Equals

[Tipdin]

I was reading the notes regarding accents, and that got me thinking - not an easy task! People started commenting on a specific word spoken in the US meaning something vastly different in the UK or Australia. So I thought it would be fun to try and find equivalents.

 

Here, in the Midwest of the US, a cracker is a thin crispy wafer one eats with soup. In some parts of the US it is a derogatory term for a white person. What does is mean in your area?

 

Here are a few from the Midwest:

Pop = soda, father

Coke = any brand of soda (mostly used in the southern areas)

Trunk = back end of an automobile

Boot = a foot covering

Hood = front end of an automobile

Bonnet = a type of hat worn by females in the past

Gas = gasoline for an automobile

Wheels = any type of automobile

Crib = the living space that one calls home

Peepers = eyes

Cell = mobile phone

Crusties = underpants

Straps = suspenders to hold one's pants

Pants = exterior covering of lower half of the body

Chemist = a specific field of study

Drug Store = pharmacy

A jiffy = a short amount of time

Fag = an extremely offensive insult

Dinner = the evening meal

A sleeper = BORING!

Chill = relax, calm down

Lame = stupid, unacceptable

Keen = astute

Lory = the misspelled form of the female name Lori

Van = delivery truck

The tube = television

Pint = a scientific measurement

Cool = acceptable, nice, great, I like it!

Sad = unacceptable, stupid, I dislike it!

Chip = a boy's nickname, a component of a computer, a small piece of something

Spuds = potatoes

Barbie = a female name

Steamed = angry

Dweeb = joking term for someone doing something foolish

Lark = a type of bird

Holiday = a government sanctioned day of recognition

Vacation = time away from one's employment

Nick = a shortened form of the male name Nicolas

Steal = to take something without permission

Ticker = one's heart

Bar = a place one goes for a drink, a standard of judgment

Chick = a female

Bugger = an irritating person

Out back = the area behind a building

Cuss = irritating person, to swear

To jet = to leave

 

That's it off the top of my head. Please share some words from your area of the planet!

[Nephylim]

Okay this is what they all are in Wales

 

Pop = soda, father soda, not father, the sound a baloon makes when it bursts or a cork comes out of a bottle

Coke = any brand of soda (mostly used in the southern areas) Same. Also the white powder you snort.

Trunk = back end of an automobile a big wooden box for storing things. The nose of an elephant (the back end of a car is a Boot)

Boot = a foot covering same plus the back end of a car and ... "to boot" as in "and he was smiling to boot" meaning 'as well as' usually derrogatory. To boot out... to throw out violently as in "I booted him out of the club."

Hood = front end of an automobile the front end of a car is a bonnet. A hood is... a head covering, a gangster

Bonnet = a type of hat worn by females in the past Same as well as the front end of a car. Incidentally automobile is a very old word for car that we dont use at all. Sometimes it is abbreviated to 'auto' in the names of some garages.

Gas = gasoline for an automobile. By and large we don't put gas in our cars, it is diesel or petrol. Gas is what our cookers and central heating works on, flatulance, or to gossip and in "those two could gas for hours"

Wheels = any type of automobile Things that go around.

 

Crib = the living space that one calls home What babies sleep in. To cheat by copying someone else "He cribbed her notes"

 

Peepers = eyes same

Cell = mobile phone we just say mobile.

Crusties = underpants old hippies

Straps = suspenders to hold one's pants suspenders

Pants = exterior covering of lower half of the body male underwear. (pants are trousers), something that is poor quality "that group was pants". What a dog does

Chemist = a specific field of study A shop where you buy drugs (the legal over the counter kind) perfumes etc and usually lots of other things.

Drug Store = pharmacy Dont use that phrase at all

A jiffy = a short amount of time same

Fag = an extremely offensive insult Same... and a cigarette. "just going outside for a fag"

Dinner = the evening meal Can be midday meal or evening meal or both.

A sleeper = BORING! someone who is asleep or the wooden bits on a railway track.

Chill = relax, calm down Same. Being cold, having a cold.

