I've often found myself frustrated when I open up a post and realise that I haven't got a frigging clue what is being discussed because it is about a TV programme or celebrity known only in their home country. I myself am often guilty of using references I could only really expect someone from England to understand... and thus in the interests of promoting cultural understanding I propose we keep a dictionary of such phenomena.

Basically anytime someone uses a reference in a post they believe people might not understand or misinterpret they can cross reference it to this thread. Then if someone uses it again, they too can cross reference it to this thread. Over time we'll hopefully build up an interesting mish-mash of cultural information about words, television and celebrities which might be worth a read in its own right.

Just a little bit of it can bring you up or down.Like the supper it is cooking in your hometown.it is chicken, it is eggs, it is in between your legs.it is walking on the moon, leaving your cocoon.

FAG In Britain this is as a slang term for a cigarette. Ie, someone wanting to smoke might consider taking a "fag break" or "having a fag".

Just a little bit of it can bring you up or down.Like the supper it is cooking in your hometown.it is chicken, it is eggs, it is in between your legs.it is walking on the moon, leaving your cocoon.

GIT. A git is someone who despite being a complete and utter useless bastard somehow always seems to come up smelling of roses. Often used to describe someone who gets a lucky break they don't deserve or someone in a position of higher authority who doesn't really deserve to be there.

Just a little bit of it can bring you up or down.Like the supper it is cooking in your hometown.it is chicken, it is eggs, it is in between your legs.it is walking on the moon, leaving your cocoon.

WANKER To call someone a wanker is to suggest that they masturbate excessively... ie/ they do a lot of wanking. To wank is to masturbate. This is considered to be a relatively mild insult in Blighty usually applied to someone who is being a bit stupid or unreasonable.

Wanker is not to be mistaken with WANKERED. If you are totally wankered, it means that you are very very drunk. Some people may also imply that they are WANKED OUT implying that they are very tired and need a rest.

Just a little bit of it can bring you up or down.Like the supper it is cooking in your hometown.it is chicken, it is eggs, it is in between your legs.it is walking on the moon, leaving your cocoon.

At this rate, you should become an acolyte in no time.

Censorship in America.

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"fag break"

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Oh my!

(insert catch phrase)

Fanny-Pack, here in England, is what you Americans would otherwise know as a Bum-Bag.

People have actually been known to wear them as a fashion accessory.

Wraith2, a busboy -(brit - trainee waiting staff) wears pantyhose, whereas ladies & waitresses in the UK often wear tights - especially during the winter months..

Americans also call a postman a letter carrier for fucks sake.

They say math as opposed to maths too - I'm not sure why, because the word mathematics clearly has an s at the end of it?

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They say math as opposed to maths too - I'm not sure why, because the word mathematics clearly has an s at the end of it

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So does Home Economics, but I've heard Brits shorten that fucker to Home Ec, rather than Home Ecs.

Math sounds abominable to my ears too, but then as Emil pointed out, I grew up under the Anglo-Saxian influence, so it's probably just that. Objectively, I think you could mount a case for either.

Most Americanisms sound okay to me, but there's a few that sound just wrong. "Write me" always instantly has me wondering why they want me to write the word "me".

Then there's "Wait up" when it just means "Wait". What does the up bring to the party? My wife the linguist claims this is because Americans are people who speak English but really want to be speaking German.

Slan libh,

Dara

Fiona: I want to be a nutcracker when I grow up.
Burkey: There's no such job.
Fiona: Oh, okay, pedant, a castrater then.
Burkey: Ouch.

Unless I am reading this post wrong..
I am from Iowa, U.S.A. and have always called it a Fanny Pack, and a postman, a post man, or else Mail man.



"I suppose if I were a lot older--like 40 or 50--I'd be a wonderful sugar daddy to some little queen down in Kensington. I'd have a houseboy named Richard to order around."DB, 1976

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At this rate, you should become an acolyte in no time.

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Well it was either this or fill in for Dogz whilst he was away... that would have helped my posting count rocket.

Just a little bit of it can bring you up or down.Like the supper it is cooking in your hometown.it is chicken, it is eggs, it is in between your legs.it is walking on the moon, leaving your cocoon.

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They say math as opposed to maths too - I'm not sure why, because the word mathematics clearly has an s at the end of it?

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I say "mathematics." Shortening the word in either form is the privilege of young children whose tongues would be otherwise troubled by the count of syllables.

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My wife the linguist claims this is because Americans are people who speak English but really want to be speaking German.

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That makes perfect sense, actually.

(insert catch phrase)

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syllables

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syllabi

(just kidding, but I imagine that would be the plural of syllabus)

Can you translate "tut tut nannoo" for me?

Vote for me: TW's Top Fag!

