That’s one that continually trips me up. I have to read around it for context to get the meaning, every time.
Rather.
Yes, “quite” is a word whose meanings and implications, certainly in British English, can vary a great deal with both context and intonation. It can be an intensifier or a deintensifier (if that is a word). However, I think it functions in much the same context dependent way the same in America. In my 20 years in the USA I never ran into any significant misunderstandings occasioned by my use of “quite”.
The use of the single word “Quite” or “Quite so” as a form of assent may be distinctively British, but I don’t think it is necessarily upper class or stuffy, as a poster stated earlier. Rather, it is a dismissive, deflationary form of assent. It is saying something like “Yes, what you say is true, but you are an idiot for saying it” (perhaps because what you said is blindingly obvious, or is true but irrelevant to the issue at hand, or whatever).
Njtt,
How does responding with a “Quite” differ from responding with a “Indeed”?
Not hugely, but I think “Indeed” (if said with a rising intonation) implies skepticism. Said more flatly it might be slightly dismissive, but probably not as much so as “Quite” (or “Quite so,” which is stronger still). A lot depends on intonation (and context) with words like this.
Do Americans use “Indeed” in this way? I am not sure.
Another word that used to bother me a bit when I was in teh US is “flan”.
In Britain a flan is an open pastry or sponge tart with some sort of savory (often cheese based) or fruit filling. A quiche would be an example.
In America, flan is what, in Britain, is called crème caramel.
I was slightly put off from eating flan in America, because in the back of my mind there was a hint of an expectation that it might taste cheesy.
A similar one is “pudding”, which in Britain can refer to any sweet food eaten as the dessert course (or to the course as such, provided it is sweet rather than savory), but especially to a sweet course of a doughy or cakey consistency, that is cooked and eaten hot.
In America, “pudding” seems to be specifically confined to a sort of thick, sweet creamy stuff with a smooth consistency and flavored in various ways, usually eaten cold. It could be eaten for your dessert course, but need not be.
British people would consider American pudding a perfectly suitable sort of thing to eat for pudding (i.e., dessert), but they would not consider it a very puddingy sort of pudding.
What about black pudding?
In French, the classic “faux ami” is the word actuellement. It does NOT mean “actually” in the way that Americans use the word. When Americans say “actually,” they mean “truly” or “in reality.”
But in French, “actuellement” means “currently” or “at this moment.”
Three examples from the part of South German that I (a North German) have been transplanted to:
Fuß n. (standard German) = foot; Fuß n. (Swabian) = leg;
laufen vi. (standard German) = to run; laufen vi. (Swabian) = to walk;
schaffen vt. (standard German) = to achieve sth.; schaffen vi. (Swabian) = to work;
This made me think of one classic Italian/English one: infatti. It sounds like it should translate as ‘in fact’, and Italians tend to assume it does, but it actually translates as something closer to ‘exactly’. So if you say ‘Joe is an idiot,’ and an Italian says, ‘In fact,’ you’re waiting for the rest of the sentence and assuming it’s something like ‘In fact, he’s a lovely man who just happens to be having a bad day,’ while the Italian thinks he’s agreed with you and the exchange is complete.
And another Irish/US one: Where Americans offer someone a ride, Irish people offer a lift. ‘A ride’ over here is slang for sex - not as vulgar as ‘a fuck’, closer to ‘a shag’.
It gets even weirder.
(SouthEast USA here)
Waistcoat - VERY dressed up: think funerals or weddings. Only men.
Vest - same article of clothing, in more casual formats. Unisex.
Suspenders - these things
Braces - most often these things, but known to fashion or costume people as these things(also known as Sock Suspenders or Sock Garters)
Brace (singular) - this thing
Garters - these things
Garter (singular) this thing (usually restricted to weddings)
And pavement here is usually referring to something someone has impacted - “He’s in the hospital - he was tricking and busted his head on the pavement.”
FWIW we call those “sweater vests” in the US.
“Fancy dress” here would always mean a dress that is fancy. I don’t think I’ve ever heard an American say “fancy dress party”, but I would expect anyone unfamiliar with the British term to assume that a “fancy dress party” was a party where people wore formal clothing.
I first encountered the British (or in this case Irish) use of the term “fancy dress” as a teenager when reading Maeve Binchy’s novel Circle of Friends. Early in the book a young girl has a birthday party and one of her friends, who is a poor orphan, shows up in an old red velvet dress that’s much too big for her. Another girl says something like “I didn’t realize this was a fancy dress party” when she sees her. I assumed the mean girl was sarcastically pretending she thought the poor girl’s shabby velvet dress was too posh for an informal children’s party. Years later I realized she was sarcastically pretending she thought the poor girl’s dress was some sort of ridiculous costume.
Here in the US, I’ve heard “where do you stay” used fairly often by Indians and maybe Pakistanis.
Meanwhile, in Canada, a loon is a bird, or a crazy person. A “loonie” is a one-dollar coin–the coin has a loon on it–and (by extension), an informal term for the Canadian dollar as a currency. You’ll see it used this way in the business reports: “The loonie dropped 56 basis points in late trading today…”)
In Canada, at least, “pavement” refers to a hard surface. It can be stone, asphalt, concrete, or whatever. One can refer to the pavement of both roads and sidewalks, or say that they are unpaved.
It’s also bread in Pilipino and Japanese.
Or a variation, the phrase “went to the pub to watch football, got pissed with this girl I met there and we ended up rooting all night” would have quite different meaning in Aussie to the US.
Also encountered in Newfoundland, quite recently:
Apparently, when people in Newfoundland, or at least in this one town in Newfoundland, say “porch,” they are referring to what we in the U.S. (or at least in the Northeast) would call a “mud room.”
What what?
As the guy in Usual Suspects said, English please?
A translation: “I’m going to have some beer at the pub and then engage in sexual intercourse with one or more women - and I really plan to do those things.”