UBB.Developers Forums General Discussion Chit Chat English / American

George Bernard Shaw once said that the US and the UK were "two countries divided by a common language".

So I thought I would start a list of words that mean something completely different the other side of the pond

US: Jumper - UK: Pinafore
US: Sweater - UK: Jumper
US: Rubber - UK: Condom
US: Eraser - UK: Rubber
US: Chips - UK: Crisps
US: French Fries - UK: Chips
US: Sidewalk - UK: Pavement
US: Trunk - UK: Boot
US: Pants - UK - Trousers
US: Trash - UK - Rubbish

Any more?

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A true story...

A friend of mine, after having intercourse for the first time with his British girl friend, was pretty upset. When they were finished he asked her if it was good for her, and she said that it was so good she needed a fag.

For those of you who do not know: A fag in British slang is a cigarette...

haha.. man, I need to find my list. Before I went to europe last year they gave me a packet full or UK/US terms that are easily misunderstood, and how to not look like a fool when over there It had a good 30 or 40 words, it was pretty interesting.

LOL


Too funny.

US: Flashlight - UK: Torch
US: Drunk - UK: Pissed
US: Soccer - UK: Football
US: Football - UK: Gridiron
US: Pansies - UK: French
US: Apartment - UK: Flat
US: Bathroom - UK: Water Closet
US: Elevator - UK: Lift
US: Gas - UK: Petrol
US: Mail - UK: Post
US: Vacation - UK: Holiday
US: Horny - UK: Randy

And how about spelling differences?

US: Color - UK: Colour
US: Favorite - UK: Favourite
US: Honor - UK: Honour
US: Center - UK: Centre
US: Meter - UK: Metre
US: Theater - UK: Theatre
US: Check - UK: Cheque
US: Program - UK: Programme

As long as I can find the bathroom wherever I go.... I'm a happy camper.

US: Pansies - UK: French

Pansies are flowers, and the french live over the channel - so not totally sure, what you mean here

US: Bathroom - UK: Water Closet

We just call it the toilet - the bathroom contains a bath, whereas the toilet contains a toilet

"Toilet" got me ever where I needed to be in Italy too.

Although a good many unisex restrooms, and restrooms that charged were a bit surprising.

hehe.. I know american ,no english

"Pansies" is American slang for sissies, wussies, or cowards.

What's funny about Italy (and the Mediteranian in general) is the real lack of any standards. Countless times I've stood staring at a toilet trying to figure out how to flush the silly thing! Don't get me started on the light bulbs here...

Yeah, and turning on the sink was a challenge.

Don't get me started on attempting to turn on the TVs in all the various hotels we were in, usually required a "conference" from several of us to figure it out. And there was one hotel where none of us could turn on the TV with the remote. LOL

Josh, the remotes in that hotel are just a decorative convenience for the average American male who tends to feel alone without his remote control.

I don't suppose they had a keyboard, mouse, and monitor not working in there too?

I did use the keyboard at one place and hop on the net. But some of the keys were in different places Like the accents and apostrophe etc....

It was difficult to type.

[]JoshPet said:
I did use the keyboard at one place and hop on the net. But some of the keys were in different places Like the accents and apostrophe etc....

It was difficult to type. [/]

haha, so true!

I can type upwards of 125wpm so as soon as a key or two is off, I literally go insane! When I was in france the keyboards were not completely different, but enough of the important keys were changed that I had to almost chicken peck to type

he he

When I got home an re-read my "italy update" to everyone here, looks like the apostrophe was in wacky places.

I spent quite a bit trying to help a (sexy) woman in our group into hotmail. It kept coming up in Italian (imagine that) and I finally figured out to change the &lang=it in the URL to &lang=en and it worked. LOL

We only saw 2 net connected computers on our busy tour. The first one we saw, there was another lady on our tour who walked in, smiled at the computer, and said "I don't care if it costs $100/minute, I'm doin' email!"

You are talking about American/English. Here is a nice story for you all.

I was brought up in Greece and there everyone speaks American English (allow me this expression Ian ). I also had huge influences from the TV which almost always played American movies.

The keyboards in Greece are identical to the ones in the US, (for instance where the @ sign is etc.)

Coming to the UK for studies I was horrified to see that some of our tutors were deducting points because I was spelling behavior instead of behaviour. I had a fit there!

Every computer at work has UK settings apart from all the servers and mine (needless to say that nobody touches the servers this way)

A couple of years back I met my other half who is English. The amount of times we "fight" over chips and crisps and french fries is not measurable. At some point she started calling crisps chips and I started calling chips french fries....

Where is a banana when you need it

Nice one

I actually use a US keyboard, but with a UK setting - only one snag to that I have no backslash.

It is a nice cordless one that I puchased in Florida on a business trip - my client paid me to travel to his house in Florida, to set up VNC - a 5 minute job

When I got to his house his PC was riddled with viruses, he couldn't understand why he had 15,000+ emails in his outbox - had to reformat his PC - then discovered he had no software to re-install - ended up having to extend my stay to around 5 days

I think the viruses/VNC (which was freeware) cost him around £3,000 ($4,500) - a new PC would have been a lot cheaper for him.

I mean if a client says 'Will you fly half way around the world, all expenses paid - would you refuse?'

I've just gotta used to the French-Canadian keyboard, and now find it easier than US English. Partly because I no longer need to use ascii codes for accented words, but also because I can reach <> tags with only one hand now (rightalt-, and rightalt-. in this keyboard setting)