<p>One very startling thing a British colleague said to me as we parted one night before a conference was:</p>
<p>“I’ll be 'round tomorrow at 7 to knock you up.”</p>
<p>I believe my response was “pardon?”</p>
<p>Another. The term that denotes urinary function and begins with a “p” and means “angry” in the US is the same term that means “drunk” in the UK.</p>
<p>Also in the UK -</p>
<p>crisps = potato chips</p>
<p>petrol = gasoline</p>
<p>cello tape = scotch tape</p>
<p>Where I grew up in So Cal, submarine sandwiches were “grinders”
all soft drinks were “cokes”
In & Out burgers were high cuisine!
hangbags were “purses”</p>
<p>My parents (Irish immigrants) called bangs “fringe”
Oatmeal was “porridge”
bacon was “rashers”
my dad always called a paper napkin a “serviette”
aluminum was “aluminium”
any time my mom didn’t know where some requested item was, she replied, “It’s in Nellie’s room, behind the wallpaper.”
If any of us girls got a little uppity, she referred to us as “Lady Jane”
If someone was in the hospital they were “In hospital”
whenever my dad went to the restroom, he went to “see a man about a dog.”
A lively party is “good craic” (pronouned crack")</p>
<p>Not exactly a noun/verb, but here NY I loathe and detest the practice of sticking an “h” where it has no business being. For example “shtreet” and “shtrong.” Sean Hannity is mega-guilty of that and it goes through my head like a knife.</p>
<p>When my mother was a young girl the saying for a woman’s “special time of the month” was—“The flag is on the pump handle”</p>
<p>Oh…I got one…</p>
<p>Can anyone explain the use of “trolley” as a grocery cart? I think it’s British, but not exactly sure. Where if anywhere is it used in the US?</p>
<p>Somemore UK-US translations “across the pond”</p>
<p>jumper=sweater</p>
<p>trainers=running shoes/sneakers</p>
<p>supper=tea (at least it is typically more than a hot cuppa in the pm)</p>
<p>umbrella=brolly or bumbershoot</p>
<p>crawdad (yum)
plumb out
slap full
cooter
boondocks/boonies
hissy fit
high falutin
Butter Beans (yum)
grits (yuck)
catawampus/catty corner
backer (tobacco)
bless his/her heart
critter
Jawjah (Georgia)
hankerin’ for (or fer)
like to (I like to jumped outta my skin)
pooch out
reckon
shore do (sure do)
darn tootin’
frog giggin’ </p>
<p>I’ve used all of these. :D</p>
<p>electric torch (or just torch)=flashlight in britain i believe</p>
<p>sjmom - laughing at your uppity “Lady Jane”. Here in Texas, if we acted a little too haughty, we were “Miss Priss”.</p>
<p>And explaining why a Texas accent is not just Southern takes some effort. There so many dialects/accents in this big state. I remember leaving the Rio Grande Valley to go to college in East Texas. At orientation, the freshmen were told to meet at the ‘Far Tar’. I couldn’t not understand WHAT they were talking about. Later I found out it was the FIRE TOWER. </p>
<p>But then I suppose I caused a little confusion myself…the little Anglo girl speaking Spanish-inflected English. :-)</p>
<p>Also, here in the south-east, that liscence plate you must have on the back of your car we call a CAR TAG.</p>
<p>I’ve never understood why New Yorkers stand on line instead of in them. Or why British English puts you in hospital instead of in THE hospital.</p>
<p>I loved that my Australian friends called pacifiers dummies. I knew about nappies for diapers, but that one surprised me.</p>
<p>mathmom, I’m from NY and say on line and in line pretty interchangeably. I don’t have a clue why! The thread about overnight boyfriends and girlfriends reminded me that I have a friend, also from NY, who says “he/she is prude”, rather than " he/she is prudish." She’s the only one I ever heard say it this way -anyone ever heard that usage before?!</p>
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<p>“Lady Jane” is also British slang for a woman’s private parts –> Lord Peter and Lady Jane.</p>
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<p>Also called plimsoles</p>
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<p>Hmm…that sounds more like a lisp than a regional dialect.</p>
<p>"They say, “This car needs washed” instead of “This car needs TO BE washed” or “This car needs washing.” "</p>
<p>It’s basically a direct translation from the German. I’ve heard it too. I had a friend whose Yiddish speaking grandmother said the same sort of thing. “This light needs out.”</p>
<p>“Don’t get your underwear in a bundle” = “knickers in a twist”</p>
<p>Here’s another one – this drives me crazy. In Massachusetts the grocery cart is a “carriage.” I don’t know why that bugs me so much, but it does!</p>
<p>My mom also called pacifiers “dummies” and strollers were “prams.”</p>
<p>“rice pudding = God knows what (As in, “You call that sickly sweet mess PUUDDING???”)”</p>
<p>In British English all desserts are pudding.</p>
<p>Growing up in New Jersery I went to the 'shore." I didn’t know everywhere else in the country they went to the “beach.”</p>