# 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:** 12
**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 28, 2018, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/221 "2018-03-28T06:49:54Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Never have I heard “gangbangers” used in anything other than a sexual context. I’m certainly aware of its “gang member” meaning from American TV. Couldn’t say exactly where, but given my viewing habits, I imagine Person of Interest, Castle, CSI and Southland are likely suspects. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/222 "2018-03-28T08:14:39Z")
> [@yendis](#): > > Ahem. Parts of South Africa, I first heard it in Cape Town, never heard it in Durban and I grew up there. Tell that to my Durbanite wife, who also uses sweater. next you’ll be telling me you don’t call takkies takkies 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/223 "2018-03-28T08:53:21Z")
> [@John\_Bredin](#): > > 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. UK equivalent (singular), “frother / frothing”; or “veg” (= in a vegetative state – totally absorbed by one’s obsession, to the point of the rest of the world being blocked out). ---
**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 28, 2018, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/224 "2018-03-28T09:46:00Z")
> [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](#): > > I’m certainly aware of its “gang member” meaning from American TV. Couldn’t say exactly where, but given my viewing habits, I imagine Person of Interest, Castle, CSI and Southland are likely suspects. The ones I’ve likely heard it in are Castle, CSI, and Criminal Minds. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/225 "2018-03-28T09:52:44Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > In Panama, a [tortilla](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9f/c3/11/9fc311dc894e22c6e59199e1bf572145.jpg) is quite different from those familiar in the US. They are much smaller and thicker and usually deep fried. And then in Spain, a tortilla is a [kind of omelet made from onions and potatoes.](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9f/c3/11/9fc311dc894e22c6e59199e1bf572145.jpg) Nope. In Spain, _tortilla_ means omelette. _Tortilla francesa_ is egg with egg with egg\*; _tortilla de atún_ includes canned tuna (usually in vinegary _escabeche_ sauce); _tortilla de chorizo_ has chorizo; _tortilla juliana_ has multiple vegetables cut small and is called a Spanish omelette by some foreigners (Spaniards find this name very confusing). What you describe is called a _tortilla de patata con cebolla_, potato omelette with onion. Whether potato omelette aka _tortilla española_ should or should not have onion, or whether the two species are admisible but need to be identified correctly, is one of the big unsolvable debates of Spanish cuisine. In a bar you can ask for a _pincho de tortilla_ without more specifics if there is only one kind available, and in this case it will most commonly be what you describe (the onion is a preservative), but tortilla by itself means omelette. - The name, French omelette, is said to come from the siege of Cádiz during the Napoleonic wars: people in town had easy access to eggs, since they commonly kept hens, but not so much to any stuffings. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/226 "2018-03-28T11:26:44Z")
> [@Teuton](#): > > 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. One has to admit that with Bevier in this particular situation – by writing just “tossing”, the author is asking for trouble. Possibly in Eddings’s defence: he was born in 1931 – maybe his formative years were, thus, at a time when at least superficially, “purity in the public domain” was the rule; and / or he’s deliberately trying to write in the way of a long-ago chronicler of knightly doings – in any case, acting as though he is “above” concerns about being pounced on by seekers of off-colour double-entendres. I see a case for suggesting that nowadays people are obsessed ad nauseam with double-entendre-spotting – to a greater extent than is appropriate or sensible. Am considering starting a new thread on this theme (likely on MPSIMS) rather than hijacking this thread. ---
**Author:** ![CBEscapee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@CBEscapee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBEscapee)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/227 "2018-03-28T13:49:46Z")
> [@MacLir](#): > > The Salvadorean “cognate” to a Mexican quesadilla would probably be a [pupusa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pupusa). Made somewhat differently, but similar in character as a finished product. The Mexican dish of that type is called a _gordita_. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/228 "2018-03-28T15:17:18Z")
If you go to the UK and ask for a Swede expecting to receive a person from Sweden, you will end up disappointed with a rutabaga. > [@Chronos](#): > > Huh, I’m in the US, and I’ve never heard of a “hutch” being anything other than a rabbit cage. I’m familiar with it as a furniture term. Look (for example) [how many are available at Walmart](https://www.walmart.com/search/?query=hutch&cat_id=0). Also, rabbits can have hutches and hutches can have [rabbets](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbet). ---
**Author:** ![drivekiller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@drivekiller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drivekiller)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/229 "2018-03-28T16:22:24Z")
Alas “pommes frites” are not fried apples ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/230 "2018-03-28T17:59:37Z")
> [@MacLir](#): > > I always knew “pigs in a blanket” as the sausage wrapped in dough. In England they’re sausages wrapped in bacon. ---
