# 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:** 19\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/121 "2006-08-15T10:14:46Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] 'scuse me, it’s “ooop north” 😃 [/QUOTE] Ecky Thump, Lad/Lass! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/122 "2006-08-15T10:19:08Z")
[QUOTE=Martini Enfield] Ecky Thump, Lad/Lass! 😃 [/QUOTE] One on’t cross beams gone out askew on treadle. ---
**Author:** ![Misscegnist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Misscegnist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misscegnist)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/123 "2006-08-15T10:52:53Z")
[QUOTE=Anne Neville] And “thongs” are something quite different in American English- they’re underwear, not shoes. What Aussies call “thongs” are “flip-flops” here. I remember doing a double take at a tourist-oriented gift shop in Sydney that had a sign saying that they sold thongs, until I realized what thongs are there. Another difference: Shiraz/Syrah. They’re red wines made from the same grape. In the US, you’ll see either name used (I haven’t noticed a consistent stylistic difference between the wines themselves)- some wineries call it Syrah, some call it Shiraz. And Shiraz may be pronounced “shi-rahz” or “shi-razz” (the former is slightly more common). If you go to a wine bar and say you want a “shi-rahz”, they know what you mean. Not so at a wine bar I went to in Adelaide. They didn’t know what I was talking about when I asked for a sparkling “shi-rahz”. I’ve also never seen an Australian winery label it Syrah. I think New Zealand calls it Syrah, though I could be wrong. [/QUOTE] Uhmmm…you asked for a sparkling shiraz? The whole time I worked in a bottle store, and a bar (in New Zealand) I have NEVER seen a sparkling red. And, and I have only ever seen Shiraz as a red. Any bar that serves wine by the glass (instead of from a cask) would know what you wanted if you asked for a shiraz. ---
**Author:** ![Misscegnist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Misscegnist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misscegnist)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/124 "2006-08-15T11:01:36Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] One more from East Anglia: Debach (_debbitch_) I’d have translated it as ‘meander’ or ‘wander aimlessly’. Or you can ‘mooch around at home’, which means whiling away the time doing very little. [/QUOTE] (To Me) To mooch is to wander aimlessley with a forlorn / downtrodden expression or generally appear depressed, although I do also know the US useage it means to bludge To “mooch off” is to bludge or cadge, or otherwise live from anothers generoisty without repayment. Scrounge in the vernacular is also very similar, but of course when used as “proper English” it has no negative connotations, merely meaning to fossick. One that I haven’t heard for a while is to “toss the toys from the cot” which is about the same as throw a wobbly, pitch a fit or spit the dummy ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/125 "2006-08-15T12:04:42Z")
**ascenray** writes: > [@](#): > > In the United States, “cloakroom” implies something ornate and large and you’d only see it in a fancy social club or in the Capitol. It would be furnished with woodwork, brass fixtures, and servants. Not where I grew up. The Cloakroom at my grammar school was a closet with a door at either end – practically a mini-hallway, with rows of pegs for hanging coats. I think there were a few cubbyholes for putting things in, too. So there was woodwork and brass fixtures (although the hooks had been painted over many times), but no servants. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/126 "2006-08-15T12:14:47Z")
[QUOTE=Misscegnist] One that I haven’t heard for a while is to “toss the toys from the cot” which is about the same as throw a wobbly, pitch a fit or spit the dummy [/QUOTE] Just yesterday at work someone said they were on the verge of “throwing my toys out of the pram”. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/127 "2006-08-15T18:50:44Z")
[QUOTE=Rayne Man] One on’t cross beams gone out askew on treadle. [/QUOTE] “Come quick Mr Arkwright, looms ‘ave stopped tha’ knows” “By 'eck lad, does gaffer know?” “Oh reet enough Mr Arkwright, he does that by gum” "Bloody ‘eck, tha’s some muckin’ trouble 'ere me lad " “Nay Mr Arkwright, It weren’t me that done it, t’were that booger Luddite, threw 'is clogs I’nt works an all” ---
**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:** [August 15, 2006, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/128 "2006-08-15T19:04:38Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] Not where I grew up. The Cloakroom at my grammar school [/quote] Aha! “Grammar school”! You’re setting forth obsolete terminology, you old coot! 😉 But, seriously, I’d be surprised to learn that these uses of “grammar school” and “cloakroom” have much currency in the United States today. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/129 "2006-08-15T19:58:01Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] Just yesterday at work someone said they were on the verge of “throwing my toys out of the pram”. [/QUOTE] I’d never use this one in the first person, in that way. I’ve always seen it as a rather disparaging remark, describing someone not only losing their temper, but doing so in an immature, irrational or disproportionate way. ---
**Author:** ![Amaranta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Amaranta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amaranta)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/130 "2006-08-15T20:29:02Z")
[QUOTE=Misscegnist] Uhmmm…you asked for a sparkling shiraz? The whole time I worked in a bottle store, and a bar (in New Zealand) I have NEVER seen a sparkling red. And, and I have only ever seen Shiraz as a red. Any bar that serves wine by the glass (instead of from a cask) would know what you wanted if you asked for a shiraz. [/QUOTE] The restaurant I work in carries Wyndham Estate’s Bin 555 Sparkling Shiraz. Yes, a bubbly red. It’s interesting. But I don’t know of anywhere that would sell it by the glass. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/131 "2006-08-15T23:07:13Z")
