Englishisms vs Americanese

[Rapunzel]

Following on from Dragon's biscuit thread, I find it fascinating that the English and Europeans and Australians seem to speak a different English language to the Americans. Not in most things, just in certain words and phrases.



I find it intriguing knowing the different names we have for things.

For instance our pavement is your sidewalk, but your pavement is our road.



I worked as an English nanny in America. What if I had told the child I cared for to 'Stay on the pavement'?

Would he have stood on the road? Luckily he was a baby, so it didn't occur!

I also worked as a nanny in London for an American family. They bought their daughter a dress with matching frilly knickers and a big label attached saying 'Look at my fanny!' I was totally gobsmacked!

And I read a mystery story once where a chap was killed on the second floor although it turned out to be the first floor, which is where the mystery evolved.



So do you call the ground floor, at street level, the first floor?



And if you go up a flight of steps, to the first floor, that is what you'd call the second floor?



Sorry if it seems nit-picking, I just like to get the details right.

I remember a story where some English tourists asked an American tour guide where a certain person was. The tour guide said Over there, in the Navy uniform They searched unsuccessfully for ages, before realising that in England a Navy uniform is Navy Blue and in the USA it's white!

Fascinating, isn't it?

What other differences do you notice?



Also, I find a lot of Americanisms creeping into the English language. I will say 'I get that' instead of 'I understand' and everyone seems to say 'movie' instead of 'film' now.



There's one other thing I'd like to know. If someone asks you the time and you say 'It's a quarter of'

do you mean it's a quarter TO or a quarter PAST the hour?



Intriguing.

 

[Evil Eye]

I worked as an English nanny in America. What if I had told the child I cared for to 'Stay on the pavement'?

Would he have stood on the road? Luckily he was a baby, so it didn't occur!

That'd be bad.

I also worked as a nanny in London for an American family. They bought their daughter a dress with matching frilly knickers and a big label attached saying 'Look at my fanny!' I was totally gobsmacked!

I dunno about floors, I just read the signs.

 

[Rapunzel]

I dunno about floors, I just read the signs.

I read a mystery story once where a chap was killed on the second floor although it turned out to be the first floor, which is where the mystery evolved.

In the story I read a murder had been committed in Paris. The person who reported the murder was American whilst the murdered person was British, so the British police were following it up. I think the murdered person was MI5 or somesuch.



So there were no floor signs. There was just confusion as to which floor the murder occurred on as the alibi's didn't fit had the murder occurred on the second floor, as was reported. Confusing, huh?

It would be interesting if an English person, in a large American mall, was told to meet their host at 2pm on the first floor, for example, as both people could misunderstand their meeting place. One would be at the top of the escalator and one would be at the bottom.



Ooh, what do you call an escalator in America? Is it the same?

I know a lift is an elevator.



I find this stuff really interesting. I'm such a muppet.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

There's one other thing I'd like to know. If someone asks you the time and you say 'It's a quarter of'

do you mean it's a quarter TO or a quarter PAST the hour?

Its a quarter of three would mean its 3:15.



Usually people would say its a quarter after three

 

[Rapunzel]

Its a quarter of three would mean its 3:15.



Usually people would say its a quarter after three

Thankyou.

That's something I've wanted to know for ages.

 

[Evil Eye]

One would be at the top of the escalator and one would be at the bottom.

At least you'd be able to see each other

 

[The Dragon Master]

I say quarter past/to XD



I also say I understand XD



I tend to say stuff the British way, though I say movie rather than film XD And I call the floor that is at ground level the ground floor not the first floor >_<

 

[spitzveldmuis_w]

So do you call the ground floor, at street level, the first floor?



And if you go up a flight of steps, to the first floor, that is what you'd call the second floor?

Well my brain tends to tell me that the ground floor is the first floor altough my experience claims the contrary, so I call the ground floor the first floor, but sometimes I don't call it that.