Lame = stupid, unacceptable same and having a limp

Keen = astute same

Lory = the misspelled form of the female name Lori My daughter is Lori

Van = delivery truck A closed in dlivery vehicle, A delivery vehicle with an open back is a truck.

The tube = television same... and a tv programme.

Pint = a scientific measurement A large glass of lager. If you go to the bar and ask for a pint you get lager, if you want beer you have to ask for it. In our working men's clubs it will cost you about

[Tipdin]

Ah, some excellent additions!

 

• 
   
  
• I like that you mentioned a cooker, that would be a stove here.
  
• A lager would be lumberjack.
  
• In queue is something we don't even say. It's just standing in line or lining up.
   
  

Here's an interesting one. Cock and cock-up, here, in the Midwest of the US, those words would NEVER be spoken under ANY circumstances by one in polite society. Period - NEVER, not for ANY reason. The word cock, even tough it is just a dumb 'ol rooster, it is simply SOOOO offensive that NOBODY says it - NOBODY. It is the worst thing one can say. Even in dirty, sexy talk in the privacy of a bedroom Midwesterner's mouths simply cannot form the word. The Midwest vocal chords are incapable of creating the sound - it is THAT taboo.

 

What you call butty we would spell as buddy, but mean the same thing.

And yes, fries here are square-cut lengths of potato either deep fried or baked in the oven. (Which reminds me, I would love to own an AGA! But the vast majority of Americans wouldn't even know what it is - they simply are not available.)

[Bumblebee]

These are my australian, some other aussies might not agree with them

 

 

Pop = - to 'pop off' means to fart

Coke = any cola drink, or the drug

Boot = a foot covering - also the "trunk" of a car

Hood = - "Hoodie" is a jumper with a hood on it

Bonnet = a type of hat worn by females in the past, the front end of a car

Gas = LPG is gas that you put in the car, gas as in farting, gas as in what most west aussies have as a power source

Cell = mobile phone, a jail cell

Chemist = a pharmacy

A jiffy = a short amount of time

Fag = an extremely offensive insult, a ciggie

Dinner = the evening meal

Chill = relax, calm down

Lame = stupid, unacceptable - boring

Van = a car with more then 6 seats (otherwise known as a people mover)

Cool = acceptable, nice, great, I like it! - also cold

Sad = being depressed about something

Chip = a component of a computer, - chips are hot chips (hot potato chips) or chips (packet chips)

Barbie = a bimbo or a women wearing caked on makeup

Steamed = being boiling hot or steamed food

Dweeb = an idiot or dork

Holiday = a government sanctioned day of recognition - also have a "vacation"

Vacation = time away from one's employment also going away overseas

Nick = a shortened form of the male name Nicolas - to steal something

Steal = to take something without permission

Bar = a place one goes for a drink, a standard of judgment - to bar something is to stop something

Chick = a female - a little chicken

Bugger = another word for crap

Out back = the area behind a building, the country side

 

Arvo : afternoon

Bikkie : biscuit

Barrack : to cheer on (football team etc.)

Bloody : very

Off your face : very drunk

Petrol: what you americans call gas

Mate: a friend

[DragonFire]

Mintaz - very mint. "She was mintaz."

Cock - to tip your hat. To turn up your nose. "He cocked his nose at his greens."

Cock up - making a right mess of it.

But - what you cal a friend "Alright but?"

Butty - a sandwich or a friend. "Oi but, why did you eat my cheese butty, I thought you were my butty."

 

Butty I've heard of as a sandwich, never seen or heard it used in the other context. Definatly a welsh thing, same as the rest of 'em above!

 

Also what the Americans call suspenders, are braces. I got confused the first time I ever saw that term used; when a guy was putting on his suspenders, in the UK suspenders are a part of womens underwear!

[Tipdin]

Excellent 'conversation'! Thank you!

