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English Usage US vs. UK

It's a good idea for Americans to be told before going to Britain that "fanny" doesn't mean there what it means here.
 
hgc said:
It's a good idea for Americans to be told before going to Britain that "fanny" doesn't mean there what it means here.
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That causes fewer problems than you would think. "Pants," on the other hand, cause no end of embarassments.
 
Locational issues can have small ranges as well as broad. The UK vs US usage is comparable to rural vs inner city differences all around the word.

Normal semantics and philological discussion aside, this usually reminds me of being used to features of older versions of some software utility or game (say your online browser) and not wanting to update to the newest version......

Likewise the location difference has much in common with generational differences (Those darn kids and their acronyms!). Remember, if it happens too fast for the average person to adapt it approaches "newspeak".
 
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What else could you have been thinking about, Wildy?

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hgc said:
It's a good idea for Americans to be told before going to Britain that "fanny" doesn't mean there what it means here.
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Hmmm. One wonders what comes to mind when a USAian reports her "fanny pack" missing in Bristol?
 
Also, the phrase "chasing a piece of tail" would not mean the same over here.
 
That's the trouble with British (and colonial) humour, both people can be playing it so straight that they mightn't be sure whether t'other actually spots the position of toungue within the cheek don't ask which one.

It usually works in speech, but text is harder...
 
ush said:
What's that sign about exactly? It looks like someone's made a big mistake. :boggled:
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Allegedly, the picture shows a protester in Texas who does not want anymore Mexican (or whatever) immigrants. A sign asking for English to become the official language of the United States is stupid in itself, and even more stupid with wrong spelling.
 
More Wenglish:
"That Sioni, (he's) a bit twpped if you ask me." = "That Johnny, (he's) a bit daft if you ask me."

"You know my Angharad - she's just a dwt." = "You know my Angharad - she's very small." (I don't know what the English translation of Angharad would be - if there is one.)

There's a word that we use a lot that can mean 3 different things, depending on context, the word "cwtch". This is the nearest spelling that I can work out on this - I've never actually seen the word written down/printed. The pronunciation would be more difficult to describe, it's not cooch or cutch, but somewhere between them.

1. "Give us a cwtch." = "Give me a cuddle/hug.": "Cwtch up." = "Cuddle up."
2. "Get and cwtch." = "Go and hide." (normally said to the dog when it does something wrong, it means it's in disgrace - this actually works for my family pets, the dog knows it's done something bad & you can tell by it's hang-dog manner that it knows this).
3. "Put it in the cwtch." = "Put it (whatever 'it' is) in the space under the stairs." This can be the dogs sleeping space too, so 2 & 3 could equal the same thing.
 
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hgc said:
It's a good idea for Americans to be told before going to Britain that "fanny" doesn't mean there what it means here.
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The word "BUM" has also caused unintentional embarassament. Let's just say that in US it means a tramp,a hobo someone who is constanly and by their own choice constanly broke and unemployed (and not really interested in getting a new job ),but in the UK it means a part of the human anatomy...........
 
dudalb said:
The word "BUM" has also caused unintentional embarassament. Let's just say that in US it means a tramp,a hobo someone who is constanly and by their own choice constanly broke and unemployed (and not really interested in getting a new job ),but in the UK it means a part of the human anatomy...........
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So the phrase "Show us yer bum ya bum" wouldn't make any sense in US or UK English?
 
dudalb said:
The word "BUM" has also caused unintentional embarassament. Let's just say that in US it means a tramp,a hobo someone who is constanly and by their own choice constanly broke and unemployed (and not really interested in getting a new job ),but in the UK it means a part of the human anatomy...........
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On the "fanny" issue, Brits, is this word a problem when it comes to proper nouns? What kind of offense is occassioned with the pronunciation of the name of the Ziegfeld star portrayed by Barbra Steisand in Funny Girl, or of the mention of the author of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe?
 
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