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<p>It goes in both directions. There are words on both sides of the Atlantic that carry a negative connotation on one side but not on the other. For example “bloody” appears to be a negative curse word in Britain but not so in the US, where it usually just means stained with blood. And going the other way “scheme” in Britain means simply a plan. In the US it also means plan but with negative connotations, as in a deceptive, illegal, or hare-brained plan.</p>
<p>“Nervy” is another.</p>
<p>A striking example occurred in this last episode when Matthew said something about a “steep learning curve.” That really jarred on my ears as way out of place.>>>>>>></p>
<p>Oh, me too! I said to myself “oops!”</p>
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<p>I remember when a British relative was visiting during the Austin Powers era. She was a fairly young, hip woman, but she was appalled by all of the billboards around town advertising the Austin Powers movie that prominently featured the word “Shag.” To us, it sounds like a cute, vaguely naughty word, but she claimed it that it was the equivalent of seeing the F-word in 20-foot letters.</p>
<p>Re: the script anachronisms: They drive me crazy, too! I don’t see why they can’t fix them. With Google books, it is easy enough to figure out whether expressions were in common currency or not. Why don’t they just get a couple of interns to check the scripts?</p>
<p>What I really hate are period dramas where the actors/ actresses have obvious plastic surgery totally inappropriate to the time period.</p>
<p>Re “suck up” and similar phrases:</p>
<p>I remember when I was first out of law school and, as a female corporate litigator who looked much younger than my age, was in a meeting with a roomful of intimidating men all of whom were at least twice my age. One of the men used a familiar idiom with a similar (but more obscure) meaning to the “suck” phrases, and although I was familiar with the phrase, the derivation didn’t occur to little naive me. So in the middle of this meeting, I piped up innocently: “Have you ever wondered what the derivation of that phrase is? It’s a phrase you hear all the time, but I wonder where it comes from?” The entire room went dead silent and stared at me. My response: “Never mind.”</p>
<p>So maybe Lavinia had been hanging with some British schoolboys and didn’t know what she was saying!</p>
<p>Somewhere in my obsessive reading about Downton I read that Julian Fellowes isn’t too terribly worried about every tiny detail being period correct. He wants the general trend of things to be true to the time, but not so concerned with letter-perfect.</p>
<p>^^But from what I’ve read of the actual filming when it comes to the look, fashions, table settings, etc.they do want every tiny detail being period correct. Which is why the casual sloppiness with the spoken lines is so surprising and jarring.</p>
<p>There is an old story involving Sir Vivian Fuchs. He led the first overland crossing of Antarctica. He pronounces the last name as Fooks. So the story is that he was in New Zealand to give a lecture. His introducer repeatedly welcomed Vivian while pronouncing his last name with a short u, in the way I can’t spell here. After the lecture, Vivian thanked his introducer and said, by the way, my name is pronounced Fooks. The man looked horrified and said, I could never say that.</p>
<p>‘To suck up’ to somebody is a very childish expression here in the UK. It has none of the sexual connotation it does on your side of the Atlantic. Lavinia’s usage of it reinforced her character as immature and unworldly. The expression didn’t jar at all to English ears. Now ‘learning curve,’ that’s one thing else entirely! Just wrong for the period!.</p>
<p>nottelling, would that be “brown nose”? :D</p>
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<p>Interestingly, in recent years I’ve seen it used in British novels set in Scotland/the North to refer to what we would call a public housing development.</p>
<p>The Sex Pistols song Anarchy in the UK has the line:</p>
<p>“The future’s gleaming / It’s a shopping scheme”*</p>
<p>Means it’s a mall but that don’t rhyme.</p>
<p>*The lyrics you can look up for the SP’s are not very accurate. My versions were compiled by a completely insane compsci major with a drinking problem who listened to them day after day through headphones to pick up every nuance. I have a printout. This person is not me.</p>
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<p>Yes, in those cases scheme is being used as a synonym for “project” rather than plan. In Britain you see it used as such in both the housing and non-housing related senses of “project.”</p>
<p>Any recommendations for books that accurately depict the lives of servants at the time of Downton Abbey? I love the series, but can’t believe life as a servant was that good.</p>
<p>^^I don’t know about a book, but BBC has made this documentary series about the life of servants:</p>
<p>[BBC</a> News - Servants: A life below stairs](<a href=“http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19544309]BBC”>Servants: A life below stairs - BBC News)</p>
<p>I saw it advertised on BBC when I was in Europe earlier this year. It hasn’t made its way to US television yet, but I expect it will show up on PBS sooner of later.</p>
<p>Jeremy Musson, The History of the Country House Servant. About $10 on Amazon. The figures I quoted in an earlier post came from that. </p>
<p>There aren’t that many books about servants. There are a few books by servants, but the good ones are from an earlier time. A short bunch of servants’ stories is Not in Front of the Servants: A True Portrait of English Upstairs/Downstairs Life by Frank Dawes.</p>
<p>Just bought “Below Stairs: The Classic Kitchen Maid’s Memoir That Inspired Upstairs, Downstairs and Downton Abbey” by Margaret Powell. It’s on Amazon (as well as several similar books). I think the Kindle price was about $10. It got good reviews, and there’s an endorsement from Julian Fellowes.</p>
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<p>This drives me crazy too! Actually, I find all obvious plastic surgery distasteful.</p>
<p>I am just catching up and watched Sunday’s episode. It may be my favorite Downton Abbey episode ever! I loved every scene. It was interesting and, in my opinion, the writing was much more uniformly good than in most episodes. Maggie Smith wasn’t the sole recipient of interesting/funny/poignant lines this week. The upstairs/downstairs discussions about religion over dinner were very good. </p>
<p>p.s. It’s not Colin Firth who plays the editor. Sadly. :)</p>
<p>I saw the book operadivasmom mentioned at Costco last week!</p>
<p>Thanks for the book ideas…hope that series comes to the US as well.r</p>