American vs English slang and terminology (gasp)

Redeye · Post by **Redeye** » Sun 9th Jul 2006 04:16 pm

Epsilon wrote:I attended a British Forces School in Westphalia in the late 60s-early 70s ...
3rd year through Upper Sixth ...one of the more notable differences ,and this may be dated - Johnny Bag = Rubber ,which equals eraser in American ...So if any of you Brits find yourself in an American classroom ,don't say "Get the Rubber and clean that Chalkboard" .

Its a blackboard anyway

DoctorJim · Post by **DoctorJim** » Sun 9th Jul 2006 04:17 pm

Boner wrote:The casualty ward isn't strictly true its normally the A & E dept you visit (accident & emergency)

Right. My Scottish friends refer to it slang as "the Casualty". A&E is the term I have heard in England.

One other I find amusing: Americans become Senior Citizens, in England you just become Old People or OAP's

711 · Post by **711** » Sun 9th Jul 2006 04:23 pm

Epsilon wrote:I attended a British Forces School in Westphalia in the late 60s-early 70s ...
3rd year through Upper Sixth ...one of the more notable differences ,and this may be dated - Johnny Bag = Rubber ,which equals eraser in American ...So if any of you Brits find yourself in an American classroom ,don't say "Get the Rubber and clean that Chalkboard" .

Too right, you! Don't walk a chalky rubber, might burn your bird's fanny!

(how did I do?)

Boner · Post by **Boner** » Sun 9th Jul 2006 05:06 pm

Redeye wrote:
Epsilon wrote:I attended a British Forces School in Westphalia in the late 60s-early 70s ...
3rd year through Upper Sixth ...one of the more notable differences ,and this may be dated - Johnny Bag = Rubber ,which equals eraser in American ...So if any of you Brits find yourself in an American classroom ,don't say "Get the Rubber and clean that Chalkboard" .
Its a blackboard anyway

Not anymore they aren't they are called chalkboards here as well now as blackboards is deemed to be racist (more like stupidity if you ask me) the same way you can't sing Baa Baa Black Sheep anymore either!

711 · Post by **711** » Sun 9th Jul 2006 05:24 pm

Boner wrote:
Redeye wrote:
Epsilon wrote:I attended a British Forces School in Westphalia in the late 60s-early 70s ...
3rd year through Upper Sixth ...one of the more notable differences ,and this may be dated - Johnny Bag = Rubber ,which equals eraser in American ...So if any of you Brits find yourself in an American classroom ,don't say "Get the Rubber and clean that Chalkboard" .
Its a blackboard anyway
Not anymore they aren't they are called chalkboards here as well now as blackboards is deemed to be racist (more like stupidity if you ask me) the same way you can't sing Baa Baa Black Sheep anymore either!

In all honesty, everyone I've ever met just calls them "boards". Like "Please step up to the board" or "the assignment is on the board".

Mark_d · Post by **Mark_d** » Sun 9th Jul 2006 06:06 pm

side walk = pavement

grocery store = shopping market

and theres more i cant think of right now

711 · Post by **711** » Sun 9th Jul 2006 06:38 pm

In America EVERYTHING is just a store. Especially if it's a supermarket. You're off to the store. Sometimes it's a something store, like a fish store, a pet store, a sporting goods store. But most times it's just a store. =P

I can't think of any "shops", except for workshops, like the body shop for your car, or simply the shop. The factory. =D

I'm just letting my fingers run loose. I don't know if any of this is teh same or different or not.

Rez · Post by **Rez** » Sun 9th Jul 2006 07:49 pm

... ok, i'm truely wasted in a major way so appoligies if this makes no sense...

When you go to the store, what do you do?... shopping ?.... we say we are going shopping and thus over time this term has been abbriviated from "going shopping" to "going down the shops"... funny how the abbriviation is longer than the origianal...

Just to add to the roads posts, Motorway = 3 sometimes 4 lanes
Dual carriage way = 2 lanes only. as far as I'm aware (dual = two) (?)

Money, we have coins and notes... you have coins and bills ??

"Americans Rent things, the English Hire them"... I own a property which has a tennant in it, I have "let out" my property.

I was a mechanic and we wore "overalls" which were the same as a boiler suit just a different name.

We call it the toilet, you call it the bathroom... our bathrooms have a bath in them

and are in our homes. you just don't get a bathroom in a bar, club, resaurant... or you say restroom. wow we are so different... yet so similar.

I somtimes find an "americanisation" slip out in coversation, it makes for a nice change, it does feel strange though when you say something out of the norm... time to go get a soda (

)

711 · Post by **711** » Sun 9th Jul 2006 08:00 pm

I like trying to fit certain aspects of British English (English English to all of you English) into my everyday speech. If anything, it helps fuel conversation.

And bathroom is starting to fade out, now commercials and ads and formal things always refer to them as restrooms.

And overalls are what farmers wear. If it's a one piece suit, it's a jumpsuit.

But are there parkways in England? Like a highway where you have to stop at a booth and throw in a few cents to get let on?

edit: come to think of, restroom is jsut as stupid of a name. We don't usually do much resting there. I say we all work to bring back lavatory.

Punkindrublic · Post by **Punkindrublic** » Sun 9th Jul 2006 08:08 pm

711 wrote: But are there parkways in England? Like a highway where you have to stop at a booth and throw in a few cents to get let on?

We don't have these because we have to pay road tax and put a disc to prove that we have in the windscreen of our cars, which if im correct you don't have to do in the states?

DC · Post by DC » Sun 9th Jul 2006 08:08 pm

The bog.

Rez · Post by **Rez** » Sun 9th Jul 2006 08:15 pm

... I just hate it when it takes me ages to write a reply and when I scoll down I see that two others ahve replied already....

That fucking weed

711 wrote:But are there parkways in England? Like a highway where you have to stop at a booth and throw in a few cents to get let on?

On our Motorways we have whats called a hard shoulder on the far left. This is for you to pull into should you break down and have an emergency.

On our A and some B roads we have a "layby" where you can pull in and park, get out and walk about.

We have Toll roads, well the only one I know of is the M6 Toll which is a new stretch of motorway that by-passes Birmingham city...

We don't have to pay for anything else.. apart from road tax which is essential to drive a car legally on the road, a small round printed disc displayed in the windsreen (or windshield for you

)

711 · Post by **711** » Sun 9th Jul 2006 08:29 pm

Ah, road tax. I didn't know about that. And I'm not sure what you mean about a disc on the windshield (here a windscreen iss the foam thing on a microphone to screen out the wind =P). We have our inspection tags, the little colored stickers in the back window that show that the car is in good working order, but I don't know if that's what you mean.

And Rez, I think you're a little too high to get what a parkway is. =P It has nothing to do with parking, at all. It's just irony that it's name is parkway. It's just a funny name for a toll road. =P

Mark_d · Post by **Mark_d** » Sun 9th Jul 2006 08:31 pm

windscreen is the big ol bit of glass in front of you when you drive! you gotta put a lil sticker disk on it to prove you have paid your road tax

Rez · Post by **Rez** » Sun 9th Jul 2006 08:35 pm

i got the meaning of the parkway being a toll, even at this stage in my iminant coma...

I pay £165 per year and have to display the tax disc inside my front winscreen (windshield) to prove I have paid. No disc = an £80 fine.

and for the stickers to prove the cars roadworthyness... we have an MOT (ministry of Transport) test and the car has to pass to obtain a small certificate.