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    Strange American sayings from an English Perspective

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    • Posts: 12,950 Member
      Aw, Lord Byron hasn't weighed in on mine. :(
    • Posts: 2,712 Member
      They snicker at you if you order a "Scotch" in Scotland.
      Cheeky buggers.
      WTF would you order? Just "whisky", and it's assumed? Do you have to specify single-malt? Inquiring minds want to know!!
    • Posts: 16,414 Member
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      All over (Navy brats). I lived up north (mid-west) until I was 8, so maybe it's a north-east thing. I definitely grew up saying "tennies" or "tennis shoes" (all one word, like "tenissues").

      Northeast and Midwest are TOTALLY different places, culturally speaking! I grew up in the Northeast (upstate NY).
    • Posts: 4,440 Member
      They snicker at you if you order a "Scotch" in Scotland.
      Cheeky buggers.

      What do they call it over there? A whiskey?
    • Posts: 35 Member
      I'm still getting used to 'heads up' first heard in 'The West Wing'. Have heard it used this side of the pond but, like many imported Americanisms, in a slightly self-conscious way.
    • Posts: 53 Member
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      Oh ok, no worries.

      Here's how this American uses them:
      Someone complains about something bad that happened to them: "Oh, I hate when that happens!"

      Someone consistently does something that bothers me: "I hate it when you do that."

      Of course, that might be just me.
    • Posts: 2,712 Member
      I have the same issue with dinner/supper. In some places I have lived you eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. In some others you eat breakfast, dinner and supper. In others you eat breakfast, lunch and supper.

      I get confused as to what I need to call each meal in conversations sometimes.
      Don't they say breakfast, dinner and supper in your neck of the woods? When I was a kid, the older lunch ladies would refer to our lunchboxes as "dinner pails". :laugh: I kept picturing slop buckets! And I remember "supper clubs" and having "supper" at grandma's house. Of course, we probably ate really late at those times, so that definitely makes it supper. When we ate at 5-6 o'clock, we probably called that "dinner", even if we ate dinner earlier at 12-1 o'clock.
    • Posts: 3,927 Member
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      What do they call it over there? A whiskey?

      You order by name.

      Lagavulin, neat.

      Or Glenmorangie, pronounced correctly or they beat you with a stick.
    • Posts: 24 Member
      Fannypack

      The first part has a very very different meaning in England!
    • Posts: 159 Member
      AAaa.. "Bless your heart!" gets me everyitime... I wanna laugh everytime someone says it to me.. IN THEIR FACE.. its like JUST SAY IT YOU FAKE B**&!.. just say im being an *kitten*..

      :grumble:
    • Posts: 2,712 Member
      Northeast and Midwest are TOTALLY different places, culturally speaking! I grew up in the Northeast (upstate NY).
      That's gotta be it then! His grandpa's family is out of Buffalo, and it was kinda home base for a lot of years... Thank goodness I didn't pick that up the year I lived there!

      Here's one. Does anybody call that red stuff you put on pasta or the other stuff you put on french fries (or chips, if you prefer) "gravy"? I can't remember if that one came from WNY or Rhode Island...
    • Posts: 3,262 Member
      Fannypack

      The first part has a very very different meaning in England!

      we used to call them bum bags when i was a teenager. not sure which one is worst.
    • Posts: 2,712 Member
      You order by name.

      Lagavulin, neat.

      Or Glenmorangie, pronounced correctly or they beat you with a stick.
      Oh, how I miss a good, peaty whisky. Neat, the way god intended. And I don't care what distillery.
    • Posts: 447 Member
      'Plead the fifth' I have had it explained to me but I always forget

      'Fanny pack'

      'Kebob'
    • Posts: 2,072 Member
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      On the EastCoast we call em "kicks"

      Heh. I think of "kicks" the same as "jollies". "More power to ya, if that's how you get your kicks." when speaking to someone about some weird habit they have.
    • Posts: 2,712 Member
      'Plead the fifth' I have had it explained to me but I always forget

      'Fanny pack'

      'Kebob'
      What do you call it then, if not "kebab"?
    • Posts: 16,414 Member
      show previous quotes
      That's gotta be it then! His grandpa's family is out of Buffalo, and it was kinda home base for a lot of years... Thank goodness I didn't pick that up the year I lived there!