[Greedya]

These are my australian, some other aussies might not agree with them

 

Pop = - to 'pop off' means to fart

Coke = any cola drink, or the drug

Boot = a foot covering - also the "trunk" of a car

Hood = - "Hoodie" is a jumper with a hood on it

Bonnet = a type of hat worn by females in the past, the front end of a car

Gas = LPG is gas that you put in the car, gas as in farting, gas as in what most west aussies have as a power source

Cell = mobile phone, a jail cell

Chemist = a pharmacy

A jiffy = a short amount of time

Fag = an extremely offensive insult, a ciggie (spelling: ciggy) well, fags are offensive at all if they are friendly banters but u gotta be very careful.

Dinner = the evening meal (tea = dinner as well. in australia, you can eat 'tea' )

Chill = relax, calm down

Lame = stupid, unacceptable - boring

Van = a car with more then 6 seats (otherwise known as a people mover)

Cool = acceptable, nice, great, I like it! - also cold

Sad = being depressed about something

Chip = a component of a computer, - chips are hot chips (hot potato chips) or chips (packet chips)

Barbie = a bimbo or a women wearing caked on makeup (?really? barbie is BBQ in syd/melb/cbr )

Steamed = being boiling hot or steamed food

Dweeb = an idiot or dork

Holiday = a government sanctioned day of recognition - also have a "vacation"

Vacation = time away from one's employment also going away overseas

Nick = a shortened form of the male name Nicolas - to steal something

Steal = to take something without permission

Bar = a place one goes for a drink, a standard of judgment - to bar something is to stop something

Chick = a female - a little chicken

Bugger = another word for crap

Out back = the area behind a building, the country side (spelling: outback - without space ---- outback is not really country side. it is a very remote area. rural areas are called 'the bush')

 

Arvo : afternoon

Bikkie : biscuit

Barrack : to cheer on (football team etc.)

Bloody : very

Off your face : very drunk

Petrol: what you americans call gas

Mate: a friend

 

Doona: quilt

Brekkie: breakfast

Drop bear: very dangerous animal. tourists in australia should wear a helmet at all times.

[Nephylim]

I spell ciggie like that too. Strange.

 

Yeah we eat 'tea' here too. If we have dinner at lunchtime then we have tea at teatime. If we have lunch at lunchtime then we have dinner at teatime. I usually have dinner at teatime.

 

My son doesn't have lunch, tea or dinner... he has middle food and end food which I think is a lot more sensible

[Agaith]

Someone wondered what the word 'yob' meant in my story

 

Yob- means a trouble making youth.

[Tipdin]

Someone wondered what the word 'yob' meant in my story

 

Yob- means a trouble making youth.

Interesting word. Do you know its etymology? I could not find its history when I looked. Is this an acronym? Shortened form of another word?

[Tipdin]

I'm going to have to start a translation dictionary. You're giving me words that I have never even heard before! I love this!

[Nephylim]

From Wikipedia

In Britain, as the word 'yobb' came out of the London back slang and into more general English usage, it and latterly 'yobbo' have meant 'working class, adolescent, male person'. Within his own culture, he was not necessarily seen as uncouth, though a person writing about him rather than speaking of him was likely to be of another social class and prone to seeing him as loutish.

 

Dr. C. T. Onions, an editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, seems not to have noticed the word before he published the XYZ section of the dictionary in 1921 but the later supplement notes the use of 'yob' as meaning 'boy' in the working-class youth context, from 1859. This implies that the word had by that stage come out from the back slang argot into ordinary English usage. In the dictionary supplement's references, it is possible to detect a slow drift in the word's meaning, towards the 'Ruffian' interpretation, the new emphasis becoming clear from about 1927.

 

'Yobbo' appears from 1922 when its meaning does not clearly emphasize the ruffian. Its meaning drifts clearly towards the 'ruffian' interpretation by 1956, though a reference of 1938 calls a yobbo a 'Street Rough'.

 

In Britain today this word is sometimes superseded by the newer term "Chav".

 

How could I have forgotten Chav

 

 

[Agaith]

From Wikipedia

In Britain, as the word 'yobb' came out of the London back slang and into more general English usage, it and latterly 'yobbo' have meant 'working class, adolescent, male person'. Within his own culture, he was not necessarily seen as uncouth, though a person writing about him rather than speaking of him was likely to be of another social class and prone to seeing him as loutish.

