's essentially becoming a single language again, at least with standard forms). So etymologically, it's not as logical as words dating back to Anglo-Saxon / Middle English.

Thread officially derailed - sorry to anyone who actually reads this!

rml_16

That's my bad; I didn't actually mean to imply that either was correct or incorrect, but re-reading I can appreciate how it came across that way. Historically, that's how language evolution / ameliorisation / pejoration worked, and yes, makes perfect sense - but with the original examples (I'll use courgette for this), we're talking 20th century vernacular, so the languages weren't separate in the same way (obv. more communication). Modern English (20th century onwards), with exception of really localised dialect / colloquialisms, you're not really looking at the same degree of separation (can't really come up with any words that have developed recently with the same sort of distinctions, because there's so much cultural overlap - it's essentially becoming a single language again, at least with standard forms). So etymologically, it's not as logical as words dating back to Anglo-Saxon / Middle English.

Thread officially derailed - sorry to anyone who actually reads this!

No problem. :-) Glad you clarified. I'm fascinated by language evolution. But, really, there's always going to be a huge difference, just regionally within the same country. England isn't a huge land area, but you find so many differences just there. And the US? Oy! Sometimes you don't know what language someone is speaking! lol We have incorporated a lot into our language from Native Americans and then all the people who have come here from all over the world for centuries. I wouldn't expect the Brits and the Americans to sound the same. Sometimes I'm amazed we can communicate at all anymore.

treetop57

It will be interesting to see whether there is convergence now that there is much more transatlantic and transpacific communication. It's not surprising that British, American, and Australian usage diverged in the centuries when communication was rare. Nor is it surprising that separated language groups developed different words for things invented after the separation, like windscreens, boots, and wirelesses.

But the situation is fundamentally different today than in 1776. I would guess that a single day of the MFP message boards and status updates contains more communication between Americans and Britons than occurred in a whole year in the eighteenth century or even the nineteenth century before the installation of transatlantic telegraph lines.

castadiva

That's my bad; I didn't actually mean to imply that either was correct or incorrect, but re-reading I can appreciate how it came across that way. Historically, that's how language evolution / ameliorisation / pejoration worked, and yes, makes perfect sense - but with the original examples (I'll use courgette for this), we're talking 20th century vernacular, so the languages weren't separate in the same way (obv. more communication). Modern English (20th century onwards), with exception of really localised dialect / colloquialisms, you're not really looking at the same degree of separation (can't really come up with any words that have developed recently with the same sort of distinctions, because there's so much cultural overlap - it's essentially becoming a single language again, at least with standard forms). So etymologically, it's not as logical as words dating back to Anglo-Saxon / Middle English.

Thread officially derailed - sorry to anyone who actually reads this!

No problem. :-) Glad you clarified. I'm fascinated by language evolution. But, really, there's always going to be a huge difference, just regionally within the same country. England isn't a huge land area, but you find so many differences just there. And the US? Oy! Sometimes you don't know what language someone is speaking! lol We have incorporated a lot into our language from Native Americans and then all the people who have come here from all over the world for centuries. I wouldn't expect the Brits and the Americans to sound the same. Sometimes I'm amazed we can communicate at all anymore.

What's that quote again? "Two nations divided by a common language" - I think that's right!

treetop57

THE TOP THREE QUOTATION ORIGIN REQUESTS
. . . .

(2) (Of England and America) ‘Two nations separated by a common language.’

Sometimes the inquirer asks, ‘Was it Wilde or Shaw?’ The answer appears to be: both. In The Canterville Ghost (1887), Wilde wrote: ‘We have really everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language’. However, the 1951 Treasury of Humorous Quotations (Esar & Bentley) quotes Shaw as saying: ‘England and America are two countries separated by the same language’, but without giving a source. The quote had earlier been attributed to Shaw in Reader’s Digest (November 1942).

Much the same idea occurred to Bertrand Russell (Saturday Evening Post, 3 June 1944): ‘It is a misfortune for Anglo-American friendship that the two countries are supposed to have a common language’, and in a radio talk prepared by Dylan Thomas shortly before his death (and published after it in The Listener, April 1954) - European writers and scholars in America were, he said, ‘up against the barrier of a common language’.

Inevitably this sort of dubious attribution has also been seen: ‘Winston Churchill said our two countries were divided by a common language’ (The Times, 26 January 1987; The European, 22 November 1991.)

http://www1.btwebworld.com/quote-unquote/p0000149.htm

pudadough

Um...I hear that "fanny" means something entirely different accross the pond. Here it means "butt." As in the backside.

Also...brilliant=awesome!

Pram=stroller.

rml_16

I was (as usual) watching my Britcoms on Saturday night and I heard a couple things to add to this thread, but I can't remember them now!

Also, there was a guy on the Car Guys Saturday morning. He was living in Iowa or something, but was from the UK and he had a Mazda and said it with the short A like some of you say pasta.

runnercheryl

I was (as usual) watching my Britcoms on Saturday night and I heard a couple things to add to this thread, but I can't remember them now!

Also, there was a guy on the Car Guys Saturday morning. He was living in Iowa or something, but was from the UK and he had a Mazda and said it with the short A like some of you say pasta.

