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I was reading Tigerblade’s blog earlier, I had a giggle because he put that he would like to learn ‘drive stick’, and here in England we call that the gears. Anyway I love the differences in the English/American use of words. Well I found this little ditty, it’s a little on the rude side (currently catching up with Jeff on IM and passed this by him and he said it was fine, but you have been warned) but hey it made me giggle …
Here goes!
How to speak British without making an Arse of yourself…
* “To knock you up” means to wake you up by knocking on the door.
* To “diddle” means to cheat someone.
* A “fag” is a cigarette.
* When the British are surprised or shocked they exclaim, “Blow me!”
* “Slap and tickle” means having sex.
* And courage is “a lotta bottle.” From drinking alcohol from a bottle.
* And to them a real jerk is called a “wanker.”
I can imagine a conversation at the front desk of a bed and breakfast in England:
CLERK: Tomorrow morning, would you like me to knock you up?
UNATTRACTIVE AMERICAN FEMALE GUEST: Are you serious?
CLERK: I wouldn’t diddle you!
UNATTRACTIVE AMERICAN FEMALE GUEST: Then how will you knock me up?
CLERK: Quite easily! And if I can’t do it, then I’ll get me mate to do it.
UNATTRACTIVE AMERICAN FEMALE GUEST: Oh… you’re one of those.
CLERK: One of those what? Oh, it’s me break. I’m going out to smoke a fag.
UNATTRACTIVE AMERICAN FEMALE GUEST: That’s disgusting!
CLERK: Oh, I know. Bad habit really. Ah, here’s Ben. He will take care of you.
BEN: So do you want me to knock you up in the morning?
UNATTRACTIVE AMERICAN FEMALE GUEST: You English men are so forward! So did you just come back from smoking a fag?
BEN: Certainly not! Bloody nasty, if you ask me. What time shall I knock you up?
UNATTRACTIVE AMERICAN FEMALE GUEST: What makes you think you can just have sex with me?
BEN: Blow me!!!
UNATTRACTIVE AMERICAN FEMALE GUEST: Oh, I don’t do that.
BEN: You want the old slap and tickle? There’ll be a whole lot more slappin’ than ticklin’, that’s for sure! Sex with you? Whoa! That would take a whole lotta bottle!
UNATTRACTIVE AMERICAN FEMALE GUEST: So you’re well endowed?
CLERK: Oh, Ben’s a huuuuuge wanker!
BEN: This is just smashing.
UNATTRACTIVE AMERICAN FEMALE GUEST: It’d better not be just smashing. You’re gonna be my baby daddy!
BEN (rolling eyes):Bloody smashing!
UNATTRACTIVE AMERICAN FEMALE GUEST: Bloody? How big is your wanker?hahaha. I’d seen a thread on Newsvine a while back that was talking about regional slang or lingo… how what we call something here might be completely different somewhere even within our own state. Someone had a story about how they had a British friend along with them in a bar. The Brit asked someone where he could bum a fag, and was promptly chased out of the bar.
He had no idea why.
oh… and I don’t want to learn “drive stick”, I want to learn how to drive stick. Stick is our term for non-automatic-transmission cars, so to drive stick is to drive the car but have to deal with manually shifting gears. It’s also referred to as a manual, but where I live it’s just a stick, or stick-shift.
haha Tigerblade you really had me laughing, people are always asking to ‘bum a fag’ here! ‘Bum’ meaning ‘can I have’ just in case no one got what Tigerblade was meaning, gosh I am even getting confused! Although most people in my parts call them a cig. So if you are in yorkshire you need to say ‘can I bum a cig’ and you will be fine 😉 No one will chase you out of the bar 😀
Oh and thanks for the correction on the drive stick hehe 😉
Not exactly the same but reminds me of a conversation between a coworker and I at the clinic. I said the pregnant woman has sob and another patient came up to me fuming saying it was rude of me to call that pregnant woman’s child an s.o.b I had to explain to her it meant shortness of breath.
