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10-21-2012, 10:32 AM
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#1
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jun 2010
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Britishisms
According to this article, a number of British English words and expressions are entering US usage. (A lot of Brits think the traffic is all the other way.)
How many of these do you recognise/know/use? Any others?
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10-21-2012, 10:38 AM
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#2
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Nov 2005
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I never realized they were British. I recognize about 20 as being common since my youth. But, I live in Canada, so YMMV.
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10-21-2012, 10:46 AM
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#3
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Moderator Emeritus
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I must be watching too much BBC America because I am familiar with most of them.
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10-21-2012, 10:51 AM
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#4
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Jan 2007
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All but three of the thirty are terms that I have been familiar with for ages. And, I don't watch BBC.
Some of these terms have never been exclusively British. For example, I was taught "Autumn" and "Fall" as synonyms in elementary school back in the 1950's. I preferred "Autumn" since it had no secondary meaning.
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10-21-2012, 11:22 AM
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#5
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
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I remember being small and hearing my older sister use "Bloody" at home because she'd heard some British rock group using it, and our Irish mother chastising her for using such shocking language. I took it to heart, and still shudder when I hear someone say something is "bloody" this or that.
Amethyst
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10-21-2012, 11:34 AM
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#6
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Administrator
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I can't say that I have particularly noticed any of those terms being used by Texans where we live.
On this site last year I mentioned my understanding of the word muppet, and not many folks here had the same interpretation. Interesting to see that it is now listed as a Britishism being used by Americans.
http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...ml#post1035247
Muppet, n. A stupid person; from the name for the puppets used in the TV programme The Muppet Show. "I am a Brit living in Idaho. One of the biggest Britishisms I see, and have helped perpetuate, is the term 'muppets' to refer to brainless individuals. I love this term as it conjures images of the loveable Muppets but in reference to a person it definitely conveys a lack of intelligence or substandard education. In this state there are plenty of 'muppets'." George Hemmings, Idaho, US
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10-21-2012, 11:48 AM
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#7
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
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Can any British people help on a word meaning? "Lights." I have a Maltese recipe for rabbit that mentions sauteing the rabbit along with its liver and "lights." Kidneys?
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10-21-2012, 11:50 AM
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#8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by brewer12345
Can any British people help on a word meaning? "Lights." I have a Maltese recipe for rabbit that mentions sauteing the rabbit along with its liver and "lights." Kidneys?
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Sorry Brewer, I've not heard of that one.
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10-21-2012, 11:52 AM
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#9
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Sounds like it might be the lungs and liver.
http://unclestinky.wordpress.com/200...g-lights-stew/
HOG LIGHTS STEW
(“lights” are the lungs and the liver of a pig, cooked together)
- 1 set of hog lights
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 toes garlic, chopped
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- Flour
Chop your lights up into bite-size pieces. Fry down in a heavy pot with the onion and garlic till it is brown. Add water to cover, salt and pepper, and stew till tender. If it’s not thick enough for you, use a little flour to make it thicker. Spoon that over rice and some Scratch Backs* on the side, and you’re fixed.
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10-21-2012, 11:54 AM
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#10
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
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ewwww...
I will not be doing that. I generally like British food (I am even a devoted fan of marmite), but I draw the line at offal.
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Ezekiel 23:20
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10-21-2012, 11:55 AM
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#11
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It looks like "lights" means lungs.
Offal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In some parts of Europe, scrotum, brain, chitterlings (pig's small intestine), trotters (feet), heart, head (of pigs, calves, sheep and lamb), kidney, liver, spleen, "lights" ( lung), sweetbreads ( thymus or pancreas), fries (testicles), tongue, snout (nose), tripe (reticulum) and maws (stomach) from various mammals are common menu items.
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10-21-2012, 11:57 AM
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#12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by brewer12345
ewwww...
I will not be doing that. I generally like British food (I am even a devoted fan of marmite), but I draw the line at offal.
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We ate offal growing up but never lungs or brains.
You are safe with marmite as it is made from brewer's yeast, or the waste product from brewing, IIRC
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10-21-2012, 12:02 PM
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#13
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan
On this site last year I mentioned my understanding of the word muppet, and not many folks here had the same interpretation. Interesting to see that it is now listed as a Britishism being used by Americans.
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I have never heard an American use the word muppet in that way either.
I've been watching quite a few period dramas recently, mostly set in England in the late 1800's/early 1900's and think it would be perfectly ripping if we still used words like "bounder" and "beastly".
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10-21-2012, 12:06 PM
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#14
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Just a difference in outlook. I've always thought it was offal good.
My favorite offal is heart (beef or chicken), but chicken gizzards is also a favorite snack around my house. Liver and onions or bacon has also always been a treat. Kidneys are very good as well. Does tongue count? That's a delicacy in my book.
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10-21-2012, 12:22 PM
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#15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Major Tom
I've been watching quite a few period dramas recently, mostly set in England in the late 1800's/early 1900's and think it would be perfectly ripping if we still used words like "bounder" and "beastly".
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I also like "getting my dander up", as in the first minute of this clip from Fawlty Towers
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10-21-2012, 12:26 PM
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#16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by braumeister
My favorite offal is heart (beef or chicken), but chicken gizzards is also a favorite snack around my house.
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Gizzards ( gésiers) are a delicacy in France. You'll often find a salade de gésiers on the menu in the South-West, with small pieces of rich, dark-red meatiness. Until you find out what they are, they taste delicious!
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10-21-2012, 12:27 PM
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#17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Major Tom
I've been watching quite a few period dramas recently, mostly set in England in the late 1800's/early 1900's and think it would be perfectly ripping if we still used words like "bounder" and "beastly".
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You never think of the dregs of match.com and the like as bounders or cads? I sure do when I hear tales of what they do sometimes.
And the word "beastly " comes to mind when trying to describe New Orleans' weather in August.
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10-21-2012, 12:37 PM
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#18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan
I also like "getting my dander up", as in the first minute of this clip from Fawlty Towers
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"Would you care for a rat?"
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Contentedly ER, with 3 furry friends (now, sadly, 1).
Planning my escape to the wide open spaces in my campervan (with my remaining kitty, of course!)
On a mission to become the world's second most boring man.
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10-21-2012, 12:47 PM
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#19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by W2R
You never think of the dregs of match.com and the like as bounders or cads? I sure do when I hear tales of what they do sometimes.
And the word "beastly " comes to mind when trying to describe New Orleans' weather in August.
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Your beastly summer weather would make me wilt W2R, but it doesn't stop me from wanting to visit sometime.
Caddish behavior is alive and well, sad to say. We just have slightly more graphic terms to describe the perpetrators of such rotten deeds these days.
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Contentedly ER, with 3 furry friends (now, sadly, 1).
Planning my escape to the wide open spaces in my campervan (with my remaining kitty, of course!)
On a mission to become the world's second most boring man.
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10-21-2012, 01:08 PM
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#20
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Full time employment: Posting here.
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Back in the day attending USMC radio school, we were taught to never use the word "repeat" while talking on the radio. We were taught to say "say again your last."
We were taught that to the British (including Australians, Canadians, or anyone else in the English-speaking British Empire military, "repeat" meant to repeat an artillery barrage.
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