# False friends: familiar names which mean something very different elsewhere **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 24, 2018, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121 "2018-03-24T18:07:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/181 "2018-03-27T08:13:41Z")
> [@Sangahyando](#): > > “shag slip”. Sounds nasty. You get a groin strain? ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/182 "2018-03-27T08:17:39Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Yes, that’s the archetypal anorak, and I was originally going to mention them, but trainspotting I don’t think is a thing in the US, so I left it off. Or is it? As an American, I had never heard of such a hobby until the movie came out (and I happened to be in the UK at the time, where I kind of figured out that this was a thing some people did. For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, it’s kind of like birdwatching, like with notebooks and checklists and all, but with trains.) And **SmartAleq** writes: “_Back in Time for Tea_ actually went in depth about the origins of trainspotting as apparently it was quite a thing and kept the kiddies busy. The modern day kid was politely but firmly ‘meh’ on the subject, however.” Being British, and a devotee of railways, I can confirm **SmartAleq** ’s post: “trainspotting” was a very big thing in the UK, over about the fifteen or twenty years immediately following World War II (it waned with the phasing-out of steam locomotives on Britain’s railways in the 1960s). In its heyday, probably at least half the boys in Britain under adolescent age, were into it: it was fostered as a healthy interest for lads of that age (the railway hobby as a whole, has always been an almost totally male pursuit) – with little books of all the numbers of all different types of locomotive, published and cheaply on sale. Genuine trainspotters are now far fewer in number than 60 / 70 years ago, but they still exist, over a wide range of ages. I was born at the ripest time to have been swept up in this phenomenon; however, I’ve always loved trains and railways, but was never a trainspotter – am borderline innumerate, and numbers and figures for their own sake, have never held joy or meaning for me. I’ve long had the impression that the US has many railway enthusiasts (“railfans”); but seemingly the juvenile number-spotting craze never took hold there. Taking further, **pulykamell** ’s bird-watching analogy: one could – without wishing to be too unkind to followers of, in themselves, benign and harmless pastimes – draw a parallel “trainspotters and more-generalist railway enthusiasts / ‘twitchers’ and serious birders”: the term “twitcher” being popular in those circles, to refer to the rather tunnel-vision-afflicted birding sub-set who zealously go to great lengths to see birds of as many different species as possible, but are interested in this collecting mission, rather than in any other aspects of birds: once they’ve seen a whatever-it-is and ticked it off on their list, they couldn’t care less if the species were then to go extinct. As indicated upthread, trendy folk who despise nerds / geeks / followers of perceived kid-type hobbies, enjoy using “trainspotter / trainspotting” as an alternative to “anorak”, as contemptuous epithets re railway enthusiasts and all other hobbyists who do not measure up to their criterion of right-on-ness. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/183 "2018-03-27T08:20:20Z")
> [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](#): > > Sounds nasty. You get a groin strain? Oddly enough, what with schoolboys (especially adolescent ones) being a highly dirty-minded lot: the expression was mostly used quite innocently, without sexual / genital connotations being brought in ! ---
**Author:** ![yendis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ed8c4c/32.png) [@yendis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yendis)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/184 "2018-03-27T11:18:16Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > In South Africa, “sweater” is what we call a T-shirt. Ahem. Parts of South Africa, I first heard it in Cape Town, never heard it in Durban and I grew up there. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/185 "2018-03-27T14:43:14Z")
> [@DavidwithanR](#): > > I may have missed it being mentioned already, and maybe it’s no longer current slang, but a friend of mine was in Australia and had just finished a large meal. He leaned back and declared “I’m stuffed” - and everyone did a double-take and then laughed, since they were pretty sure he wasn’t pregnant. 🙂 I once got a similar reaction at what’s called a _zastolya_ in Russian. My friends and I were gathered around a big table having a holiday dinner, and for some reason I don’t remember, I let out a Charlie Brown–type **Bleah!** What I didn’t know at the time is the _Blya!_ is an interjection or particle roughly equal to “Fuck!” or “fucking.” It can be inserted pretty much anywhere in sentence: \*So **blya** , this \*\*blya \*\*cop stopped me and \*\*blya \*\*said I was \*\*blya \*\*speeding and \*\*blya \*\*gave me a \*\*blya \*_ticket!_ :mad: ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/186 "2018-03-27T15:04:51Z")
