Britishisms

[BigNick]

Does 'fag' still have a much different meaning than the US version?

Yes. It's still a cigarette. A minor usage, among those who went to the very poshest boarding schools, is to describe a junior student who acts a gofer for a more senior one; apparently this system is now defunct (source: Wikipedia).

Faggots, in the UK, are cheap meatballs, composed principally of liver and other offal. There is no abbreviation for these to "fag".

Brits are nowadays generally aware of the pejorative use of the word "faggot" and will avoid it (or snicker) if Americans are around - also, the food item in question is becoming less popular. However, no such restraint applies to "fag" except perhaps in the most politically correct circles, where not a lot of people smoke cigarettes anyway.

 

[Sarah in SC]

We had lots of language mishaps when we were in Peru with a rather multicultural bunch of English speakers: US, UK, and Australians, New Zealanders, and don't get me started on the Irish!

My favorites were spanners = wrenches (that took a while) and then jumper = jacket.

 

[FUEGO]

Familiar with them all except numpty and skint. I didn't realize some were British. I guess I watch a bit too much BBC/international tv and read too much Economist lol. Going to engineering school and encountering classmates that learned British English in their native countries probably helped anglify me too.

 

[Alan]

My favorites were spanners = wrenches (that took a while) and then jumper = jacket.

jumper = sweater in the north of England so some regional differences as well

 

[HFWR]

Shite...

 

[Donzo]

Thought of a few more on my drive back home from the gym.

Arse

Smalls = underpants

Blimey = surprised

Brolly = umbrella

I learned to love pork pies when I was over there - the store bought type
I had were basically spam inside a pastry....not very interested in them now.

Really miss the beers and ales - drinking them warm took some getting used to.

I read somewhere that "watch your P's & Q's" came from England. "Mind your pints and quarts" was a way the barman told a crowd in the pub to quiet down.

 

[Nemo2]

Blimey = surprised

Often "Gor Blimey".......evolved from "God blind me"...way back when.

 

[Major Tom]

jumper = sweater in the north of England so some regional differences as well

We used jumper to mean sweater in the Midlands too.

 

[Calgary_Girl]

I never realized they were British. I recognize about 20 as being common since my youth. But, I live in Canada, so YMMV.

+1.

I recognized almost all of them with the exception of 3 or 4.

 

[Nords]

My favorites were spanners = wrenches (that took a while) and then jumper = jacket.

A spanner is also a very specific type of wrench that I don't see much anymore outside of the military. Which is probably a good thing.

https://www.google.com/search?num=1...0.1.165.223.1j1.2.0...0.0...1ac.1.Hlrfv0k2CNQ

 

[Alan]

Thought of a few more on my drive back home from the gym.

Arse

Smalls = underpants

Blimey = surprised

Brolly = umbrella

I learned to love pork pies when I was over there - the store bought type
I had were basically spam inside a pastry....not very interested in them now.

Really miss the beers and ales - drinking them warm took some getting used to.

I read somewhere that "watch your P's & Q's" came from England. "Mind your pints and quarts" was a way the barman told a crowd in the pub to quiet down.

What does a pirate call his bum? His arrrrrrrrrrrse

 

[Sarah in SC]

Oh I may have meant sweater instead of jacket for the jumper -didn't really think about it.
And another one for underwear that I'd never heard is Y-fronts.

 

[kumquat]

Methinks you may be incorrect. A spanner is simply an 'open end' wrench. I think.

A spanner is also a very specific type of wrench that I don't see much anymore outside of the military. Which is probably a good thing.

 

[Nords]

Methinks you may be incorrect. A spanner is simply an 'open end' wrench. I think.

It's hard to tell that you clicked on the link and looked at all the photos of spanner wrenches.

https://www.google.com/search?num=1...0.1.165.223.1j1.2.0...0.0...1ac.1.Hlrfv0k2CNQ

I've used them a few, oh I don't know, hundreds of times over the years on various balky components. Especially fire hoses. Now that I'm out of the military, I've almost never had the need to use a spanner wrench... even on fire hoses... which is why I think it's a good thing.

