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A fag is a cigarette in the UK >.<
Someone I know said they were talking to an American friend of theirs online, and said they'd BRB as they were just going to smoke a fag. And the American genuinely thought they meant they were going to go shoot a gay person, which amused me no end. I enjoy the language difference, it's entertaining. I was in the States recently and there was a big discussion over breakfast one morning about what Americans call biscuits but Brits know are scones, because biscuits are what Americans call cookies :XD The joy of American and English, is that it's two completely different cultures, but because we both speak versions of the same language, we get a good stab at explaining them to each other :yes: |
English is a strange language on it's own (any kind), but British humor is great. That's all I have to say about that.
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In high school I once had to do a book report. And I had bought this book, the title of which I completely forget now, from some bargain store. I knew it was an English book because beneath the sticker price the cover price was only in pounds. Without really skimming through it I decided to do my report on it. And I put it off for a long time. But it was a thin book, not a heavy read at all.
Then when I did start it... I was so completely lost. It was chocked full of British slang that I couldn't make heads or tails of. I was stubbornly determined to read it though, but I just couldn't get past the first chapter and my report was due the next day. But all ended well for me because I told my teacher my printer had broken down and I couldn't print it and if maybe I could do an oral report. He accepted and I fabricated an entire book on the spot. ;) ... That was good day. |
What book was it? Jeeves and Wooster or something? >.<
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I guess it's more confusing for natives - English is my second language so I know "English English" and "American English" and the differences. I try to not mix one with the other, but sometimes it's hard. The lift/elevator thing and daily stuff like that sometimes gets me into trouble, aka has people staring at me wondering what the hell I'm saying. XD
Most Americans/Brits I talk to usually understand what I'm talking about though. Like, if I said I was going to smoke a fag (I don't smoke but you get the idea) they would not, indeed, think that I was out to go beat up a gay guy. I guess for Americans who haven't spoken much to Brits or Brits who haven't spoken to Americans much it can be a trouble, but really it's easy to get used to the differences I think. |
Oh oh that reminds me UK calls trunk=Boot right? I recall that due to I replied to a topic similar to this on Gaia once. I know a few other word conversation cause Harry Potter is educational in that department, lol, no offense that is where I got to see some of the different ways to say an object. About the only thing that gets me sometimes is knowing a few words where they spell the same word/same pronouncation by just one letter's difference is the difference, most common example: color=colour.
Then you have within the United States English, there are at least what three ways to ask for a fizzy drink(I would have just said pop but that's one of the ways to say the item in question), and that's just one I knew off the top of my head. |
I've always wanted to hear some of the differences between English english and American English.
:) I also think its funny how the English don't think they have accents but everyone in America does. It's just funny. |
I always wanted to know if an English person finds an American accent as sexy.
There are so many American people that find it SO attractive, so I'd like to know if the same is true for them.... but maybe they'd just find us annoying. D: Uggh, I HATE the whole battle of superiority between Americans and Europe. I have a friend that *OBSESSES* over Europe to the point where it makes me want to sport a Winchester. Apparently it's because Europe is so much more "sophisticated and isn't a cultural wasteland". Frankly, it pisses me off. If SOME people would take their head out of their ass, they'd see that America has a beautiful and diverse culture of it's own. Though the one thing that bothers me about America is... I don't know how to describe it, exactly. There isn't much cultural unity. Not i nthe sense that none of get along, but in the sense of "I'm German, you're German, and we're all a part of the same group" kind of unity. After your family is here for a long time, you lose little bits of that distinct culture until your just part of a huge, anonymous mass of people that have nothing in common. |
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Rumpy pumpy? XD I'm going to have to remember that one.
I think most americans know what shagging means. Thank Austin Powers for that one, I suppose? XD And yeah, I knew queer also meant odd. When I was a kid I had a book that was called something like "Something Queer Is Going On" or something to that effect. |
Americans are quite queer =0
In both ways, in my case. I actually prefer (original) English. American English, though, isn't horrible if people speak it properly--the problem is most Americans either speak bad English or no English. Not many countries actually speak American English. Most countries who learn English learn English-English. Our German teacher at my high school told us about when she went to Germany to teach English for a year, and when she got there, she found out she was supposed to teach them British English and had to learn it before she could teach it X3 UK English has funny slang terms :3 |
I don't even know what "twonk" and "berk" mean! xD
And I use the word queer for both "odd" and "homosexual". LOL...rumpy pumpy.. : D Yay for Australian English? xDD Also, I just read something that made me wonder.. do Americans and English people use the word "fridge" for "refrigerator"? You do.. right? o_o; And bathers.. does anyone use that term?? xD I don't mind colloquials, but I find how people pronounce words amusing... eg. foyer, graph, scone |
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OH I KNOW! Maine seems to speak a completly different lanugage! xD I've noticed that different areas of this united states have their own words. |
Queer has always been used for odd for me, I don't really use much of my English dialect that I used to when I was younger, mostly because no one knows half of what I'm talking about. Except when I use the word "wanker", apparently it means the same everywhere? The biggest confusion I've ever had was when I first came to the states and apparently startled my newest friends of "Uhgh, I reek of fags." I was referring to cigarettes but of course everyone else was just, :O!!! Also, twat is used as a sexual term? I called one of my friends a twat for being overly annoying one day and all I got from that was an uncontrolable perverted snicker.