Aw Tom, Driving a stick isnt that hard. I actually learned how to drive with a stick from the beginning when I was sixteen. I prefer it to an automatic, personally. Manual’s the only way to go. (Now everyone get your minds out of the gutters, heh)
I absolutely love how our slang differs. It makes me giggle. Like how Chips are ‘crisps’ or whatnot. *cackles* Mmm fun.
I remember when the video game “Elebits” was released here in America, but when they released it over in Europe they had to rename the game to “Eledees”. Correct me if I’m wrong, but apparently the word ‘bit’ is offensive over there. In America it’s a part of everyday vocabulary, of course, but I just thought it was interesting how they had to change the title of that game.
@Jeff 221034 wrote:
What exactly does it mean when there is “…more slappin’ than ticklin’?”
mmmm, I would think more 😮 for man, than :woot: for woman…I didn’t know if what I would normally say would be ok for the forum.
But ROFLMBO!!!:D
Sami wrote:Like how Chips are ‘crisps’ or whatnot. *cackles*Crisps. …I Love that! “Don’t forget to buy some crisps to go with the dip in the ice-box!” :p
Great stuff you posted here Sarah. 😉
Well to turn this the other way, as you might know this time in three weeks we will be in sunny CA, so I picked up a few travel guides. Just so we know the lingo … my little pocket books says….
Gnarly – Something is really bad.
Lubricated – A person that has had too many vino’s 😀
Vato – Friend or buddy.
Dude – Any person with a pulse.
Homie – Friend or buddy.
So-Cal – Very Californian
Handler – Manager of your hotel
Greenlight – OK
Schmooze – to chat someone up.
Sweet – to delight in something.
Cool – Everything is fine and dandy.So now I am really ready! 😀
Gnarly I always thought to mean/used as “that’s pretty awesome”.
Never heard of vato, dude is about right but it’s informal. So when just hanging out (spending time with) with people, a lot of the time they will be like “Hey Dude” and dude is only used at guys.
Homie is correct.
So-Cal seems right, I don’t remember where I’d heard it before.
Handler is correct.
Greenlight is correct
Schmooze is correct, however I don’t know how often that term is used.
Sweet is essentially “cooler than cool” (using American slang of cool).
Cool – Everything is fine or something is neat.Here are some others:
Hanging out – Spending time with friends
Just kickin’ it – same as hanging outI take issue with some of this alleged California lingo. It might help to see it used in conversation.
“Whoa, dude! Check out that totally gnarley wave!” It’s a big, awesome wave that someone is going to shred. Boarder lingo (surf/skate/etc.).
“He came out to SoCal to schmooze the big wigs…” Someone visiting southern California to wine-and-dine someone to gain their favor. Schmooze is used a bit further up the normal food chain. And I’ve never, ever heard “socal” used to mean “very Californian.”
Greenlight is not commonly used, other than in The Industry (TV and movies). I’ve never heard handler, vato or lubricated used — period. Sweet and cool are used, but they aren’t unique to California. Homie is used among wannabe ganstas, but that’s about it (also not unique to California).
Of course, if you’re really looking for the REAL southern Californian lingo, pickup a Spanish-English dictionary. :woot: Hasta luego
Sweet – to delight in something.
This makes it sound like ‘sweet’ is a verb. It’s not… it’s more of a descriptive thing. “This movie is sweet!”Methinks you need a new travel guidebook. Using that thing will get you more confused than just picking up the lingo from the locals.
One of my favorite regional lingo terms is “bubbler.” (Sami? Wanna back me up on this one?) Everywhere else it’s called a “drinking fountain” or “water fountain” but here in southeastern Wisconsin it’s a bubbler:
Quote:The term is still used in several regional dialects of the United States, originating in eastern and western Wisconsin.(…isn’t ‘eastern and western Wisconsin’ the same as just saying ‘Wisconsin’?)
I can’t even begin to count the number of times people have asked me where the water fountain is and I immediately started trying to figure out where the nearest “fountain” was… thinking of the big gargoyle-esque displays instead of the drinking spouts.
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