Archive for category Two nations divided by a common language
Quacks with humour
Posted by Anya in Two nations divided by a common language on August 1, 2008
Does anyone else think it is hilarious that the name for the British plastic surgery body is BAAPS? (British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons).
Talking to foreigners
Posted by Anya in Stuff that's different and weird, Two nations divided by a common language on July 17, 2008
You know how many people approach talking to foreigners – any language difficulties can be overcome by speaking louder and slower. I am surprised at how many people here adopt that approach with me.
The most recent was yesterday – I went into an AutoTag office (I needed some sort of sticker that goes on my car number plate). Anyway, I queued for 10 mins behind a Korean family who spoke limited English. The lady behind the desk adopted the above communication strategy. When it was my turn, she did the same. I didn’t think much of it initially (actually I thought she was a bit stupid or deaf – bless) until an American chap came in and she spoke to him completely normally.
At that point I couldn’t help wondering what it was that made her think I would benefit from the foreigner treatment. Particularly when in actual fact I think my English was rather better than hers….grrrrrr
You know when you are back in the US when…
Posted by Anya in Stuff that's different and weird, Two nations divided by a common language on July 10, 2008
… the first thing you see at the airport (OK after the welcome messages from Mr Nutter the mayor) is this:
Nominations for most abused words 3: Antique
Posted by Anya in Stuff that's different and weird, Two nations divided by a common language on June 12, 2008
English definition
an·tique [an–teek]
–adjective
of or belonging to the past; not modern.
2. dating from a period long ago: antique furniture
noting or pertaining to automobiles approximately 25 years old or more
in the tradition, fashion, or style of an earlier period; old-fashioned; antiquated
of or belonging to the ancient Greeks and Romans
American English definition
an·tique [an–teek]
–adjective
1.White Elephant or bric a brac
2. Anything built before last year
Nominations for most abused words 2: Historic
Posted by Anya in Stuff that's different and weird, Two nations divided by a common language on June 12, 2008
English definition
his·tor·ic [hi-stawr-ik]
–adjective
1.well-known or important in history: a historic building; historic occasions
American English definition
his·tor·ic [hi-stawr-ik]
–adjective
Anything built before last year (every town has a historic centre)
See also antique
Nominations for most abused words 1: Gourmet
Posted by Anya in Stuff that's different and weird, Two nations divided by a common language on June 12, 2008
English definition
gour·met [goo
r–mey]
–noun
1. a connoisseur of fine food and drink; epicure.
–adjective
2. of or characteristic of a gourmet, esp. in involving or purporting to involve high-quality or exotic ingredients and skilled preparation: gourmet meals; gourmet cooking
3, elaborately equipped for the preparation of fancy, specialized, or exotic meals: a gourmet kitchen.
American English definition
gour·met [goor-mey]
–adjective
1. pertaining to soggy, overpriced food, wrapped in cellophane and often found in airports
Words you don’t get in America…
Posted by Anya in Two nations divided by a common language on May 9, 2008
It’s great – you can ramble incoherently and people think your are just using words they don’t know.
Some that you don’t get here: fortnight, Bollocks, gobsmacked, boffin
Then pavements are sidewalks and roads are pavements, chips are fries and crisps are chips…
Still the hardest thing of all is ordering a glass of water (even harder getting it without a ton of ice) because somehow I can’t say “water” in a way that people understand…
Two nations divided by a common language
Posted by Anya in Two nations divided by a common language on April 24, 2008
Over here SO many people have RVs – recreational vehicles. Otherwise known as shed draggers. This has never made any sense to me as they are ugly and HUGE and the cost of driving one around has to be more than petrol for a car + the cost of a nice hotel (and the RV parks seem to be a) pikey magnets and b) always in the most horrible locations.
Anyway – I was riding around recently when I spotted the name of a particularly common brand. I almost fell off the bike. It turns out that a large proportion of Americans drive around in giant Tiogas. Hilarious.
On a sort of related note – this made me laugh out loud – there’s nothing funnier than a government office taking itself too seriously: From the Register “UK Office of Government Commerce Cracks one off”
And a follow on thread: What happens when designers go bad/ blind.
“Can I have some moon rocks please?”
Posted by Anya in Two nations divided by a common language, Uncategorized on February 16, 2008
We’ve been putting pictures up. Inevitably there’s the odd hole that needs filling so off to Home Depot I went to buy some Polyfiller. No luck finding it so I asked. The conversation went something like this:
“Hello, I’m looking for Polyfiller.”
“Grunt. Eh? What’s that?”
“It’s what you use to fill small holes in walls.”
“You want a drill? They’re in Aisle 14”
“No I’ve drilled a hole in a wall in the wrong place. Now I want to fill it.”
Blank Stare. Then sound of penny dropping. He hands me something.
“That’s almost right but that’s for filling metal….”
(Go to beginning of conversation and repeat several times)
Needless to say we never gor there but I eventually found it myself. You’d have thought I just asked for moon rocks.
Turns out the stuff is called Spackle here. Who knew that?
