Words peculiar to different English speaking countries.

[TheWritingGroup]

I've lived in New England for the last half century, other than six years at grad school. Mostly in northern New England. I have only heard toque out of the french Canadian community.

I've certainly heard it most recently from a Montreal-dweller.

 

[ElectricBlue]

He rode out of the environment. There's nothing out there but sea, and birds, and fish.

That's a poetic way of saying, "He drowned."

 

[BeechLeaf]

(For people who are mystified by what we're talking about, giggle for John Clarke and 'The Front Fell Off'. Comedy gold, though Clarke was originally a New Zealander.)

 

[Writer61]

giggle

Is that Kiwi for Google?

 

[BeechLeaf]

The AI/Frankenstein in my pending story thinks its two major rivals are called Giggle and Mutter. Sorry, private joke.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Canadian? Well, touque of course. There's also "two-four", which is not at all like '6-7' (whatever that is) but refers to a two-dozen pack of liquid refreshment.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Canadian? Well, touque of course. There's also "two-four", which is not at all like '6-7' (whatever that is) but refers to a two-dozen pack of liquid refreshment.

Eh?!

 

[Writer61]

Eh?!

A slab

 

[ElectricBlue]

A slab

Too literal a response to my comment. Canuckians end sentences with eh?! That's all it was.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

You could (and people have) write an entire dictionary with the differences between UK and US English.

Just with clothing, not only us toque unknown but beanie is also only recently heard among hipster types - it's a woolly hat or a bobble hat (more old-fashioned but even if it doesn't have a pom-pom). US garters are UK suspenders, US suspenders are UK braces (make up your own jokes) a US vest is a UK waistcoat, a UK vest is a US undershirt (wife-beater would also be understood in the UK but also means Stella lager). Pants (US) are trousers in the UK except in the Northwest where they're still called pants, or kecks. Underwear in the US now seems to refer to only pants (UK) whereas in the UK it includes bras, vests, suspenders belts... Pants may also be called knickers especially on a woman.

Shirt (US) seems to be what Brits call a top, whereas a UK shirt is only a US button-down. A T-shirt isn't a shirt. A US sweater is a UK pullover or jumper and a sweatshirt is a separate thing again. A US jumper is I think a UK pinafore dress. US pantyhose is UK tights, though then you get into dance tights which are pretty much the same as leggings... And a UK fancy dress party is US costume party (though the word cosplay is understood in the UK, as meaning taking fancy dress too bloody seriously). Apparently USers may interpret fancy dress as formal wear, ie black tie? And Americans wear a tuxedo which is a Brit dinner jacket or DJ (though tux is creeping in).

US sneakers are UK trainers. I'm not sure Americans understand mac meaning a long light raincoat.

I could go on...

 

[anthrodisiac]

Really interesting thing I read about how Canadians say "about."

Most Americans hear it as "aboot," but it's really "abowt" or "aboat." It's a phenomena called Canadian Raising, which means the way many Canadians (not all, regional differences) say "about" has a vowel sound that most Americans don't really pick up on or hear, because a lot of Americans don't have an equivalent vowel sound, so they misinterpret the more subtle mid to high shift (the "ow/oa" starts at a mid range, then goes high) as a low to high shift (Americans hear it as starting low, then going to high "oo"). It's fascinating, highly recommend looking it up. What I provided was a very, very basic summar.

 

[AG31]

Consider US West Coast vs. South vs. New England. You have a whole range of expressions and idioms and word use between them.

Not saying you're wrong, but could you give some examples?

 

[Writer61]

Too literal a response to my comment. Canuckians end sentences with eh?! That's all it was.

OK lah

 

[anthrodisiac]

Sure!

Really basic examples are things like:
SoCal uses dude. Southern/Midwest uses y'all. Youse in the Boston region.

In the South you have expressions like:
Bless his/her/their heart. (the meaning of which is highly context dependent)
Fixin' to (as in going to do something): I'm fixin' to go shopping today.
I might could: I might be able to

California has things like:
Hella: generic intensifier, usually used as "very" or "a lot
A weird love of mentioning the highways/freeways you use to get somewhere (if you've ever seen the SNL skit The Californians, it's hilariously accurate)

New England:
Wicked: similar to hella, an intensifier
Bang a uey: make a U-turn
So don't I: actually means "so do I"

And a near-innumerable number of other examples.

 

[NuclearFairy]

Canadian? Well, touque of course. There's also "two-four", which is not at all like '6-7' (whatever that is) but refers to a two-dozen pack of liquid refreshment.

Growing up in Washington, I'd hear "two-four" used in such a way from time to time as well.

Really interesting thing I read about how Canadians say "about."

Most Americans hear it as "aboot," but it's really "abowt" or "aboat." It's a phenomena called Canadian Raising, which means the way many Canadians (not all, regional differences) say "about" has a vowel sound that most Americans don't really pick up on or hear, because a lot of Americans don't have an equivalent vowel sound, so they misinterpret the more subtle mid to high shift (the "ow/oa" starts at a mid range, then goes high) as a low to high shift (Americans hear it as starting low, then going to high "oo"). It's fascinating, highly recommend looking it up. What I provided was a very, very basic summar.

So that's why I've always thought people imitating Canadian accents sounded so odd.

I'm very nearly deaf, but have highly trained ears. So I can hear the difference, even if I couldn't point it out.. Thanks!

 

[TheWritingGroup]

Not saying you're wrong, but could you give some examples?

[about regional variation in the USA]

In the Northeast, a carbonated beverage is soda. In much of the middle part of our country, it's pop. (Originally, it was soda pop.) In Louisiana and some parts of "the South" (which really means the Southeast), it's all called coke, after Coca-Cola.

