Helpful (or just fun) Guides

[Bramblethorn]

Sorry, I don't get this at all. Can someone give me a clue?

A for Horses (or A fer Gardener)
Hay for horses; Ava Gardner

B for Mutton
Beef or mutton

C for Miles (or Seaforth Highlanders or C for Yourself)
See for miles/etc.

D for Dumb (or D fer Ential) (or D fer Kate)
Differential, not sure of the other two

E for Brick
Heave a brick

F for Lump (or F fer Vescence)
Heffalump/effervescence

etc. etc.

 

[ElectricBlue]

True, but you have to ease these yobs into it slowly using lingo they may have heard before.

Well yes, but it's like a really bad form of time travel. They'll be telling us it really is shrimps on the barbie, next.

 

[Priscilla_June]

It feels like there should be a corollary to this for plotting conflicts. I suggest WINE (War, Injustice, Nepotism, and Evil).

Sounds like a really niche brand of Sauvignon Blanc

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Sorry, I don't get this at all. Can someone give me a clue?

A for Horses (or A fer Gardener)
~ hay for horses, ava gardner

B for Mutton
~ beef or mutton

C for Miles (or Seaforth Highlanders or C for Yourself)
~ see for miles, etc

D for Dumb (or D fer Ential) (or D fer Kate)
~ ?, differential, defecate

F for Lump (or F fer Vescence)
~ ?, effervescence

G for Police (or G for Get It)
~ chief o' police, (don't) you forget it (?)

H for Consent (or H for Bless You)
~ age of consent, ?

L for Leather
~ hell(bent) for leather (?)

M for Cream (or M for Sis)
~ ?, emphasis

N for Lope
~ envelope

O for the Wings of a Dove (O for the Rainbow)
~over the wings of a dove, over the rainbow

P for Relief
~ pee for relief

Q for the Loos (or Q for the Pictures)
~ queue for the loos (toilets), queue for the pictures (movies)

R for Mo (or R fer English)
~ Arthur Mo (?), Arthur English (?)

S for you, you can take a hike (or S for Rantzen)
~ as for you ..., ?

T for Gums (or T for Two)
~ ?, tea for two

U for Me (or U for Mism)
~ you for me, euphemism

V for Espana
~ viva Espana

Y for Mistress (or Y for Unts or Y for God’s Sake)
~ wife or mistress, ?

Zee for Moiles (or Z for Wind)
~ see for miles, zephyr wind

 

[Bamagan]

A for Horses (or A fer Gardener)
Hay for horses; Ava Gardner

B for Mutton
Beef or mutton

C for Miles (or Seaforth Highlanders or C for Yourself)
See for miles/etc.

D for Dumb (or D fer Ential) (or D fer Kate)
Differential, not sure of the other two

E for Brick
Heave a brick

F for Lump (or F fer Vescence)
Heffalump/effervescence

etc. etc.

D for Dumb :: Deaf or Dumb (Mute)

 

[Bramblethorn]

F for Lump (or F fer Vescence)
~ ?, effervescence

"Heffalump" = jokey pronunciation of "elephant", shows up in the Winnie the Pooh stories.

H for Consent (or H for Bless You)
~ age of consent, ?

Thinking something like "achoo - bless you" but I think there's a trick I'm missing.

L for Leather
~ hell(bent) for leather (?)

Yep. Colloquial meaning in a great rush.

R for Mo (or R fer English)
~ Arthur Mo (?), Arthur English (?)

"'Alf a mo'" i.e. "half a moment" - meaning "wait just a bit".

Arthur English was a comedian who played cockney characters.

S for you, you can take a hike (or S for Rantzen)
~ as for you ..., ?

Esther Rantzen, English journalist.

T for Gums (or T for Two)
~ ?, tea for two

Teeth or gums.

Y for Mistress (or Y for Unts or Y for God’s Sake)
~ wife or mistress, ?

Y-fronts; why, for God's sake?

 

[Britva415]

I think it’s a running series of puns: ‘hay for horses’, ‘beef or mutton’ ‘see for miles’, etc.

That's super disappointing compared to what I thought it was.

I was thinking it was a series of rhymes, as in:

P is for Mickey Bliss,
L is for Porkie Pies,

etc.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Except for the Docklands Light Railway (the DLR in east/southeast London), which certainly isn't a tram. There's a couple other light rail systems like the Tyne & Wear Metro. IIRC if the rails are separated from streets and any passenger routes, it's a light rail system not a tramway, which isn't grade-separated from other routes.

