# What are some \*subtle\* differences among various dialects of English? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 12, 2017, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145 "2017-09-12T06:34:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/121 "2017-09-13T19:44:13Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > I prefer grape wine myself. Californian wine is a little too close to soylent green for my tastes. > > Speaking of California-ism. > > When I moved to Pennsylvania I had to work hard to eliminate the phrase “yeah, no.” from my speech. Something I said without thinking about it, which was always understood in my native California to mean “I fully understand but disagree” made people quite visibly angry with me out here. > > “did you just say yes no? Which is it?” was a common response. Followed by much eye rolling and exasperated sighing. Occasionally arm flapping. Pissed people right off. [Yeah, no…](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=593102) ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/122 "2017-09-13T20:26:27Z")
It’s “foy-yay” in Canada: British and French influence. ---
**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:** [September 13, 2017, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/123 "2017-09-13T20:29:08Z")
But in French it would be [fwa je] (“fwah-yay”), I believe. But yeah in the U.S., it’s usually pronounced as spelled. ---
**Author:** ![snoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@snoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snoe)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/124 "2017-09-13T20:45:32Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > This was great. Ignore anything I said in the thread. Listen to this instead. Yes, the Lexicon Valley podcast is outstanding, and you should all check it out! Older episodes, pre-McWhorter, have more of a focus on slang and dialect – the new host, McWhorter, is an academic linguist, so he’ll be happy to talk for 45 minutes about the conjugation of “to be” in various language families. But it’s not like you need to listen to them in order. Want to find out where "shit show, “gringo,” or “The Big Apple” came from? Just go back to older episodes. (McWhorter’s great, don’t get me wrong – I just think he’s a little less fun than the Garfield/Vuolo/Zimmerman team that was doing the show until last year.) ---
**Author:** ![snoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@snoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snoe)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/125 "2017-09-13T20:59:48Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > But in French it would be [fwa je] (“fwah-yay”), I believe. > > But yeah in the U.S., it’s usually pronounced as spelled. 1. A bunch of French pronunciation references agree: it’s “fwah yay” in French. I had no idea! 2. in my limited experience hearing people say the word in the US, it’s at least 50% in favor of “foy yay” as opposed to “foy ur.” But I don’t spend that much time talking to desk clerks at hotels, receptionists at office buildings, or … who the hell uses that word regularly, anyway? ---
**Author:** ![Arcite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/126 "2017-09-13T21:48:49Z")
If I were to hear a fellow American pronounce foyer “foy-yay,” I would assume they were being facetious, like someone pronouncing the name of the store Target “tar-zhay.” ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/127 "2017-09-13T21:53:59Z")
> [@snoe](#): > > Yes, the Lexicon Valley podcast is outstanding, and you should all check it out! Older episodes, pre-McWhorter, have more of a focus on slang and dialect – the new host, McWhorter, is an academic linguist, so he’ll be happy to talk for 45 minutes about the conjugation of “to be” in various language families. > > But it’s not like you need to listen to them in order. Want to find out where "shit show, “gringo,” or “The Big Apple” came from? Just go back to older episodes. > > (McWhorter’s great, don’t get me wrong – I just think he’s a little less fun than the Garfield/Vuolo/Zimmerman team that was doing the show until last year.) And it taught me that it’s a generational not regional dialect quick. Which I didn’t know own could be a thing. I have rarely had such a feeling of eureka as I had when they played the clips from the slate podcasters and then explained exactly what was going on. It was like “yeah, no, that’s exactly what I do! Finally someone gets me!” ---
**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:** [September 13, 2017, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/128 "2017-09-13T22:29:18Z")
> [@Arcite](#): > > If I were to hear a fellow American pronounce foyer “foy-yay,” I would assume they were being facetious, like someone pronouncing the name of the store Target “tar-zhay.” Growing up, I actually did hear both the “foy-er” and “foy-ay” pronunciation, unironically/unaffectedly. This was well before that type of tongue-in-cheek hipsterism. There was actually a post about it [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=551818&page=2), and the results are almost dead even, 104 - 101 in favor of “foy-urr.” Yes, there’s Canadian and UK and other English speakers in there, but it’s still mostly going to be US English speakers. (I say “foy-urr,” but I started out saying “foy-yay” as that’s how I first learned it here in Chicago in school.) ---
**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:** [September 13, 2017, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/129 "2017-09-13T22:35:49Z")
> [@Arcite](#): > > If I were to hear And, actually, here’s another one. I noticed that British English tends not to use this subjunctive construction. There is a difference in American English between “if I was” and “if I were,” but I tend not to see the “if I were” construction in British English. It seems like “if I was” has completely replaced it. I may be wrong, but I’ve definitely noticed it in the Harry Potter books. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/130 "2017-09-13T22:52:49Z")
Brits seem much more likely to refer to their significant other as “my partner”, it seems to me. But for some reason, hearing “my partner” in the U.S. or Canada makes me think that the speaker is deliberately being cagey about the gender of their boyfriend/girlfriend/whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/131 "2017-09-13T23:03:20Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > [Bolding mine] > > Uh, from the order you’ve written the rest of these examples, it looks like you think ‘bumbershoot’ is a word used in the UK…? > It’s not. > > Umbrella or, informally, brolly. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the word bumbershoot. :smack: That will teach me to ever trust my mother-in-law. Who, I should add, has never been to England. But you do use Nappy instead of Diaper (not that this is relevant to this discussion). I really should have stayed lurking on this thread, huh? ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/132 "2017-09-13T23:13:52Z")