Sorry if it seems nit-picking, I just like to get the details right.

Nitpicking is always good.

What other differences do you notice?

The u in words like armour and honour

Also, I find a lot of Americanisms creeping into the English language. I will say 'I get that' instead of 'I understand' and everyone seems to say 'movie' instead of 'film' now.



There's one other thing I'd like to know. If someone asks you the time and you say 'It's a quarter of'

do you mean it's a quarter TO or a quarter PAST the hour?



Intriguing.

I just say it's nine fourty-five or it's nine fifteen to avoid the problem, Altough I would say it's a quarter past



I remember a story from my sister too, she studied in ireland as at a certain point was told to meet someone half six so my sister, the good student she was was at the meeting place at 5:30. then finally at 6:30 the teacher showed up...

 

[doenut]

Great thread, Rap

.



Here in Aus we say footpath for pavement.



Some others:



American: Australian:

Jelly Jam

Sweater Jumper

Trash Rubbish

No equivalent Strewth, Crikey

Nickles, Dimes Five cents, Ten cents

Quarters No equivalent (we have Twenty cents)

Peanut Butter Peanut Butter (joke)



British: Australian:

Trainers Joggers, sandshoes

Buggy Pram

Lad Guy



Kiwi: Australian:

Wee Small

Chilly Bin Esky

Bledisloe Cup Something we are never going to win back from the New Zealanders

 

[Corleone]

The boot of the car lol The trunk of the car.

 

[Rapunzel]

The boot of the car lol The trunk of the car.

And also bonnet and hood. Interesting that the words are the same ... but different.



What about tap and faucet...both weird words!

 

[doenut]

The word entree. Here it means the meal before the main course, in America it is the main course.

 

[Rapunzel]

The word entree. Here it means the meal before the main course, in America it is the main course.

I didn't know that.

 

[Durandal]

The word entree. Here it means the meal before the main course, in America it is the main course.

Actually, in the blue blooded-world of the U.S., some do know that entree means the course before the main, but it was a term lost after the Victorian era of several-course meals and the prevalence of Depression-era simplicity. That's not necessarily a regional term, but a culinary term.

 

[Durandal]

Following on from Dragon's biscuit thread, I find it fascinating that the English and Europeans and Australians seem to speak a different English language to the Americans. Not in most things, just in certain words and phrases.



I find it intriguing knowing the different names we have for things.

For instance our pavement is your sidewalk, but your pavement is our road.



I worked as an English nanny in America. What if I had told the child I cared for to 'Stay on the pavement'?

Would he have stood on the road? Luckily he was a baby, so it didn't occur!

I also worked as a nanny in London for an American family. They bought their daughter a dress with matching frilly knickers and a big label attached saying 'Look at my fanny!' I was totally gobsmacked!

And I read a mystery story once where a chap was killed on the second floor although it turned out to be the first floor, which is where the mystery evolved.



So do you call the ground floor, at street level, the first floor?



And if you go up a flight of steps, to the first floor, that is what you'd call the second floor?



Sorry if it seems nit-picking, I just like to get the details right.

I remember a story where some English tourists asked an American tour guide where a certain person was. The tour guide said Over there, in the Navy uniform They searched unsuccessfully for ages, before realising that in England a Navy uniform is Navy Blue and in the USA it's white!

Fascinating, isn't it?

What other differences do you notice?



Also, I find a lot of Americanisms creeping into the English language. I will say 'I get that' instead of 'I understand' and everyone seems to say 'movie' instead of 'film' now.



There's one other thing I'd like to know. If someone asks you the time and you say 'It's a quarter of'

do you mean it's a quarter TO or a quarter PAST the hour?



Intriguing.

Hey, Quonset...I've been in that neck of the woods; the U.S. used to actually use blue naval uniforms, and there is a special naval unit that still wears blue, but the U.S. changed the uniforms after being labeled 'The White Fleet'.