Chiff and Fipple Forums

Just came across this Wikipedia entry:

List of British words not widely used in the United States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Br ... ted_States

To me the selection seems pretty accurate and common in on-line usage, so maybe worth sharing.

Very interesting. More than half those phrases are in common use in Australia and I use about 75% of them, perhaps as a consequence of spending 7 years in the Old Dart, ....eh, England to you, sport. The origins suggested surprised me a bit in some cases. I'd swear I picked up 'chancer' from Irish not English friends. I also thought 'Bob's your uncle' was Australian in origin, rather like 'she'll be apples.' A few phrases seemed to be missing; I've never heard anybody in the US called an old boiler or a dork.

I now realise why Americans tend to find my speech so, eh ....., exotic. Add Australianisms to that list and you have quite a vocabulary difference. Of course, I understand most of what the Americans are saying which can be a useful advantage sometimes. But I still find it strange to call a handbag a purse.

My grandfather is from Ireland, so I grew up with hearing a lot of those. Some are foreign to me and extremely funny. I am also a big fan of English Literature, so I guess that is why I know a lot of them. Thanks for that, that was very interesting and useful. I am going to have to use a lot of those in my every day vocabulary.

So, when you guys call me "WC", you are really referring to a toilet and not my name?

Wow. There were quite a few that I hadn't
heard before. It's interesting how British
phraseology can be just different enough
to require a bit of context for Americans
to suss it out. It took a while for me to get
used to hearing about people "standing as
a Tory" instead of "running as a Republican".

It probably doesn't need to be said, but I'll say it anyway. Many of the examples on that page are rarely used, are antiquated or are very colloquial.

Hey, I'm a "spod"!

Wombat wrote:I've never heard anybody in the US called an old boiler or a dork.

"Old boiler", no. "Dork", yes. Heard that one since childhood, and it's still used. Not a nice word.

Nanohedron wrote:"Old boiler", no. "Dork", yes. Heard that one since childhood, and it's still used. Not a nice word.

I wonder if the meaning is differently shaded.
In the US, it's akin to "nerd" or "geek", though
often without the accompanying intelligence.
Elsewhere, I think it's like "schmuck".

Nanohedron wrote:Hey, I'm a "spod"!

Wombat wrote:I've never heard anybody in the US called an old boiler or a dork.

"Old boiler", no. "Dork", yes. Heard that one since childhood, and it's still used. Not a nice word.

Havin bad flashbacks?

chrisoff wrote:Many of the examples on that page are rarely used, are antiquated or are very colloquial.

As a reference, it's OK if it's a superset of what's common. And I've seen a lot of these in the wild on the intertubes. It's always hard to appreciate the alien force of one's own slang. Things like naff, chinwag, on the doss, knackered, cock-up, are Martian to most Americans.

Someone in another thread here just wrote me that he "talks cobblers to his dog". Which is what sent me running for the slangtionary.

I guess Wombat's 75% score makes him a dodgy old gaffer.

The Whistle Collector wrote:

Nanohedron wrote:Hey, I'm a "spod"!

Wombat wrote:I've never heard anybody in the US called an old boiler or a dork.

"Old boiler", no. "Dork", yes. Heard that one since childhood, and it's still used. Not a nice word.

Havin bad flashbacks?

Actually, they used other words for me for the most part. Mostly unprintable in mixed company.

fearfaoin wrote:Elsewhere, I think it's like "schmuck".

As far as the original meaning of "schmuck" goes, "dork" functions that way, too, at least in my region. "Doc, help me. I have some kind of dorkitis."

Nanohedron wrote:

fearfaoin wrote:Elsewhere, I think it's like "schmuck".

As far as the original meaning of "schmuck" goes, "dork" functions that way, too, at least in my region. "Doc, help me. I have some kind of dorkitis."

People who know me well know that I use the work "dork" in my every day conversation. It's almost like a term of endearment for me If it's a word better left out of polite conversation, I'm in BIG trouble

MTGuru wrote:
I guess Wombat's 75% score makes him a dodgy old gaffer.

Dodgy, yes. Somewhere in the area where gaffer meets geezer and codger, too. It's a pretty large area.

I think I probably only use a few phrases frequently but I'd bet that phrases that are fading in Britain are still common in Australia. I haven't been to Britain for nearly 30 years; I divide my time between Australia and the US now.

izzarina wrote:

Nanohedron wrote:

fearfaoin wrote:Elsewhere, I think it's like "schmuck".

As far as the original meaning of "schmuck" goes, "dork" functions that way, too, at least in my region. "Doc, help me. I have some kind of dorkitis."

People who know me well know that I use the work "dork" in my every day conversation. It's almost like a term of endearment for me If it's a word better left out of polite conversation, I'm in BIG trouble

Yes, I forgot about that angle, and I think it's a word better left used endearingly.

Nanohedron wrote:

fearfaoin wrote:Elsewhere, I think it's like "schmuck".

As far as the original meaning of "schmuck" goes, "dork" functions that way, too, at least in my region.

Thus the yiddish riddle:

Q. What's the difference between a get and a bris?

A. With a get, you get rid of the whole shmuck!