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  • maab_connor
    maab_connor Posts: 3,927 Member
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    So, can one of our American friends tell me what a "biscuit" is? I keep hearing Americans talking about having biscuits with gravy. To us, a biscuit is something you eat with a cup of tea. Like a cookie, but we only call certain biscuits cookies. All cookies are biscuits but not all biscuits are cookies!

    it's more like a scone.
  • Bob314159
    Bob314159 Posts: 1,178 Member
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    I didn't see anyone mention jimmies. As in "Can I please have chocolate jimmies on my ice cream?" I had a huge argument with my sister (who grew up in Maryland) when I was visiting and asked for them. She didn't know what I was talking about. I'm not sure if jimmies is a Philly thing or Southern thing. I grew up all over and have a blended vocabulary.

    I will always say ya'll but have let you's guys slip once or twice. Going to college in a small Southern town brought up all sorts of misunderstandings. My favorite was "what you like?" meaning "what do you need to do to get the assignment done?" My husband (Philly boy) likes to use "jawn" a lot. From what I understand, it pretty much means anything.

    My favorite British words are "loo" and "trainers." They are so much nicer than bathroom and sneakers!

    funny - when I moved to the US [Boston] and was offered jimmies on my ice cream - I was wordless - where I lived jimmy was a slang word for male parts
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    funny - when I moved to the US [Boston] and was offered jimmies on my ice cream - I was wordless - where I lived jimmy was a slang word for male parts

    And they call us prudes. ;-)
  • zeala
    zeala Posts: 119 Member
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    I live in England and last year me and my friend went to America. We were in a shopping centre and my friend asked a sales helper 'were the loos where'. she was met with a blank look so she then translated that 'wheres the loo' meant 'wheres the toilet'. later we found out it was rude to you the word toilet and that you should ask for the 'bathroom' even if your just going for a pee and not a bath! seems very strange to me! I hope we didnt deeply offend the poor girl!! haha

    Most people here in the US call it a rest room. I thought that sounds odd too.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    I live in England and last year me and my friend went to America. We were in a shopping centre and my friend asked a sales helper 'were the loos where'. she was met with a blank look so she then translated that 'wheres the loo' meant 'wheres the toilet'. later we found out it was rude to you the word toilet and that you should ask for the 'bathroom' even if your just going for a pee and not a bath! seems very strange to me! I hope we didnt deeply offend the poor girl!! haha

    Most people here in the US call it a rest room. I thought that sounds odd too.
    I think it depends on where you live. I grew up hearing and saying bathroom.

    Except all my teachers called it a lavatory.
  • SMarie10
    SMarie10 Posts: 956 Member
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    So, can one of our American friends tell me what a "biscuit" is? I keep hearing Americans talking about having biscuits with gravy. To us, a biscuit is something you eat with a cup of tea. Like a cookie, but we only call certain biscuits cookies. All cookies are biscuits but not all biscuits are cookies!

    A biscuit is similar to a bread roll, but different consistency. Flakier.
    Warning. Once you have biscuits and gravy you might really like it and it has lots of calories. Biscuits are great right out of the oven with some butter and honey. ***drool**
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    So, can one of our American friends tell me what a "biscuit" is? I keep hearing Americans talking about having biscuits with gravy. To us, a biscuit is something you eat with a cup of tea. Like a cookie, but we only call certain biscuits cookies. All cookies are biscuits but not all biscuits are cookies!

    A biscuit is similar to a bread roll, but different consistency. Flakier.
    Warning. Once you have biscuits and gravy you might really like it and it has lots of calories. Biscuits are great right out of the oven with some butter and honey. ***drool**

    Oh yum!

    I hate gravy, but I like biscuits for strawberry shortcake instead of those sweet cake things. Something about the sweet and savory and the strawberry juice and sugar soaking into the biscuit ...
  • gkwatra
    gkwatra Posts: 431 Member
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    Since moving from the US to the UK 4 years ago, my language has changed a lot. I quite happily call pants "trousers", underwear "pants", fries "chips", and chips "crisps". However, I just cannot call shopping carts "trolleys" or erasers "rubbers".

    The "rubber" was always funny to me. Just hope you're not a guy sitting in the class in the US and asking the girl next to you if you can borrow her "rubber" ... O_o

    Also, in India, any kind of toothpaste is "Colgate."
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
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    I still question the Elevator thing - that wikibooks link is the only one I can find, and it is full of spelling and other errors, so it's not convincing me as a reliable source. (Isn't all Wiki user generated, ie subject to the same caveats as our own database?)
  • c4ssandra
    c4ssandra Posts: 11
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    I grew up in the Texas panhandle (that term is probably lost on most of you too). Some of these might be local and some might just be weird quirks.

    "Icebox" -- Most of my family calls the regrigerator an "icebox". Not the freezer--we actually call freezer the freezer. The term icebox was passed down from the old days when refrigerators actually were boxes with ice blocks cooling them. I never thought calling it an icebox was weird until I worked at a sandwich shop when I was a teen and I called the walk-in cooler/regrigerator an ice box and my coworker literally had no idea what I was talking about. That was in my hometown, so I don't think "icebox" is really a local thing. I think it's just a quirk some people/families have.

    "Chewin' the fat" -- This means chit-chatting or gossiping. I guess it's a southern US thing.

    "Man alive!" -- I said this one time after I got married and my husband (from OK) had to idea what I meant. He thought I made it up (I didn't). It is an exclamation of surprise or shock.

