English to USA Translations

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  • doorki
    doorki Posts: 2,611 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.

    Yeah, that is why I am trying to get in shape. Need to defend myself =P
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    I am crying laughing at some of these stories.

    And, yeah, an American should have understood "tap" to be "faucet." We use both.

    Also, we use film and cinema, as well, just not as often (and as Elizabeth pointed out, film is more highbrow).
  • 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.

    Yeah, that is why I am trying to get in shape. Need to defend myself =P

    :tongue:
  • AussieNikki
    AussieNikki Posts: 168 Member
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    I'm an Aussie living in America and sometimes it's like learning a whole new language. I am in the South too so there are even more things down here to learn! Lol
  • Nerple
    Nerple Posts: 1,291 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.

    I've always been taught. Films are educational and Movies are entertainment
    Ah, I work for a Massachussetts company (in the UK) and that will explain that!

    That will do it.
  • Ejwelton
    Ejwelton Posts: 331 Member
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    When we're on holiday in Florida waitresses always struggle with how we say tuna

    We say tune-a

    They say toona

    And also water
    They don't pronounce the T and seem to understand if we ask for wadder!!

    Our Floridean friends also don't understand the term "lie in" = meaning being able to sleep in late of a morning and not have to get up early!
  • Qarol
    Qarol Posts: 6,171 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
    This is what I've always called them. And they're not very common in my area of the US. We have ONE near my house. A lot of people don't know how to navigate them and stop and try to yield to me when I'm waiting to merge on.
  • Ejwelton
    Ejwelton Posts: 331 Member
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    Also handbag - purse

    Purse - wallet
  • Nerple
    Nerple Posts: 1,291 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.

    Yeah, that is why I am trying to get in shape. Need to defend myself =P

    Southy isn't quite so bad anymore. Hell, Fort Point is even down right nice.
  • ASaxe23
    ASaxe23 Posts: 163
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    haha we don't say 'knock me up' or 'gataux'
    love that Americans think we do though.

    you say 'pissed' to mean angry.... i keep thinking you're describing yourself as 'so drunk' not 'so angry'...

    xxx

    This made me giggle
  • 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).
    we just call them traffic circles
    This is what I've always called them. And they're not very common in my area of the US. We have ONE near my house. A lot of people don't know how to navigate them and stop and try to yield to me when I'm waiting to merge on.

    They've started building more and more of them all over the place. They put a bunch in near my grandmother's apartment in Buffalo a few years ago and here they have put in three and plan a fourth soon. They're popping up everywhere!
  • foodfight247
    foodfight247 Posts: 767 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:


    I too, call it the circle of death/confusion! Lol! I do now anyways after I once zig zagged round the roundabout on a wet rainy day! My tyres were long overdue being replaced....certainly got done within a few days of that hair raising roundabout of death! Lol.
    On a serious note, it was quite scary at the time - lesson learned - always check your tyres!
  • 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.

    Yeah, that is why I am trying to get in shape. Need to defend myself =P

    Southy isn't quite so bad anymore. Hell, Fort Point is even down right nice.

    :-)

    I'm mostly teasing. My ex lived in Boston when we were dating and a college friend (chum for the Brits!) lived in Southy. The outside of the building looked kind of like a warehouse, but their apartment was really beautiful.
  • 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).
    we just call them traffic circles
    This is what I've always called them. And they're not very common in my area of the US. We have ONE near my house. A lot of people don't know how to navigate them and stop and try to yield to me when I'm waiting to merge on.

    What we should call them is circles of death. Around here no one really knows how they are suppose to work.
  • steph124ny
    steph124ny Posts: 238 Member
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    I love the word "whilst" and think it should be adopted in the US....
  • jcpmoore
    jcpmoore Posts: 796 Member
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    Another one I've run across here on MFP:

    US drive-through > UK Take-away
  • doorki
    doorki Posts: 2,611 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.

    Yeah, that is why I am trying to get in shape. Need to defend myself =P

    Southy isn't quite so bad anymore. Hell, Fort Point is even down right nice.

    :-)

    I'm mostly teasing. My ex lived in Boston when we were dating and a college friend (chum for the Brits!) lived in Southy. The outside of the building looked kind of like a warehouse, but their apartment was really beautiful.

    Yeah, Southy is where all the hipsters and yuppies are moving to now lol.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    Another one I've run across here on MFP:

    US drive-through > UK Take-away

    Doesn't the UK refer to all food taken out of the restaurant (drive-through or just pickup) as take-away? Or am I misunderstanding that one?

    In the US, if we pick up food from a restaurant and bring it home, we call it take-out, but a drive through is a specific thing. You drive up, order and pick it up at a window and is pretty much only for fast food.
  • castadiva
    castadiva Posts: 2,016 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.

    Interesting... In the UK, they're all films - one of the linguistic shifts I had to make when I first moved here from the Antipodes!

    UK: Plastic wrap/cling film USA: Saran wrap (I think!) NZ/AUS: Glad Wrap!!!
  • TeachTheGirl
    TeachTheGirl Posts: 2,091 Member
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    That's mainly because the UK doesn't have a lot of drive-thru options.

    I'm British, living in America with my American husband. He always recalls the time my friends back home were getting him to say words they thought sounded funny because they're pronounced differently; like 'garage' and 'aluminum'.

    My husband laughed the other day because he'd never heard the term 'throwing a wobbly' before. XD

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