A cry for help!

[hellzabeth]

Hey, majority of watchers!

You're American, right? /obvious

I'm doing a project at college (what, Pidge, are you actually working? Yes, yes I am) about the differences between British English and American English. I need some stereotypically American phrases and amusing miscommunications. (Unfortunately I can't use the usual "rubber vs rubber" that first came to mind.) Any random help would be appreciated.

Additionally, anyone Australian, similar to the above request?

/feels kind of stupid

/wishes she was at home instead of in this stupid class

orz

Edit: I'm not allowed to include anything naughty in my essay guys, the examiners are stuck up. :| So stuff like the difference between "wank" in American and "wank" in British are not applicable. <3 You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means.

Comments

[ellethill.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm not American, but I do know the pants as trousers in American English and pants as underwear in British English thing :)

[candesceres.livejournal.com]

Well I'm not sure how educational this would be, but there are miscommunications definitely. And if nothing else, at least it's funny. |Db

[amygirl.livejournal.com]

Since I just read the chapter on this... (though granted this is from the early 90's and I have no idea how much these things still hold true) But apparently over there "to be stuffed" is considered rude over there? So the author (an American who is married to a Brit and lived there for quite a while) tells a story about how at the end of a meal he said that he was "stuffed" (which is a common Americanism for when we're full) and was met with uncomfortable silence.

Also I believe homely means different things. It's a compliment over there where here it's the opposite.

Bryson also says that it sometimes seems that the two countries sometimes go out of their way to be contradictory. Where you guys have the Royal Mail that delivers the "post" not the "mail" we have the US Postal Service that delivers the "mail" not the "post."

I used to have the link to a rather lovely article about a Englishman living in New York with his American wife and having to get used to all the differences but that was about more then just the language differences and I don't have the link anymore.

Well...that was probably incredibly unhelpful. I apologize... :-/

[lovelylurker.livejournal.com]

I'd love to help you.

... But I don't know any British slang.

[vehira.livejournal.com]

I'm ridiculously American and Texan/Southern, what kind of phrases are you looking for? :D

Oh! We don't spell things with 'u's. Like labor or harbor. If they're spelled 'labour' or 'harbour' then whoever spelled 'em gets weird looks and accusations that they can't spell. So it goes.

Also, not everyone finishes their words. And in Louisiana, jeet means didja eat? So, even though I've heard this mostly in the South, the combination/unfinishing of words is pretty common.

[lovelylurker.livejournal.com]

I just feel the need to point out that my Spanish teacher from Ecuador was like "huh, the English language is very efficient" in the middle of class one day.

We were comparing the words for the different types of umbrellas that exist in each language.

Apparently Spanish has like, five words for umbrellas.

While English just tacks on what the purpose of the umbrella is.

Example:

Beach Umbrella = parasol
Umbrella = paraguas

It was very amusing to hear someone actually go "I wish we did that" for once in respect to the English language.

/random


ALSO WE DON'T TOTALLY NOT UNDERSTAND YOUR SLANG. _{Oooooh, double negative. Buuuuurn.}

[alianorethecat.livejournal.com]

I love my friend's GPS for this one. It had an option for British English and we went into fits of giggling whenever it called the highway a motorway.
Thanks to Eddie Izzard for this one... We call the death star canteen a cafeteria.
The pronunciation of "z". "Zee" vs. "zed"
Our fries are your chips.

And these next ones are from google, so I have no idea how accurate they are.
Flat vs. apartments
Football vs. soccer
Calling friends "mate", which we Americans never do
Biscuit vs. cookie
Crisps vs. chips

[windy-lea.livejournal.com]

Enh... I know I've looked at lists of this kind of stuff before. Wikipedia even has one, btw, if you're allowed to have a look-see.

Do you guys still call the hood of a car the bonnet? And do you still call the trunk the boot?

Also, I still haven't worked this out: is "custard" for you guys what we call "flan"? or is that pudding?? Or are these two different things of similar color and texture?

Maybe it's not appropriate enough, but what about "knocked up" as in an unplanned pregnancy (Or have you guys picked that one up as well?)

Gas was petrol last time I checked. Do you call a commercial on the TV an advert, or is that only written ads? Is the TV still the telly(sp?)?

I think British "public schools" are what Americans call "private schools", and our "public schools" are run by the local school district.

[gisho.livejournal.com]

Dunno if it counts as 'naughty', but the varaints of 'pissed' are a good one: in American English, 'pissed' means 'very angry', in British English, 'pissed' means 'drunk'. (Not to mention 'mad', although I think the 'insane' meaning has mostly been phased out in favor of 'mental'?)

[mad-bomber75.livejournal.com]

*peeks in and decides to offer some help*

I'm no expert on different slang terms, but as an American living on the Northeast coast (in New England ohoho), I can offer some help I hope c:

I don't know if you guys say "wicked" to describe things, like an adjective, but where I live, it's THE adjective to use. I say it all the time: "Wicked good", "wicked awesome", "wicked stupid", etc.

And I dunno if it's just me, but I tend to call everyone, guy or girl, "dude" at the beginning of sentences. Like, "Dude, you have no idea how sick I am right now." People look at me funny sometimes ^^; Also, because I live in Massachusetts, a common phrase usually heard in Boston would be "Whatahya, rehtahded?" (What are you, retarded?) which is a nice little insult asking if you're stupid. I've heard English people say "Are you daft?" sometimes, so I think it has pretty much the same meaning.

Like someone else said above, different states and cities in the US have different words they use. For New Englanders, we say "you guys" when addressing a group of people while most southerners will say "y'all". New Englanders call soft drinks "soda", and everyone else in the country either says "pop" or "soda pop". What do you guys call it? :o I could go on about different words in different states, but I think I've said enough ^^ I hope this helps a little bit.