User blog:SmudgyHollz/American and British - Two Very Different Languages...

It came to my attention last night on the IRC that quite a few words that I have grown up with mean something completely different elsewhere. The people that I was talking to (you know who you are!) will sure know what I'm going on about! Birchy, you're English, I'm sure you'll get a few giggles out of this post! And I think everybody else will too, once I've explained!

Let's get to it! I'm laughing already!

The Americans and the Brits all speak English right? So you'd think that it would be pretty easy going to either country and be able to understand each other? Well, believe it or not, there are enough differences to cause a lot of misunderstandings and embarrassments! Here, I'm just going to point out the ones that I find the most amusing - but you can find more on The Americans Guide to Speaking British (this site is amazing)!

1. What/Where is Britain? This isn't really a word with two meanings - it's a word with (apparently) multiple meaning. I've come across a lot of strange one's for this, but let's get the meaning straight; Britain is Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales. There doesn't seem to be too many misunderstandings with the Ireland and Wales part (but then again, I've never been to Ireland or Wales; how would I know?) but I know that some people are under the impression that Scotland is part of England. An even stranger one is that Scotland is an Irish island that you have to sail across to...

Right now that we all now where we are, let's get onto clothing!

2. Pants! Over where most people here are, pants are jeans, right? Well, I'm sorry to say that over here, they're not. Pants - as I know them - are underwear...

3. Trousers! Trousers are what we call your version of pants! Confused?

4. Jerseys and jumpers! Both names for sweaters!

5. Cozzy! A swimming costume/bathing suit!

6. Anorak! An anorak is basically a padded raincoat that come in lot's of different colours. But beware; you don't want to be called an anorak - that's meant as an insult!

7. Wellies! I had a particularly interesting conversation about these last night! Apparently you call them galoshes - or some of you do anyway...

8. Suspenders... I had to point this one out because it is particularly funny! Apparently you call these garter belts. On the site that I told you about a male American friend told the writer that he was going to wear pants with his suspenders to a party! Ha ha!

Enough with the clothing, let's move on to slang!

9. Ace! Ace means amazing!

10. Anti-Clockwise! No, we don't have something against clocks over here! We're talking... counter-clockwise?

11. Bang... It may mean a fringe over with you guys. It certainly doesn't over here!

12. Pussy! Don't worry! We're talking about our cats!

13. Zonked I love that word! It means exhausted!

Let's check out some people!

14. Tart Basically, a tart is a slut. Not a kind of pudding.

15. Thick! You don't want to be called thick. It means you're being described as stupid.

16. Poof If you say that somebody's hair is poof over here, what you're actually saying is that their hair is homosexual.

17. Mum! Mom

18. Hooter This is your nose. Not to be confused with another body part!

19. Vet! No, not a beggar. A vet looks after our pets!

Moving onto food!

20. Aubergine! What? You don't have aubergines over there? Nah, they're eggplants to you!

21. Brown Sauce! You know? HP? It's what's put on cooked breakfast!

22. Buns Yeah, we're talking about the things that you eat. Fruit buns, sandwich buns etc.

23. Courgette I believe you call them zucchini?

24. Faggots! Meatballs! Yummy with gravy!

25. Chips! Not crisps, as you call them. And not french fries because they're skinny. How about fat french fries?

Last of all, let's get onto the miscellaneous!

26. Fags! No, not feminine guys! Fags are cigarettes round these parts!

27. Bathroom! The room where the toilet is kept! No not a washroom or a restroom!

28. Torches! Again, there's a funny story on that site! The author told her friends that we bring torches with us when camping to see in the dark! Her friends couldn't believe we'd do something so dangerous! Dangerous? We're talking about flashlights, not burning sticks!

29. Sledges! Basically, they're crappier toboggans! I believe you call them sleds?

30. Handbags! You call them purses! Why? To confuse us! We call purses the little wallets that you put inside a handbag to contain money

Again; why am I so obsessed with making things too long? No idea! Before I go, want to know how to be more Scottish?

Develop an unreasoning nostalgia for wild landscapes, heather, thistles, and cold, rainy weather. Then start learning Scots Gaelic - but don't try using it on us Scots because we won't understand you!

Cheerio!