Sandwiches on long rolls are hero sandwiches or heroes or subs (short for "submarine sandwich") in the Middle Atlantic, where I've mostly lived. Other regions say hoagies or torpedos or grinders.

--Annie

 

[old_prof]

Another regional US variation, in grammar rather than vocab, is western PA and Ohio will say "My car needs washed" rather than "My car needs to be washed." I have family in the area, so I'm used to it, but it drives my wife crazy.

 

[RetroFan]

Sometimes colloquial expressions can vary from Australian state to state.

As just one example, a water fountain will simply be called a 'water fountain' or a 'drinking fountain' in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia or the Northern Territory. However if you go to New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory or Queensland it will likely be referred to as a 'bubbler'.

In some of my stories which feature New Zealand characters I have to admit I've had these characters use words that show off their Kiwi accents like 'pig' (pug), 'fish' (fush) and 'fridge' (frudge), and in one of my NZ stories the narrator is named Tim (Tum). However this might go over the heads of readers not overly familiar with New Zealanders. Another good way to tell Aussies and Kiwis apart is the way they pronounce the Subaru car.

Australians will say Subaru as Sue (as in the girl's name Sue) - Bar (as in a bar) - Roo (as in marsupial). New Zealanders however will pronounce it Sue-Bah-Roo. And yes, the Kiwi characters in one of my stories do own and drive a Subaru.

 

[anthrodisiac]

Sometimes colloquial expressions can vary from Australian state to state.

As just one example, a water fountain will simply be called a 'water fountain' or a 'drinking fountain' in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia or the Northern Territory. However if you go to New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory or Queensland it will likely be referred to as a 'bubbler'.

I need to start brushing up on Taz slang, I have a tasmanian devil anthro in the works. Shit's gonna be wild.

In some of my stories which feature New Zealand characters I have to admit I've had these characters use words that show off their Kiwi accents like 'pig' (pug), 'fish' (fush) and 'fridge' (frudge), and in one of my NZ stories the narrator is named Tim (Tum). However this might go over the heads of readers not overly familiar with New Zealanders. Another good way to tell Aussies and Kiwis apart is the way they pronounce the Subaru car.

Australians will say Subaru as Sue (as in the girl's name Sue) - Bar (as in a bar) - Roo (as in marsupial). New Zealanders however will pronounce it Sue-Bah-Roo. And yes, the Kiwi characters in one of my stories do own and drive a Subaru.

Ah yes, the age-old struggle: fidelity of sound vs. the complete and utter bafflement of readers who have no clue what the hell you're talking about. I know it well.

 

[Writer61]

In some of my stories which feature New Zealand characters I have to admit I've had these characters use words that show off their Kiwi accents like 'pig' (pug), 'fish' (fush) and 'fridge' (frudge), and in one of my NZ stories the narrator is named Tim (Tum).

Pronouncing i as u is a surefire way to pick a Kiwi. Whenever I am unsure, I ask them to say 'fish and chips'.

Curious as to whether you write these words phonetically.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

Sometimes colloquial expressions can vary from Australian state to state.

As just one example, a water fountain will simply be called a 'water fountain' or a 'drinking fountain' in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia or the Northern Territory. However if you go to New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory or Queensland it will likely be referred to as a 'bubbler'.

"Bubbler" is also used in parts of Pennsylvania, and IIRC what I call a "sidewalk" is a "pavement" there.

 

[Writer61]

I suspect old-fashioned British regional variation is actually at least as deep

Very true.

In my first full-time job, I dealt with people from the south-west and north-east of England, and around Glasgow. Three different accents and lots of vocab variation, too. All good training for when I began to work with people from around the world.

EDIT: and I grew up in the south-east of England.

 

[RetroFan]

Pronouncing i as u is a surefire way to pick a Kiwi. Whenever I am unsure, I ask them to say 'fish and chips'.

Curious as to whether you write these words phonetically.

I spell the words as they should be spelled, i.e. fridge not frudge, but will make some sort of reference to the NZ speech patterns in the story narrative as to how it sounds to the readers.

As one example two guys travelling in America are Dave from Australia and Travis from New Zealand. When they meet two pretty American girls (whom they of course later end up banging) Dave makes jokes about his mate's Kiwi accent, saying to the girls that if Travis says the word 'sex' not to slap him and run off and call the police to report him for sexual harassment, he is likely saying the number six.

In another story with NZ characters the bossy older sister calls her younger brother a pig for leaving the toilet seat up and also reprimands him for staring into the fridge with the door wide open, and the Australian narrator is amused by his stepsiblings' Kiwi accents, noting that their father drives a Subaru.

 

[Britva415]

In the Northeast, a carbonated beverage is soda

Except in Boston, where it's "tonic"

 

[SyleusSnow]

Canadians have many terms baffling to Americans. Toque is just one. In Prince Edward Island if the ferry or bridge are shut down due to weather, you're "storm stayed". The one-dollar coin is a Loonie and the two-dollar coin is a toonie. Bathrooms are washrooms. A two-four is a case of 24 beer and a mickey is a half-pint bottle of booze. A beer gut is your Molson Muscle. Electricity is hydro. Rain gutters are eavestroughs. Out west, a hoodie is a bunnyhug.

Then there's Newfoundland. The play made "come from away" famous but "mainlander" is more common. Lard tunderin', take a gawk at their dictionary, though it's older than sin so the arse has gone right outta her. Oh me nerves. I dies at dat lovely grand stuff. Now, mind how you goes, b'y. Keep 'er between the ditches me son.