Strange American sayings from an English Perspective

A word I use way too frequently as a Texan/Southerner.... Y'all

sayings I've been known to utter:

"Dad-burn-it"
"Dag-nab-it"
"Hotter-n'-hell out here" (exactly as it sounds)
"Devil must be whipping his wife" (raining while the sun is not hidden by clouds)
"Possum run over your grave?" (when you get just that one shiver up your spine)


and many many more.

FANNY


edit:wrong gif

Somehow, the picture of a little girl and the mention of a fanny is a little disturbing.

From my part of the world (Louisiana)

"Useless as tits on a boar hog."

BFE I got from the Navy. Also, "What the Fck" was always Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

A word I use way too frequently as a Texan/Southerner.... Y'all

sayings I've been known to utter:

"Dad-burn-it"
"Dag-nab-it"
"Hotter-n'-hell out here" (exactly as it sounds)
"Devil must be whipping his wife" (raining while the sun is not hidden by clouds)
"Possum run over your grave?" (when you get just that one shiver up your spine)


and many many more.

I'm adding: Ustacould. As in: "I ustacould do something, but now I can't." I used this once when I was in the military, and all my non-Southern buddies about fell over laughing at me.

Also: Calling a shopping cart a buggy. Please tell me I'm not the only one that does this!

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A word I use way too frequently as a Texan/Southerner.... Y'all

sayings I've been known to utter:

"Dad-burn-it"
"Dag-nab-it"
"Hotter-n'-hell out here" (exactly as it sounds)
"Devil must be whipping his wife" (raining while the sun is not hidden by clouds)
"Possum run over your grave?" (when you get just that one shiver up your spine)


and many many more.

I'm adding: Ustacould. As in: "I ustacould do something, but now I can't." I used this once when I was in the military, and all my non-Southern buddies about fell over laughing at me.

Also: Calling a shopping cart a buggy. Please tell me I'm not the only one that does this!

Yes!

and fixin' to

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I always found people from across the ways saying "Can't be arsed" or CBA on forums pretty funny.

My husband said he worked with a dude named Randy and all the Austrailians thought it was HILARIOUS that you'd name your kid something as racy as Randy.

why is it racy?

You must know what randy means!

...and then there's the regional differences between "soda" and "pop." Not to mention that in some parts of the south, if you ask for a coke, they'll ask you what kind you want...7 up, Dr. Pepper, or Coca Cola?

yep... coke is synonymous with dr. pepper in my family

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Ahhh some more(not as good):-

"You don't know squat"

"Fanny pack" ..... that ones ssooo funny!!

"I'm doing the math" ....it's "Maths" not "Math"

"Vacation" .... no it's not it's a holiday!

"He was pissed" ..... In England this would mean he was very drunk

see, I never understood calling it "maths" instead of math. Why is it plural? Now, "doing the numbers" that fine. But not maths. It just looks wrong to me.

because its short for mathematics

Right. Which is why it is "Math" :drinker:

Fixated with our rear ends? Nah. There are far more expressions for throwing up and masturbating (usually not at the same time :laugh: ) than just about anything else.

LMAO :laugh:

I.Love.This.Thred. Thanks OP. :drinker:

A couple of things spring to mind:

re: censorship - while watching the US version of Top Gear, I was amazed to hear the phrase "holy *kitten*" beeped out twice, yet the when the presenter said, in the very next sentence, "holy cr*p", that was not beeped. How does that work?

re: "math" or "maths". The Americans treat "mathematics" as a singular noun, so shorten it to "math". The Brits treat it as a plural noun, so preserve the "s" when shortening. Hence the difference.

re: the Irish. "Craic" is indeed funny, but I was particularly amazed at the prevalence of the word "Feck" in Ireland. When my ma-in-law first said it, I nearly fell off my chair...

Well, "crap" isn't a swear word here. It's just slang. Shi-t is most definitely a (mild) swear word. Shi-te is far better to say in my opinion.

If we shortened "genetics" or "physics" we would surely leave off the plural, so... "math".

One of my Irish friends once explained it to me thus, when I told him how offensive the c-word is here. No swear word could be worse than another. If they found out that one word was worse than all the others, they would use it non-stop until it was leveled with all the others. I endeavor to shake it off for that reason now whenever I hear someone use it casually if they're from another country.

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Do other people use the phrase the *kitten* hole of no where to describe, in somewhat derogratory terms somewhere small/out of the way/no where near anything interesting.

We end the south use the phrase "BFE" or "bum f\/cked eqypt" to describe the middle of nowhere/small town.

For example
"where are you from in Alabama?"
"BFE"
"oh, so a pretty rural place, huh?"

I have no idea where this phrase came from.

Must be pretty specific to where you live. I know I'm a Yank and all, but I've lived in the South (rural Georgia and north Florida) for almost nine years and I know a lot of southerners, including half my BF's family. I have never heard that phrase.

I heard it a lot in the Navy. Except it was "Bumble Fvck, Egypt".

Kind of random, but I hate it when people don't finish their phrases, like:

"When in Rome..."

"If I had a dollar..."

"Sticks and stones..."

My husband is especially guilty of this.

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A word I use way too frequently as a Texan/Southerner.... Y'all

sayings I've been known to utter:

"Dad-burn-it"
"Dag-nab-it"
"Hotter-n'-hell out here" (exactly as it sounds)
"Devil must be whipping his wife" (raining while the sun is not hidden by clouds)
"Possum run over your grave?" (when you get just that one shiver up your spine)


and many many more.

I'm adding: Ustacould. As in: "I ustacould do something, but now I can't." I used this once when I was in the military, and all my non-Southern buddies about fell over laughing at me.

Also: Calling a shopping cart a buggy. Please tell me I'm not the only one that does this!

I say Ustacould occasionally... and of course fixinta and right quick.... but I have midwestern parents so I never learned or caught on to "buggy" as a shopping cart, though I do know plenty that say it.

I hate it when

Now that's interesting, too.

I thought Americans say "I hate when"?