The US ‘_in back of_’ meaning behind is never used in British English so sounds a bit jarring when I read it in a novel. Don’t know how common this construction is across the US these days. Not quite the flavour of the thread but _Fire road_ is an Americanism that has successfully taken root in the mother tongue, and I doubt was ever used pre-1980 or so. We do occasionally have forest fires in some hot years but forestry road would be the English equivalent I guess. Must have arisen from the reach and popularity of US outdoor sports writers and journalists. The word _graft_ is a strange one, recall asking about it on here previously - very rarely used in the US sense of corruption, although well-read people in the UK would prob recognise this usage. In the UK it sort of means the opposite - hard, honest work. My Dad has quite gnarly, working man’s hands and I remember asking him when I was little what were all the bumps and calluses - _that’s hard graft son is what that is._ ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/133 "2017-09-13T23:17:19Z")
I just heard a Brit at the pub say “Give us a pint of Guinness.” Using “us” in this manner is very common in the UK and never used like this in NA. ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/134 "2017-09-13T23:50:02Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I just heard a Brit at the pub say “Give us a pint of Guinness.” > > Using “us” in this manner is very common in the UK and never used like this in NA. I was reading one of those true crime novels about a notorious Liverpool gangster who was under surveillance in Amsterdam in the 80s - one day he was heard arranging to meet his associates in the _cafe byus_. Dutch police search the A-Z for this cafe but there’s not a single place of this name in Holland. Frantically get in touch with the Liverpool police to see if they can shed any light - yes, would that be related to the cafe bymine, or the cafe byours? Basically he was saying the cafe near me. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2017, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/135 "2017-09-14T00:41:16Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > Brits seem much more likely to refer to their significant other as “my partner”, it seems to me. But for some reason, hearing “my partner” in the U.S. or Canada makes me think that the speaker is deliberately being cagey about the gender of their boyfriend/girlfriend/whatever. In BrE “boyfriend” or “girlfriend” would be considered patronising or diminutive if applied to a mature adult. In your teens and twenties you can have boyfriends and girlfriends but, much beyond that, it can sound odd. “Partner” is non-specific about gender, but doesn’t ring as coy. However it can ring as coy about formal marital status. Your spouse, husband or wife is married to you; your partner may or may not be. Plus, of course, “partner” can be ambiguous; it requires context to say whether it refers to a business partner or to a conjugal partner. SFAIK in BrE there is no generic term for a non-marital conjugal partner, but in AusE there is: de facto (treated as a noun). ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2017, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/136 "2017-09-14T01:23:52Z")
There are some verbs that are easily understandable, but more common in one or the other. _Dreamt_ vs _dreamed_ e.g. My American spell-checkers hate dreamt, but American me prefers that word. It sounds more elegant. One I don’t like and actually matters is the date format. Yesterday was 9/12, September 12th. Yes, I know it makes more sense to do it the other way, but I prefer it written to how I say it. 12 September makes me think there are 12 Septembers. If I do dates internationally, I would call yesterday 2017-09-12. That doesn’t bother me or confuse me. And I have no idea if half 9 means 8:30 or 9:30. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2017, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/137 "2017-09-14T01:56:22Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > In the UK, “bent” can mean "homosexual (not straight). Americans will tell someone they’re angry at to “get bent,” meaning “get out of here.” In my world, “get bent” is a lot more hostile than get “out of here”. . .prob a lot closer to the UK definition! mc ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2017, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/138 "2017-09-14T02:16:07Z")
> [@Fair\_Rarity](#): > > There are some verbs that are easily understandable, but more common in one or the other. _Dreamt_ vs _dreamed_ e.g. My American spell-checkers hate dreamt, but American me prefers that word. It sounds more elegant. > …- > > And I have no idea if half 9 means 8:30 or 9:30. Learnt vs. learned is another. And half 9 means 9:30. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2017, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/139 "2017-09-14T02:16:21Z")
It’s like you guys are purposely trying to ignore the OP’s instructions. They’re asking for words that STILL MEAN THE SAME THING in both dialects but are only used in one. > [@Shagnasty](#): > > My daughter mocks me whenever I tell her to put something up. She holds it over her head. According to her New England dialect, the correct term is to put it **away**. The two terms mean the same thing in my Southern dialect but I tend to use the former. I’ve told this story before, but here goes: In Army basic training, it’s a common form of punishment to have to chug your canteen until TPTB tell you to stop. Some soldiers will try to cheat by only sipping it slowly, and hoping not to be noticed in the crowd of 100 recruits. So we’re being forced to drink after some screw-up or another (not filing into the chow hall in the correct sequence, I believe), and after a while, the drill sergeants are yelling “Put 'em up! Put 'em up!” Half of us stopped drinking and reholstered the canteens. The other half (including me), unfamiliar with this expression, kept raising the bottle higher and higher until we’re practically under a waterfall and choking on the stream. Everyone, drill sergeants and recruits, was…confused. > [@John\_Mace](#): > > Pittsburg h. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2017, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145/140 "2017-09-14T03:02:40Z")
I don’t know if it’s a personal quirk or an Indian English expression but one of the guys I work with acknowledges a new fact with a very simple “Oh is it?” The meaning is clear, and the logic is obvious, but it’s not a construction I find at all familiar. Just an occasion like he will mention that he is going down three floors to the vending machine, and I will say that there is a vending machine machine on this floor, hidden around the corner behind the receptionist, or letting him know we are hiring a new tester, he says “Oh is it?” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-subtle-differences-among-various-dialects-of-english/796145.md?page=8)