English to USA Translations

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  • Hev_uk
    Hev_uk Posts: 82 Member
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    swindon.jpg

    Remind me never ever ever ever to go to Swindon!! OMG. What the?? That is totally nuts. Would love to know how many accidents happen on that roundaroundaroundaroundabout!

    You'd be surprised. We Brits love our roundabouts. There is one like this near where I live and I've never seen/heard of any accidents. You learn to drive round them so it's second nature however many there are!
  • Peta22
    Peta22 Posts: 377 Member
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    one word....
    fanny

    Doesn't have the same meaning across the pond.

    Bahahaha... I was going to say this :)
  • treetop57
    treetop57 Posts: 1,578 Member
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    Remind me never ever ever ever to go to Swindon!! OMG. What the?? That is totally nuts. Would love to know how many accidents happen on that roundaroundaroundaroundabout!

    I recently read the book "Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us) ." Surprisingly, it's often the case that confusing, confined, or unsafe feeling roads have fewer and less severe accidents than wide open and unimpeded roads. When drivers feel confused and unsafe, they slow the heck down and watch carefully. It's when they feel safe that they drive quickly and obliviously . . . and run into pedestrians and each other!

    http://www.amazon.com/Traffic-Drive-What-Says-About/dp/0307264785
  • thegeordielass
    thegeordielass Posts: 208 Member
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    Traditionally the Yorkshire pudding was made to be filled with meat for savoury and the jam for a pudding. The miners used to take it for their lunches to stop the roast dinner getting everywhere down the mines!
    My grandma, daughter of a Yorkshire butcher, used to serve her Yorkshires with gravy as a starter before the roast beef dinner!

    My Nana used to do the Yorkshires first too :) She's in Teesside so just out of N Yorks.

    I've heard bairn said in Newcastle but wee tends to me further North into Scotland. We would say 'wor bairn' though.

    I think my Dad's driven that roundabout in Swindon. I remember him saying how confused he was having cars pass him the wrong way! I don't know why it isn't just 1 big roundabout. The small painted ones are annoyances to be driven over/ignored. :P
  • Hev_uk
    Hev_uk Posts: 82 Member
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    I've also realised that roundabout is the one in Hemel, near where I live. It's called the Magic roundabout and it's easy once you know how!
  • BatWoman2012
    BatWoman2012 Posts: 52
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    Does anyone know what the word Munted means?? Apparently this has caused a lot of confusion in other countries when we (New Zealanders/Kiwis) say it lol
  • treetop57
    treetop57 Posts: 1,578 Member
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    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Roundabout_(Swindon)
    The official name of the roundabout used to be County Islands, but it was changed in the late 1980s to match its popular name. It inspired the song "English Roundabout", a pop song by the Swindon band XTC, which was recorded for their 1982 album English Settlement.

    In 2005, it was voted the worst roundabout in a survey by a UK insurance company.[4] In September 2007, the Magic Roundabout was named as one of the World's Worst Junctions by a UK motoring magazine.[5] In December 2007, BBC News reported a survey identifying The Magic Roundabout as one of the "10 Scariest Junctions in the United Kingdom".[6] However the roundabout provides a better throughput of traffic than other designs and has an excellent safety record, since traffic moves too slowly to do serious damage in the event of a collision.[7]

    In other words, "Sure you'll run into each other, but you'll be so dazed and confused that you won't be driving fast enough to do any harm!" :wink:
  • runnercheryl
    runnercheryl Posts: 1,314 Member
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    Does anyone know what the word Munted means?? Apparently this has caused a lot of confusion in other countries when we (New Zealanders/Kiwis) say it lol

    Not a clue. As a total guess, I'd say rich or ugly.
  • BatWoman2012
    BatWoman2012 Posts: 52
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    Does anyone know what the word Munted means?? Apparently this has caused a lot of confusion in other countries when we (New Zealanders/Kiwis) say it lol

    Not a clue. As a total guess, I'd say rich or ugly.

    lol it means damaged/destroyed/stuffed etc. Im in Christchurch and when we had a big earthquake last year our Mayor said our city is Munted. It was played worldwide and people were really confused lol
  • treetop57
    treetop57 Posts: 1,578 Member
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    The urban dictionary:
    munted

    (1) adj. refers to the property of an object (or person) as broken, ruined, significantly damaged, disfigured or deformed, often to the extent that it is not reversable or repairable.
    (2) adj. an extreme state of intoxication by way of drugs or alcohol such that the subject's ability to perform basic tasks such as walking and talking are significantly impared.

