Subtle differences between the US and the UK that baffle me/you/us. - by SubJeff
june gloom on 18/1/2013 at 08:07
Maybe it's because I read a lot and am surrounded by old and/or educated people but I'm pretty familiar with like, 90% of those. Bunny boiler's definitely a new one on me though.
DDL on 18/1/2013 at 09:45
It's like nobody watches classic movies any more... :p
I didn't know "High, Wide and Handsome" or "Wild and Woolly" (both of which sound kinda like porn) but the rest seemed fairly familiar. Surprised about "Goody gumdrops" being an americanism, though.
nickie on 18/1/2013 at 10:15
Quote Posted by demagogue
Edit: In the US, save for people my grandparent's age, we would indeed now say wear the pants. It's a situation like if the wife is the breadwinner for the family, we could say she wears the pants in the family.
Which is a slightly different meaning than I would use. My usage would be as the link i.e. rules the roost. I wonder when trousers became pants and why.
demagogue on 18/1/2013 at 10:41
No I'd (we'd) use it like you use it, rules the roost. I guess using the term breadwinner doesn't quite get to that, since the breadwinner doesn't always wear the pants in the family if they're not really in charge when they get home. "He may be the breadwinner, but she really wears the pants in the family."
Edit: BTW, I wouldn't really classify any of these as Americanisms looking at them. These are idioms that happen to (allegedly) have an American origin. But an Americanism is something characteristically American to say. I just can't think of any great ones off the top of my head that aren't of the simple truck/lorry type (and even then, saying "truck" isn't exactly an Americanism either; it's just that only Americans would tend to say it, not that it comes out of anything like an American character or something). Like saying "howdy" without irony would be a definite Texas-ism. But an Americanism, hmm...
faetal on 18/1/2013 at 11:05
Quote Posted by nickie
Which is a slightly different meaning than I would use. My usage would be as the link i.e. rules the roost. I wonder when trousers became pants and why.
The US shares a border with Spanish a speaking country. My guess is that it is a truncation of pantaloons. Other Spanish words which make it into the US lexicon (that I've heard) are primarily culinary, e.g. cilantro (coriander), arugula (rocket) - there are probably others.
[EDIT] P.s. My howdy line was pointing out that the UKism quiz thing uses region-specific, yet often touted as being quintessentially British slang, so it was a point well made it would seem.
ZylonBane on 18/1/2013 at 18:51
Quote Posted by demagogue
Brass tacks or Down to brass tacks (maybe? considering Brits call them drawing pins)
Brass tacks aren't thumbtacks/"drawing pins", they're furniture tacks.
faetal on 18/1/2013 at 19:44
I'm familiar with a lot of the US ones, probably due to watching a large number of US dialect films and television.
gunsmoke on 23/1/2013 at 10:33
As I have my C.D.L. and am a HUGE gearhead, I pay attention to pictures/videos/stories about driving in foreign countries. So, I have a couple of questions for those of you in the U.K.
What is with the zig-zag lines on the lane edges in traffic? Do you have automated traffic systems, or do you solely rely on roundabouts (which are getting quite popular here, btw) or something similar? Thank you...
SubJeff on 23/1/2013 at 11:05
Zig-zags = no parking, no stopping.
We have traffic lights and roundabouts.
demagogue on 23/1/2013 at 13:08
I do remember towns being more smashed together in the UK (& Europe generally), or at least there wasn't much transition between "driving in the country" to turning a corner and "ok now we're driving in town". It wasn't like the vast stretches of highway that the US has connecting cities, where you could suddenly find yourself in serious BFE with nothing but dense forest, or fields, or total desert on either side of you for miles and miles, and then you'd break through these concentric circles of entering the city. It's not surprising of course, but it's still something striking & noticeable when you're driving for longer stretches the first time. The roads were generally narrower, and yeah the zig-zags somehow added to the claustrophobia of them for someone used to driving on US roads.
I seem to remember not many houses having big front lawns either, they just came right up to the street like townhouses, but what I saw may not have been very representative.
I also remember a wall with a warning sign that said "Notice: Anti-Climb Paint Applied" and laughing at how dumb the idea sounded, but also thinking, well if it works...
