76 replies to this topic

[markymark]

Wow! I guess, if I ever visit the UK, I'll have to leave my "fanny pack" at home

Yeah, but you could bring your bum bag: http://search.kelkoo...ss_bum_bag.html

[copywriter]

"Bum bag." OK... that'll work.

Yeah, Torka... a "lift" in the US is more like a powered rising platform used outdoors. Like something you'd see a window washer use on a tall building. (I know you aren't from the UK, but just addressing you since it was your post about lifts. )

[torka]

But over here, a bum bag sounds more like a sack carried by a hobo...

--Torka

[markymark]

Trust me, Torka, that's nowhere NEAR as bad as the images the phrase 'fanny pack' brings to my mind !

[nightqueen]

"fanny pack"


It's rather like a woman's purse but it straps around your waist.

he he.

Imagine if the person wearing it was called "Randy". I've heard that's a decent name over there.

[OldWelshGuy]

Public School is a good one, in the Uk if you went to 'public School' it means you paid to be educated in a school that was not part of the state system, I understand it is the opposite in the US.

My favourite is 'knock up' meaning to wake from sleep, as in " be sure to knock me up at about 7 in the morning" I am told it means something a little more along the lines of becoming pregnant in the US.

I would have no qualms in asking a female friend at a hotel, 'shall I knock you up in the morning'

[nightqueen]

I think that's must be a Welsh thing cos I've never heard of it. If you said that to me in a hotel I'd probably give you a black eye!

[bwelford]

I always liked that little piece of conversation from my home town of Hartlepool on the NE coast of England.

One good lady says to another, "Ee, I've been proper poorly recently. I've been under the doctor for the last three weeks."

[SmellieNellie]

I'll have to leave my "fanny pack" at home.

That sounds like something you'd buy from the Chemist!

[SmellieNellie]

I would have no qualms in asking a female friend at a hotel, 'shall I knock you up in the morning'

Oh OWG - even up here in North Wales - we understand the term "knock up" to mean get some pregnant or;

"up the duff!"
"in the club"

etc, etc!

Smellie

[copywriter]

be sure to knock me up at about 7 in the morning

LOLOLOL... I wish it would be that predictable. Been trying to get "knocked up" for 7 years. You mean all I had to do was name my time?

[dragonlady7]

I love these discussions.

My #1 most confusing and difficult adaptation when suddenly dropped into a UK public school was the following single-syllable totally-inoffensive American word:

"Pants."

In the US, they're the generic word for what would more specifically be trousers (dressier, usually), jeans, dungarees (old-fashioned word), corduroys (if made of corduroy), khakis (if made of khakis), slacks (also old-fashioned word), or any number of other things.

In the UK, pants are what you wear under whatever you choose to call the US meaning of pants. In other words, they're what we here in the US call... (wait for it)... "underpants."

So when one of your classmates, wearing new trousers, comes into the room and you exclaim in admiration, "nice pants!" she will NOT smile and say "thanks", she will look HORRIFIED and ask, "you can see them?"
Which is altogether too confusing for economics class first thing in the morning.

[Scottie]

I've been told that although cobblers and bollocks basically refer to the same thing, that cobblers is "less rude" than bollocks!

My brother in law is Irish and he had to tell the kids to stop saying bollocks before his mother came over to visit. Of course, the first thing they said was, "We aren't going to say bollocks to you cause it's rude, OK? "

Jumpers --> Sweaters

[Randy]

"fanny pack"

Imagine if the person wearing it was called "Randy".

I'll have to remember to bring mine along and refer to it at least 10 times per day the next time I visit Mother England. Maybe even have "Randy's Fanny Pack" stenciled on the front or something. If for no other reason than to see the reactions and have everyone wonder what exactly I'm on about, being quite obviously male.

[copywriter]

If you did that, you'd make hundreds of proper, little, English ladies drop their teacups!