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Sometimes language differences can be hilarious...
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Thanks for that, I am now gonna go around calling people "twonks" xD |
Words.
Queer means odd in America as well. That's always been it's original meaning everywhere. It's just that somewhere along the line, someone changed it's meaning to mean gay. I'm guessing that someone thought gay people were odd, and called them queer, and now when people hear the word queer they think gay, but if used in the right context it means odd. Just like gay is supposed to mean happy, but it almost never means that anymore, and I can't figure out how that one came about to be honest.
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Hehe I love engrish.com XDD And yeah there are some weird words out there that have the same meaning, but different. Queer also means gay in American English. I think to Americans, the English use pretty strong words to express certain things. The examples you posted were pretty... strong to me lol.
Edit: I remember when I was visiting my family's apartments, someone from the UK came in looking for one and called it a "flat". It took us a while to understand that he was looking for an apartment, not having a flat tire XD |
well when I lived over there my mum and dad got caught out.
They were quiting smoking as my mum was expecting my little sister and joked out loud (and my mum is quite loud) in the video store. "I saw you with that fag in the cupboard" lots of people stopped and stared and my mum was a little embarrassed as they thought she was having an argument about catching my dad with a bloke lol!!! |
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I think if anyone tried to insult me with these I would laugh in their face. XD I have a few friends online who are british and I watch a few british shows, so I am slowly getting used to some terms... xD Like pants for undies. Always amuses me. I can't really speak much for differences in dialect, slang and such... But I know my mom gets onto me all the time for saying 'fer' instead of 'for.' I always tell her its my ONE southern thing, let me be. XD I wish my southern accent were stronger but where I live has a lot of yankees. (BTW by southern I mean the 'deep' south of the US. I am a 7th Generation Floridian. ;'d Half redneck, half southern belle. ) (Its not uncommon for my mom and I to have hour long conversations with the central topic being all sorts of anti-yankee goodness. XD;; *cough* we're very proud southerners, even if Florida often isn't viewed as very southern. D: ) |
Haha, this is awesome. I've seen some looks from foreigners when they've heard some of our American expressions, like "It's cool." Oh gosh, that was funny to watch, because they thought we were saying that it was cold out and it was about 90 degrees outside.
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lol thats kool! XD
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Bloody hell, you blithering idiots, this quaint little thread is awfully queer but none the less a bobby-dazzler, pip pip!
-Leers at you all with her rotting teeth and jellied eels.- Twonk, back when you couldn't say twat 'cause it was RUDE. -Snickers childishly.- I don't know about twat as mild though, you wouldn't call a child a twat. (Well, it depends what regions you hail from and how 'rough' one is.) As for tit, anyone and their dog can make a tit of themselves. Sozzled, why is it NO ONE knows sozzled for drunk? Or numpty, sod and chav. CHAV, cultural divides really shine. Chav, ned, ged, rat, scally etc etc. As for Brits not believing they have an accent that is RUBBISH. Any one of you go to Yorkshire and ask them about their accent and they'll prattle on for a week about how proud of it they are. I’m a South Western girl, so same for Bristolians, they couldn’t be MORE proud of there accent that vaguely resembles Icelandic when drunk. Knickers. KNICKERS PEOPLE. Knickers, knickers, KNICKERS. And Trousers. I know forums that BAN the word trousers for it is deemed 'offensive'. So, my jeans, right now are offensive? FOR SHAME. Arse. That flummoxes a fair few and yet seems so simple. Sarnies as well, those are sandwiches, we promise. CRUDE ADJECTIVES. Like bastarding, bollocking and, ahem, some others. I'm pretty sure it's only Royal Britain of the Rain and Wet that uses them to high effect. Thanks to Monty Python, mainly. Don't even get me STARTED on colloquial phrases. -Cackles.- I must say, I am proud of the language I have butchered since I was knee high to a grasshopper. Use it more wee American's and we shall stealeth yours and crowbar it into ours like the language stealing gits we are! |
Haha, to me American/Canadian English seems more appropriate. I guess I'm seeing the flip side as calling underwear "knickers" and pants "trousers" seems REALLY silly. In my mind it seems kind of like a 5 year old made up a bunch of words and they became insults over there. No offence.
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Honestly I like British English better then American English. American language is just plain confusing, I moved from Maryland to Virginia and when I told my friend I was going to shank them they asked me that killing them wouldn't work. XD I was confused until they told me that to shank means to stab someone (to me its pulling down their pants) and that pantsing was to to pull down someones pants.
So, American English is confusing beyond belief. I much prefer Brit. English better, hence me using it when I talk and write. I tend to call people Prats and Gits all the time. And apparently the word 'about' ,when used a curtain way, is British? ("it was about that time of day" instead of "It was around that time of day" ) |
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