UK/US Divided by a Common Tongue

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  • imnotyourpal
    imnotyourpal Posts: 162 Member
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    I worked with quite a few people from Ireland who informed me that they had "great crack" the night before. Really? CRACK? Apparently it's "Craic" (?) and means "fun".

    This was funny.

    Although, people in New England still call their backsides their bum. :) I do. Even now that I'm back on the left coast.
  • MissO﹠A
    MissO﹠A Posts: 906 Member
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    I used to be so good at rattling off a bunch of these. Having lived both sides of the pond has impaired my language differentiation skills.

    My favourites from Scotland:

    greetin' - cryin'
    ned - hooligan

    ... and my favourite saying: "Get it right (fu-ckin') up ye!"
  • LeeKetty1176
    LeeKetty1176 Posts: 881 Member
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    [


    COMIC IRONY
    UK: A figure of speech in which the humorous intended meaning is the opposite of that expressed by the words used
    US: ~ an unknown concept ~

    :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
  • FabOma08
    FabOma08 Posts: 500
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    Lift
    US:to raise up
    UK: elevator

    Boot:
    US: type of shoe
    UK: storage space of car
  • AtticusFinch
    AtticusFinch Posts: 1,263 Member
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    a *kitten* is also a bassoon... I should know, I played one! :laugh:

    TRAINERS
    US - people who teach you things
    UK - shoes (I think)

    JUMPER
    US - someone that, well, jumps
    UK - sweater

    Really - so you have extensive experience of blowing a *kitten*? Not really one for the resume.

    And Yes - Trainers are soft gym shoes, (what you may call sneakers?), often worn by people who've never been near a gym in their lives ; and a jumper is an alternative word for a sweater, although I heard once that some parts of the US call a small child's sweater a jumper also - so it could be derogatory if used towards an adult

    vickypollards101206_468x923.jpg
  • SarahLovesCheesecake
    SarahLovesCheesecake Posts: 520
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    ^^ hello love of my life......:heart:
  • AtticusFinch
    AtticusFinch Posts: 1,263 Member
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    ^^ hello love of my life......

    Can I just say that I don't know this person, "she" is just someone who's grooming me on the internet, and is probably a hairy arsed builder from Barnsley :wink:
  • SarahLovesCheesecake
    SarahLovesCheesecake Posts: 520
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    ^^ hello love of my life......

    Can I just say that I don't know this person, "she" is just someone who's grooming me on the internet, and is probably a hairy arsed builder from Barnsley :wink:
    Not funny:sad:
  • NiallWallace
    NiallWallace Posts: 78 Member
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    I used to be so good at rattling off a bunch of these. Having lived both sides of the pond has impaired my language differentiation skills.

    My favourites from Scotland:

    greetin' - cryin'
    ned - hooligan

    ... and my favourite saying: "Get it right (fu-ckin') up ye!"

    Ach, there's many more up here.

    There is quite a bit of language diversity in the British Isles as well,
    There are at least 3 different types of English spoken in Scotland,
    Scottish Standard English is the version of English that would be taught as English but is not the same as Standard English,

    Scots/Lallans/Ullans is a form of English that's very old and is now considered a separate language, spoken in the Central belt, Borders and in the case of Ullans Northern Ireland rather than Scotland but is considered closer to the language Robert Burns knew.

    And Doric, and even older version of English spoken Aberdeenshire, this is due to some Sassenachs taking over estates in Aberdeenshire and converting the locals from Gaelic much earlier than anywhere else in the North.


    So while in Aberdeen a friend may greet me with "Fit like loon"
    A friend in the borders or central belt may say "Hous it gaun"
    And a friend in fife may say "Awright yah hoor"

    All of course mean "How are you".

    Scotland and the north of England traded with the Germanics while Southern England traded with the French.
    So we get discrepancies like Kirk and Church from German and French respectively.

    But both are in Scotland at least understood.

    However, it gets much worse.
    *kitten* was mentioned earlier, and the current prime minister got in real trouble for using that word because it is just another way of saying the C word.

    In many parts of the UK that is the worst possible word you could ever use, but in other parts no one gives a...

    Particularly in Fife where it's universally used to mean person (just like yah yoor)

    So when I got back from the cup final a couple of years back a mates Girlfriend had written on my face book "What did that C... have on his t-shirt" (one of the players had raised his shirt to show a message after scoring). To her that's a completely acceptable way of writing "What did David Goodwillie have written on his shirt".

    While a mate also from Fife whose Wife is from an area where that word is the worlds biggest insult got an absolute bollocking for using it.


    And then there is Dundonian, where the word Eh can be used to say anything you want.
  • BillyC96
    BillyC96 Posts: 7,560 Member
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    And then there is Dundonian, where the word Eh can be used to say anything you want.

    The same way 'eh' is used in Canada!

    I'm a Canadian living in the UK, and I've been caught using quite the wrong way.

    Wife: How was your dinner?
    Me: Quite nice, thanks.
    Wife:Oh didn't you like it?
    :ohwell:
  • NiallWallace
    NiallWallace Posts: 78 Member
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    I've posted this in a few places, originally written for someone from Narfark;

    Dundee was a mill town, that attracted a lot of Irish immigrants.
    This means that the language is fairly harsh to get over the noise of the looms and picked up some elements of Hiberno Irish and both modern forms of Gaelic.

    ---
    Lesson in Dundonian, #1

    Eh in Dundonian has multiple meanings

    Examples of such meanings are:
    Isn't it (eh no)
    You What (eh?)
    and Ok (eh)

    For example the Dundonian Sentence, "eh it's keich eh!" whichmeans "That is a load of rubbish, isn't it"

    An appropriate answer would be "Eh", which means "Yes it is."

