# Fun with American vs. British English **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 10, 2006, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205 "2006-08-10T20:20:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/21 "2006-08-11T03:36:50Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] I’ve heard that when a Brit offers to wake you in the morning, they’ll say, “Can I knock you up?” [/QUOTE] Nonsense. We’ll have nothing to do with this namby-pamby American tosh. We’ve woken each other up with a good caning for centuries, and that’s damned well how it’s going to stay! (Oh, and generally it’d be “Want me to knock for you?”, which unfortunetly is a bit less risque). ---
**Author:** ![Misscegnist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Misscegnist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misscegnist)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/22 "2006-08-11T03:46:53Z")
Work avoidance here, but some colloquialisms that I grew up with…that may sound unusual to you… 1. up the bouai shooting boukackers\* 2. Shark and taties 3. Greasies 4. Slag (in relation to women) 5. Bush Pig 6. Drop Kick (not in relation to sport) 7. bb - as in “sink a few bbs” 8. JAFA 9. Bogan 10. Miss margarine - Phonetic spelling, ain’t got no dickinary ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/23 "2006-08-11T03:48:37Z")
Out of those, **Misscegnist** , i’ve only heard of slag, which has the same meaning here, and bogan, but that’s only because i’ve seen Neighbours (I think it’s your equivalent of a chav? Maybe?). ---
**Author:** ![Misscegnist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Misscegnist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misscegnist)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/24 "2006-08-11T03:51:51Z")
[QUOTE=Revenant Threshold] Out of those, **Misscegnist** , i’ve only heard of slag, which has the same meaning here, and bogan, but that’s only because i’ve seen Neighbours (I think it’s your equivalent of a chav? Maybe?). [/QUOTE] not quite - to me bogan is a young, male “petrolhead”, normally driving a cheaply imported rice rocket (recklessly). They like to gather and race, and also commonly garishly modify the car, many with stupidly loud and impractical stereos… Isn’t chav, more the equivlent of a wannabe gangster? ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/25 "2006-08-11T04:22:01Z")
> [@Revenant Threshold](#): > > Out of those, Misscegnist, i’ve only heard of slag, which has the same meaning here, and bogan, but that’s only because i’ve seen Neighbours (I think it’s your equivalent of a chav? Maybe?). I don’t know where **Messcegnist** lives, but I’ve never heard of any of those except slag (which I first heard in this thread) and BB, which may or may not be the same BB **Misscegnist** is talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/26 "2006-08-11T04:27:22Z")
As someone who used to live in Wellington, I’ve certainly heard of JAFA. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/27 "2006-08-11T04:33:25Z")
Amazingly (from Brit lit I’ve read), “cock” seems to mean the same thing on both sides of the pond. IOW, “chicken” ain’t gonna be the first thing that enters your mind. “Prick,” OTOH . . . ---
**Author:** ![Misscegnist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Misscegnist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misscegnist)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/28 "2006-08-11T04:41:46Z")
Ok a full translation is probably in order… 1. up the bouai shooting boukackers\* - somewhere that is not here, commonly used when you don’t want to reveal where you are going or what you are doing, many times if you are referring to a third person (i.e mother to son speaking about father) will mean that he is at the local pub 2. Shark and taties - fish and chips (shark is, at times used as the fish and “taties” for potatoes, which are turned into chips - french fries for you 'merkins) 3. Greasies - fish and chips - so named for the greasy / oily nature 4. Slag (in relation to women) - ugly woman of loose morals 5. Bush Pig - very ugly, woman of loose morals with no “breeding” (not only ugly and loose but also stupid) 6. Drop Kick (not in relation to sport) - loser, person with no hope 7. bb - as in “sink a few bbs” - beer, ale, the amber stuff 8. JAFA - just another f####ing Aucklander - in essence a brash person of no breeding, an insult applied by the rest of the country. 9. Bogan - already explained 10. Miss margarine - so named because she is “easy to spread” (do I need to provide further explanation?) A few more to consider 1. Jandals 2. coffin nails 3. cough lollies 4. Togs 5. Afters (in reference to a meal) and one more for cultural differentiation… What we call a hotdog is a battered saveloy (often a stick) that is deep fried… The other sort, that includes a frankfurter, relish, mustard onion and cheese would be properly referred to as an American Hotdog. To us, that round ball sport played by Beckham is soccer, Gridiron may be referred to as either Gridiron or American Football, footie is Rugby. Finally, hearing about the “World Series” in baseball always cracks us up (I do now understand the etymology though, thanks to the Master) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/29 "2006-08-11T04:42:20Z")
And the Brits still use “tread” as a verb. We would’ve forgotten that usage entirely by now, if not for that old rattlesnake flag from the Revolution. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/30 "2006-08-11T04:44:43Z")