I think you got it somewhat topsy-turvy there Strawie, old chap.

Americans would never call a fanny-pack a "bum bag," since "bum" in US idiom means a homeless person or a panhandler. "Bum" as meaning a person's rear end is exclusively non-American usage. The word of choice here is "butt," "bottom" or "ass." "Bag" also means something that you carry, with handles.

In fact, Americans call it a "fanny-pack" because a "fanny" is also (less-popular) slang for the human bottom, whereas in EngIand I hear it means something else (ie, Strawie's favorite word).

Also, we say "tights" as well as "pantyhose." I hear in the Uk "tights" are opaque and "pantyhose" are transparent--here they both mean either.

And I've never heard an American call a postman a "letter carrier." We call them "mailmen."

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Can you translate "tut tut nannoo" for me?

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Sorry, never heard of it.

Just a little bit of it can bring you up or down.Like the supper it is cooking in your hometown.it is chicken, it is eggs, it is in between your legs.it is walking on the moon, leaving your cocoon.

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Can you translate "tut tut nannoo" for me?

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Is it a word you made up? You used it here, a year ago:

tut tut nannoo


Obscurity is the Artist's Refuge

Grönemeyer, Herbert German musician. There are not many Germans capable to create good music as well as lyrics. Simply because german is a bad language for speaking or singing. However - this guy manages to mutter and mumur in a way, which makes it almost impossible to understand him but at the same time lets the lyrics fit into the music like it was english. Also his choice of words is brilliant (one can notice when reading them in the the CD booklet). Also for german conditions he changed his style a lot from the typical Neue Deutsche Welle sound in the early 80ies to electronic in the late 90ies. When singing in German a songwriter always has to deal with the danger of producing Schlager. Schlager is pretty much what a typical eurovision song contest entry sounds like. And using german language it is easy to make it sound even worse. However Grönemeyer avoided this danger most of the time be just having to much taste and probably by spending most of his time in London these days.


Liest das denn keiner außer mir?

Doing a great job - this expression is used to commend the quality of someone's work but isn't it actually saying that someone has a really good job? Shouldn't the right saying be that someone is "doing a job well"?

And I want to believe that a light's shining through somehow

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Shouldn't the right saying be that someone is "doing a job well"?

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Hell, the English language is often pretty crazy. I'm afraid it can mean either thing and the only way to work out which is the context in which it is said.

Just a little bit of it can bring you up or down.Like the supper it is cooking in your hometown.it is chicken, it is eggs, it is in between your legs.it is walking on the moon, leaving your cocoon.

Sorry, just a bit of pointless Trivia I've just come across on the back on a Penguin Bar about the English language. For those of you unfamiliar with a Penguin Bar, it's a type of biscuit made famous by the advertising slogan "P..p..p..pick up a penguin." Anyway on the back of the bar there's always a crap joke or bit of useless trivia. Things like;

"Did you hear about the Frog whose car broke down? He had to be toad away."

Yeah I know. Anyway the useless bit of Trivia is this.

"Did you know that dreamt is the only word in the English (and I assume it means non-American English) language that ends in 'mt.' No idea if it's true or not... but why would penguin lie to me?

Just a little bit of it can bring you up or down.Like the supper it is cooking in your hometown.it is chicken, it is eggs, it is in between your legs.it is walking on the moon, leaving your cocoon.

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I say "mathematics." Shortening the word in either form is the privilege of young children whose tongues would be otherwise troubled by the count of syllables.

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But there are just as many syllables in "math" as in "maths".

Laa.

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Shortening the word in either form is the privilege of young children......

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Or Australians. In fact, there is no word we cannot shorten and bring into heavy usage. I was contemplating this the other day as I was about to order an '$8 parma' from the local pub. But I was still full from breaky.

BOWIE DOWNUNDER

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In fact, there is no word we cannot shorten

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Except the ones that defy shortening by virtue of having only one syllable to start with. Then you Aussies go the opposite way, turning, for example, a tin into a tinnie.

Slan libh,

Dara

"I could count my friends on one hand, but I'd look like I was giving an invisible friend a hand job." - Shelle

But following a "th" sound with an "s" sound is just uncalled for. I avoid it whenever I can.

(insert catch phrase)

How about:

Minger an ugly person.

Nonce a Child sex offender

Tight Fisted a stingy Person

God : in English, a fictional character who's supposed to have created our world

Gode : in French, a dildo

Well, that's essentially how I feel about life - full of loneliness, and misery, and suffering, and unhappiness - and it's all over much too quickly.

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In fact, there is no word we cannot shorten and bring into heavy usage.

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Or come up with stupid words like 'Dunnie', when 'Bog', or 'Loo' will do perfectly fine.

