Two nations divided by a common language.

[DickyP]

As a Brit who spent many years in the USA I was, and still am, amused by the problems of not quite understanding each other.

Two minor examples of my own experience were:

- the wife of an American friend of mine on her first time in UK looking totally blank when begin asked if she had a biro. (A ball-point pen)

_ a lady at a wedding party telling a risqué joke thinking she'd overstepped the bound of politeness when she used the word boner and got complete silence. It was fun to explain to her that nobody knew what she meant.

Any other 'interesting' experiences?

 

[Isaac]

That's funny. My 2 cents so far is simply to observe that Americans seem to enjoy sort of picking up some of these phrases and beginning to use them.

For example, I've noticed Americans who've spent some time travelling (or just 'travelling the internet, as I am myself doing on AWF), and beginning to use words like SUSS or SORT for fixing/solving something, BUGGER (for something I can't type, and also by the way, should I have not typed even that? I'm unsure), etc.

Not that we aspire to be British, but for some reason, in America, if an advertisement on TV has someone talking in a British accent, we assume it is a very sophisticated product and it sells well. For example, there is a common infomercial about a cleaning bottle solution done by Brit accented folks entirely, and aired in the USA - and this is quite common for some strange reason, as if well, if they are using that fancy accent, it MUST be true!

 

[ColinEssex]

Any other 'interesting' experiences?

When I lived in Australia, I was amazed that Australians call sellotape - Durex. So when a female asked me if I had any durex, my reply was 'ribbed or flavoured', that confused them.
Col

 

[DickyP]

My 2 cents ...

A lovely example! In English English we'd say twopenn'orth.

 

[ColinEssex]

I like the way Americans use the word 'fanny'. Say no more or I'll get banned (again)

Col

 

[NauticalGent]

 

[The_Doc_Man]

I like the way Americans use the word 'fanny'. Say no more or I'll get banned (again)

Col

Absolutely not going to be banned for that, Col. Although you should be aware that "Fanny" (capitalized) is actually a woman's name, commonly used in the late 19th and early 20th century, diminishing in popularity since then. It is a nickname for the woman's names "Frances" and "Estefania" (from France and Spain). But... (notice what I did there) it also can be used without capitalization to have a more risque meaning.

It was also the name of a movie and the theme song is actually reasonably pretty. The movie "Fanny" starred Leslie Caron and Maurice Chevalier.

 

[Galaxiom]

When I lived in Australia, I was amazed that Australians call sellotape - Durex. So when a female asked me if I had any durex, my reply was 'ribbed or flavoured', that confused them.
Col

I've never heard anyone call it "Durex" in Australia. Where I have lived it has always been "sticky tape".

 

[Cotswold]

Maybe 40 or so years ago, I was told of a Brit living in California who applied for the word BOLLOCKS for his car number plate.
The authorities over there who hadn't a clue of the meaning, allowed it.

 

[ColinEssex]

Absolutely not going to be banned for that, Col. Although you should be aware that "Fanny" (capitalized) is actually a woman's name

Yes I know. We had a celebrity TV cook on TV years ago called Fanny Craddock. Also, my friend at school had an Aunt Fanny.
Also, a while back, we had two teenage American (female) students staying with us. They referred to a 'Fanny pack' - initially we thought it was a reference to some kind of sanitary towel.
Col

 

[ColinEssex]

I've never heard anyone call it "Durex" in Australia. Where I have lived it has always been "sticky tape".

We lived and worked in an hospital in Sydney in the 70's. I think the name has fallen into disuse since then. It was funny at the time though.
Col

 

[Jon]

I said to an American friend: "I saw a pigeon pecking at a fag (cigarette) butt."

She said: "What? A pigeon was pecking at a homosexuals ass?"

 

[NauticalGent]

I like the way Americans use the word 'fanny'. Say no more or I'll get banned (again)

Col

This one is long, but please indulge me...

I was in Portsmouth, England drinking Strong Bow at one of their pubs. I was with some fellow sailors and the mood was good. I was in a conversation with one of the locals who mentioned some American celebrity to who I referred to as a '******' - not the term I used and even though this IS The Watercooler, I will try to keep the vulgarity to a dull roar...

The conversion went something like this:

Him: "What do you mean by '******'?"
Me: "A sissy, a feminine man..."
Him: "That makes no sense, why would you try to insult a man by calling him something that every man wants...?"
Me: "Hmmm...never thought of it that way. What to y'all use to imply that then?"
Him: "I'd call him a 'fanny'. Means the same thing..."
Me: "I see. I think if I were to use the word fanny as an insult, I would become the joke!"

About that time, a friend of mine walked up, a fellow Chief Petty Officer, black and VERY masculine. My new-found drinking buddy motioned towards him and said "Take his man for instance, one look at him and I can tell he is an enormous '******'!"

Things got a little complicated after that...

 

[DickyP]

After starting this thread priding myself on my knowledge of American English, today I realised that pride goes before a fall!

Can a US member let me know what a 'wife-beater' is as clothing, and what is a 'shotgun kitchen'?

 

[DickyP]

Not to mention Sweet Fanny Adams which in UK means nothing - often shortened to Sweet FA with the F meaning something completely deferent (four letter word) and the A means all.

And a fanny is a large cooking pot as well.

 

[NauticalGent]

Wife beater is a tank top. I believe the term came from the movie Raging Bull. Robert DeNiro played Jake LaMotta who was known to wear tank tops and heavy handed with his wife.

Shotgun kitchen is a gally kitchen. Basically a hallway with kitchen appliances on either side. Not sure where the term come from.

 

[DickyP]

Just got back from a week in München when had a lovely example of how things differ.

We were on a visit to the Schloss Nymphenburg (Nymphenburg Palace), where on the ground floor of one of the wings was a sign (in both German and English as most were) for the Porcelain collection.

Two very confused American ladies asked us if we'd seen where the collection was as they'd been looking for it. I pointed to the sign which said 'Porcelain Collection - First Floor'. "Yes" one of them said "but we've gone over the whole first floor and can't find it!".

Says me: "I've just come down from it and can assure it's there.".

"What do you mean come down from it" says she.

I then explained that most of the world outside north America, refers to the 'ground floor', and what Americans call the second floor is the first floor. The only place this often isn't the case in the UK is in hotel lifts (elevators) where since most of them are manufactured in the USA by Otis they are supplied numbered the US way. To avoid problems the entrance floor is normally carefully referred to as the Lobby.

Brits of course have exactly the opposite problem in the USA.

 

[ColinEssex]

And lifts in the UK don't have a floor 13.
Col

 

[DickyP]

And lifts in the UK don't have a floor 13.
Col

Normally!

 

[Pat Hartman]

And lifts in the UK don't have a floor 13.

Highrises in the US often omit floor 13 or leave it for service equipment and only the service elevator stops there.

I had a funny situation with an elevator in Spain. My husband, daughter and I checked into a hotel on the Costa del Sol. The elevators were tiny so he took our bags and pointed to the second elevator and we got on the first. He pushed 5 for our floor and we were off. The elevator stopped but the door didn't open. So we pushed 6. It went up but the door didn't open so we pushed 3. It went down but the door didn't open. We're getting a little nervous. We pushed 5 again and this time my daughter pushed on the door which opened so we rolled out of the elevator laughing hysterically. Of course porter had beaten us there and couldn't figure out where we were. My Spanish wasn't good enough to explain the problem so we just gave him a nice tip.