And of course, we Yanks are completely baffled by Cockney rhyming slang . . . although that doesn’t really count as British English . . . nor as any kind of English . . . nor as a slang . . . nor as a human language . . . ---
**Author:** ![Misscegnist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Misscegnist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misscegnist)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/31 "2006-08-11T04:46:10Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Amazingly (from Brit lit I’ve read), “cock” seems to mean the same thing on both sides of the pond. IOW, “chicken” ain’t gonna be the first thing that enters your mind. “Prick,” OTOH . . . [/QUOTE] what about “cock sure”? I would normally refer to a “cock” (the animal kind) as a rooster, but if anybody were to tell me they had bought three cocks I would understand immediately what they meant, but if it was a pretty lady, would probably use the opportunity to crack a witty double entedre. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/32 "2006-08-11T04:46:23Z")
I need a break from all this talk about trans Atlantic confusions. I’m going outside to roll a fag. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/33 "2006-08-11T04:47:54Z")
Bush pig? Around here, a bush hog is a very large mower attached to the back of a farm tractor. In the factory where I worked, a chippie was a chip handler, the guy who collected metal shavings in the tool room. We joked that one of our chip handlers was a Native American, a “Chippie-wa.” A “slag-bagger” in these parts is a charlatan, a flim-flammer. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/34 "2006-08-11T05:19:07Z")
[QUOTE=Misscegnist] A few more to consider 1. Jandals [/QUOTE] AKA - in Australia - as thongs. “Jandals” was one of the more noteable New Zealandisms that I recall from my time there. Also “chilly bins” and “section” to refer to the land on which a house is built. We use “block” here. ---
**Author:** ![Misscegnist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Misscegnist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misscegnist)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/35 "2006-08-11T05:43:55Z")
[QUOTE=Cunctator] AKA - in Australia - as thongs. “Jandals” was one of the more noteable New Zealandisms that I recall from my time there. Also “chilly bins” and “section” to refer to the land on which a house is built. We use “block” here. [/QUOTE] Ah - the good old 1/4 Acre! Huh - you mean chilly bin is not universal? I woulda’ thought that “Esky” was more of a colloqualism, with “chilly bin” being the proper name. Another Australianism that made its way to NZ was “going bush” Then of course we can talk about things like 1. Slab 2. Jar 3. Horse Piss 4. Stubbie 5. Light Bulb 6. 12 7. Tinnie 8. swappa crate 9. off license ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/36 "2006-08-11T05:55:37Z")
[QUOTE=Misscegnist] Huh - you mean chilly bin is not universal? I woulda’ thought that “Esky” was more of a colloqualism, with “chilly bin” being the proper name. [/quote] Possibly it is universal. I don’t know. I’d certainly never heard it until I went to live in New Zealand. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/37 "2006-08-11T06:39:02Z")
[QUOTE=CookingWithGas] Translation: randy = horny [/QUOTE] I don’t believe this is specifically a British meaning. I’ve heard people here in the US use it in that way, too. Hell, I’ve used it in that way. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/38 "2006-08-11T06:44:39Z")
[QUOTE=yojimbo] In Ireland that would be a chipper. A chippie would be a carpenter. That’s Hiberno-English, not the Queen’s though 😉 I love me a faggot in the morning. I can’t get enough of those faggots. [Here’s](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2698507.stm) a family of faggot fans spreading the glory of faggots [/QUOTE] One of our favorite commercials as kids were the ones for [Brain’s Faggots](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain's_Faggots). A good mate always wondered why we burst out laughing when he mentioned his favorite dessert from school, [spotted dick](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotted_dick). Lucky I never took up smoking, 'cos I totally call 'em fags. Force of habit. I also heard a lot of people talking about being fagged out after exercising, so hearing that phrase now makes me giggle a bit. I’m sure there are others… gotta think for a minute… ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/39 "2006-08-11T07:01:32Z")
Oh, I have one. Whenever I mention that I grew up in England to an American, inevitably I’m asked if I lived near London. (No.) I usually answer, “East Anglia and the Midlands,” and leave it at that. Some well-versed clever dicks have responded, "Oh, wonderful! I spent a summer in _SUF-FOLK_ and visited _Oxford-SHIRE_. It’s always been pronounced “Suffuk” and “Oxford-shur” in my experience. Place names are always fun. Here in New England they tend to sound much like their British ancestors, but toss a Cirencester out and watch the sparks fly! (People in Oxon called it Cissiter, but I understand locals call it Ciren-cester.) ---
**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:** [August 11, 2006, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/40 "2006-08-11T07:31:17Z")
Confusion _between terms_ UK: ‘Faggot’ = a kind of meatball, or a bundle of sticks ‘Fag’ = a cigarette. The two are not interchangeable in these contexts, at all, but are often confused (US: conflated) by furriners. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205.md?page=3)