    In New Zealand and Australian slang, 1 is the more common sense, and in UK slang 2 is more common.

    http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=munted
  • runnercheryl
    runnercheryl Posts: 1,314 Member
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    Does anyone know what the word Munted means?? Apparently this has caused a lot of confusion in other countries when we (New Zealanders/Kiwis) say it lol

    Not a clue. As a total guess, I'd say rich or ugly.

    lol it means damaged/destroyed/stuffed etc. Im in Christchurch and when we had a big earthquake last year our Mayor said our city is Munted. It was played worldwide and people were really confused lol

    Haha.

    "Our city is REALLY ugly".
  • BatWoman2012
    BatWoman2012 Posts: 52
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    Does anyone know what the word Munted means?? Apparently this has caused a lot of confusion in other countries when we (New Zealanders/Kiwis) say it lol

    Not a clue. As a total guess, I'd say rich or ugly.

    lol it means damaged/destroyed/stuffed etc. Im in Christchurch and when we had a big earthquake last year our Mayor said our city is Munted. It was played worldwide and people were really confused lol

    Haha.

    "Our city is REALLY ugly".

    Haha yeah great way to get the tourists here! We have heaps of others. Even though most of our descendants were from England we have adopted a lot of maori words like 'Choice, Sweet, Sweet As' etc meaning = awesome, cool, great, good etc
  • Sockimobi
    Sockimobi Posts: 541
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    swindon.jpg

    Remind me never ever ever ever to go to Swindon!! OMG. What the?? That is totally nuts. Would love to know how many accidents happen on that roundaroundaroundaroundabout!

    You'd be surprised. We Brits love our roundabouts. There is one like this near where I live and I've never seen/heard of any accidents. You learn to drive round them so it's second nature however many there are!

    I am English though and I am never going near that roundaroundaroundaroundabout! :laugh:
  • BatWoman2012
    BatWoman2012 Posts: 52
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    The urban dictionary:
    munted

    (1) adj. refers to the property of an object (or person) as broken, ruined, significantly damaged, disfigured or deformed, often to the extent that it is not reversable or repairable.
    (2) adj. an extreme state of intoxication by way of drugs or alcohol such that the subject's ability to perform basic tasks such as walking and talking are significantly impared.

    In New Zealand and Australian slang, 1 is the more common sense, and in UK slang 2 is more common.

    http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=munted

    I LOVE urbandictionary!!
  • Trechechus
    Trechechus Posts: 2,819 Member
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    Thee boot of the car = trunk of the car
    Chips = fries
    Crisps = chips
  • geezer99
    geezer99 Posts: 92
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    All of the Harry Potter books were "translated" into American English before being released in the U.S. Not only are words changed, the grammar is modified. Here is a link:

    http://home.comcast.net/~helenajole/Harry.html

    "England and America are two countries separated by a common language."
    Attributed to: George Bernard Shaw
  • Peta22
    Peta22 Posts: 377 Member
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    .

    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...

    The Jelly/Jam/Jello thing was alway a mystery to me as well... I could never imagine putting aeroplane jelly on my peanut butter sandwich!

    'American BBQ being closer to smoking' for us Aussies? Fascinating... I'd love to try that - I love smoked foods!

    As for the last paragraph... I obviously have a dirty mind but those phrases just completely do my head in!! :laugh:
  • treetop57
    treetop57 Posts: 1,578 Member
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    http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=screw+the+pooch

    "Screw the pooch" means to mess something up completely.
  • runnercheryl
    runnercheryl Posts: 1,314 Member
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    All of the Harry Potter books were "translated" into American English before being released in the U.S. Not only are words changed, the grammar is modified. Here is a link:

    http://home.comcast.net/~helenajole/Harry.html

    "England and America are two countries separated by a common language."
    Attributed to: George Bernard Shaw

    Whilst many of those are just corrections of bad grammar on Rowling's part in the original, some are really interesting changes.

    Didn't read too far through, but I like the way:

    They ate in the zoo restaurant and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory wasn't big enough.

    Was changed to:

    They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top.
  • Peta22
    Peta22 Posts: 377 Member
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    "lorry" vs "semi"

    "biscuit" vs "cookie"

    How is lorry vs semi? Lorry being a large transport vehicle, and semi meaning....half? I don't get it.

    In Australia we refer to semi articulated trailer trucks as 'Semi's'... For years I had no idea what a 'lorry' was though!

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