# British, American different turns of phrase **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 22, 2010, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-american-different-turns-of-phrase/565070 "2010-12-22T13:58:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-american-different-turns-of-phrase/565070/121 "2010-12-25T13:42:52Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > As a Brit I find it spot on. The some construct can me seen in sentences like “lend me your book” instead of “lend your book to me”. I certainly recognize “lend me your book” as normal (and the same in the US), but not “lend it me”. It could be a regional/age/culture/time difference between you and me. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-american-different-turns-of-phrase/565070/122 "2010-12-25T16:01:54Z")
> [@amarone](#): > > I certainly recognize “lend me your book” as normal (and the same in the US), but not “lend it me”. It could be a regional/age/culture/time difference between you and me. Possibly “Lend it t’me”? I can see how in some accents that would sound like no “to”. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-american-different-turns-of-phrase/565070/123 "2010-12-25T16:06:56Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > Oh, here’s one between the UK and Canada: in the UK, “crossing the floor” means to vote differently from one’s party on a bill (because MPs literally vote by gathering on one side or another of the chamber); but in Canada, it means to quit one’s party and join another caucus. (What the British call ‘crossing the floor’ we would call ‘defying the whip,’ assuming it was a whipped vote.) We use “defying the whip” or variants in the same way you do. Quitting a party and joining another doesn’t happen all that often here, so I don’t think there is an established phrase for it. > [@](#): > > Britons, do they say ‘drop the writ’ for ‘ask the Queen (or in our case, the GG) to dissolve Parliament’ (“the Prime Minister dropped the writ today”) over there? Nope, we just use variants on the dissolution of Parliament. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-american-different-turns-of-phrase/565070/124 "2010-12-25T16:15:17Z")
> [@amarone](#): > > I certainly recognize “lend me your book” as normal (and the same in the US), but not “lend it me”. It could be a regional/age/culture/time difference between you and me. Well isn’t regional kind of the point of what we are discussing? 😉 “Lend it me” sounds perfectly right for me, as a 36 year old Brit. “You’ve got the new Harry Potter? Oooh. Lend it me. Go on. You know you want to.” ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-american-different-turns-of-phrase/565070/125 "2010-12-25T16:21:58Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > Well isn’t regional kind of the point of what we are discussing? 😉 > > “Lend it me” sounds perfectly right for me, as a 36 year old Brit. “You’ve got the new Harry Potter? Oooh. Lend it me. Go on. You know you want to.” Who is this young Harry Potter upstart? I’ve got 16 years on you and I suspect that is the main difference, not regional. Language evolves through massive misuse, of course. I think that “lend it me” is/was wrong (hence my original “uneducated” comment), but has perhaps become acceptable. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-american-different-turns-of-phrase/565070/126 "2010-12-25T16:23:42Z")
> [@amarone](#): > > Who is this young Harry Potter upstart? I’ve got 16 years on you and I suspect that is the main difference, not regional. Language evolves through massive misuse, of course. I think that “lend it me” is/was wrong (hence my original “uneducated” comment), but has perhaps become acceptable. If you want to go really regional: “Lend it us”. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-american-different-turns-of-phrase/565070/127 "2010-12-25T17:07:25Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > If you want to go really regional: > > “Lend it us”. I’ve definitely heard that - I’m from Yorkshire. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-american-different-turns-of-phrase/565070/128 "2010-12-25T17:28:19Z")
> [@amarone](#): > > I certainly recognize “lend me your book” as normal (and the same in the US), but not “lend it me”. It could be a regional/age/culture/time difference between you and me. “Lend me it” sounds normal in the US, but not “lend it me,” which would seem to imply something unlikely. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-american-different-turns-of-phrase/565070/129 "2010-12-25T17:31:08Z")
Maybe that’s just a Yorkshirism. I know I heard in “Brassed Off” and “The Full Monty”. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-american-different-turns-of-phrase/565070/130 "2010-12-25T17:38:59Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Maybe that’s just a Yorkshirism. I know I heard in “Brassed Off” and “The Full Monty”. I say it and I’m from Warwickshire. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-american-different-turns-of-phrase/565070/131 "2010-12-25T17:40:17Z")
I just saw someone write “addicting” in another thread. I’ve never seen a Brit write or say it. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-american-different-turns-of-phrase/565070/132 "2010-12-25T17:49:36Z")
> [@amarone](#): > > I’ve definitely heard that - I’m from Yorkshire. Try north Wales: “borrow me a fiver”. “Can I lend a fiver off you?” ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-american-different-turns-of-phrase/565070/133 "2010-12-25T18:53:15Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > “Lend me it” sounds normal in the US, but not “lend it me,” which would seem to imply something unlikely. Or, for Americans, if you’re very rude or talking to a friend, you might just say “Gimme.” ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-american-different-turns-of-phrase/565070/134 "2010-12-25T19:22:01Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > We use “defying the whip” or variants in the same way you do. Quitting a party and joining another doesn’t happen all that often here, so I don’t think there is an established phrase for it. > . For joining another party “crossing the floor” as has literally to be done to sit in a different part of parliament. Here being the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Gestalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/90ced4/32.png) [@Gestalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gestalt)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-american-different-turns-of-phrase/565070/135 "2010-12-25T20:12:57Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Or, for Americans, if you’re very rude or talking to a friend, you might just say “Gimme.” A variation that I heard for the first time in the Southern US was “let me hold.” Like, “let me hold five dollars” ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-american-different-turns-of-phrase/565070/136 "2010-12-25T20:23:41Z")
You’ll more often hear “Lemme see that”. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-american-different-turns-of-phrase/565070/137 "2010-12-25T23:54:15Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > Both versions are used to mean exactly the same thing in the US and the one you’ve marked UK is actually much more common. Fair enough. It was Americans on this board that led me to believe otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2010, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-american-different-turns-of-phrase/565070/138 "2010-12-26T08:15:03Z")
> [@ramel](#): > > I still remember when I first heard of “fanny packs”. That was a confusing couple of minutes 😛 That reminds me of another that at one point would have gotten you raised eyebrows, though it’s now mostly fallen out of use besides in Westerns. UK: Chippy - a fish and chips place US: Chippy/Chippie - a whore So, in the UK telling your wife you were going to a chippy on the way home from work meant the two of you didn’t have to cook. In the US telling your wife that was grounds for divorce. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2010, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-american-different-turns-of-phrase/565070/139 "2010-12-26T11:49:24Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > So, in the UK telling your wife you were going to a chippy on the way home from work meant the two of you didn’t have to cook. Or you were visiting a carpenter. ---
**Author:** ![Scubaqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Scubaqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scubaqueen)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2010, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-american-different-turns-of-phrase/565070/140 "2010-12-27T20:20:04Z")
> [@Puff](#): > > Another favourite: > > US: Get pissed (become angry) > UK: Get pissed (become inebriated) > > hilarity ensues often in either translation. while vacationing in ireland, i heard ‘taking the piss.’ \* since i crawled in and out of a great many pubs (very sensible of them to have one about every ten meters) where i generally heard the phrase, it took me a \*\*long \*\*time to figure out what it meant. 😃 US translation: \*are you messing with me? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-american-different-turns-of-phrase/565070.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-american-different-turns-of-phrase/565070.md?page=8)