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Cultural Conundrums.

Quoll

Quoll

Area 25
Joined
Oct 17, 2004
Posts
10,886
We seem to have a reasonable level of diversity here in the HT/Cafe which I think is great. Every now and then someone uses a phrase or word that doesn't occur in our world, or there are phrases used by others that you know don't have the same meaning where you come from, this is the place to ask and explain these differences, pictorial examples welcome.

My first contribution.

Fanny

http://images.spunkycash.com/1907-300-300.jpg

or if you prefer "The front bum".​
 
Yep, as a Brit when I hear the word fanny used in its American sense I fall around laughing. And "he was wearing a fanny pack" makes my mind boggle.

Then there's "fag". To me, this means "cigarette". I used to get through 20 fags a day, but eventually I managed to quit.
 
Cattypuss said:
Yep, as a Brit when I hear the word fanny used in its American sense I fall around laughing. And "he was wearing a fanny pack" makes my mind boggle.

Then there's "fag". To me, this means "cigarette". I used to get through 20 fags a day, but eventually I managed to quit.
Click to expand...

One of my Yank friends had a habit of saying "Well smack my fanny and call me happy", she says she just can't say it with a straight face anymore.:D

20 fags a day, :eek: that's a big load to get through, it has both meanings over here, but mostly the tobacco one.
 
BTW over here we tend to say "front bottom" rather than "front bum".

Does that makes us posher? ;)
 
cattypuss: interestingly, i've recently begun using the word "asshat" in casual conversatio. my wife looked at me after a while and asked, "what precisely is an 'asshat'?" without missing a beat, i replied "it was an acccessory for one's derriere" unconvinced, she retored, "so...it's a fannypack?"

quoll, a very interesting question. however, b/c i sometimes don't recognize americanisms as being so, i can't think of any offhand, other than the usual british/american vocabulary stuff such as boot/trunk or pram/stroller.

i should work on developing my scatalogical vocabulary, though...

ed
 
silverwhisper said:
cattypuss: interestingly, i've recently begun using the word "asshat" in casual conversatio. my wife looked at me after a while and asked, "what precisely is an 'asshat'?" without missing a beat, i replied "it was an acccessory for one's derriere" unconvinced, she retored, "so...it's a fannypack?"

quoll, a very interesting question. however, b/c i sometimes don't recognize americanisms as being so, i can't think of any offhand, other than the usual british/american vocabulary stuff such as boot/trunk or pram/stroller.

i should work on developing my scatalogical vocabulary, though...

ed
Click to expand...

Mmm, a whole pack of fannies, can you stop at just one?

You talking talking shit to me ed?
 
What do you people call actual biscuits? You know, the flaky, non sweet kind you can break open and load up with sausage & gravy.

Good thread :)
 
Well our nearest equivalent is scones (you can get non-sweet scones). We don't eat them with sausage and gravy though.

In fact that's another one. "Gravy" means different things to different people. And so does "sausage". When I ordered biscuits with gravy and sausage in Southern USA, I knew what "biscuits" were in the USA, but it came as a surprise to find that the gravy was a white sauce (in the UK gravy is always a brown thing made from meat juices) and the sausage wasn't sausage-shaped or indeed in a sausage skin.
 
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This reminds me of this one-woman crusader I saw on Wikipedia, who was determined to enforce her opinion that the site should be carried out entirely in Queen's English--even the ones about American topics. Those of us who were sane about it had a good laugh--Yanks and Brits both. :)

I'm American, so I'm monolingual (if not demi-lingual), but there are things about the British turn of phrase that I just love. I would probably write in British English, if I could speak it. :rolleyes:
 
"Fannypack" versus "Ass-pack" or "Small Pack". The large pack at the top-center of this image is the "small pack" which is worn at the base of the spine on the webbing belt.

