Water vs Waters -=- why does UK pluralize it? And, which US things are odd to you?

[Msw454]

I don't know if it widespread in the US, but I was speaking to someone who had never heard of the word queue?!

Does it mean line? If not, I don't think I've heard of it.

 

[oh_so_blessed]

I don't know if it widespread in the US, but I was speaking to someone who had never heard of the word queue?!

Anyone who has worked in IT will know the word queue quite well. We use it quite often when talking about jobs that are waiting (ie, in the job queue). But, I don't hear anyone use it to mean a waiting line in normal life here. People always use line. I'm not too surprised that some people don't know the word, I suppose.

 

[pianogirl]

Our canadians call winter hats tooks

It's spelled touque, it's from French. I just spent about 10 days with a bunch of Americans, it's funny how much difference there is even between the way Americans and Canadians speak/say things.

 

[Lissidoll123]

The one I hate saying when I go to the states is "band aid" I always feel silly saying it so always walk into the chemist and ask for a plaster to test if they know what I'm on about! Ha and then go red and have to ask for a band aid !

 

[drsquid]

ooh hundreds and thousands is always a funny one. im from philly and call them jimmies but i think the generic preferred term in the us is sprinkles

 

[Chezzz]

ooh hundreds and thousands is always a funny one. im from philly and call them jimmies but i think the generic preferred term in the us is sprinkles

see here.. we have hundreds and thousands.. and they're different to sprinkles..
hundreds & tho' are tiny little round balls.. where as sprinkles are longer.. if that makes sense? there like tiny little mini sticks.. rather than balls

 

[mommy0629]

queue is not real common in the us. and people who do know it nearly universally spell it wrong (ie cue... etc which is a whole different word).

i believe fag comes from faggot- which was a bundle of sticks.. however oddly a meatball (at least in scotland) is a faggot.. bought some when i lived there cause it made me laugh.

the us has started picking up the use of sweet vs savory as descriptions but it is still isnt very common.

the one that always made me laugh is the irish "your man" ie your man went to the store... (my man? wtf) used to mean a generic person

This is the one can could get someone in trouble in the US fag or faggot (for whatever crazy unknown reason) in the US is a VERY derogatory term used to mean a homosexual male You could easily get punched in the face by a complete stranger for using either of those words on a US street lol

 

[Abby75]

'Fag' comes from fag-end. The frayed end of a rope being similar to the filter....

 

[Betrix]

I saw a few posts I wanted to comment on...

The one about "tight"... we use that as "tight with money" (cheap) "she has a tight ass" (nice butt!) of course the sexual term and also -- mostly the younger people -- will say something's "tight" as in that's cool/awesome. We Americans are kinda strange, no wonder nobody can learn our language

Also we say 4th of July because that's Independence Day, a big holiday here in the states! When we get closer to it it's just the 4th, no other information needed. Any other day is July 5th, etc haha.

I was so freaked out when I first saw "fags", because in America that's a very derrogetory term!

We had a smoking block in the parking lot of my highschool way back when I used to smoke and I remember an exchange student asking me if he could have a fag and it nearly gave me a heart attack It took him several minutes to stop laughing and explain that he wanted to bum a cigarette.

 

[Betrix]

peanut butter and jelly is actually peanut butter and JAM in the UK haha!

and sodas being pop to us in the uk

and candy being sweets/chocolate

Im from canada we call it peanut butter and jam .. or thats what everyone around where i live says anyway.... i've honestly never had one before in my life its strange! lol most kids grew up on pb & j sandwhiches lol

Jelly and Jam are two different things, though very similar. Jelly is jam with all the solids strained out. Kinda like the difference between juice and an all-fruit smoothie. Personally I prefer jam. It's definitely more popular in Canada than jelly.

Is jam like preserves?

 

[lemongrass]

peanut butter and jelly is actually peanut butter and JAM in the UK haha!

and sodas being pop to us in the uk

and candy being sweets/chocolate

Im from canada we call it peanut butter and jam .. or thats what everyone around where i live says anyway.... i've honestly never had one before in my life its strange! lol most kids grew up on pb & j sandwhiches lol

Jelly and Jam are two different things, though very similar. Jelly is jam with all the solids strained out. Kinda like the difference between juice and an all-fruit smoothie. Personally I prefer jam. It's definitely more popular in Canada than jelly.

Is jam like preserves?

Jam is a type of preserve. Marmalade being another. Its mushed up fruit boiled with pectin (a gelling agent) and canned. Really fun and easy to make.

 

[Emerald87]

Why not call it vacuuming considering not all vacuums are hoovers?

LOL Brand using is common. For example in Australia we call Coolers "Eski" and in the US I'm pretty sure photocopying is called "Xeroxing".

When we were at school and had an american exchange programme and one of our students got a few funny looks when asking for a rubber in class in the US - an eraser! lol

LOL I almost died. That's awesome. We use rubber for eraser here in Aust too but depending on the context we can say rubber as condom.

The one I hate saying when I go to the states is "band aid" I always feel silly saying it so always walk into the chemist and ask for a plaster to test if they know what I'm on about! Ha and then go red and have to ask for a band aid !

That's an area where Australia is similar to the US. We say "Band-Aid" too A plaster is a plaster cast i.e. what goes on a broken limb to splint it.
Aussies are confused

 

[Bookity]

Ha! I love this thread!

