# Sloppy foreign words/phrases in books **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 29, 2012, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sloppy-foreign-words-phrases-in-books/611034 "2012-01-29T00:03:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sloppy-foreign-words-phrases-in-books/611034/61 "2012-01-30T05:52:20Z")
Next ones: the American woman has been mugged and tells a cop they stole her handbag, and her purse was inside it. The American man observes the bonnet of a car. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sloppy-foreign-words-phrases-in-books/611034/62 "2012-01-30T05:59:28Z")
Ok this is getting ridiculous. They go to retrieve someone from the emergency wing of a hospital in upstate New York. One American says to the other: “the A and E is over here”. It’s not like ER wasn’t a massively popular hit in Ireland in the 90s. I’m tending even more to the thought that the New York location was a hurried, post-hoc alteration. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sloppy-foreign-words-phrases-in-books/611034/63 "2012-01-30T07:55:02Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > I’m reading a book by Joseph O’Connor that has an American family in New York pulling [Christmas crackers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_cracker). It’s a good book but that’s really pulled me out of the narrative. It’s just such a basic mistake and I can’t believe nobody spotted it. I recall a Neil Gaiman _Sandman_ tale set in a redneck bar, where British Gaiman did a spectacular job with the dialect, right up until someone asked for a “packet” of cigarettes. I’ve also seen it done (also with a Southern accent) with “aluminium.” ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sloppy-foreign-words-phrases-in-books/611034/64 "2012-01-30T08:42:14Z")
I was at a talk with Gaiman a few years back, and he said that he had originally planned to set his book Anansi Boys, which features an African-American protagonist, in the U.S. At some point, though, he realized that he wasn’t 100% sure he could write believable dialog for a black American kid, but he \*could \*write believable dialog for a black \*British \*kid - so he just moved the story to London. I have to say, though, that ever since moving to the U.S., Gaiman has gotten much better with American idiom. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sloppy-foreign-words-phrases-in-books/611034/65 "2012-01-30T08:49:39Z")
Edit: NM ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sloppy-foreign-words-phrases-in-books/611034/66 "2012-01-30T13:05:48Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I was at a talk with Gaiman a few years back, and he said that he had originally planned to set his book Anansi Boys, which features an African-American protagonist, in the U.S. At some point, though, he realized that he wasn’t 100% sure he could write believable dialog for a black American kid, but he \*could \*write believable dialog for a black \*British \*kid - so he just moved the story to London. Wise call indeed. There are regional differences, significant ones, even among black American dialects. I cannot imagine a Brit figuring out the speech patterns of a Brooklyn black guy (think Mike Tyson) vs. a Southern country black boy (the expression “I’m f’na,” meaning “I’m fixing to,” meaning “I’m going to,” is not easily arrived at if you have not heard it first-hand). ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sloppy-foreign-words-phrases-in-books/611034/67 "2012-01-30T13:50:45Z")
> [@Bilbo1967](#): > > I’ve seen a couple of American writers recently puting the word ‘block’ in the mouth of British characters giving directions in a British city. > > ‘Blocks’, in that sense, do not exist in Britain. We’d never really use them in the same way as most Americans, but weirdly I used to talk about “walking around the block” when talking the dog for a walk. The path I took was a generally circular pattern taking in several winding roads. I’ve often wondered where I got this from, could it be the decade that my Parents spent in Canada rubbing off on their and hence my English? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sloppy-foreign-words-phrases-in-books/611034/68 "2012-01-30T15:26:43Z")
Latest unAmerican dialog: She says “fortnight”. Another American talks about a “trouser press”. I’m going to stop doing this now, there’s just too much of it. It redeems itself, however, because the Irish dialog is absolutely out of this world. The best representation of the poetic quirks of Dublin dialect I’ve ever read. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sloppy-foreign-words-phrases-in-books/611034/69 "2012-01-30T15:42:36Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Latest unAmerican dialog: > > She says “fortnight”. > Another American talks about a “trouser press”. > > I’m going to stop doing this now, there’s just too much of it. > > It redeems itself, however, because the Irish dialog is absolutely out of this world. The best representation of the poetic quirks of Dublin dialect I’ve ever read. Well it’s obvious now you’re not complaining about a single misplaced term, but a general disregard for cultural differences. So again, I agree, it’s annoying. But now it would be far more so. I could ignore a singular lapse, but this sounds like a grating annoyance. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sloppy-foreign-words-phrases-in-books/611034/70 "2012-01-30T15:48:02Z")
> [@Huerta88](#): > > I had a dictionary of Irish idiom once. It was not a thin book. I couldn’t get a consistent answer to what half-five meant in different parts of the British Isles. Eh, does i mean anything other than 5.30 in other parts? ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sloppy-foreign-words-phrases-in-books/611034/71 "2012-01-30T15:52:16Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Eh, does i mean anything other than 5.30 in other parts? Yes, I’ve heard it used to mean 4:30. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sloppy-foreign-words-phrases-in-books/611034/72 "2012-01-30T15:58:43Z")
