Saturday, April 23, 2011

British vs American English (Part 1)

Most of you know that I served my mission in the great two countries of England and Wales (mostly England for my mission). My first month or so there I could barely understand what people were saying. Not only was the accent strong, but the vocabulary used over there is a lot different than ours. Sure they call it English that they speak, but so do we here in America. Thus we have the terms "British" and "American" English. By the end of my mission I had (and still am) convinced that they are two different languages. From that, I have decided that I am bilingual since I can comfortably understand both. I was thinking about it for the last little bit, and thought I would share some of the words and phrases from "across the pond" that you might find interesting. To all my friends from England or that served over there with me, feel free to comment and add some more if you like (or correct me if I mistranslated). I put "Part 1" on the title, because there are so many here, that I won't do them all in one post. I'll do another in a while. Also, these are just the translations as I understand them. I'm sure in different parts of the country they may have other meanings.

*In No Particular Order*

DODGE - "Not to be trusted". This is probably my favorite I picked up there. We'd usually say it if there was "dodgy doctrine" which would mean it was deep. Also we'd say things were "dodgy" if someone was immodest or say/do something....unclean.
FAG - Nope, it's not an insult. This actually is what they call a cigarette. So if you called someone a fag there, I'm not sure how offended they'd be.
TA/CHEERS - Either of those means "Thank You".
TAKING THE PISS/MICK - Generally this would mean that you are making fun or teasing someone. It's usually asked as a question, "Are you taking the mick?"
BISCUIT - This actually refers to what we call a cookie. This is also used to refer to crackers.
TARA/TERRAH/TADA - I heard all sorts of variations on this one while I was in England. It was often followed by "butt" or "love". This expression means "goodbye".
BUTT/LOVE/CHICK/CHICKEN - These are actually used as terms of endearment, mostly meaning "friend". I heard this a lot when people were thanking me. "Cheers butt!"
BANGERS AND MASH - This is a dish which is mashed potatoes with sausages and a type of sauce on top.
ZED/HATCH - These are the pronunciations of the letters Z and H in the alphabet. Zed sounds just as it looks, and Hatch is like how we Americans pronounce H, but with an H sound in front of it.
SNOG - Most of you have probably heard this used in Harry Potter. It means "making out" or "serious kissing".
FORKING - If you ever meet someone from Europe, and they hold out their hand in a backwards peace sign towards you (palm facing towards them, pointer and middle finger up) it's not a good thing. This is the equivalent to someone in America giving you the middle finger and it's offensive and rude. Sometimes it's called the "Two Finger Salute".
GUTTED - This means you are really upset or disappointed about something. For example you would be 'gutted' if your football team lost a match.
CHEEKY - This would be the same as calling someone flippant. In America we might say "are you being smart with me?", in Britain it would be "you cheeky little monkey!"
YORKSHIRE PUDDING - Pretty much the best thing to eat. It's not a pudding like jello or anything like that. It's a biscuit type food that's in a cup shape. You can just put butter or honey on it to eat, but the usual (and my favorite) way to eat it is with a roast and you fill it full of gravy. YUM!
PUDDING - This word just means dessert. "After dinner we'll have pudding."

Well that's enough for today. There are a LOT more that I left out, but these were some of my favorites. There will definitely be a Part 2, and possibly a Part 3. We shall see!

2 comments:

  1. They probably are two different languages. I'm amazed at the variety of words and pronunciation even within the U.S.

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  2. One of my favorites are the British replacements for "going to the restroom/bathroom". Americans are so concerned with this sounding nice (except mommies saying "go potty" - I HATE that phrase!)that it ends up not even making sense - are you going to rest? Are you going to bathe? Nope, neither.

    I'm pretty sure there are more than just these, but my favorites are:
    -going to the loo
    -to spend a penny
    -to use the toilet

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