Yes! My husband used to tease me about this one all the time. I still can't call it a cart.Originally posted by Vox Imperatoris
Yes! My husband used to tease me about this one all the time. I still can't call it a cart.Originally posted by Vox Imperatoris
Sorry - no wounding intended. I just meant that that explains the fancy stadiums we see everywhere.Originally posted by MsPurlMcKnittington
I like using "all y'all"; of course when I use it, there's a smidgeon of irony.
As an American living in the UK I learned to call my US underwear "pants" and my US pants "trousers." I remember laughing at that campaign for Dockers that had the tagline, "Nice pants."
Of course the US t-shirt is called a vest in the UK. I'm not sure what they'd call a US vest across the pond.
I always thought a "waistcoat" in the UK was an American "vest."Originally posted by Hippy Hollow
There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches. -- Ray Bradbury's "Coda"
This is probably region specific. In the north, we call underwear "underpants" and "trousers" and "pants" are interchangeable.Originally posted by Hippy Hollow
Les sanglots longs des violons de l'automne blessent mon coeur
D'une langueur Monotone
Shopping trolley here. Is that used over there?Originally posted by Vox Imperatoris
[quote=An Gadaí]Shopping trolley here. Is that used over there?[/quote:1tjsbyjo]Originally posted by "Vox Imperatoris":1tjsbyjo
Trolley over here usually refers to a streetcar or tram.
Another meaning of "trolley" is trolley bus, i.e., a bus powered by overhead electric wires, but running on the ordinary street surface.Originally posted by fachverwirrt
"Charlie Horse"
"Stoop" (as a noun.
Just assume that everything I say is sarcastic.
Well, as prr said, they're usually called "waistcoats", although nowadays this usually refers to the tailored kind you wear with a suit. Most vests that exist for a specific purpose (like stab vests or bulletproof vests) follow the American usage.Originally posted by Hippy Hollow
No, but I've just gotta say that the Brit slang term "trolley dolly" for a (female) flight attendant is one of the funniest (if most sexist) things I've ever heard!Originally posted by An Gadaí
Something I was thinking of earlier, not so much a word, but Gilligan's Island was a mainstay popular cultural reference in US tv shows aired here all throughout my youth. If Gilligan's Island was ever shown here it long since had ceased to be shown so I never really understood what any of the references meant. I get that it was a show about a group of people shipwrecked on an island and it seems to have been hugely popular in the US but I'm not sure too many people here would have ever seen it.
Well, there's a Gilligan's Island movie rumored to be in the works, so maybe you can catch up on it.
I think one of the interesting cultural points about the TV show was that the characters were introduced in the theme song simply by their role ("the Professor" was almost always just called that too). They were all archetypes. Also of note, there was a "movie star", but when the credits were changed to add the other young female, her role was simply her name — "Mary Ann". she existed merely to spark the question of whether you preferred the putatively more attractive and famous girl to the cuter one with a better personality.
Going back to 'trolley', I first heard the word used in U2's "Trying to Throw Your Arms Around the World" but wasn't entirely sure if it was just surrealist imagery.
"Grab a freshie."
I've never had to explain it to an American.
Grab a fresh beer from the fridge.
I don't think so, therefore I'm probably not.
You would have had to explain it to this American beer drinker. The only thing I can remember being described as a freshie was fresh snowfall on a ski hill, that was at least 10 years ago.
I also am not familiar with the "Tuesday week" usage but I've lived in the Northeast my whole life...it might be mostly a southern thing.
I grew up on the East coast, spent a decade plus in Utah, and only once I moved here to Houston did I hear it for the first time. I hear it all the time now, usually from older people, usually from more rural people, almost always from African Americans. If your Southern family falls outside of those three categories, it's very likely you wouldn't have heard it.
"You laugh at me because I'm different; I laugh at you because I'm on nitrous."
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There's a ton of regional terms in Buffalo English that are a complete mystery to the world beyond Western New York; "Let's get some Chiavetta at the lawn fete." Still, we're here to talk about American terms not widely understood outside of the country. Lemme' think ... outside of AAVE and some technical terms, I can't think of much. I'm considering "would Canadians understand it, but not Brits or other first world English-speaking countries?
Maybe we should call this thread "North American English words not understood in other English-speaking countries?"
The mention of trousers/pants reminded me of a story ( I believe related at Language Log) about an American looking for 'khaki pants' - most Americans pronounce khaki the same way one would 'cacky', though 'cacky' is not a word in American English.
How far has 'hella' expanded beyond the borders of the US? I grew up with it and only a few years discovered that it had spread out of Northern California but was highly regional before then. As for meaning, it's an intensifier, if an informal one. "That's hella sweet." "Some people find this word hella annoying."
I went to college in Buffalo but I don't get this either.(To me a fete means a party although no one I know uses the word. I don't know what Chiavetti is but I do know what loganberry tastes like).
As far as I can tell in American English khaki pronounced cacky means tan. Any explanations as to other meanings or pronunciations would be welcome.