The currency is different, right? In Britain you can be quids in, or not the full shilling. You can take the King’s shilling.
Eh, just call it a banana bag. Or a sporran…
How have you heard it ? I’m in the US and have never heard it used to mean anything other than a main course.
When some friends and I were in London about 20 years ago, we wanted to visit a museum, and had to take the train there. I asked where the subway was, not realizing the Brits called it “The Tube.” We wound up walking into a tunnel that ran under the street and reached a dead end.
I’m pretty sure “cunt” means “vagina” on both sides of the pond.
When watching British TV shows, I’d often have to bring up closed captions to read what it is they’re talking about. In this way, I discovered words and phrases new to me. The ones I remember off the top of my head:
“His nibs”: the head honcho, the boss man
“Lie-Low”: an inflatable mattress that you put on the floor for guests
“Parky”: chilly weather
The YouTube channel "Words Unravelled with RobWords and Jess Zafarris ", hosted by two word nerds (Rob: British; Jess: American) who explain derivations of common English terms, is a fun place to dive into the quirky world of British vs. American language differences among other topics.
As I’ve remarked before, I love the British terms dustbin and dustman. They’re the perfect euphemisms for the American terms garbage and garbageman. They’re even prettier than the American dressed-up terms trash and trashman.
It’s not dirty, slimy, smelly detritus you want to throw out – it’s nice, clean —DUST!-- It doesn’t have rotting vegetables or slimy old banana peels or paper towels filled with dog vomit in it, it’s just – DUST ! – Just sweep it up neatly and use the dustpan (we Americans at least stole that much) to empty it into the Bin Bag (we still use Garbage Bags, or at best Trash Bags) in the Dust Bin and wait for the nice Dustmen in their clean white vehicle to haul it all away.
What do you call that vehicle? You can’t spoil it at this point by using the American term Garbage Truck. It is a Dust Lorry, or something like that?
In a similar vein, the word “lorry” conjures up (for me at least) something feminine and delicate. Lots of -y words are diminutives or juvenilizations and this one is no exception. The fact it’s a homophone for a common female name from my birth era certainly helps.
Sorta the opposite of the reality: a big heavy dirty greasy machine with an inadequate muffler usually operated by course people with a course vocabulary.
The garbage truck is a bin lorry or bin wagon.
I came in here to mention Lost in the Pond. I’m the opposite of that guy, 32 years in the US and nearly 30 in the UK.
I’ve learned of “kip” only recently, from Roger Daltrey’s memoir.
I’ll also mention the British term “spanner”, which I learned years ago from a Rod Stewart album title (“A Spanner in the Works”).
mmm
Probably used to be called the dust cart.
Someone mentioned the ‘c’ word above. Whilst it can be used ‘affectionately’ (I wouldn’t personally use it that way), it is definitely still used as an insult/in an aggressive way too in the UK.
Addressing the OP, I would say that there will be far more Britishisms that baffle Americans than vice versa, simply because the average Brit is FAR more exposed to American culture than the other way round. I see it having an influence on our language and whilst I have no problem per se with American English, it is sad to see British words for things being replaced. An example off the top of my head is ‘dinner suit’, which seems to be almost universally referred to as a tuxedo now. People, and it particularly appears to be young’uns (I’m in my 40s so that’s anyone under 30 haha), do seem influenced by American film, TV and social media more and more.
Someone else mentioned using captions/subtitles when watching British programmes. This amuses me (sorry not being snarky), because I’ve only ever struggled once when watching American TV and that was some very strong Baltimore accents when I first watched The Wire. I soon got used to them and didn’t need captions/subtitles.
Almost everything they say on The Great British Bake Off:
“biscuit,” “traybake,” “trifle,” “fairycake”
What the hell are they talking about?
As a kid 50+ years ago I had no trouble following e.g. Monty Python’s brand of English.
Nowadays at 60-something with some hearing loss, the combo of speaking speed, accent, and more sound effects, laugh track, etc., I find almost any Brit TV almost entirely unintelligble without subtitles. UK-specific vocabulary isn’t the issue.
Truth be told I struggle with American TV the same way; intelligibility seems to have fallen down a hole: too much noise, and the actors have odd pacing, talk over each other, and don’t speak clearly. Or so it seems to my muddled ears / brain.
It is still a dustcart.
There’s this old chestnut:
Not just a meme, that is literally what came to mind the first time I heard the term
The way the Brits say “first floor” to mean “the level above ground floor” rather than “ground floor” messed me up on my first few trips over there.
I’ve been a mild anglophile for much of my life, so most of them don’t faze me, and I probably slip a few into my vernacular here as well.
Sorry that your hearing isn’t what it was, I have that to look forward to if it hasn’t already started!
For what it’s worth, this isn’t just the UK, it’s the practice everywhere in Europe. So it’s the Americans who are the weird one on this.
A generational thing. Younger men might use it so of another man, but for an older generation (i.e., me), it’s the ultimate forceful swear word.
For a professional linguist’s take on this general topic:
It ain’t just you. My wife loves to stream movies, and I’d love to have a good time watching them with her, but it just doesn’t work, for the aforementioned reasons.