      Here's one. Does anybody call that red stuff you put on pasta or the other stuff you put on french fries (or chips, if you prefer) "gravy"? I can't remember if that one came from WNY or Rhode Island...
      My parents grew up in Buffalo and say sneakers.

      We put ketchup on our fries.
    • Posts: 922 Member
      I was watching House Hunters International one time, and the buyers kept saying they wanted a really big garden for their kids to play in. I was like "Why would they want their kids to play in a garden? Aren't they afraid they will mess up all their plants and flowers?" Hahaha

      LMAO!!! Saw the same episode and thought the SAME thing!!
    • Posts: 3,472 Member
      When you stop calling it a "bonnet" and start calling it a "hood"...AND...when you start driving on the right side of the road, then you can start correcting us.
    • Posts: 2,712 Member
      We put ketchup on our fries.
      Vinegar is another popular option, or at least was when I lived there.

      "Gravy" must be those wacky Rhode Islanders, then. They also drink "coffee milk", so whaddaya gonna do...?
    • Posts: 4,440 Member
      'Plead the fifth' I have had it explained to me but I always forget

      'Fanny pack'

      'Kebob'

      Plead the fifth: generally means that I choose not to say anything to incriminate myself. Refers to the 5th amendment of the constitution. It says that a defendant does not have to take the stand in a court of law in his own defense.
    • Posts: 6,208 Member
      show previous quotes
      That's gotta be it then! His grandpa's family is out of Buffalo, and it was kinda home base for a lot of years... Thank goodness I didn't pick that up the year I lived there!

      Here's one. Does anybody call that red stuff you put on pasta or the other stuff you put on french fries (or chips, if you prefer) "gravy"? I can't remember if that one came from WNY or Rhode Island...
      LOL. I had two Italian friends who had an argument over this. The one from NJ called it gravy, the other from Virginia said calling it gravy was lame and not really Italian. It's supposed to be called sauce or marinara. I called it delicious.
    • Posts: 574 Member
      show previous quotes
      WTF would you order? Just "whisky", and it's assumed? Do you have to specify single-malt? Inquiring minds want to know!!

      I was told to ask nicely for whiskey and if I were judged worthy, I'd be given the good stuff. If not, I'd be overcharged for the low end.
    • Posts: 187 Member
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      I sometimes stumble when tryin gto figure out what to call those. I've lived in places where they have been called, gym Shoes, Tennis Shoes, sneakers, tennies, athletic shoes and trainers.

      I have the same issue with dinner/supper. In some places I have lived you eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. In some others you eat breakfast, dinner and supper. In others you eat breakfast, lunch and supper.

      I get confused as to what I need to call each meal in conversations sometimes.



      I call them tennis shoes... It's breakfast, lunch and dinner. But here in the wonderful Midwest, the farm folk call it supper. They also call a drive way a "Lane road" and add an r to wash. WTH is that about?
    • Posts: 1,492 Member
      Forgot to add....

      "That'll go over like a fart in church..." This might be my favorite.
    • Posts: 6,256 Member
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      What do you call it then, if not "kebab"?

      skewered meat and vegetables? Just guessing.
    • Posts: 4,440 Member
      When you stop calling it a "bonnet" and start calling it a "hood"...AND...when you start driving on the right side of the road, then you can start correcting us.

      Um, no correcting is really going on. Just lighthearted discussions. :-)
    • Posts: 16,414 Member
      'Plead the fifth' I have had it explained to me but I always forget
      The Fifth Amendment is the right not to incrimiate onesself. So, in the legal sense, if you get put on the stand on court under oath to testify and what you have to say would incrimate you in a crime, you "plead the Fifth" instead of testifying.

      We use it in casual conversation mostly joking around.
    • Posts: 1,137 Member
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      On the EastCoast we call em "kicks"

      I'm in Maine. They're called sneakers. Lol
    • Posts: 234 Member
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      I'm in Maine. They're called sneakers. Lol

      Maryland here and I call them tennis shoes. I don't think I have ever called them sneakers or kicks.
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