 

Dr. C. T. Onions, an editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, seems not to have noticed the word before he published the XYZ section of the dictionary in 1921 but the later supplement notes the use of 'yob' as meaning 'boy' in the working-class youth context, from 1859. This implies that the word had by that stage come out from the back slang argot into ordinary English usage. In the dictionary supplement's references, it is possible to detect a slow drift in the word's meaning, towards the 'Ruffian' interpretation, the new emphasis becoming clear from about 1927.

 

'Yobbo' appears from 1922 when its meaning does not clearly emphasize the ruffian. Its meaning drifts clearly towards the 'ruffian' interpretation by 1956, though a reference of 1938 calls a yobbo a 'Street Rough'.

 

In Britain today this word is sometimes superseded by the newer term "Chav".

 

How could I have forgotten Chav

 

 

 

LOL Nephy, I thought 'Chav' might be too British

But seems like 'yob' is predominantly British as well

[Ara]

LOL Nephy, I thought 'Chav' might be too British

But seems like 'yob' is predominantly British as well

 

hehe if I remember rightly Chavs where predominantely from the south as well until it took on a wider context. Now its just used for anyone who has watched, thought of, appeared on or is directly related to someone who has appeared on the Jeremy Kyle Show

 

Other than that its fun to not only see the difference in words over large regions such as US v UK but even within smaller regions such as differing parts of the UK having completely differing meanings

[TrevorTime]

Crusties = underpants

Hmmmm, I thought I had heard every single slang term for underwear, but this one is new to me.

Anyways, this came up in chat the other day, the word "dope". The usual meaning is illegal drugs. But in CA, it also means kewl or impressive. So if someone has a dope ride, it means they have an awesome car.

[Tipdin]

[/size]

Hmmmm, I thought I had heard every single slang term for underwear, but this one is new to me.

Anyways, this came up in chat the other day, the word "dope". The usual meaning is illegal drugs. But in CA, it also means kewl or impressive. So if someone has a dope ride, it means they have an awesome car.

 

Dope in the Midwest is just a dumbbell, a person being foolish.

 

I've been asking everyone for words to include here, but everyone seems so blinded to the outside world! As if everything we say is universally understood. (Midwest arrogance?)

 

How about klunker? Or clunker. A junk-heap of a car, anything gone wrong.

[Bondwriter]

Here, in the Midwest of the US, a cracker is a thin crispy wafer one eats with soup. In some parts of the US it is a derogatory term for a white person. What does is mean in your area?

A Minnesotan who doesn't make a list with "loon"? The state bird? I'm shocked, I must say. Or appalled. Maybe, even, flabbergasted.

 

I'll go check the Welsh idiom now. I've heard they use Q, W and N only.

[jon-jon]

I spell ciggie like that too. Strange.

 

Yeah we eat 'tea' here too. If we have dinner at lunchtime then we have tea at teatime. If we have lunch at lunchtime then we have dinner at teatime. I usually have dinner at teatime.

 

My son doesn't have lunch, tea or dinner... he has middle food and end food which I think is a lot more sensible

 

So when do you have supper?

[Tipdin]

A Minnesotan who doesn't make a list with "loon"? The state bird? I'm shocked, I must say. Or appalled. Maybe, even, flabbergasted.

 

I'll go check the Welsh idiom now. I've heard they use Q, W and N only.

Ok, ok.... I never thought of that one - I'm so used to thinking of it as a bird! But we also use it to mean silly.

 

There are a few others for silly that I can think of right now: squirrel, a dim bulb, doorknob, numbskull, and a recently overheard term: a few fries short of a Happy Meal.

 

Alright? It's 1:00 a.m. I'm going to 'hit the hay' or 'collect a few z's' or 'call it a wrap' or 'make a vain attempt at beauty sleep' = go to bed.

 

How do you know about the loon, anyway?

Edited November 18, 2010 by Tipdin