English is English... Except if It's English

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Belgians? Sometimes I do, too, and my mother used to. But when I first saw that, I was horrified.

 

The thought of it certainly creates an imaginative shudder; probably why the rumor has become so widespread.

 

Brits ain't the only ones doing the mayo+chips= An American ex-friend of mine eats them that way. A woman I worked for used to put mayo in her coffee!

Other Brit words that are weird to me:

Brit-----Kuemper
===========
popping out - going outside
boot - trunk (really confusing watching Das Boot)
bonnet - car hood
fag - cigarette/bundle of sticks
cheerio (prob. not used anymore) - byebye
biscuit - cookie
crisp - chip
oleo - margarine (this doesn't bug me as my mom calls it oleo, too. )
lager - beer

And this driving on the 'right'/'wrong' side of the road business: what's up with that? So why do a majority of former Brit colonies drive on the 'wrong' (left) side?

 

Oh! How could we forget the whole "knock me up" and "stop by" thing?

So let me get this straight...do English people put mayo on their fries, or not?

I'm confused...

 

No, I can categorically (sp?... whatever) state that English people do NOT put mayo on chips (at least, the sane ones).
Most people drown them in vinegar and sprinkle some salt. In Northen England, we tend to let them swim in gravy. Mayo never comes into it. I think that's a European thing.

 

OK.

In NZ, we call it a rubbish bin, but in USA, you'd call it a trash-can. In England, you might call it a dust-bin.

Some of the differences can be shocking. In the USA, you can be served a dish called "Biscuits and Gravy" which sounds horrible, because for the rest of us, a biscuit is a what an American might call a "cookie".

I don't think anyone outside of the USA uses the word "condominium".

In NZ, we say "footpath", but in USA it might be a pavement or a sidewalk.

In NZ, we order a flat white (coffee with a little bit of foamed milk on top) but in other parts of the world that might be a cappuccino (which for us has lots of foamed milk) or a latte (which for us would be about 90% milk)

I had never heard of the words 'duplex' and 'semi-detached' to describe houses before I visited England.

I was ridiculed when I went to USA and asked for someone to pass me a 'rubber' to correct a mistake made in pencil. Apparently, that is what Americans call a condom. I should have asked for an eraser.

 

American: stockings or pantyhose
British: tights

A tear in said garment would be a run in America but a ladder in England.

In America, knickers are knee-length pants, usually worn by small boys but also as part of a fencing uniform. In British parlance, they're underwear for the lower half.

And while travelling where British is spoken, do yourself a favor and don't refer to your waist- or belt-bag as a fanny pack!

 

Yeah, that's why we always laugh that in America they actually have a sports team called the Knicker-bockers. Might as well call them the Underwear team.

 

The Dutch. Anyone who's dated a girl from Holland knows that.

 

Schools:

NZ - American
Primary school - Elementary school
Intermediate school - Junior High
College - HigH School
University - College

Also, the whole deal with "freshmen" and "sophomores" etc is completely unheard of in NZ, other than something that goes on in American teen movies.

 

Hate to bring seriousness into this fun topic, but NY Knickerbockers are called that *because* they wore knickers (knee length pants) when they played. Will someone explain the driving thing to me?

 

I utterly hate that stuff with passion, though I can't tell you why. Perhaps because I generally don't like silly naming, perhaps because I generally hate silly words, perhaps because I generally hate the excessive urge that people seem to have. Don't know. But I hate those.

 

I think this may help answer your question Kuemper

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_021b.html

I think there's some more school differences;
grade - year (as in year one instead of first grade)
kindergarten - reception

And let's not forget, arse is ass in Britain, unless you're refering to a donkey.

[ September 10, 2005, 04:08: Message edited by: Lost_Meme ]

 

It's still funny to have a serious sports team called the New York Underpants.

We drive on the left in NZ as well.

Expanding this topic a wee bit, we use the metric system in NZ, whereas USA and England do have something in common in that much of the old imperial measurement system is still popular in both of those countries.

Also, in NZ, we clean the floor with a 'vaccuum cleaner', not a 'hoover'.

And when we sell all our household junk, it is at a 'garage sale', not a 'yard sale' or a 'car-boot sale'.

 

I tend to call them "first-years" or "first year students".

Also we wear a raincoat; brits wear a mac.

There's also the issue of the pronounciation of words. To cut a funny story short, some guy asked me for "cheers." After he saw me stare blankly for a few seconds, he pointed to a nearby "chair."

 

"Newbies" do just fine. And "fresh meet" sounds somewhat better than "freshmen". Well, just joking. But "sophomores" is weird. Really. Juniors, seniors, freshmen, not so bad. But sophomores? IIRC young academics are called households or something similar at some unis.

 

Sophomore can mean 'second', if you read the adjective definition.

 

malaysia: hand phone

The difference, i think, relates to its environment. Malaysia, obviously, has more people that knows some English than those who mastered English. "Hand" is an easy word for everyone, thus "hand phone" is adapted by the public.

 

Exactly! That'd be us. Anybody who has seen Pulp Fiction could have known. There are more countries here who do, Belgians for example. The mayo in other countries is, of course, not as good as we Dutchies and Belgians use. No wonder they don't like it...

I always thought Americans used a bit more complex words, like 'elevator' for 'lift'.

 

@kuemper: Yeah, but only used about schools and students. It sucks. Plain "second-year" is way better IMHO.