English to USA Translations

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  • doorki
    doorki Posts: 2,611 Member
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    spanner = wrench
    boot = trunk (car)
    windscreen = windshield (car)
    mate = buddy, friend
    *kitten* = cigarette
    cheers = goodbye

    My favorite story is from a male friend that was stationed there and was told by a woman at the end of the evening to "OK knock me up in the morning." A discussion took place as to what the woman meant as in USA "knock up" means to make make pregnant not to wake up by knocking on the door.

    I know more but I can't think of them now and someone will probably post them later.

    knock me up in the morning....ARE YOU SERIOUS? I'm laughing hysterically at this as I type!!!!!!

    I am truthfully telling the story as it was related to me. Charliedavis (previousposter) says that they do not use this term.

    My parents tell a similar story from when we lived in the UK.
  • kenny_johnson
    kenny_johnson Posts: 108 Member
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    I believe... pudding = dessert.
  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
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    UK USA
    film = movie
    Films has a more high-brow connotation, I think. You wouldn't really call GI Joe a film, but The King's Speech, sure.
  • EmmaM2211
    EmmaM2211 Posts: 536 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!

    We stayed in Lumley Castle for our honeymoon and spent a couple of days in Newcastle upon Tyne. The Geordie accent is the best thing I have ever heard in my life. My husband is so posh; he's from Windsor and I long for the North!

    <<<<<
    Almost a Geordie (from the North East and went to uni in Newcastle) :bigsmile:
  • downsizinghoss
    downsizinghoss Posts: 1,035 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).

    we just call them traffic circles
  • BerryH
    BerryH Posts: 4,698 Member
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    I was staying with an American friend and couldn't work the tap in the bathroom.

    "Hey your tap's stuck!"
    "My what?"
    "Your tap, you know the thing over the sink the water comes out of."
    "Oh, faucet!"

    So I forced it and the damn thing came off in my hand.
  • BigAardvaark
    BigAardvaark Posts: 43
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    UK Roundabout = US Rotary

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

    In New Englad they are rotaries, or occassionally "traffic circles."

    Ah, I work for a Massachussetts company (in the UK) and that will explain that!
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 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).

    I know they are Rotaries in the Northeast. My wife is from Boston and I grew up in the UK so we argue all the time about it.

    I grew up in the Northeast and spent a lot of time in Boston and only heard them called roundabouts. Interesting. Must be they use both there and I only heard the one term.

    I live in the Deep South now, and they're roundabouts here, too.
  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
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    I spent a lot of time googling when I came here. My husband kept mentioning vegetables I'd never heard of. Also, rutabaga = swede. Doesn't swede sound much nicer?
    Well yes, but a Swede is a person...:laugh:
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 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!

    I am so glad to learn that aubergine is eggplant. I've seen a few recipes I wanted to try that called for aubergine. I'd heard the word before but had no idea where to find it! lol

    I spent a lot of time googling when I came here. My husband kept mentioning vegetables I'd never heard of. Also, rutabaga = swede. Doesn't swede sound much nicer?

    Everything sounds nicer in British.
  • doorki
    doorki Posts: 2,611 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).

    I know they are Rotaries in the Northeast. My wife is from Boston and I grew up in the UK so we argue all the time about it.

    I grew up in the Northeast and spent a lot of time in Boston and only heard them called roundabouts. Interesting. Must be they use both there and I only heard the one term.

    I live in the Deep South now, and they're roundabouts here, too.

    entirely possible lol....Boston has so many dialects lol. She is from South Boston.
  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
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    I was staying with an American friend and couldn't work the tap in the bathroom.

    "Hey your tap's stuck!"
    "My what?"
    "Your tap, you know the thing over the sink the water comes out of."
    "Oh, faucet!"

    So I forced it and the damn thing came off in my hand.
    That's weird. Faucet is more common but tap isn't unheard of at all.
  • downsizinghoss
    downsizinghoss Posts: 1,035 Member
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    I also had an English friend that was very disappointed by the movie "Shag"

    then there was the 6'4" cop who kept telling us he was pissed, so we kept telling him to chill out and have another beer.
    We thought he was looking for a fight.
    He actually was angry after a while. "How the **** is another beer going to help me from being pissed?"
  • skinnybearlyndsay
    skinnybearlyndsay Posts: 798 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).

    we just call them traffic circles

    I just call it the circle of death/confusion. :smile:
  • Pengi81
    Pengi81 Posts: 336 Member
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    I was staying with an American friend and couldn't work the tap in the bathroom.

    "Hey your tap's stuck!"
    "My what?"
    "Your tap, you know the thing over the sink the water comes out of."
    "Oh, faucet!"

    So I forced it and the damn thing came off in my hand.

    :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

    You just killed me laughing at work! :happy:
  • engineman312
    engineman312 Posts: 3,450 Member
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    An American friend of mine was going to Ireland for the first time. He's a smoker so I said to him on the phone:
    "oh, there's a new law there now so you can't stamp out *kitten* on the street or it's a £200 fine"

    His reply was "WHAT!?!....."

    yeah, a guy i met on the first day of college was british, and at one point he goes to me "you want to go smoke a *kitten*?"

    i was like "uuuuh... you want to go... kill... a homosexual??? we uh, we uh, can't do that here..."
  • Whisperinghorse
    Whisperinghorse Posts: 202 Member
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    :bigsmile:
    Also love the difference in pronunciation of some things over here. Yoghurt sounds like boggart. You say *kitten* the way we say pasta and we say *kitten* the way you say pasta.

    This would depend on the region you're in. I'm from "up North" and here we'd say *kitten* and pasta the same...not sure how you Americans say them so not sure if its the same or different :-D

    *kitten* has a short a sound and pasta like the o in lobster.

    Depends where in the UK your accent is from, in the South, it tends to pick up an additional R, said "barstud". In the North, it's said more like "basstud"

    Unless you're Craig Revel Horwood and its then baaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrsssssssssstttttttttttaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrddddddd darling..
  • igora_soma
    igora_soma Posts: 486
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    After living in England for 3 years I just adopted a few. Some I still say (out of habit - I swear!) are lift instead of elevator and chips instead of fries. Doing my degree in English Language in England as an American was... torture :P
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    entirely possible lol....Boston has so many dialects lol. She is from South Boston.

    Southy! That's a tough area.
  • jcpmoore
    jcpmoore Posts: 796 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).

    I know they are Rotaries in the Northeast. My wife is from Boston and I grew up in the UK so we argue all the time about it.

    In the Southeast US we call them either roundabouts or traffic circles.

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