English to USA Translations

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  • amysj303
    amysj303 Posts: 5,086 Member
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    Here in Nz we have judder-bars.
    you know those lumps of tarseal they put on the road to slow traffic down?
    what do you call them?
    speed bumps
  • treetop57
    treetop57 Posts: 1,578 Member
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    Of course, since we don't have recordings of sixteenth-, seventeenth-, eighteenth-, or early nineteenth-century speech, I wonder how "they" know that the "h" used to be silent in England. Perhaps based on whether people wrote "a herb" or "an herb."
  • Peta22
    Peta22 Posts: 377 Member
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    Of course, since we don't have recordings of sixteenth-, seventeenth-, eighteenth-, or early nineteenth-century speech, I wonder how "they" know that the "h" used to be silent in England. Perhaps based on whether people wrote "a herb" or "an herb."

    The english language does fascinate me.

    BTW, we still use 'shall' quite a bit in formal writing i.e: business correspondence. Is this not the case in America?
  • LisaD1021
    LisaD1021 Posts: 42 Member
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    Ta=Thanks (I think)
  • treetop57
    treetop57 Posts: 1,578 Member
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    BTW, we still use 'shall' quite a bit in formal writing i.e: business correspondence. Is this not the case in America?

    Not so much. "I shall" is just more emphatic than "I will." No one follows the convention of "shall" being standard for the first person.
  • XXXMinnieXXX
    XXXMinnieXXX Posts: 3,459 Member
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    Loved this! Love my USA buddies! X
  • Ravenesque_
    Ravenesque_ Posts: 257 Member
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    one word....
    fanny

    Doesn't have the same meaning across the pond.

    LOL You beat me to it. I almost had my *kitten* kicked by an entire pub full of Welshmen.
    I told a 9 year old little girl that if she didn't leave me alone I was going to smack her little fanny.

    Yeah, they didn't think that was funny and I had no idea why they were so angry.

    OMG to me that sounds so so so so so sos so bad. makes you sounds like a pedophile! DW I can see you didnt mean it that way, but I can understand their reaction!
  • RobynC79
    RobynC79 Posts: 331 Member
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    I occasionally get some cr*p from my American friends for saying 'herb' rather than 'erb'. And I've also heard humour pronounced without the H, but only in NY and surrounds.

    I've never heard an american use 'whilst' (as in 'although', while is for 'during').

    And one of my favorites (which my mum found somewhat alarming when she visited me in the US) - 'we will be taking off momentarily' used by airline pilots or cabin crew. For us, momentarily typically means 'for a moment', not 'in a moment'. Thus the assurance that we will be getting airborne for only a moment is all a bit alarming. The thought of 'ok, and then what?' is not what you'd like to think as the plane taxis away from the gate...

    But then she got a solid giggle out of the classic americanism of 'deplaning', which we call disembarking, or alighting. Deplaning to me still sounds like a medical procedure.
  • _Kitten_Kate
    _Kitten_Kate Posts: 520 Member
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    Sometimes in the US, pancakes are called Johnny cakes. That's funnier when you know there is a school (can't remember if it's middle or high) in Catonsville, MD, called Johnny Cake.
    Johnny Cakes are made out of corn meal... kinda like corn bread. Similar to pancake...but not...
    I think johnny cakes are a northeastern yankee thing.
  • Peta22
    Peta22 Posts: 377 Member
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    And one of my favorites (which my mum found somewhat alarming when she visited me in the US) - 'we will be taking off momentarily' used by airline pilots or cabin crew. For us, momentarily typically means 'for a moment', not 'in a moment'. Thus the assurance that we will be getting airborne for only a moment is all a bit alarming. The thought of 'ok, and then what?' is not what you'd like to think as the plane taxis away from the gate...

    But then she got a solid giggle out of the classic americanism of 'deplaning', which we call disembarking, or alighting. Deplaning to me still sounds like a medical procedure.

    Bahahahahaha 'deplaning'!!! Yep, it sounds like your about to have a plane medically removed! :happy:

    I have heard 'momentarily' too and I thought the same as above! It reminds me of a similiar quirk in South African... They tend to use 'just now' a lot... I.e: 'how are you just now' or 'I'll do that just now'... However they don't mean 'just now', they mean in general!
  • Ravenesque_
    Ravenesque_ Posts: 257 Member
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    i'm still wrapping my head around the Brittish "fanny"...

    also

    I sometimes work with a guy from Wales and his accent is to. die. for.

    Wrapping your head around.. a british fanny...

    Im dying with laughter. Literally. Dying. Please please please rephrase. please for mercys sake.
  • NittanyLion95
    NittanyLion95 Posts: 65
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    bump
  • Ravenesque_
    Ravenesque_ Posts: 257 Member
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    I don't know why we drop the h in herb. French influence? Cockney influence?

    Silent h words: herb, honor, heir, honest, hour. For some Americans: humble. I personally hate hearing humble pronounced 'umble.

    Umbel is actually a word. It refers to the guts and offal of animals.

    umble pie was actually a proper dish, something poeple ate ages ago. Due to the similarity between umble and humble, the phrase was coined.

    Its similiar to the word shambles, which originally meant a butchers yard.
  • Altarian
    Altarian Posts: 230 Member
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    I grew up with a grandmother who was full blood british so some british terms i still use to this day and i'm american

    British - american

    Banger - Sausage
    Beavering - Working enthusiastically
    Bell end - head of the penis
    Bird - female
    Bladdered - drunk
    Bloke - male
    bobby - cop
    Bogtrotter - irish person
    Bubble and squeek - cooked cabbage with potato's, vegies, and left over roast beast
    confuddled - confused
    daft - idiot
    duff - useless
    *kitten* - cigarette
    gob - mouth
    have a shufty - quick look at something
    pillock - jerk
    shat - take a #2
    sod off - to get away
    piss off - F off
    *kitten* - annoying person
    baby minder - baby sitter
    Bits and bobs - misc stuff to get while shopping
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    Sometimes in the US, pancakes are called Johnny cakes. That's funnier when you know there is a school (can't remember if it's middle or high) in Catonsville, MD, called Johnny Cake.
    Johnny Cakes are made out of corn meal... kinda like corn bread. Similar to pancake...but not...
    I think johnny cakes are a northeastern yankee thing.
    Grew up in the Northeast. We did not have johnny cakes. All the Southern people I know (and I now live in the Deep South) say they're pancakes.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    My ex (from England) used to always say

    "taking the piss out of you" eg.. making fun of you..

    so weird.

    We could also talk about Canadianisms vs. Americanisms..

    my most hated.. Soda(US) vs. Pop (canada)

    A lot of people in the US say pop.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    Innit = isn't it

    Innit is not a word anywhere.
  • colsey89
    colsey89 Posts: 1 Member
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    It is easy to understand if you think of it as 5 mini roundabouts!
  • stylistchik
    stylistchik Posts: 1,436 Member
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    car park = parking lot
    gateaux = cake
    prawns = shrimp
    lemonade = lemon lime soda (7up, Sprite)
    chips = fries
    cossie = swimsuit

    gateaux is just the french word for "cake"
  • stylistchik
    stylistchik Posts: 1,436 Member
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    UK: Plastic wrap/cling film USA: Saran wrap (I think!) NZ/AUS: Glad Wrap!!!

    Those just seem to be brand names for the same thing like tissue/kleenex

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