> [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](#): > > A massive fucking zucchini. Except there’s no such thing as a zucchini in the UK, it’s called a courgette. Nevertheless, a marrow is a zucchini big enough to house a small family. Like this? :o [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Km_CnOXz4o4/maxresdefault.jpg "Wallace and Gromit: the Curse of the Were Rabbit Gromit's Marrow") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km_CnOXz4o4) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/187 "2018-03-27T15:49:27Z")
I’m watching the Canadian sitcom _ **Corner Gas** _ right now. Wanda just went to IKEA to buy a “hutch” for her office. To me, a “hutch” is the cage(s) in which farmers keep rabbits for food. In _ **CG** _, it’s what I would call “cubby holes” on top of a desk to hold different papers, staplers, scissors, whatever. Is this usage common elsewhere? ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/188 "2018-03-27T16:01:23Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I’m watching the Canadian sitcom _ **Corner Gas** _ right now. Wanda just went to IKEA to buy a “hutch” for her office. > > To me, a “hutch” is the cage(s) in which farmers keep rabbits for food. In _ **CG** _, it’s what I would call “cubby holes” on top of a desk to hold different papers, staplers, scissors, whatever. > > Is this usage common elsewhere? I’m in the US and am familiar with both rabbit hutches for keeping rabbits, and desk top shelves called hutches. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/189 "2018-03-27T16:08:16Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I’m watching the Canadian sitcom _ **Corner Gas** _ right now. Wanda just went to IKEA to buy a “hutch” for her office. > > To me, a “hutch” is the cage(s) in which farmers keep rabbits for food. In _ **CG** _, it’s what I would call “cubby holes” on top of a desk to hold different papers, staplers, scissors, whatever. > > Is this usage common elsewhere? In the US, a “hutch” can be either a cage for rabbits or a piece of furniture with shelves placed on top of a lower unit with a counter/desktop and cabinets. A hutch might be part of a desk or a china cabinet or a dresser. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/190 "2018-03-27T16:21:05Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > In the US, a “hutch” can be either a cage for rabbits or a piece of furniture with shelves placed on top of a lower unit with a counter/desktop and cabinets. A hutch might be part of a desk or a china cabinet or a dresser. What’s a starsky then? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/191 "2018-03-27T16:31:03Z")
Huh, I’m in the US, and I’ve never heard of a “hutch” being anything other than a rabbit cage. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/192 "2018-03-27T16:35:31Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Yes, that’s the archetypal anorak, and I was originally going to mention them, but trainspotting I don’t think is a thing in the US, so I left it off. Or is it? As an American, I had never heard of such a hobby until the movie came out (and I happened to be in the UK at the time, where I kind of figured out that this was a thing some people did. For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, it’s kind of like birdwatching, like with notebooks and checklists and all, but with trains.) If railways were as ubiquitous and super important to our way of life in the US as they are in UK, I’m sure we’d have trainspotters too. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/193 "2018-03-27T17:17:18Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > In the US, a “hutch” can be either a cage for rabbits or a piece of furniture with shelves placed on top of a lower unit with a counter/desktop and cabinets. A hutch might be part of a desk or a china cabinet or a dresser. > Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk I’m in the US and I am familiar with both uses of the word, but the furniture one moreso. [Wikipedia claims it’s an American English term](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutch_(furniture)). ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/194 "2018-03-27T18:54:43Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Yes, that’s the archetypal anorak, and I was originally going to mention them, but trainspotting I don’t think is a thing in the US, so I left it off. Or is it? As an American, I had never heard of such a hobby until the movie came out (and I happened to be in the UK at the time, where I kind of figured out that this was a thing some people did. For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, it’s kind of like birdwatching, like with notebooks and checklists and all, but with trains.) Yes, we have trainspotters in the U.S. but we don’t call ourselves 🙂 that. We’re railfans or train buffs, and rude people call us “foamers” (figuratively foaming at the mouth on seeing an interesting train). There’s enough to support two monthly printed magazines, _Trains_ and _Railfan & Railroad_, even in the internet age. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/195 "2018-03-27T19:09:56Z")
