British-American Humor: "Effingpot" House of Uniting Cultures

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The discussion revolves around the differences in British and American slang, with participants sharing various terms and their meanings. A link to a site that explains British slang is shared, prompting conversations about specific words like "bin men" (garbage collectors) and "couch" versus "sofa." Participants express amusement at the misunderstandings that arise from these language differences, highlighting terms like "pacifier," which is known as "soother" in Canada. The conversation also touches on regional dialects within the U.S. and Canada, such as "y'all" and "you-uns," and includes humorous exchanges about food terms like "doughnut holes" and British dishes like "bubble and squeak." Overall, the thread showcases the playful exploration of language and cultural nuances between the UK, the US, and Canada.
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With great british bulldog spirt i have surfed the web without rest to find this
site, now there will be no excuse for misunderstanding.

http://www.effingpot.com/house.shtml

Now maybe one of you of the US of A will reciprocate and perchance we britts will no what in the blue blazes you are rattling on about :smile:

Or maybe not, i could never relate a sex aid to a stuffed pepper.
 
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Awww, thanks Wollie! :smile:

Bin men - The chaps that come around at 6am and wake the entire street up with their bin lorry to empty your dustbins. Sometimes the rubbish even goes in the lorry! I'm sure they have some kind of machine that singles out the crisp bags and deposits them along the street!
:smile:

Some of those terms are used in the US too, though. I run the bath, and when I was a kid, we had to store our lunch boxes in our cubby holes in school (those were the little box-shaped shelves just about big enough for a lunchbox and a pair of mittens). We definitely use couch too, completely interchangeable with sofa.
 
Moonbear said:
Awww, thanks Wollie! :smile:


:smile:

Some of those terms are used in the US too, though. I run the bath, and when I was a kid, we had to store our lunch boxes in our cubby holes in school (those were the little box-shaped shelves just about big enough for a lunchbox and a pair of mittens). We definitely use couch too, completely interchangeable with sofa.

I have some fond memories of sofas :smile:
 
Moonbear said:
Awww, thanks Wollie! :smile:
Quote:
Bin men - The chaps that come around at 6am and wake the entire street up with their bin lorry to empty your dustbins. Sometimes the rubbish even goes in the lorry! I'm sure they have some kind of machine that singles out the crisp bags and deposits them along the street!
My neighbours refer to these guys as Dustmen - very Shavian! Had I not heard of Doolittle I wouldn't have had any idea what they were saying!
 
I got hit by the bathroom mistake. I asked where one was and the guys I asked looked at me like "now is the wierdest time anyone would want to take a bath."
 
Great link, Woolie! I had to finally just force myself to leave the 'slang' section. I'll be back to it later. :biggrin:
A lot of the stuff is familiar to Canuks, but the rest is a hoot.
 
FredGarvin said:
I got hit by the bathroom mistake. I asked where one was and the guys I asked looked at me like "now is the wierdest time anyone would want to take a bath."
:smile: I don't recall any difficulty finding a toilet when I was in Britain, but I don't know how I was asking either. I usually ask for the restroom rather than the bathroom when in public. In someone's house, I call it the bathroom.

So, do all British homes have a separate room for the toilet than the bath? I kind of like that idea, especially if you're sharing the home with other people and are all in a rush to get ready in the morning...one can bathe while the other still can get to the toilet (of course, the downside is you get absolutely no warning that they are about to flush the toilet while you're in the shower :eek:).
 
Most houses have an up staires ( bathroom toilet) and a down stairs toilet.
 
My cousin sent me a link to a site displaying "kids' dummies". We don't call them that.

http://www.systemf.demon.co.uk/gargrave/funnies/funny30.htm
 
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  • #10
turbo-1 said:
My cousin sent me a link to a site displaying "kids' dummies". We don't call them that.

http://www.systemf.demon.co.uk/gargrave/funnies/funny30.htm

Do you call them comforters ?
 
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  • #11
wolram said:
Do you call them comforters ?

Soothers or pacifiers. A comforter goes on a bed.
 
  • #12
George Jones said:
Soothers or pacifiers. A comforter goes on a bed.
They are also called binkies and plugs around here. (TN)
 
  • #13
Just the artificial ones, I presume?
 
