Different words for the same things depending on which country you're in.
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quiksylver296 wrote: »The one that got me forever was "jumper." I only read it in stories and could not figure out what it meant. US translation = sweater.
Bunny Hug. It's regional within Saskatchewan.0 -
Sounds like you have a different shag in mind. I love the word snog. It sounds so much dirtier than it is.2 -
I like false cognates. For example, mist. In English, it is almost romantic description of fog or very light rain. In German, it means manure and you use it the same way you would when you say 'Well crap' in English.1
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nutmegoreo wrote: »quiksylver296 wrote: »The one that got me forever was "jumper." I only read it in stories and could not figure out what it meant. US translation = sweater.
Bunny Hug. It's regional within Saskatchewan.
But a Bunny Hug is a hooded sweatshirt, not a knitted sweater, right? Americans would call that a hoodie.1 -
quiksylver296 wrote: »nutmegoreo wrote: »quiksylver296 wrote: »The one that got me forever was "jumper." I only read it in stories and could not figure out what it meant. US translation = sweater.
Bunny Hug. It's regional within Saskatchewan.
But a Bunny Hug is a hooded sweatshirt, not a knitted sweater, right? Americans would call that a hoodie.
I think most of Canada calls it a hoodie as well.1 -
nutmegoreo wrote: »quiksylver296 wrote: »nutmegoreo wrote: »quiksylver296 wrote: »The one that got me forever was "jumper." I only read it in stories and could not figure out what it meant. US translation = sweater.
Bunny Hug. It's regional within Saskatchewan.
But a Bunny Hug is a hooded sweatshirt, not a knitted sweater, right? Americans would call that a hoodie.
I think most of Canada calls it a hoodie as well.
Only the uncouth young fella's wear "hoodies"
I call them hooded Jumper.
Shag/Bonk/Root = Sex
Footpath - sidewalk
Chemist - Pharmacy
Posty- Postman
Take away - Take out
We say "we're going to the shops" for every store, grocery, clothes etc
Breakfast
Lunch
tea
As for cricket.. 5 frickan days my husband has commandeered the tele (tv), and because of rain it's going to end up a draw. He has explained the rules to me a million times, and there's still certain things that just make no sense!2 -
rainbowbow wrote: »All types of lettuces and greens are called "salad"
Scratch that, any vegetables on a burger are also called "salad"
Bathroom/Restroom is often referred to as "toilet" or "wc"
baby carriage is referred to as a "pram"
Trunk of the car is called a "boot" depending on whether they learned oxford or american english
Fanny means vagina whereas to me it means your butt (sit your fanny down!).
I'd recognise all of those as British English usage as well.0 -
Oh and voting is compulsory, you get a fine if you don't. We don't have a President, we have a Prime Minister. It's not compulsory to vote in America, right?
This is probably BS, but i once heard that if you're in a place like New York and you smile or say hello as you're passing other pedestrians that you'll get mugged or they'd thing you were a weirdo??0 -
Thank you @Christine_72 , for that video a few pages back. I literally had tears.
Regarding cricket: I've stared at the television screen a few times - watching, trying to figure out what was going on, listening to the announcers - and gave up after 20 minutes or so because none of it made any sense.
@TROberts That guy has lots more videos on youtube, the one i posted was one of the tamer ones.0 -
williams969 wrote: »singingflutelady wrote: »Not sure if it has already been mentioned but ...
lollies = candies
biscuits = cookies
As I mentioned, I'm a Canadian who moved to Australia and I really struggle with the word "biscuits". To me "biscuits" are more like dumplings, "crackers" are hard salty things, and "cookies" are sweet. It still throws me off when someone asks if I want a "biscuit". A dumpling? Now? No! Oh wait, you mean a cookie!
Also meals ...
In Canada it is:
breakfast
brunch
lunch
coffee break
dinner or supper
and something my family called "little lunch" which was a late evening snack.
In Australia it is:
breakfast
brunch/morning tea/smoko
lunch
arvo tea/smoko
dinner or tea
supper = my "little lunch" or late evening snack.
Here in cape breton, nova scotia (which has it's own slang) we havebreakfast, dinner, supper, bed lunch. I am from ottawa and the dinner as lunch thing drove me crazy lol. Also the word wasted. In ottawa we used it to mean drunk but here they use it as meaning exhausted. I was shocked the first time I heard my friends proclaiming how wasted they were after a long church choir rehearsal!
My father's family (Belgian Americans living in rural Wisconsin) say breakfast/dinner/supper. I think it's common in Wisconsin, perhaps from immigration history shared with Ottawa/ NS / etc. surrounding fur trade back in the day.
I haven't heard bed lunch before, but I love it. Going to call it that from now on, lol!