There were lots of trams and trolleybuses in the UK until the 1950s. I'm not getting into the definition of a trolleybus. We don't have any now.

Edinburgh and Nottingham also got tram networks running recently.

The phrase 'level crossing' isn't used in America? TIL.

Might partly explain why my American driving instructor was so confused when I said I was slowing down for a level crossing. He thought 55 was fine. I objected that there might be a train coming. Turned out there were only 2 trains a year, for the harvest, so none due for a month! I still think caution was wise.

I see I managed to get a typo in - it should read "Some of them appear in The Full Monty. . ." Anyway, I did expect to get much of a reaction, if any, to that post. I have ridden trolley-buses in two of the four American cities that have them.

I suspect it isn't easy being a driving instructor. Yet that guy - what if a work train comes through? A "special" equipment move? A sugar cane harvest train hits a truck in Australia. "Hey, they go really slow, you'll have plenty of time to see them."

 

[AndersonsBiographer]

Wow that's at did I just read.

“She had shimmering pig vagina skin that felt like heaven with all the luster of a ramen bowl.”

As noted elsewhere, I recently learned something new and fascinating about pig penises.

 

[MelissaBaby]

 

[TheRedChamber]

It's a fairly ancient list that perpetuates Crocodile Dundee era ocker. If you used it, you'd reveal that you've never lived in Australia at all.

I'll feel proud that 'ocker' was one of the few I didn't get. It has been about three decades since I last saw Crocodile Dundee.

Got all except hooroo (and that by process of elimination).

Why yes, Neighbours and Home & Away being launched coincided with my teenage years of procrastinating over homework. Can't think about the Russian Revolution without images of Carly and Frank...

It's actually amazing how many of those I would have had pegged as British slang - 'Gander' and I didn't even watch Neighbours...

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I'll feel proud that 'ocker' was one of the few I didn't get. It has been about three decades since I last saw Crocodile Dundee.


It's actually amazing how many of those I would have had pegged as British slang - 'Gander' and I didn't even watch Neighbours...

Yup - mate, yonks, noggin, bloke, chinwag, iffy - all common English(the country) words even before Kylie and Jason introduced us to most of the others.

Aussies here just have to remember to make clear when they're talking about thongs that they mean footwear, but now lamingtons and Tam Tams are available, they seem to blend into local culture with pretty much no problems. Ditto the Kiwis. South Africans have more culture shock but are expecting it.

The Americans seem to get it worst because often they don't expect Britain to be very alien, but the longer they stay, the more they realise it it is.

 

[yowser]

The Americans seem to get it worst because often they don't expect Britain to be very alien, but the longer they stay, the more they realise it it is.

The longer I lived there the stranger it got.

Disconcerting to grow more and more clueless every day.

 

[AG31]

I think it’s a running series of puns: ‘hay for horses’, ‘beef or mutton’ ‘see for miles’, etc.

Sorry, I don't get this either. I don't see a pun in any of these phrases. ?????

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Perhaps not entirely and exactly puns, but certainly plays on words.

‘B for mutton’, if pronounced with the right accent, comes out sounding like a waiter asking, “Beef or mutton?”

 

[gunhilltrain]

The longer I lived there the stranger it got.

Disconcerting to grow more and more clueless every day.

That's much like what Paul Theroux, an American author who lived in London for nearly two decades, would have said. When he wrote about his travels there in The Kingdom by the Sea, he seemed to like it even less. Yet he liked the people of Scotland, who seemed more open to him than the English. He also liked the people of Northern Ireland who, even though they hated each other, were very friendly to Americans. Just to note: he did that trip forty years ago.

 

[yowser]

That's much like what Paul Theroux, an American author who lived in London for nearly two decades, would have said. When he wrote about his travels there in The Kingdom by the Sea, he seemed to like it even less. Yet he liked the people of Scotland, who seemed more open to him than the English. He also liked the people of Northern Ireland who, even though they hated each other, were very friendly to Americans. Just to note: he did that trip forty years ago.

Except that I loved it. Even clueless, or maybe more because so.

I think like many other Yanks my reasoning went: How difficult can it be living in a country that speaks English?

 

[MelissaBaby]

 

[gunhilltrain]

Except that I loved it. Even clueless, or maybe more because so.

