British vs. American Renderings

[emap]

Cockney does the same thing. Oddly enough cockney isn't really recognized by Britain as a whole, but they are still picking up the words. A few of the cockney words just come up with are in the slang I have come across, not the whole phrase but a word here and there.

Cockney is weird, they seem to be making a rhyme when they talk, but the few times I've seen entire sentences, it's definitely not rhyming. Someone should talk to them about that, but from what i know mostly it is drunks and lads so going near them is a bad idea. They like to think the laws don't apply to them and are under attack from someone so half a chance they got a piece.

 

[Beck31]

Trainers are sneakers
Vest is undershirt
Nappy is diaper
Pram is baby carriage
tackle can refer to a set of genitals
marrow is summer squash
aye is yes

 

[deniebrown]

Sorry, I meant it was British.

 

[DeYaKen]

Cocney rhyming slang

Cockney does the same thing. Oddly enough cockney isn't really recognized by Britain as a whole, but they are still picking up the words. A few of the cockney words just come up with are in the slang I have come across, not the whole phrase but a word here and there.

Cockney is weird, they seem to be making a rhyme when they talk, but the few times I've seen entire sentences, it's definitely not rhyming. Someone should talk to them about that, but from what i know mostly it is drunks and lads so going near them is a bad idea. They like to think the laws don't apply to them and are under attack from someone so half a chance they got a piece.

Cockney rhyming slang does rhyme, but people who use it do not usually use the whole thing.
i.e. apples and pears means stairs: usually shortened to apples.
whistle and flute means suit : shortened to whistle
dickie dirt means shirt : shortened to dickie
tilbury docks = socks = tilburies
daisy roots = boots = daisies

Like the language itself the slang is constantly changing. The most obscure one I ever came across was creature meaning pound
Creature from the black lagoon = dubloon nearest thing to dubloon (which was Spanish not English) was a pound.

At one time rhyming slang was very popular in certain sections of Glasgow. One of theirs I liked was "How's the Harry" meaning "what's the time" Harry Lime = time

If I was to use such language in a story I would feel obliged to explain these terms in advance. It might add authenticity to the story but that's no good if the reader doesn't understand anything being said.

 

[emap]

Well yeah, I mean cockney is supposed to be rhyming but it's not rhyming anymore. All of the references to it I have found say it is rhyming, but it's not actually.

On a side note, there is a dickie shirt over here too, and it is a name. Not actually but it is what some people named Richard like to be called. Better than being called Dick at least.

 

[oggbashan]

Well yeah, I mean cockney is supposed to be rhyming but it's not rhyming anymore. All of the references to it I have found say it is rhyming, but it's not actually.

On a side note, there is a dickie shirt over here too, and it is a name. Not actually but it is what some people named Richard like to be called. Better than being called Dick at least.

Some of us are reactionary. I know several people who were named Richard who are called 'Dick'. Yes, they get jokes about it, but it is an old English name.

 

[DeYaKen]

Spotted Dick

Some of us are reactionary. I know several people who were named Richard who are called 'Dick'. Yes, they get jokes about it, but it is an old English name.

We even have a pudding (dessert) called spotted dick. It made headlines recently when a works canteen insisted on calling it spotted Richard because some of the staff thought the word dick was offensive.

Spotted dick is a steamed pudding made of suet pastry containing sultanas and raisins. It is usually served with custard (creme anglais)

A few posts back someone translated pudding as meaning dessert. That's not strictly true. We do use the word dessert in the same context. However, in a restaurant it would be called the sweet course. Puddings would be just one of the things that would be available on the sweet menu.

That is not to say the previous poster is wrong, some sections of the community would use the word Pudding to mean dessert, others might use "afters" in the same context.

 

[oggbashan]

Wiki for Spotted Dick

Another pudding is called Plum Duff.

That also has unfortunate connotations as a pregnant woman can be described as 'up the duff'.

 

[isca]

fanny i laugh every time an american says it in the Uk an Kimberly watt said she want a fanny wax in the Uk fanny mean pussy.

 

[DeYaKen]

Wiki for Spotted Dick

Another pudding is called Plum Duff.

That also has unfortunate connotations as a pregnant woman can be described as 'up the duff'.

There is also in the pudding club or in the club which describes the same thing.

 

[Beck31]

Knock up=wake up
Ring=telephone someone
knocking shop=house of ill repute
boozer=watering hole (pub or local)
bum=backside
candyfloss=cotton candy

 

[sr71plt]

Ring=telephone someone

Yes, but when I lived in countries with a large expatriate Brit population, I also heard "tinkle." I had to grin each time someone told me that were going to give me a tinkle.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Yes, but when I lived in countries with a large expatriate Brit population, I also heard "tinkle." I had to grin each time someone told me that were going to give me a tinkle.

