Language Please

I worked in a Scottish hotel, and we had a regular guest from Chicago who often asked us to do laundry. He phoned down to say thanks for putting his ironed shirt back in his room but could he have his matching pants too... the hotel manager was searching through his just laundered undergarments and went to knock on his room door with a pair of boxers that were a similar shade, wondering who the lucky lady was that he was expecting to reveal his "pants" to later in the day!! :laugh:

Even within the states there are language oddities.

In the south, "do you want a coke" means "would you like a beverage"

In Wisconsin...a Bubbler is a drinking fountain...or "water fountain" as many people say, which I always had a hard time with because a "water fountain" to me is a shallow type of pool of water with a statue of a man peeing into the pool or a statue of woman pouring out what appears to be perfectly fine wine from an over sized vase. Grin. NOT something that I would want to drink from!

North to south has idosyncrosies...VERY north says "yous guys" as in "hey, yous guys want to go to a movie" meaning pretty much anyone in the group...NOT gender specific to men! By southern Wisconsin it becomes "you guys". By northern Illinois it becomes "you" (singular AND plural) then by mid Missouri people start saying "you all" as two very distinct words. By mid Texas, "you all" morphs into "y'all" and in SOUTHERN Texas it becomes "all y'all" which CAN be singular! as in: my girlfriend (we had our babies within weeks of each other) called me and asked "all y'all wanna go to a movie? I'm fixin' to leave the house in half an hour" and she was asking just me for some mommy away time! (so "all y'all" can be singular or plural)

There is an east to west language progression as well...it involves adding the "r" sound where it doesn't belong (warshington instead of washington) and dropping it from where it does belong (pahk your cah instead of park your car)

And I had my Australian friend in stitches she was laughing so hard at the way we state side people say "diaper" instead of "nappy"

And I experienced tremendous embarrassment when in high school...my dad had some business people to the house from Germany (fluent in English) and I asked them to please pass the napkins. (I guess that means sanitary napkins in Germany...I forget what it was that I was supposed to ask for...but I MEANT the paper product used to wipe the bbq sauce from my mouth...not the kind for feminine hygiene! I DID mention that I was in high school, right? as in...couldn't have possibly been any more embarrassing!)

clegg = horse fly

I though that cleggs were only in Northern Irish! I've never heard them called it here in the North of England. They give a right nasty bite and all!

they bloody hurt don't they?? Wee buggers.

If you find yourself with some middle aged people who grew up in the Boston area, they might offer you some tonic (soda). My dad and everyone he grew up with still says it.

My grandparents are from Boston......
Tonic = Soda
Dungaree = Jeans

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".

I watch a lot of British television and find a lot of the language seeping into my head. Some of it would just sound so weird with an American accent, so I don't say it. But i always think it.

Yep! And....

Dinner is eaten mid-day

Supper is eaten in the evening

And it's "pupcorn" and "hut dogs" not popcorn and hot dogs

I was born in Essex, lived in the East Midlands in England for a long time and now live in Scottish Highlands !!

From the Midlands;-
Frit - frightend
Cob - bread roll
Jitty - alleyway
Mardy - grumpy
Skank - mean
Wassock - idiot
Snap - packed lunch

Scotland;-
Bairn - child
Tattie - potato
Trews - trousers (pants USA)
Neep - turnip
Ben - mountain

and now with TOWIE (The Only Way is Essex) on the screens there are words that I no longer understand !!!!
Reem - nice
well jel - jealous

........ and to 'get trollied' means your well drunk !!

........ and to 'get trollied' means your well drunk !!

Ah, we'd need an entire new thread for the all words for being drunk! Especially in Scotland. My favourites are blootered and miroculous!

I've lived in the US my whole life and I wouldn't find it rude for someone to ask for the toilet. We usually use "bathroom" or "restroom," but I don't know anyone who finds "toilet" rude.

And most of us know what "loo" means. That clerk must have been very sheltered!

^^I was thinking the exact same thing.

I have a British friend who points out to me that pants and trousers are not the same thing. (The way Americans use "pants" is wrong, apparently. lol)

Friends in London call pitchers jugs. It was fun watching the bartender give them funny looks when they asked for a jug of beer.

And they called their sweatpants joggybottoms. That was my favourite. LOL

*jogging bottoms!!

as in what you would wear to go jogging in haha

We also call them trackies (short for tracksuit bottoms) They tend to be the more shiny material ones whereas joggers (short ofr jogging bottoms) are more cotton or softer material.