I think like many other Yanks my reasoning went: How difficult can it be living in a country that speaks English?

I believe he moved to London in 1971. Somewhere else he wrote that Americans are always surprised that Britain is not what they expect it to be. I know he went through Wales too, but I don't remember what he said about it.

Did you ever hear Catherine Zeta-Jones when he reverts to her natural speaking voice? She will do it when she's emotionally engaged in something like when she won a Tony. Maybe she didn't even realize it.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I believe he moved to London in 1971. Somewhere else he wrote that Americans are always surprised that Britain is not what they expect it to be. I know he went through Wales too, but I don't remember what he said about it.

Did you ever hear Catherine Zeta-Jones when he reverts to her natural speaking voice? She will do it when she's emotionally engaged in something like when she won a Tony. Maybe she didn't even realize it.

If you want to understand Britain as an American, read Bill Bryson's Notes from a Small Island. He moved over from the US in 1970 ('I come from Des Moines, Iowa. Somebody had to.') and ended up staying 40 years. He then tried moving back to America, but after acquiring enough anecdotes to produce Notes from a Big Country, returned to Yorkshire.

Both books are very funny. I recommend all of his, actually (the Appalachian trail, travelling round Europe, Shakespeare, History of Everything), with the exception of his recent one about the UK which is just him being a whingy old man and not funny. And the one about famine in east Africa which he got roped into doing and after anecdotes about the airport, had to rapidly give up and write 'Famine just isn't funny.'

 

[TarnishedPenny]

View attachment 2359604

Really fun, but it misses a couple of letters which English used to have:

Thorn (Þ, þ) - Effectively a ‘th’. We now say something like ‘Ye gods!’, but it was originally with a ‘thorn’.

Wynn (Ƿ, ƿ) - a letter used in early English for the ‘w’ missing in early Latin.

Eth (Ð, ð) - from Irish, an equivalent to ‘th’

Ash (Æ, æ) - Still in limited use, eg. Antennæ

Ethel (Œ, œ) - Still in very limited use, almost archaic. eg. subpœna


Everybody learning to read and write used to know these. Your UFI for the day.

 

[SimonDoom]

If you want to understand Britain as an American, read Bill Bryson's Notes from a Small Island. He moved over from the US in 1970 ('I come from Des Moines, Iowa. Somebody had to.') and ended up staying 40 years. He then tried moving back to America, but after acquiring enough anecdotes to produce Notes from a Big Country, returned to Yorkshire.

Both books are very funny. I recommend all of his, actually (the Appalachian trail, travelling round Europe, Shakespeare, History of Everything), with the exception of his recent one about the UK which is just him being a whingy old man and not funny. And the one about famine in east Africa which he got roped into doing and after anecdotes about the airport, had to rapidly give up and write 'Famine just isn't funny.'

I still must read Notes from a Small Island. I loved the Appalachian Trail book, A Walk In The Woods, and his Australia book, In A Sunburned Country. He has a neurotic sense of humor that plays well with travelogues.

 

[jehoram]

In both Britain and France, streetcars and light rail are called "trams" (for the vehicles) and "tramways" (for the systems). They almost disappeared from both countries (England was down to one line) but they have proliferated recently, as in Sheffield.

Except for the Docklands Light Railway (the DLR in east/southeast London), which certainly isn't a tram. There's a couple other light rail systems like the Tyne & Wear Metro. IIRC if the rails are separated from streets and any passenger routes, it's a light rail system not a tramway, which isn't grade-separated from other routes.

Here in central California, all these modes of transporation are "light rails" largely sharing city streets downtown and only getting their own route when they're extended into the suburbs.

The exception, of course, is the "cable car" propelled by underground cables, now only found in San Francisco, I think.

Back before World War II, there were many American cities with "streetcars" or "trolleys," but they were replaced by buses... not because they were driven out of business by Big Oil and the car companies, as popular belief holds, but because buses were more versatile... they could be more easily re-routed, and required no maintenance of overhead lines.

 

[MelissaBaby]

 

[Bamagan]

View attachment 2359898

I lament that the title bars on Lit are too short to permit a story about "The Beautiful, Tall, Thin, Dirty, Antique, Purple, Thai, Silver, Riding Thing."
Seriously, though, it's funny how wrong it can sound, getting some of those out of sequence.