My understanding is that traditionally in English "dinner" referred to the biggest meal of the day, whenever it was held (midday or evening). Midday meal if not dinner was lunch, evening meal if not dinner was supper. So groups who traditionally had a big midday meal, smaller evening meal said "dinner, supper." In the US that pattern is mostly related to rural or farming communities, so (to me, anyway) feels old-fashioned or rural (and to my mother who was raised in a rural farming community where people said it) feels unsophisticated and probably something of a class marker.
Anyway, my maternal grandfather and some other relatives always said breakfast, dinner, supper. My grandmother (who was educated, a teacher, and considered herself more sophisticated/modern, I think), and mother did not.
I was raised more in cities and around my father's side of the family and (probably like my mother) always thought "supper" sounded hick until I was old enough to understand why it was used/what it signified. Now I wouldn't use it and don't often hear people use it (in Chicago), but I am not surprised when I do (my own relatives who did were in Nebraska and rural Washington, but I find it more common in the South now--just anecdotal).1 -
Christine_72 wrote: »nutmegoreo wrote: »quiksylver296 wrote: »nutmegoreo wrote: »quiksylver296 wrote: »The one that got me forever was "jumper." I only read it in stories and could not figure out what it meant. US translation = sweater.
Bunny Hug. It's regional within Saskatchewan.
But a Bunny Hug is a hooded sweatshirt, not a knitted sweater, right? Americans would call that a hoodie.
I think most of Canada calls it a hoodie as well.
Only the uncouth young fella's wear "hoodies" I call them hooded Jumper.
Shag/Bonk/Root = Sex
Footpath - sidewalk
Chemist - Pharmacy
Posty- Postman
Take away - Take out
We say "we're going to the shops" for every store, grocery, clothes etc
Breakfast
Lunch
tea
As for cricket.. 5 frickan days my husband has commandeered the tele (tv), and because of rain it's going to end up a draw. He has explained the rules to me a million times, and there's still certain things that just make no sense!
Here (US/Michigan), I think footpath & sidewalk are things, just different things. A sidewalk is paved (usually cement), and a footpath is more rustic. Personally, I wouldn't call a groomed gravel walking path either a sidewalk or a footpath. I don't have a solid word just for that - probably "gravel path" or "gravel walk". These are distinctions like the "Crick"/creek (long "e")/stream/river kind of thing, maybe.0 -
Here (US/Michigan), I think footpath & sidewalk are things, just different things. A sidewalk is paved (usually cement), and a footpath is more rustic. Personally, I wouldn't call a groomed gravel walking path either a sidewalk or a footpath.
In British English usage a pavement is the footpath adjacent to a road, a footpath would be other paths, such as through parks and the like.
Trails or footpath are used interchangeably for essentially managed, but not surfaced, routes.0 -
Christine_72 wrote: »Oh and voting is compulsory, you get a fine if you don't. We don't have a President, we have a Prime Minister. It's not compulsory to vote in America, right?
This is probably BS, but i once heard that if you're in a place like New York and you smile or say hello as you're passing other pedestrians that you'll get mugged or they'd thing you were a weirdo??
I call BS - we holidayed there last year and the people were so friendly! So much more willing to interact than Australians....1 -
MeanderingMammal wrote: »Here (US/Michigan), I think footpath & sidewalk are things, just different things. A sidewalk is paved (usually cement), and a footpath is more rustic. Personally, I wouldn't call a groomed gravel walking path either a sidewalk or a footpath.
In British English usage a pavement is the footpath adjacent to a road, a footpath would be other paths, such as through parks and the like.
I'd call the first a sidewalk and the second just a path. A path can be paved or not.Trails or footpath are used interchangeably for essentially managed, but not surfaced, routes.
I use trail and path somewhat interchangeably. They need not be managed (in the country a path might exist due to regular use, that's all). I do think of a trail as more in a wooded area usually, but in Chicago the paved lakefront path used for walking, running, and biking (very busy) is called a trail.
One can also make a path (a new path) through snow, even if it's just a short-term thing.0 -
accidental post0
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In Australia it is:
breakfast
brunch/morning tea/smoko
lunch
arvo tea/smoko
dinner or tea
supper = my "little lunch" or late evening snack.
As a fellow Australian I would agree with above - except brunch is not same as morning tea.
Morning tea is a little snack between breakfast and lunch - what English call "elevenses" I think
Brunch is when you dont have breakfast or morning tea and then you have an early lunch - so, breakfast and lunch combined into one1 -
CurlyCockney wrote: »Haha those 80s picture jumpers, my mum made me lots of them! We called those dresses with bib and straps 'tunics' when I was at infant school.
omg, you Brits make babies go to school? O.o
lol. Must be what US would call elementary, or grade school. (usually ages 5-11 or so) That's the thing about the US, we have like 7 words for everything, and only some of them are shared by different regions of the country.