There's a story seed in all this somewhere. Innocent Britishism delivered to an American is misinterpreted as a come-on, or vice versa.

 

[driphoney]

We even have a pudding (dessert) called spotted dick. It made headlines recently when a works canteen insisted on calling it spotted Richard because some of the staff thought the word dick was offensive.

Spotted dick is a steamed pudding made of suet pastry containing sultanas and raisins. It is usually served with custard (creme anglais)

A few posts back someone translated pudding as meaning dessert. That's not strictly true. We do use the word dessert in the same context. However, in a restaurant it would be called the sweet course. Puddings would be just one of the things that would be available on the sweet menu.

That is not to say the previous poster is wrong, some sections of the community would use the word Pudding to mean dessert, others might use "afters" in the same context.

Pardon me if I’m repeating. I didn’t go back and read all the posts.

Perhaps the true issue here isn’t that Brits have several words for the sweet ending of a meal, but rather, to Americans pudding is a specific type of dessert. Like a buckle, or slump, or crisp, or ice cream, or cake. So, when seeing the word pudding in British writing (or on the menu in the UK, or talking to a British friend), I at least, have to do a little mental translation to be on the same page. Many Americans who are not Anglophiles or don't have British connections will just think Brits sure do like to eat a lot of milk-based soft pudding!

Do you know how many years it was before I discovered that all those romance characters were wearing sweaters and not sleeveless dresses when the word “jumper” was used?!

By the way, I love spotted dick, but I have to say sticky toffee pudding has got to be about my favorite British dessert, er, pudding.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

Nah! In my time of working in the UK, you only see 'dessert' on menus these days.

Cockney is a rhyming slang originally developed in the East End of London as a kind of code to fool the police.

 

[deliciouslyummy]

Nah! In my time of working in the UK, you only see 'dessert' on menus these days.

Cockney is a rhyming slang originally developed in the East End of London as a kind of code to fool the police.

Sorry love, but it has NOTHING to do with fooling the police.. AT ALL.. although it makes sense if it was the reason.. but its not

 

[elfin_odalisque]

Sorry love, but it has NOTHING to do with fooling the police.. AT ALL.. although it makes sense if it was the reason.. but its not

Yes it was. The derivation was to have a private dialect that outsiders couldn't understand. The tradition of dropping the second, rhyming, word is the key. "I don't think you're a Berkeley but I'm not sure you've got Henrys"

Nothing at all personal, I promise you - just to a show it was/is a witty dialect.

 

[DeYaKen]

SUB ZERO FRIDGE

Saw this recently in a Harlan Coben Novel. Remembering that our American cousins still use Fahrenheit whereas we Brits moved to Celsius I realised that this temperature corresponds to -18 in Celsius which is the temperature at which a Freezer operates.

So I guess Sub Zero Fridge = Freezer.

 

[ishtat]

Redundant in Brit speak means of no further use and can be disposed of. In US speak it tends to mean a secondary or back up system.

An engineer working for me reported some years ago that an emergency generator and it's engine we're redundant. That meant to local management that it could be scrapped or sold. However, to the US head office it meant that the equipment was to be retained as a back up facility. Confusion ensued until someone realised that a relatively slight difference in meaning of redundancy was the problem.

 

[sr71plt]

Redundant in Brit speak means of no further use and can be disposed of. In US speak it tends to mean a secondary or back up system.

In these recession days, the American-speak meaning has been using the first much more than the second. Even in the second, in American speak there's a connotation of "overkill; more backup than is needed." The nonperjorative term used is "backup."

 

[DeYaKen]

we use both meanings.

Redundant in Brit speak means of no further use and can be disposed of. In US speak it tends to mean a secondary or back up system.

An engineer working for me reported some years ago that an emergency generator and it's engine we're redundant. That meant to local management that it could be scrapped or sold. However, to the US head office it meant that the equipment was to be retained as a back up facility. Confusion ensued until someone realised that a relatively slight difference in meaning of redundancy was the problem.

Not strictly true. In the U.K. it can have both meanings depending on context. When a company is cutting back on staff an employee can be told their position has been made redundant. i.e. no longer needed. However, engineers will often speak of building redundancy into a system, meaning to add seemingly unnecessary items which will be used only if the main part fails.

Generally we would look at a redundant item as being non-essential. I think the difference here is more a case of engineering versus management speak. In the U.K. companies tend to be run by accountants and they see redundancy as a bad thing. In countries that recognise the value of engineers they are frequently involved in management and would see the other meaning.