This thread reminds me - years ago I saw one episode of the Ben Hogan show. BH was dressed in a floppy hat, swim trunks and flipflops, and he was carrying a cooler on his shoulder at the beach. A couple of girls called him a “Dag”. What’s a dag? Oh, and I love the Britishism “bint”. I don’t think we have an equivalent in American English to identify a stupid woman. “Bitch” means vicious or shrewish, but “bint” is more often the term I’m looking for. Stupid bint. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/132 "2006-08-15T23:27:15Z")
> [@Misscegenist](#): > > Uhmmm…you asked for a sparkling shiraz? > > The whole time I worked in a bottle store, and a bar (in New Zealand) I have NEVER seen a sparkling red. And, and I have only ever seen Shiraz as a red. [QUOTE=Amaranta] The restaurant I work in carries Wyndham Estate’s Bin 555 Sparkling Shiraz. Yes, a bubbly red. It’s interesting. But I don’t know of anywhere that would sell it by the glass. [/QUOTE] A wine bar near me does (or did) serve a sparkling shiraz by the glass, and the wine bar I visited in Adelaide did. You don’t see much sparkling shiraz outside Australia- it’s almost all made in Australia, and I don’t think they export much of it, because it hasn’t really caught on most other places. It may also be a fairly new thing, especially outside of Australia. It _is_ a bit of an acquired taste- I didn’t like it much the first time I drank it, but I did like it the second and subsequent times, once I knew what to expect. I think a typical response to seeing one’s first glass of sparkling shiraz is “what the hell is this?” I may have to make a trip to that wine bar in my town tonight, for research purposes, to see if they still have the sparkling shiraz 🙂 > [@](#): > > Any bar that serves wine by the glass (instead of from a cask) would know what you wanted if you asked for a shiraz. Oh, they knew what it was once I pronounced it the way they were used to hearing it. I pronounced it “shi-rahz”, as people here in CA often do, and they’re used to hearing “shi-razz”. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/133 "2006-08-15T23:35:34Z")
[QUOTE=teela brown] Oh, and I love the Britishism “bint”. [/QUOTE] Actually a borrowing from Arabic. ---
**Author:** ![Misscegnist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Misscegnist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misscegnist)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/134 "2006-08-16T00:51:11Z")
[QUOTE=teela brown] This thread reminds me - years ago I saw one episode of the Ben Hogan show. BH was dressed in a floppy hat, swim trunks and flipflops, and he was carrying a cooler on his shoulder at the beach. A couple of girls called him a “Dag”. What’s a dag? Oh, and I love the Britishism “bint”. I don’t think we have an equivalent in American English to identify a stupid woman. “Bitch” means vicious or shrewish, but “bint” is more often the term I’m looking for. Stupid bint. [/QUOTE] Literal - Dag = the shitty wool at the back of a lamb / ewe. This is normally cut / shaved away during crutching (they only cut around the backside, as opposed to shearing when all wool is taken) Slang - Dag = idiot without social graces / outcast. Can also mean endearingly strange in a non threatening manner. Depends upon the context ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/135 "2006-08-16T02:02:25Z")
[QUOTE=Biffy the Elephant Shrew] Actually a borrowing from Arabic. [/QUOTE] Odd. In Arabic “bint” is “daughter.” As described, it sounds like how we use “bimbo.” Or “blonde.” 😃 ---
**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 16, 2006, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/136 "2006-08-16T02:10:02Z")
I grew up in Feltwell, Norfolk, and it’s always been “Mildenhall,” just as it’s spelled. Bird in Hand, anyone? I also lived near Bicester when I was older. Brilliant name, that. There’s Roman stuff there, and the Fosse Way goes right up through there. Was a little freaked to see the M40 coursing through there, though, when I visited a few years back… Who’s Ben Hogan? I misread it as Paul Hogan. ---
**Author:** ![Ruffian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/137 "2006-08-16T05:40:47Z")
I made my English boss do a spittake when I said I just bought a car “but needed to learn to drive a stick.” Well, I did, and I did. So there. ---
**Author:** ![Exgineer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Exgineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exgineer)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/138 "2006-08-16T12:33:57Z")
[QUOTE=Hippy Hollow] Who’s Ben Hogan? I misread it as Paul Hogan. [/QUOTE] Golfer. Won a lot. Somewhat famous. Sort of an early Tiger Woods. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205/139 "2006-08-16T13:16:28Z")
[QUOTE=Hippy Hollow] Who’s Ben Hogan? I misread it as Paul Hogan. [/QUOTE] D’oh! Of course I meant Paul. It’s been a few years. That was rather a funny show, IIRC. I wish I could see some more of it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-american-vs-british-english/368205.md?page=6)