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ConnieT1030 wrote: »CurlyCockney wrote: »Haha those 80s picture jumpers, my mum made me lots of them! We called those dresses with bib and straps 'tunics' when I was at infant school.
omg, you Brits make babies go to school? O.o
lol. Must be what US would call elementary, or grade school. (usually ages 5-11 or so) That's the thing about the US, we have like 7 words for everything, and only some of them are shared by different regions of the country.
pre-school?0 -
ConnieT1030 wrote: »CurlyCockney wrote: »Haha those 80s picture jumpers, my mum made me lots of them! We called those dresses with bib and straps 'tunics' when I was at infant school.
omg, you Brits make babies go to school? O.o
lol. Must be what US would call elementary, or grade school. (usually ages 5-11 or so) That's the thing about the US, we have like 7 words for everything, and only some of them are shared by different regions of the country.
Speaking of...
This may be regional too but in the States, is it 'Grade 1' 'Grade 2' or is it 'First Grade' 'Second Grade'?
My cousin from California kept correcting me when I told her I was in Grade 10...she kept saying 'Tenth grade'.0 -
ConnieT1030 wrote: »CurlyCockney wrote: »Haha those 80s picture jumpers, my mum made me lots of them! We called those dresses with bib and straps 'tunics' when I was at infant school.
omg, you Brits make babies go to school? O.o
lol. Must be what US would call elementary, or grade school. (usually ages 5-11 or so) That's the thing about the US, we have like 7 words for everything, and only some of them are shared by different regions of the country.
Nursery School 2-4
Infant School 5 -7
Junior School 7 - 11
Secondary School 11 - 16 (I think the minimum leaving age has been raised since I went!)
I think they're all called 'years' now - Year 1, Year 2 etc. We only called them 'years' at grammar school, and they only counted whilst we were at that school (they're carried over from earlier schools now).0 -
I got in a confusing online conversation with a British guy once about what I'd called a "yard gnome". In his view, factories & such had yards, whereas homes had gardens. To me (and I think most USians?), a regular suburban house has a yard, and may have some areas thickly planted with flowers or vegetables which would be the garden.
Also, some of the supposed US/Canada distinctions are not exactly that - in my part of the US (Michigan, where Canada's a close neighbor), some of us use some of the "Canadian" terms - pop, Timmy's, etc.
I had always heard it "garden gnome" even though it isn't always in a garden. Lawn or yard is interchangeable, garden and lawn/yard are not.
I think the problem with a word being a "US" word is that the US is so big, so we end up with regional differences. Then you get people like me who mix them all up- raised in the Midwest, raised children in the northwest and now live in the southeast, I speak a mishmash of everything
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samanthaluangphixay wrote: »ConnieT1030 wrote: »CurlyCockney wrote: »Haha those 80s picture jumpers, my mum made me lots of them! We called those dresses with bib and straps 'tunics' when I was at infant school.
omg, you Brits make babies go to school? O.o
lol. Must be what US would call elementary, or grade school. (usually ages 5-11 or so) That's the thing about the US, we have like 7 words for everything, and only some of them are shared by different regions of the country.
Speaking of...
This may be regional too but in the States, is it 'Grade 1' 'Grade 2' or is it 'First Grade' 'Second Grade'?
My cousin from California kept correcting me when I told her I was in Grade 10...she kept saying 'Tenth grade'.
Atleast every state i've lived in in the US it's "first grade, second grade", etc.0 -
rainbowbow wrote: »ConnieT1030 wrote: »CurlyCockney wrote: »Haha those 80s picture jumpers, my mum made me lots of them! We called those dresses with bib and straps 'tunics' when I was at infant school.
omg, you Brits make babies go to school? O.o
lol. Must be what US would call elementary, or grade school. (usually ages 5-11 or so) That's the thing about the US, we have like 7 words for everything, and only some of them are shared by different regions of the country.
pre-school?
Which we used to call nursery school (not sure if that's still used as I always hear pre-school now).0 -
When the world was black and white (I'm 3 years old in this pic), I wore a tunic to school.
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ConnieT1030 wrote: »I got in a confusing online conversation with a British guy once about what I'd called a "yard gnome". In his view, factories & such had yards, whereas homes had gardens. To me (and I think most USians?), a regular suburban house has a yard, and may have some areas thickly planted with flowers or vegetables which would be the garden.
Also, some of the supposed US/Canada distinctions are not exactly that - in my part of the US (Michigan, where Canada's a close neighbor), some of us use some of the "Canadian" terms - pop, Timmy's, etc.