> [@Huerta88](#): > > Yes, I’ve heard it used to mean 4:30. If you heard it in the British isles then they meant 5.30. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sloppy-foreign-words-phrases-in-books/611034/73 "2012-01-30T16:06:33Z")
> [@Huerta88](#): > > Yes, I’ve heard it used to mean 4:30. Never met anyone on these isles who use it in that way. It is used that way in German however. ---
**Author:** ![Bilbo1967](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@Bilbo1967](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bilbo1967)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sloppy-foreign-words-phrases-in-books/611034/74 "2012-01-30T16:27:01Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Attack The Block is a British film. Indeed it is. ‘Block’, in the title of that film, is used in the sense of a block of flats (apartment block?), not in the sense I was talking about earlier. ---
**Author:** ![Bilbo1967](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@Bilbo1967](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bilbo1967)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sloppy-foreign-words-phrases-in-books/611034/75 "2012-01-30T16:30:16Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > We’d never really use them in the same way as most Americans, but weirdly I used to talk about “walking around the block” when talking the dog for a walk. The path I took was a generally circular pattern taking in several winding roads. I’ve often wondered where I got this from, could it be the decade that my Parents spent in Canada rubbing off on their and hence my English? I’ve come across that too. I think in the UK it just has the meaning of taking a short walk that begins and ends at the same spot. I really wouldn’t know if the etymology includes the US sense of a block. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sloppy-foreign-words-phrases-in-books/611034/76 "2012-01-30T16:31:38Z")
> [@Bilbo1967](#): > > I’ve come across that too. I think in the UK it just has the meaning of taking a short walk that begins and ends at the same spot. I really wouldn’t know if the etymology includes the US sense of a block. Probably about the same. We use ‘block’ very generically outside of cities. And even in cities, ‘around the block’ doesn’t mean anything specific. A walk around the block means staying relatively local, as opposed to heading uptown or downtown for instance. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sloppy-foreign-words-phrases-in-books/611034/77 "2012-01-30T17:03:43Z")
> [@Bilbo1967](#): > > Indeed it is. ‘Block’, in the title of that film, is used in the sense of a block of flats (apartment block?), not in the sense I was talking about earlier. Ah right so. Not seen the film and had assumed by the title the title used the 'merkin meaning of the word. Yeah a block of flats makes more sense. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sloppy-foreign-words-phrases-in-books/611034/78 "2012-01-30T22:15:35Z")
Since we’re onto Brit/US translation problems, I want to mention a story that I’ve otherwise forgotten where character driving through the West Country in England didn’t want to have too much alcohol, so he only drank two pints of cider instead of beer. > [@TriPolar](#): > > Probably about the same. We use ‘block’ very generically outside of cities. And even in cities, ‘around the block’ doesn’t mean anything specific. A walk around the block means staying relatively local, as opposed to heading uptown or downtown for instance. It’s not really the same. We do say “a walk around the block” to mean a short walk around the local area, lasting maybe ten minutes from start to finish at a stroll, but we’d never say ‘two blocks from here.’ It would literally not mean anything at all. There’s not just not much of a grid pattern, there’s no grid pattern at all. Even the new estates in new towns don’t have easy patterns like that because there’s always old stuff in the way. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sloppy-foreign-words-phrases-in-books/611034/79 "2012-01-30T22:24:58Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Since we’re onto Brit/US translation problems, I want to mention a story that I’ve otherwise forgotten where character driving through the West Country in England didn’t want to have too much alcohol, so he only drank two pints of cider instead of beer. > > It’s not really the same. We do say “a walk around the block” to mean a short walk around the local area, lasting maybe ten minutes from start to finish at a stroll, but we’d never say ‘two blocks from here.’ It would literally not mean anything at all. There’s not just not much of a grid pattern, there’s no grid pattern at all. Even the new estates in new towns don’t have easy patterns like that because there’s always old stuff in the way. Been over that before, just addressing ‘around the block’. As I’ve said, outside of a city, two blocks would just mean the next two cross streets, and we have many cities that have no grid. Even in a city, you’d confuse someone by using block to mean between 2nd and 3rd street when there are some intermediate streets there. We also use the term block to refer to a range of addresses, such as the 1700 block of Main St. That may or may not correspond directly with grid divisions. Also, a ‘block party’ which is supposed to be a community event for everyone on your block, is extended to mean…well anything. I recall someone trying to organize a Rt. 9 block party, which would have extended up and down the east coast of the US. I think the typical person from the UK would understand what we mean by block, but wouldn’t normally use the term. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sloppy-foreign-words-phrases-in-books/611034/80 "2012-01-30T22:29:56Z")
Just been watching Todd Margaret and one of the British characters said ‘cell phone’. As it is filmed in the UK, a British co production and the actress was British, I can’t help but feel some idiot executive insisted on it as they felt the Americans wouldn’t understand ‘mobile’. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sloppy-foreign-words-phrases-in-books/611034.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sloppy-foreign-words-phrases-in-books/611034.md?page=5)