Now imagine a very earnest American Army Lieutenant trying to explain to a bunch of British squaddies what the various pieces of equipment are called to "limit confusion". Fannypack. "And you just fit the tabs into the slots and it stays in place. Simple."
"Can you show me how, sir?"

Then there's the UK "Crisps" versus "Chips" thing. Chips: What Americans would call "French Fries" (or "Freedom Fries", I suppose). "Crisps", what the Americans call "potato chips", usually come in a multitude of flavours.

Being in Canada, you get an interesting mix of terms that can sometimes lead to confusion.
 
Chippies (not the carpenter sort)

Wedges
http://www.lovechips.co.uk/assets/Uploads/_resampled/SetWidth264-HomemadeWedges.jpg

Chips
http://classifieds.echinacities.com/file/images/200907141404159540.jpg

Chips mostly, although crisps is used by some.
http://www.mybadpad.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/bag-of-chips.jpg


Chips or fries, just fries, neither French nor freedom.
Most of the fast food resta...eating places have them listed as fries,
so it's pretty common for most people to ask for chips. :cool:
http://www.thewhitenoiserevisited.co.uk/images/fries.jpg​
 
Around here, a fanny pack is also called a belt pouch, which seems like the most simple and logical term for it.

An asshat is definitely not an accessory for one's derriere lol. An asshat is someone who has their head (metaphorically) stuck up their own ass such that they are wearing their ass as a hat. Basically, a pompous prick.
 
sunandshadow said:
An asshat is definitely not an accessory for one's derriere lol.
Click to expand...
Yeah, really. It's next to impossible to find a purse that matches.
 
Cattypuss said:
Well our nearest equivalent is scones (you can get non-sweet scones). We don't eat them with sausage and gravy though.

In fact that's another one. "Gravy" means different things to different people. And so does "sausage". When I ordered biscuits with gravy and sausage in Southern USA, I knew what "biscuits" were in the USA, but it came as a surprise to find that the gravy was a white sauce (in the UK gravy is always a brown thing made from meat juices) and the sausage wasn't sausage-shaped or indeed in a sausage skin.
Click to expand...

I don't get white gravy, but I am a northerner. We do have sausage links and sausage patties though.
 
White gravy is called southern gravy, unless you're a southerner at which point it's gravy, we call that brown stuff burnt. :rolleyes:

Sausage and gravy is a great breakfast, you get the tasty butter biscuits buried under a ton of gravy and peices of sausage, see there is sausage usually it's just small pieces cooked up in the gravy. ;)

I have to admit i don't get the toast with the sauage and gravy, you get biscuits in it what do you need toast for. :rolleyes:

There is another name for it, shit on a shingle, used to be or still is what they give you in bootcamp for the military here. Same idea just with bread not biscuit. Which of course to me sounds totally wrong, the biscuits add alot to the flavor. :mad:
 
Shit on shingle is often corn beef hash with some poor bastard excuse of a gravy laid over toast.

Having had proper sausage, gravy, and biscuits cooked by an ex's Southern grandmother, I am surprised the US Army doesn't have more serious morale issues. There simply is no substitute for proper biscuits, sausage, and gravy.

Though, the gravy was still brown. I have yet to see white gravy.

"Mate", as in a term of familiarity not unlike "Buddy" or "Pal", rather than "reproductive partner." Commonly used in the UK.
 
silverwhisper said:
cattypuss: interestingly, i've recently begun using the word "asshat" in casual conversatio. my wife looked at me after a while and asked, "what precisely is an 'asshat'?" without missing a beat, i replied "it was an acccessory for one's derriere" unconvinced, she retored, "so...it's a fannypack?"

quoll, a very interesting question. however, b/c i sometimes don't recognize americanisms as being so, i can't think of any offhand, other than the usual british/american vocabulary stuff such as boot/trunk or pram/stroller.

i should work on developing my scatalogical vocabulary, though...

ed
Click to expand...

:eek:

Quoll said it first, no poopoo stuff, young man. :D
 
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