Just a little bit of it can bring you up or down.Like the supper it is cooking in your hometown.it is chicken, it is eggs, it is in between your legs.it is walking on the moon, leaving your cocoon.

Perse: in English, dark grayish blue or purple.

Perse: in Finnish, arse.

Your wetness
Dave's firmness

Megabite: in English, a brand of dog food

Megabite: in French, a huge penis (to be pronounced "megabeat")



Well, that's essentially how I feel about life - full of loneliness, and misery, and suffering, and unhappiness - and it's all over much too quickly.

Megabite isn't dog food, it's dog meat. It's quite good actually but never made it into heavy market, mainly because child molestors protested.

Vote for me: TW's Top Fag!

Oh really? I'd love to try the dachshund flavour.

Well, that's essentially how I feel about life - full of loneliness, and misery, and suffering, and unhappiness - and it's all over much too quickly.

Is that a Mork-ism?

I will drug you and fuck you, on the perma-frost.

I'm willing to give up my foul vegetarian ways if you can provide me with some genuine Cairn terrier meat.

Your wetness
Dave's firmness

There is no such thing as "pantyhose" in England. We call them "tights" or "stockings". They are normally sold in the "hosiery" department of a store. Tights work on their own. Hold-up stockings stick to the top of your leg, but regular stockings require a suspender belt to hold them up. Doesn't matter if they're opaque, patterned or whatever. End of.

Why this varies between English speaking countries, I've no idea. It's just silly semantics my sweet .

I will drug you and fuck you, on the perma-frost.

Bog: in Polish, means God.

Bog: in English, means marsh-like ground or slang for toilet/WC).

I will drug you and fuck you, on the perma-frost.

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There is no such thing as "pantyhose" in England.

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But we use to have panteloons...

By God those were the days.

Laughing Poker

In Australian, to 'bog in' is to start eating whilst 'bog standard' means basic or unadorned. The terms 'Bog', 'Spag' and 'Spag Bog' are also used to shorten the words spaghetti bolognaise.

BOWIE DOWNUNDER

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'Spag Bog'

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This from the country who gave us Yahoo Serious.



(insert catch phrase)

Like I said - Aussie's and their shortening of words. Either way, it's hard to imagine a dish referred to 'spag bog' as anything approaching bon appetite. 'Spag bog'.....could be a spaghetti bolognaise or a volatile cocktail of saliva and turd.

BOWIE DOWNUNDER

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Bog: in English, means marsh-like ground or slang for toilet/WC).

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Coming from the Irish word "bog" meaning soft.

A popular phrase in Irish is "Thog go bhog e", meaning "take it soft" (take it easy). Pronounced "hogue guh vug ay".

Another English expression I only recently found out comes from Irish is "smashing!" (meaning "great!"). It comes from "Is maith e sin", pronounced "smaw ay shing".

Slan libh,

Dara

"I could count my friends on one hand, but I'd look like I was giving an invisible friend a hand job." - Shelle

Are you sure you do not mean spag bol?

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"Did you know that dreamt is the only word in the English (and I assume it means non-American English) language that ends in 'mt.'

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Well, there's also undreamt.

"Do we all think you're a bitch now? Good God no girl! The straights are all trying to gage how long before it's decent to hit on you, and the gays are thinking how wonderful, she has more time to go shopping with me!"- Ryan cheers me up

I've always dreamt of owning a klimt.

Well, that's essentially how I feel about life - full of loneliness, and misery, and suffering, and unhappiness - and it's all over much too quickly.

You made that up, didn't you, you kumt?

"Do we all think you're a bitch now? Good God no girl! The straights are all trying to gage how long before it's decent to hit on you, and the gays are thinking how wonderful, she has more time to go shopping with me!"- Ryan cheers me up

Here's a klimt:



Well, that's essentially how I feel about life - full of loneliness, and misery, and suffering, and unhappiness - and it's all over much too quickly.

A lot of places in Ireland are called Killsomething. Or to be more accurate, it's usually Killsomeone.

The reason for this is not to celebrate our violent history, but that the Irish word for a small church is "cill", pronounced and anglicised kill. So we've got Kilkenny, Killarney, Kilthomas and Killala. Let's hope that last one doesn't cause offense to Al Qaeda.

I myself tend to be a little nervous whenever I drive through Cill Dara (Kildare), on the basis that if the universe has a sense of humour, I'll probably die in a car accident there some day.

Near us, there's a place with the even more alarming name of Kilcock. Sounds like a lesbian haven. Even worse is the neighbouring townland that rejoices in the KKK friendly name on Kilcoon.

Slan libh,

Dara

"I could count my friends on one hand, but I'd look like I was giving an invisible friend a hand job." - Shelle