My exposure to British English comes mainly from watching "Coupling". So I probably have heard more of the "dirty" stuff. Most things I can figure out by context and watching long enough. One thing I'm not quite sure about though.

What are stockings?? Here in the US they would be considered panty hose, but on Coupling it's quite clear that it's something really sexy. Unless in England panty hose is considered sexy? I don't think it really is here.

Where exactly does loo come from? I know it's the bathroom (as we say in the US) just wondered where that comes from.

 

[oh_so_blessed]

Ha! I LOVE Coupling!

I only wish I could understand the British version of The Office. I just can't get any of the jokes, I miss everything. So sad.

For the record, we have pretty fancy stockings here, too. Look at those 3/4 length lace topped ones that attach to garters. (I can't believe I've forgotten this, it's clearly too long since I've dressed sexy!)

 

[oh_so_blessed]

Why not call it vacuuming considering not all vacuums are hoovers?

LOL Brand using is common. For example in Australia we call Coolers "Eski" and in the US I'm pretty sure photocopying is called "Xeroxing".

When we were at school and had an american exchange programme and one of our students got a few funny looks when asking for a rubber in class in the US - an eraser! lol

LOL I almost died. That's awesome. We use rubber for eraser here in Aust too but depending on the context we can say rubber as condom.

The one I hate saying when I go to the states is "band aid" I always feel silly saying it so always walk into the chemist and ask for a plaster to test if they know what I'm on about! Ha and then go red and have to ask for a band aid !

That's an area where Australia is similar to the US. We say "Band-Aid" too A plaster is a plaster cast i.e. what goes on a broken limb to splint it.
Aussies are confused

I don't hear people say xeroxing much anymore. Mostly just copying. Branding is pretty common, though. Even if you buy generic of something you might call it by the brand. Especially Coke/Pepsi. No one ever asks for "soda" generically, I always hear one of the brand names.

I think of a cast when I hear plaster, too. I probably wouldn't easily get used to that one. Band-aid makes a lot of sense. It is a band/strip and it aids in healing/protecting the wound. Plaster is maybe a little overboard for a tiny cut covering.

 

[Bookity]

Ha! I LOVE Coupling!

I only wish I could understand the British version of The Office. I just can't get any of the jokes, I miss everything. So sad.

For the record, we have pretty fancy stockings here, too. Look at those 3/4 length lace topped ones that attach to garters. (I can't believe I've forgotten this, it's clearly too long since I've dressed sexy!)

That's true... I guess I would consider that type of stocking more like lingerie though... I never was one to dress sexy though, lol.

 

[Marini_Mare]

ooh hundreds and thousands is always a funny one. im from philly and call them jimmies but i think the generic preferred term in the us is sprinkles

see here.. we have hundreds and thousands.. and they're different to sprinkles..
hundreds & tho' are tiny little round balls.. where as sprinkles are longer.. if that makes sense? there like tiny little mini sticks.. rather than balls

I'm from Boston & moved to texas... sometimes I get stumped trying to think of what people NOT from Boston call stuff

the chocolate little sticks are Jimmies, the rainbow ones are rainbow sprinkles

a frappe is a milkshake

bubblah is a water fountain (like the ones you drink from)

packie - liquor store

30 rack - case of 30 beers

nip - small 2oz bottles of booze... asked for a nip at a store in tx and they thought i was talking about nipples! apparently they call it a "2oz" here haha, ok makes sense...

wicked - very, or used to modify anything "that was wicked awesome" - "that was wicked"

 

[katrinalorien]

Yeah I was gonna say, its a regional thing in the U.S. too.

in TX/OK when you want a "soda" you ask for a "coke", doesn't matter what type, the waiter/waitress will ask you which type (and if you want a diet as well) This drives my husband bonkers, he hates the idea of everything being a coke, and flat out refuses, calling it soda. But I know other places its called pop or soda.

We call the road by the highway an access road but I know its called a frontage road and I think there's another term in the U.S. for it as well. Here we call every type of gym shoes tennis shoes, but I think there's supposed to be a difference between them and sneakers, ect.

In college one of the aussies told us that in australia the term "rooted" or something like that is sexual in nature. He used to see people wearing shirts that said "rooted in (place local x cause here)" all the time and laugh.

 

[daydreaming22]

Yes, the other term for frontage road is a "feeder" road....it what we call it in Tx!

 

[Kkb111211]

I'm from Boston & moved to texas... sometimes I get stumped trying to think of what people NOT from Boston call stuff

the chocolate little sticks are Jimmies, the rainbow ones are rainbow sprinkles

a frappe is a milkshake

bubblah is a water fountain (like the ones you drink from)

packie - liquor store

30 rack - case of 30 beers

nip - small 2oz bottles of booze... asked for a nip at a store in tx and they thought i was talking about nipples! apparently they call it a "2oz" here haha, ok makes sense...

wicked - very, or used to modify anything "that was wicked awesome" - "that was wicked"[/QUOTE]
I'm from Wisconsin and we say bubbler instead of fountain. We also say nip, usually referring to a nip of alcohol, meaning just a sip. We also use the expression "nipping the bottle", usually referring to someone that has been drinking a large amount of alcohol.