I’m not a complete anorak on the subject, but I do have a favorite train engine (Southern Pacific 4449, to be precise) and I’ll go find any steam train ride I can possibly afford. Love me some trains, yup! I just discovered that the term “moolie,” which on the Left Coast US is basically a milder form of “dumbass” is a definite racial slur in the south and on the East Coast. Related to “eggplant,” which I was aware of–and to make things even more interesting, sending someone an eggplant emoji is slang for penis. How’s that for confusement? ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/196 "2018-03-27T19:47:04Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > What the Brits call an “anorak” is a “windbreaker” or “parka” (which is bigger and heavier, like the ones Eskimos wear) in the US. And bib overalls like the ones farmers wear are also called “biballs” (this one threw me the first time I heard it, but was instantly clear when I saw it in print). > > Overalls are something a grease-monkey mechanic might wear, I think. I think you are slightly confused. Bib overalls and overalls are the same [thing](https://www.urbanoutfitters.com/overalls-for-men). Where [coveralls](http://www.walls.com/workwear/coveralls/) are what a grease-monkey mechanic would wear. Although, as seen on that page, you can get insulated coveralls which are great for winter weather. My parents would get me and my brother a new pair every year. My dad would wear them to work all the time since he worked outside. He wasn’t a mechanic though. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/197 "2018-03-27T19:59:30Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > I’m not a complete anorak on the subject, but I do have a favorite train engine (Southern Pacific 4449, to be precise) and I’ll go find any steam train ride I can possibly afford. Love me some trains, yup! > > I just discovered that the term “moolie,” which on the Left Coast US is basically a milder form of “dumbass” is a definite racial slur in the south and on the East Coast. Related to “eggplant,” which I was aware of–and to make things even more interesting, sending someone an eggplant emoji is slang for penis. How’s that for confusement? I’m from New York and I don’t know if I’ve ever heard “moolie” before. If I had to guess, I would think it was some kind of 1930s era gangster slang. ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/198 "2018-03-27T20:10:32Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > What the Brits call an “anorak” is a “windbreaker” or “parka” (which is bigger and heavier, like the ones Eskimos wear) in the US. And bib overalls like the ones farmers wear are also called “biballs” (this one threw me the first time I heard it, but was instantly clear when I saw it in print). > > Overalls are something a grease-monkey mechanic might wear, I think. Biballs? Never heard that before! It sounds a bit…well…silly, really. ---
**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/199 "2018-03-27T20:12:36Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I was introduced to the use of the word “faggot” in the sense of “firewood” when I was in high school. I was reading the Classics Illustrated version of _ **Taras Bulba** _, at the end of which the Poles burn the eponymous Cossack at the stake: > > **Pile faggots under him!** > > _But Taras Bulba did not notice or even look at the faggots, for he was thinking of his men._ > > Wait, what?!? :eek: :dubious: 😕 This reminds me of a book… The Ruby Knight, book 2 of the Elenium, by David Eddings. The knight Sir Bevier is in thrall to some kind of succubus, and his friends break down the door to his bedroom in the castle to find: “The room was filled with an eerie light. Bevier lay tossing on his bed, and over him hovered the misty, glowing shape of a naked woman.” Thing is, if he’d written “tossing and turning”, it wouldn’t have raised an eyebrow, but “tossing” means masturbating - the mild insult ‘tosser’ basically means the same thing as wanker - and with the naked lady… well, maybe they should have left him to his alone time. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/200 "2018-03-27T20:13:24Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > I’m from New York and I don’t know if I’ve ever heard “moolie” before. If I had to guess, I would think it was some kind of 1930s era gangster slang. Italian, apparently, and we had independent confirmation that the negative definition is alive and well in the south too. > **[Urban Dictionary: moolie](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=moolie&utm_source=search-action)** > > Italian slang for a black person. Short for "moulinyan," Italian dialect for "eggplant." [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121.md?page=11)