How else is Mazda said?

rml_16

I was (as usual) watching my Britcoms on Saturday night and I heard a couple things to add to this thread, but I can't remember them now!

Also, there was a guy on the Car Guys Saturday morning. He was living in Iowa or something, but was from the UK and he had a Mazda and said it with the short A like some of you say pasta.

How else is Mazda said?

In the US, Mazda and pasta both have a softer A sound. It would sound like the second A in Diana.

pudadough

I was (as usual) watching my Britcoms on Saturday night and I heard a couple things to add to this thread, but I can't remember them now!

Also, there was a guy on the Car Guys Saturday morning. He was living in Iowa or something, but was from the UK and he had a Mazda and said it with the short A like some of you say pasta.

How else is Mazda said?

In the US, Mazda and pasta both have a softer A sound. It would sound like the second A in Diana.

I've noticed this difference in a lot of words. Pasta, status, data...etc.

treetop57

I've noticed this difference in a lot of words. Pasta, status, data...etc.

I'm not sure what you mean. In my American accent, the first syllables of pasta, status, and data are three different vowel sounds.

Pasta is "ah". At m-w.com, that's shown as an a with two dots over it.

Status is more like "eh". M-w.com shows that as a simple lower case a (short a).

And data is a long a that rhymes with the name of the letter A. M-w.com shows that as an a with a line over it (long a).

But then, m-w.com lists alternate first vowels for all three, so there is variation even in American pronunciations!

rml_16

I've noticed this difference in a lot of words. Pasta, status, data...etc.

I'm not sure what you mean. In my American accent, the first syllables of pasta, status, and data are three different vowel sounds.

Pasta is "ah". At m-w.com, that's shown as an a with two dots over it.

Status is more like "eh". M-w.com shows that as a simple lower case a (short a).

And data is a long a that rhymes with the name of the letter A. M-w.com shows that as an a with a line over it (long a).

But then, m-w.com lists alternate first vowels for all three, so there is variation even in American pronunciations!

Some people pronounce data with a short A. I hear it both ways. But pasta in the US is usually an ah sound. I've never heard it pronounced with a short A over here.

runnercheryl

I was (as usual) watching my Britcoms on Saturday night and I heard a couple things to add to this thread, but I can't remember them now!

Also, there was a guy on the Car Guys Saturday morning. He was living in Iowa or something, but was from the UK and he had a Mazda and said it with the short A like some of you say pasta.

How else is Mazda said?

In the US, Mazda and pasta both have a softer A sound. It would sound like the second A in Diana.

:ohwell: I am confuzzled. It sounds like the same thing has just been described twice. Maybe I'm misunderstanding how people in the US say pasta.

I thought it would just be 'pass-da' and 'Maz-da'. Both sounding the same. Meh, who knows. :laugh:

treetop57

I thought it would just be 'pass-da' and 'Maz-da'. Both sounding the same. Meh, who knows.

We say pah-sta, not pass-da. It's the same sound as the doctor asks you to make when he sticks a tongue depressor in your mouth. Ahhhhhhhhh. Pahhhhh-sta!

And Mazda rhymes with that. Mahhhhz-da.

Not pass-da where the first syllable rhymes with pass. And Mazz-da where the first syllable rhymes with jazz.

runnercheryl

I thought it would just be 'pass-da' and 'Maz-da'. Both sounding the same. Meh, who knows.

We say pah-sta, not pass-da. It's the same sound as the doctor asks you to make when he sticks a tongue depressor in your mouth. Ahhhhhhhhh. Pahhhhh-sta!

And Mazda rhymes with that. Mahhhhz-da.

Not pass-da where the first syllable rhymes with pass. And Mazz-da where the first syllable rhymes with jazz.

I see. :laugh:

I say something kind of in the middle of 'pass-da' and 'pah-sta'. 'Pah-sta' is the 'posh way' over here. I've never heard anyone say Mazda like that, though - interesting.

rml_16

I was (as usual) watching my Britcoms on Saturday night and I heard a couple things to add to this thread, but I can't remember them now!

Also, there was a guy on the Car Guys Saturday morning. He was living in Iowa or something, but was from the UK and he had a Mazda and said it with the short A like some of you say pasta.

How else is Mazda said?

In the US, Mazda and pasta both have a softer A sound. It would sound like the second A in Diana.

:ohwell: I am confuzzled. It sounds like the same thing has just been described twice. Maybe I'm misunderstanding how people in the US say pasta.

I thought it would just be 'pass-da' and 'Maz-da'. Both sounding the same. Meh, who knows. :laugh:

Yes, in the US (long A). But in Britain (or at least part of Britain) it's pass-ta and Mazzz-da (short A).

In As Time Goes By, Judy Dench says pass-ta.

rml_16

Something a friend of mine just posted reminded me: Doesn't "lumberjack" have a slightly different meaning in the UK than the US? Or am I thinking Canada? But I'm pretty sure it's the UK and I'm remembering a Monty Python skit.

treetop57

Anyone been watching Sherlock? I've got a question about the accent Jim Moriarty is using. The actor is Irish, but I can't figure out if he's going for an American accent or what. What does it sound like to a British ear?