    There is a wild falsity that a good example of Dundonian is "Eh'll hae an ingin ane an aw!" which supposedly means "I will have on of the Onion ones as well" this is incorrect as no Dundonian can afford to buy a Forfar Bridie.

    More accurate would be, "Eh, Eh'll Hae Eh Peh Eh" which means "Yes, I will have a Pie Please"

    There endeth our lesson in Dundonian for today.

    ---

    That final Dundonian sentence "Eh, Eh'll Hae Eh Peh Eh" contains 5 different soundings of Eh, the other sounds being ell, Hih, ae and Pih


    I used to work in a computer shop and was telling a customer that her computer was past it. ( I should point out that Fifeish is just as bad)

    Customer: Eh, meh cumputehrs in, eh.
    Me: Ok what's your name sorry
    Customer: Eh Flescher Eh
    Me: Ok let me look
    Customer: Eh
    Me: Ok, the engineerr's had a look at your computer
    Customer: Eh
    Me: and it's not good i'm affraid
    Customer: Eh
    Me: It's just too old for us to have the parts to fix the problem
    Customer: Eh, are you sure eh, it's only 3 years old eh.
    Me: Well that's what the engineers written on the notes, would you liek to speak to him
    Customer: Eh

    Every Eh in that had a different meaning!
  • JeninBelgium
    JeninBelgium Posts: 804 Member
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    I used to be so good at rattling off a bunch of these. Having lived both sides of the pond has impaired my language differentiation skills.

    My favourites from Scotland:

    greetin' - cryin'
    ned - hooligan

    ... and my favourite saying: "Get it right (fu-ckin') up ye!"

    Ach, there's many more up here.

    There is quite a bit of language diversity in the British Isles as well,
    There are at least 3 different types of English spoken in Scotland,
    Scottish Standard English is the version of English that would be taught as English but is not the same as Standard English,

    Scots/Lallans/Ullans is a form of English that's very old and is now considered a separate language, spoken in the Central belt, Borders and in the case of Ullans Northern Ireland rather than Scotland but is considered closer to the language Robert Burns knew.

    And Doric, and even older version of English spoken Aberdeenshire, this is due to some Sassenachs taking over estates in Aberdeenshire and converting the locals from Gaelic much earlier than anywhere else in the North.


    So while in Aberdeen a friend may greet me with "Fit like loon"
    A friend in the borders or central belt may say "Hous it gaun"
    And a friend in fife may say "Awright yah hoor"

    All of course mean "How are you".

    Scotland and the north of England traded with the Germanics while Southern England traded with the French.
    So we get discrepancies like Kirk and Church from German and French respectively.

    But both are in Scotland at least understood.

    However, it gets much worse.
    *kitten* was mentioned earlier, and the current prime minister got in real trouble for using that word because it is just another way of saying the C word.

    In many parts of the UK that is the worst possible word you could ever use, but in other parts no one gives a...

    Particularly in Fife where it's universally used to mean person (just like yah yoor)

    So when I got back from the cup final a couple of years back a mates Girlfriend had written on my face book "What did that C... have on his t-shirt" (one of the players had raised his shirt to show a message after scoring). To her that's a completely acceptable way of writing "What did David Goodwillie have written on his shirt".

    While a mate also from Fife whose Wife is from an area where that word is the worlds biggest insult got an absolute bollocking for using it.


    And then there is Dundonian, where the word Eh can be used to say anything you want.

    ok something weird happened wht my post was meant to say was I am always amazed at the similarities between Scottish and Dutch with reference to your erlier German comment- Kerk is Church in Dutch but also Ken (like in German) is to know- and i have experienced this in Scottish as well, also yah hoor (jahoor) is Dutch- I suppose it would make sense though- looking at the globe- geographically Scotland and the Netherlands are so close, and through trade/ fishing they most surely have influenced one another
  • NiallWallace
    NiallWallace Posts: 78 Member
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    ok something weird happened wht my post was meant to say was I am always amazed at the similarities between Scottish and Dutch with reference to your erlier German comment- Kerk is Church in Dutch but also Ken (like in German) is to know- and i have experienced this in Scottish as well, also yah hoor (jahoor) is Dutch- I suppose it would make sense though- looking at the globe- geographically Scotland and the Netherlands are so close, and through trade/ fishing they most surely have influenced one another

    Ya Hoor Sir, is very very Fife.
    Strangely enough guess where the Fife ports traded with; can't remember what left Fife for the Netherlands but Pantiles came back as ballast and can be seen all over the area.
  • joyfulthanks
    joyfulthanks Posts: 155
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    I might have missed this on in the list, but if not:

    KNICKERS

    US - loose fitting pants gathered at the knee, sometimes worn by golfers (like Payne Stewart)
    UK - women's underwear
  • IMYarnCraz33
    IMYarnCraz33 Posts: 1,016 Member
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    Let me make one minor correction.....

    PASTY
    US: nipple cover
    UK AND Upper Peninsula Michigan, US: pronounced pa (as in pan) stee: a pastry filled with potato, meat, turnip or other veggies
    (also known as a pastie or British pasty--associated with Cornwall and Devon,[3] in the south west of England, UK.

    source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasty
    Plus being from Michigan, I've eaten pasties... YUMMMMMMEHHHH!!!!!!
  • Lozzy_82
    Lozzy_82 Posts: 324 Member
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    In the Midlands (well, Birmingham) "caned" means stoned rather than drunk!

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