    "pancake" -- It's a chocolate cake made from scratch at my mom's house, not the breakfast food. Sounds the same when you say it, though I realize that it's two seperate words, whereas pancake (for breakfast) is one word. It confused people when I would ask them if they wanted a piece of pancake. Any other cake was never called pancake.

    "car" -- Any vehicle is a car. That includes trucks, SUVs, jeeps, semi-trucks...whatever. They're all cars.

    "coke" -- Any soda. One time when I was a teen and we travelled through Kentucky we stopped at a KFC. The guy asked if I wanted a "pop" and I didn't know what he was talking about. "Pop came the weasel" was the only thing I could think of. Eventually he asked if I wanted a soda. That I understood. As an adult living in the midwest I try to say soda but sometimes I still say coke referring to any type of carbonated soft-drink.

    "cream rinse" -- This is actually just an outdated term for hair conditioner, I think. My parents never say conditioner, they always say cream rinse.

    "Hold on! I'm fixin'ta!" -- Wait just a moment please. I am preparing to do something.

    "Clicker" -- any remote control. My dad drives me crazy with this. Sometimes I visit him and I forget that he calls remotes that, and he asks where the clicker is and I actually start looking for a clicker that you'd use to train a dog with.

    (And this isn't really technically in this category, but it's similar and it's funny. I went through a vegetarian phase as a teen. Ever since then, whenever my dad plans on cooking chicken, he'll tell us that we're going to "eat a dead chicken". For 10 years now. Every time. It kind of freaks out any guests, friends, or new significant others.)
  • LosingWeight64
    LosingWeight64 Posts: 33
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    i never realized how many differences there were between english english and american english, until i lived in england for a while.
    here we say aluminum... there its spelled and pronounced different than us. My favorite is the way they use the expression 'knock you up' .. meaning to go to someone's house and knock on the door . another of my faves is 'leg over'. (sex) as in.. so and so is grumpy,,, must not have got his leg over last night:).... and as for anatomy terms? we have way different names for our bits and bobs... but i like theirs better... to learn more, watch chubby brown lmao
  • jennibee70
    jennibee70 Posts: 1,067 Member
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    "Chewin' the fat" -- This means chit-chatting or gossiping. I guess it's a southern US thing.

    We use that in Scotland too, there was a TV series called that on Scottish TV. By the way, a lot of episodes of a TV program is a series, not a season!
  • Skyfire23
    Skyfire23 Posts: 37
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    I came from California where "soda" is the word, and now live in Washington where everyone says "pop". I understand a lot of American regional dialect, at least when written because I read a lot. We always said "cream rinse" instead of conditioner, and my mom and grandfather said "warsh" for wash, and "ammind" for "almond". We also always called the shopping cart a basket, until I met my husband, two whom a basket is something you carry, not push.

    My husband is from all over, having been born in Berlin to an American Army family, spent much of his early childhood in Okinawa, then in Massachusetts, then in Cali from age 8 on, and has some weird things. To him Iron is two syllables, "Eye-ron" where we always pronounced it as one, "Eyern" Same with "fire": Fi-yer.

    When my husband was 15, he was in a terrible accident, and in a coma for a while. When he woke up, he was combative and punched a nurse. She was British and came out and told his mother, "He knocked me up!" O.O
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    I still question the Elevator thing - that wikibooks link is the only one I can find, and it is full of spelling and other errors, so it's not convincing me as a reliable source. (Isn't all Wiki user generated, ie subject to the same caveats as our own database?)
    1. It is fact-checked, though I agree it's not the best source.

    2. Other people have told me this particular tidbit.

    3. It appeared in a professional, respected newspaper article written by an AP reporter who I have to assume checked facts. It's not 100% for sure, but I'm going to believe that reporter before your "I don't believe it."
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
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    No, seriously, I'm willing to listen to any of the sources you can give me! It sounds so implausible, and I have taken the time to do some googling myself, with no results, but I'm open minded. Please, Persuade me!

    (I know this sounds a bit like I'm trolling but I'm not, honestly, I really am interested in what sources you can provide for this)
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    No, seriously, I'm willing to listen to any of the sources you can give me! It sounds so implausible, and I have taken the time to do some googling myself, with no results, but I'm open minded. Please, Persuade me!

    (I know this sounds a bit like I'm trolling but I'm not, honestly, I really am interested in what sources you can provide for this)

    Read abut halfway down page 3 of this: http://www.dow.com/company/trade/pdfs/Trademark_Use_Guide.pdf

    Page 5: http://www.thoits.com/resources/trademark-faq-frequently-asked-questions.pdf
  • Dub_D
    Dub_D Posts: 1,760 Member
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    Here is some Newfie slang for you..

    Bum-buy - later on
    Ballyrag - hurt someone
    Chucklehead - a smart person

    There are lots more.. Newfies are the best.
  • christinehetz80
    christinehetz80 Posts: 490 Member
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    I really personally dislike the word panties...no idea why so I prefer what most UKers use and I say knickers. Or undies or underoos.
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
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    The first of those links just tells me about trademarks, nothing about the "Elevator" name.

    The second I've given 5 minutes to download and so far unsuccessful. Will keep watching.
  • jess7386
    jess7386 Posts: 477 Member
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    Also from Boston....born & raised in Southie. These are some of the things i've been called out on over the years:

    Bubbler (or bubblah) = water fountain
    Candlepin = Bowling, except with really tiny balls
    Macaroni and Gravy = pasta with tomato sauce
    Packie = liquor store
    Frappe = a milkshake, usually from brighams
    Carraige = shopping cart
    Pocket-book (pronounced pockabook) = purse
    barrel = trash can.

    That's all I can think of for now.

    oh, and rotary = roundabout.

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