**Author:** ![MacLir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@MacLir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacLir)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/231 "2018-03-28T20:45:14Z")
> [@CBEscapee](#): > > The Mexican dish of that type is called a _gordita_. You’re right, those are closer to a _pupusa_. Not quite exact; _quesadillas_ are thinner, and the _gordita_ pictures I looked up are fatter, but obviously part of the same spectrum. 😛 Yum ---
**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 29, 2018, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/232 "2018-03-29T13:15:47Z")
A discussion on another thread has reminded me of another one: coriander. To a Brit, this can mean coriander seed (as it does elsewhere) _or_ coriander leaf (what Americans call cilantro), depending on context. Cilantro isn’t used in British English: the same name is used for the whole plant. So, if you’re one of those who finds cilantro overpoweringly soapy, watch out for things containing coriander: it might not be coriander as you know it! ---
**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 30, 2018, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/233 "2018-03-30T16:09:39Z")
I’m watching the UK series _ **Car SOS** _ right now. They’re rebuilding a vintage Alfa Romeo. Looking at the engine, the host says “That’s real anorak styling!” What does “anorak” mean in this case? 😕 ---
**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 30, 2018, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/234 "2018-03-30T16:18:14Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I’m watching the UK series _ **Car SOS** _ right now. They’re rebuilding a vintage Alfa Romeo. Looking at the engine, the host says “That’s real anorak styling!” > > What does “anorak” mean in this case? 😕 In semi-related question, they make a big deal out of finishing the project ASAP because the owner will only be able to drive it for another year. What, there’s an age limit on how long you can drive in the UK? Or how long you can own or drive a vintage auto? If the owner has emigrated to the US, does that limit his UK driving privileges? ---
**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 30, 2018, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/235 "2018-03-30T16:28:11Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I’m watching the UK series _ **Car SOS** _ right now. They’re rebuilding a vintage Alfa Romeo. Looking at the engine, the host says “That’s real anorak styling!” > > What does “anorak” mean in this case? 😕 I’m not from Britain, but I’d guess “obsessively accurate” would be a good substitute phrase. ---
**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 30, 2018, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/236 "2018-03-30T16:29:55Z")
Never mind about the age thing. We meet the owner at the end of the episode. He’s old and obviously in very poor health (it looks like he has Parkinson’s disease). I’ll go out on a limb here and guess he’d only been given a year to live. They probably made this clear earlier, but I missed that part. ---
**Author:** ![AlonzoSWhitebeard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71c47a/32.png) [@AlonzoSWhitebeard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlonzoSWhitebeard)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2018, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/237 "2018-03-30T16:31:10Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I’m watching the UK series _ **Car SOS** _ right now. They’re rebuilding a vintage Alfa Romeo. Looking at the engine, the host says “That’s real anorak styling!” > > What does “anorak” mean in this case? 😕 An anorak is what I believe you would call a windcheater. It’s an unflattering, utilitarian and perennially unfashionable garment, and so it is associated with nerds, oddsters and obsessives. A trainspotter, for instance, would undoubtedly have an anorak. Expensive waterproof North Face jackets might essentially be anoraks, but because they are theoretically desirable, they would not be described as such. So, the engine has been remodelled in such a way that an obsessive, probably unmarried, engine enthusiast would instantly recognise; the implication is that this labour would be wasted on non-anoraks. ---
**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 30, 2018, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/238 "2018-03-30T16:42:46Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I’m watching the UK series _ **Car SOS** _ right now. They’re rebuilding a vintage Alfa Romeo. Looking at the engine, the host says “That’s real anorak styling!” > > What does “anorak” mean in this case? 😕 In this case, and judging by the other responses, it sounds to me like “gearhead” would best fit, but “gearhead” is a more specific term than “anorak” but connotes the same kind of geeky knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2018, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/239 "2018-03-30T17:28:00Z")
> [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](#): > > From this article : > > In many countries, this kind of pizza is indeed called a “peperoni” pizza. Note the single ‘p’, unlike the “pepperoni” pizza which is common in North America and has meat as one of its toppings. If banana pepper is called a peperoni what do they call a (meat) pepperoni? ---
**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 30, 2018, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121/240 "2018-03-30T17:30:50Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > If banana pepper is called a peperoni what do they call a (meat) pepperoni? Well, pepperoni is an American invention, AFAIK. In Hungarian, I’ve seen it as what would translate to “pepperoni sausage” and I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the same in German (yeah, image searching _peperoniwurst_ turns up photos of pepperoni.} ETA: That said, there are similar spicy salamis and soppressata and sausages you might find called by their local names. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-friends-familiar-names-which-mean-something-very-different-elsewhere/811121.md?page=13)