# What Britishisms most baffle Americans? What Americanisms most baffle Brits? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 18, 2024, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941 "2024-10-18T08:53:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 29
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2024, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/561 "2024-10-27T15:14:48Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Formally, yes, a pacifier. Less formally, a binky Never having heard the term Binky, I looked it up, only to find an internet assertion that Nookie was another American term for pacifier. Is that right? Collins on the web defines Nookie as “Sexual intercourse (informal, humorous)…” (to which I would add, archaic. The sort of word you might hear in a Carry On film.) .j ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2024, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/562 "2024-10-27T15:17:30Z")
I’ve never personally heard anyone back in the States refer to a pacifier as a “nooky” or “nookie” or whatever. It could be a regionalism, but in my experience, that word referred strictly to canoodling. (Which is another Americanism the Brits might have opinions about.) Edit to add: I was curious, so I googled “canoodling,” and the OED says the earliest documented use is in the writing of a British journalist in the mid 1800s. So evidently I’m wrong that it’s an Americanism. Ah well. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2024, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/563 "2024-10-27T15:20:21Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > Never having heard the term Binky, I looked it up, only to find an internet assertion that Nookie was another American term for pacifier. Is that right? I can’t say no one has ever used it for pacifier but it normally refers to sexual intercourse ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2024, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/564 "2024-10-27T15:24:31Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > The engineering building at UCLA (Boult Hall?) Boelter Hall. Boalt Hall is the former name of UC Berkeley Law. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2024, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/565 "2024-10-27T15:24:34Z")
Strange - here’s a specimen link. > **[Binky, Nookie, or Pacifier](https://community.babycenter.com/post/a27857347/binky_nookie_or_pacifier)** > > My DH and I have had some discussion over terminology when it comes to that thing babies put in their mouths to sooth themselves. My mother calls it a binky,… j ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2024, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/566 "2024-10-27T15:27:12Z")
Sometimes. There are plenty of places where there’s a 12th Street and a 12th Avenue, and you will get completely lost if you try for the wrong one, usually they’re orthogonal. In some places, e.g. Oregon, you can’t even leave off cardinal directions. That N or NE or W at the beginning is essential. FWIW, I had never heard the term “binky” until the last 10 years. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2024, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/567 "2024-10-27T15:28:21Z")
My wife’s grandmother was a working class Brit who drove trucks for the RAF. She was evacuated at Dunkirk. Anyway, when we went to the UK, we decided to find her childhood home. We had the address, it is in the town of Tonbridge but we ended up in Tunbridge Wells which is a very posh place. We figured it out, but not without a lot of help from locals. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2024, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/568 "2024-10-27T15:28:43Z")
Might be regional or even a family-by-family thing - but I did just remember that there is a brand called NUK. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2024, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/569 "2024-10-27T15:50:37Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > Is it that you _never_ leave off street/court/road etc , even if it is a unique street name or is it just that there are a lot of non-unique street names? Both, really. Some people might possibly truncate when talking to a close neighbour and they both know that the other will understand them, but there are indeed lots of non-unique street names. ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2024, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/570 "2024-10-27T16:08:18Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > Is it that you _never_ leave off street/court/road etc , even if it is a unique street name or is it just that there are a lot of non-unique street names? Yeah, both really. Not including ‘Street’ etc. just sounds very odd to Brits and immediately marks you out as a clueless tourist. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2024, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/571 "2024-10-27T16:56:58Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > Correct. A grizzly baby is an unhappy one. I remember being confused the first time I came across that in a book. The only previous times I’d seen the word was in “grizzly bear,” so I thought the baby must be making a horrendous racket, or else really, really ugly. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2024, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/572 "2024-10-27T17:16:48Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > By contrast, a terrible or awful teacher would be bad at teaching on both sides of the ocean. I don’t know if this is true in the US, but in the UK terrible used to mean ‘inspires terror’. Hence _HMS Terrible_, from 1895 and before. (Not that long ago, really). > **[HMS Terrible (1895)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Terrible_(1895))** > > HMS Terrible was the second and last of the Powerful-class protected cruisers built for the Royal Navy (RN) in the 1890s. She served on the China Station and provided landing parties and guns which participated in the Siege and Relief of Ladysmith in the Second Boer War in South Africa. A few months later she did much the same thing to help suppress the Boxer Rebellion in China. During this time, her captain was Percy Scott, who trained his crew to a high standard in gunnery and had his train... And _awful_ used to mean ‘inspires awe’. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2024, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/573 "2024-10-27T17:21:24Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > Is it that you _never_ leave off street/court/road etc , even if it is a unique street name For one thing, few people would ever be sure that it is a unique street name in that town. Lots of urban streets will have a lane or mews or something, with the same first part of the name, branching off it at some point. And there could just as easily be some avenue or drive out in suburbs with the same first part. So to make sure everyone is talking about the same place, you always specify street, avenue, road, close, lane etc. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2024, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/574 "2024-10-27T17:30:45Z")
It’s still strange they named two ships “Terror” and the Greek personification of darkness and were shocked when the expedition ended in tragedy and people maybe ate each other. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2024, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/575 "2024-10-27T17:34:16Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > I don’t know if this is true in the US, but in the UK terrible used to mean ‘inspires terror’. Hence _HMS Terrible_, from 1895 and before. (Not that long ago, really). > [@eburacum45](#): > > And _awful_ used to mean ‘inspires awe’. As an American, while I’m familiar with both original definitions of the word, in my lifetime, when I’ve heard or seen either word used, it’s nearly always being used to convey “really bad” – and in the few times when I’ve seen a writer or speaker use the words in their other meanings, they always have to highlight, “and I mean that in the original sense of the word.” The American song “Battle Hymn of the Republic” uses the phrase “His terrible swift sword” (clearly in the sense of “inspires terror”) – but there, too, the song dates from the 19th century (it was written during the American Civil War). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2024, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/576 "2024-10-27T17:43:48Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > This might be obsolete, but in early 20th century fiction I’ve read where if someone said they’re “on the telephone”, they didn’t mean that they were actively using it at that moment. Instead, they meant that they had a telephone in their house, i.e. that they were “on” the telephone system. That’s extremely obsolete, like something from the 1920s. For some reason we went for a few years without a phone in the 1970s, towards the end of the time when that wasn’t extremely unusual, and once we got a phone installed we did not start saying we were “on the telephone”. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2024, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/577 "2024-10-27T20:37:23Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Boelter Hall. Boalt Hall is the former name of UC Berkeley Law. Thanks. I haven’t been on campus in ages. > [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](#): > > once we got a phone installed we did not start saying we were “on the telephone”. Does anyone still say “on the mains” to indicate you have electricity (and/or water?)? ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2024, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/578 "2024-10-27T21:23:54Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > > [@hibernicus](#): > > > > By contrast, a terrible or awful teacher would be bad at teaching on both sides of the ocean. > > I don’t know if this is true in the US, but in the UK terrible used to mean ‘inspires terror’. Hence _HMS Terrible_, from 1895 and before. (Not that long ago, really). > [HMS Terrible (1895) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Terrible_(1895)) > And _awful_ used to mean ‘inspires awe’. As in the hymn “Before Jehovah’s awful throne”. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2024, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/579 "2024-10-27T21:49:21Z")
Some US regional pronunciations might baffle not only Brits but also other Americans. Where I come from, the people who nail shingles on are called “roofers,” but when they’re done, we can admire our new “rhuf.” A carrot is a “root” vegetable, but we clear the way for them by pulling weeds out by the “rhuts.” ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2024, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/580 "2024-10-27T22:18:19Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > Does anyone still say “on the mains” to indicate you have electricity (and/or water?)? … or would you say “on the grid” ? “Off the grid” is definitely a thing. Does “grid” refer to the electricity network in the US, as it does in the UK ? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941.md?page=28) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941.md?page=30)