 

[kumquat]

OK, I said a spanner was an 'open end' wrench. That means a wrench that is not open ended is not a spanner. I'm pretty sure I followed the link. I'm also pretty sure I didn't see a box-end wrench in the works.
By following your link I saw:
- what I would call a 'spanner'
- what I would call a [-]monkey[/-] Cresent wrench
- what I would call a socket wrench
- what I would call a hammer

Your turn. BTW, did you check your own link?

Now that I'm no longer a farmer, I don't fix a lot of things either. But I know what tool I'm using. I think that is a good thing.

Edit to add:

Since this is a britisism thread, maybe the brits can tell us which interpetation is correct?

 

[BigNick]

"Spanner" is the generic British term, like "wrench" is in the US. Monkey wrench (US) is a monkey wrench (!) or an adjustable spanner. A socket wrench (US) is a ring spanner.

The term "spanner" can also be used as an insult to imply low intelligence. It seems to be derived from "spastic", which is no longer a politically correct term in the UK for a person with cerebral palsy, although I believe that it's still current usage in the US. (Doctors still use "spastic" to describe the limb movements of cerebral palsy sufferers.) And yes, I know that cerebral palsy sufferers typically do not have low intelligence, but that's yet another reason why insults of this kind are not very clever.

 

[Alan]

"Spanner" is the generic British term, like "wrench" is in the US. Monkey wrench (US) is a monkey wrench (!) or an adjustable spanner. A socket wrench (US) is a ring spanner.

We simply used the term socket to refer to a "socket wrench". (e.g. "pass me a 10mm socket")

A ring spanner is the same as a spanner except with closed ends where we lived.

 

[veremchuka]

I read somewhere that "watch your P's & Q's" came from England. "Mind your pints and quarts" was a way the barman told a crowd in the pub to quiet down.

So maybe that explains "mind your p's and q's" here? I never knew what the heck p's and q's were!

Spanner is a generic term for any wrench.
Bonnet - hood of car
Boot - IIRC that's a trunk
Oh so many terms that I have forgotten, I used to get an English car magazine and there are a lot of these terms that can really make you wonder what the heck they are talking about until you figure it out.

 

[F M All]

Ok chaps (and chapesses!), 'P's and 'Q's are 'please's and 'thank you's. In my experience not as frequently drilled into the young in the US as they were to my generation in the UK (what an old fogey/old farty I am). Whilst (another Britishism!) this is not supported by Snopes I believe this to be the true explanation.

Toodle Pip

TTFN

 

[Purron]

Shite...

This makes me think of The Commitments.

 

[Meadbh]

This makes me think of The Commitments.

.......who were not British, but Irish.

 

[Sarah in SC]

So what explains the proliferation of "y-fronts" in my latest reading?

And we eventually did get that spanner in the context it was used, simply is a stand in for wrench, of whatever specialization or shape.

 

[samclem]

A minor one: "Right" (in response to a statement by another speaker). It turns out that "right" in this context is not a term of agreement, it's just an acknowledgement that he's heard what you've said and wants to move on.

"I guess my joke about the Queen might have been in bad taste. Still--do you agree with the basic point of it?"
"Right. Grab that tyre and spanner from the boot and let's put this wheel on, or you can sit on that kerb and wait to get hit by a lorry."

 

[F M All]

So what explains the proliferation of "y-fronts" in my latest reading?

Sarah, try reading this article The undercover story: A briefs history of Y fronts - This Britain - UK - The Independent

From this I would say that that this is like Hoover and vacuum cleaner - we Brits picked up the design style, "y-fronts", whilst Americans picked up the brand name "Jockey".

Now, who agrees with the late Clare Rayner?

 

[Nodak]

As for the trunk/boot business, during the horse and buggy era the storage are behind a carriage was called the boot in both the UK and US. Stagecoaches had boots. In the 1920s and 30s cars had a carrier mounted in the rear that held an actual steamer type trunk, thus the use of the term in the US.