I think the problem with a word being a "US" word is that the US is so big, so we end up with regional differences. Then you get people like me who mix them all up- raised in the Midwest, raised children in the northwest and now live in the southeast, I speak a mishmash of everything
Yes, Australia is the same. Although I think to a lesser degree.
So, for example, OP said about rockmelon vs canteloupe.
In some states of Australia is is called canteloupe - in others, such as South Australia, where I live, it is called rockmelon.
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ConnieT1030 wrote: ».....is that the US is so big, so we end up with regional differences....
The US isn't exceptional in this regard, it's been referred to a couple of times in this thread already. I've lived in half a dozen different locations in the UK, each with their own dialect.
I was raised speaking a combination of British English and Scots English, which is a different language never mind dialect.
Getting away from English, Gaelic and Gaelic are pronounced differently, depending on which Gaelic language one is speaking.
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CurlyCockney wrote: »ConnieT1030 wrote: »CurlyCockney wrote: »Haha those 80s picture jumpers, my mum made me lots of them! We called those dresses with bib and straps 'tunics' when I was at infant school.
omg, you Brits make babies go to school? O.o
lol. Must be what US would call elementary, or grade school. (usually ages 5-11 or so) That's the thing about the US, we have like 7 words for everything, and only some of them are shared by different regions of the country.
Nursery School 2-4
Infant School 5 -7
Junior School 7 - 11
Secondary School 11 - 16 (I think the minimum leaving age has been raised since I went!)
I think they're all called 'years' now - Year 1, Year 2 etc. We only called them 'years' at grammar school, and they only counted whilst we were at that school (they're carried over from earlier schools now).
In Australia we have
Kindergarten (and sometimes pre-kindergarten)
Pre-primary
Primary school (year/grade 1-6)
Highschool (year/grade 7-12. Sometimes year 7-9 is called middle school)
University - we don't do "college" like in the US
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Those who have ever been to Uni or are in Uni in Australia would know what 'arvos' is.
I'm just getting through page 1. I take it someone has mentioned the different meanings of "shag?"
Have a shag on the shag with a shag?livingleanlivingclean wrote: »CurlyCockney wrote: »ConnieT1030 wrote: »CurlyCockney wrote: »Haha those 80s picture jumpers, my mum made me lots of them! We called those dresses with bib and straps 'tunics' when I was at infant school.
omg, you Brits make babies go to school? O.o
lol. Must be what US would call elementary, or grade school. (usually ages 5-11 or so) That's the thing about the US, we have like 7 words for everything, and only some of them are shared by different regions of the country.
Nursery School 2-4
Infant School 5 -7
Junior School 7 - 11
Secondary School 11 - 16 (I think the minimum leaving age has been raised since I went!)
I think they're all called 'years' now - Year 1, Year 2 etc. We only called them 'years' at grammar school, and they only counted whilst we were at that school (they're carried over from earlier schools now).
In Australia we have
Kindergarten (and sometimes pre-kindergarten)
Pre-primary
Primary school (year/grade 1-6)
Highschool (year/grade 7-12. Sometimes year 7-9 is called middle school)
University - we don't do "college" like in the US
Interesting. I see things have changed since I've gone to school in Australia (Queensland to be exact).
Kindergarten/Preschool at the age of 5.
Primary School (Grade 1-7, typically ages 6-12)
High School (Grade 8-12, typically ages 13-17)
Then either college (such as TAFE) or University. Colleges can be referred to as residential colleges which are a part of some universities (eg, McGregor residential college is a part of USQ).
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cerise_noir wrote: »
Followed by shag (tobacco) whilst listening to shags (birds...of the feathered kind)?0 -
livingleanlivingclean wrote: »CurlyCockney wrote: »ConnieT1030 wrote: »CurlyCockney wrote: »Haha those 80s picture jumpers, my mum made me lots of them! We called those dresses with bib and straps 'tunics' when I was at infant school.
omg, you Brits make babies go to school? O.o
lol. Must be what US would call elementary, or grade school. (usually ages 5-11 or so) That's the thing about the US, we have like 7 words for everything, and only some of them are shared by different regions of the country.
Nursery School 2-4
Infant School 5 -7
Junior School 7 - 11
Secondary School 11 - 16 (I think the minimum leaving age has been raised since I went!)
I think they're all called 'years' now - Year 1, Year 2 etc. We only called them 'years' at grammar school, and they only counted whilst we were at that school (they're carried over from earlier schools now).
In Australia we have
Kindergarten (and sometimes pre-kindergarten)
Pre-primary
Primary school (year/grade 1-6)
Highschool (year/grade 7-12. Sometimes year 7-9 is called middle school)
University - we don't do "college" like in the US
We have colleges within universities, and colleges that are just colleges. The more I try to explain British English the more I'm realising how much stuff we just seem to 'know', without questioning why LOL!1
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