  • #14
Well blow me, you put a plug in a baby.
 
  • #15
wolram said:
Do you call them comforters ?
No, that's more like a duvet. :biggrin:

I've never heard them called a plug. That's the fun part about the US, we don't even use the same words within the country. I've only heard them called pacifiers (the name that shows up on the packaging), or a binky, which I think originates from a brand name.
 
  • #16
Here, the nose-in-the-air types call them pacifiers. To everyone else, they're soothers.
 
  • #17
Danger said:
Here, the nose-in-the-air types call them pacifiers. To everyone else, they're soothers.
Ooh, I'll have to be careful not to offend the Canadians with our American words. :biggrin: I kind of like the idea of calling it a plug though. Plugging the baby's mouth is a pretty good description of how most people (mis)use them. :smile:
 
  • #18
Danger said:
Here, the nose-in-the-air types call them pacifiers. To everyone else, they're soothers.


Yeah I only ever hear people call them soothers.
 
  • #20
scorpa said:
Not as good as the English one but here is a Canadian one I found.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_slang


Timbits: a brand name of doughnut holes made by Tim Hortons that has become a generic term

Ok this is getting silly, a name for a hole in a doughnut :confused: :smile:
and i thought Danger was 1 off :biggrin:
 
  • #21
wolram said:
Timbits: a brand name of doughnut holes made by Tim Hortons that has become a generic term

Ok this is getting silly, a name for a hole in a doughnut :confused: :smile:
and i thought Danger was 1 off :biggrin:
Oh, no, no, no, it's not the hole in the doughnut, it's the dough that was punched out of the middle made into a little doughnut. In the US, they more often get called Munchkins, because that's what the brand Dunkin' Donuts calls them, and that brand is found all over the US while Tim Hortons is mostly in Canada and a few northern states near the border. Doughnut holes is the more generic term that nobody actually uses. :biggrin:
 
  • #22
Moonbear said:
Doughnut holes is the more generic term that nobody actually uses. :biggrin:
I only know them as doughnut holes, that's what Krispy Kreme calls them.

And I've never heard of a pacifier being called a soother.
 
  • #23
Evo said:
And I've never heard of a pacifier being called a soother.

It seems to be a US/Canada thing. When I made the post that introduced the terms soother and pacifier in this thread, I originally included only soother, but, as an afterthought, I edited the post to include pacifier.

As another (possible?) example of US/Canda differences, what does "pissed" mean?
 
  • #25
George Jones said:
It seems to be a US/Canada thing. When I made the post that introduced the terms soother and pacifier in this thread, I originally included only soother, but, as an afterthought, I edited the post to include pacifier.

As another (possible?) example of US/Canda differences, what does "pissed" mean?
"pissed" = "ticked" :-p
 
  • #26
Ah, you are so wrong, dear Evo. 'Pissed off' means that.

I'll elaborate upon an entry in the Canuk dictionary that Scorpa linked to. The reason that 'goof' is considered a 'fighting word' is that it refers to a child molester.
 
  • #27
Danger said:
Ah, you are so wrong, dear Evo. 'Pissed off' means that.

You refer to the most common meaning in Canada for pissed, but I find the meaning that Evo gave is starting to creep in. Any other Canadians noticed this?

I like what the Brits sometimes use - legless.

So, in Canada, "pissed" might now be able to do double-duty. If you say, "He's really pissed!", you could mean that you've got a really angry drunk on your hands.
 
  • #28
Luckily, it hasn't crept in here yet. It's just a matter of time, though, with all the Yank TV coming in.
 
  • #29
Danger said:
Luckily, it hasn't crept in here yet.

I hear you.

It's just a matter of time, though, with all the Yank TV coming in.

I decided not get cable or satellite, so I only see CBC and CTV on my TV!
 
  • #30
Good on ya'. I never had cable until I moved in with W. CTV, though, carries all of the Law & Order series, as well as the CSI ones and a bunch of other shows from down south. (I like them, so that isn't a complaint.)
 
  • #31
Moonbear said:
Oh, no, no, no, it's not the hole in the doughnut, it's the dough that was punched out of the middle made into a little doughnut. In the US, they more often get called Munchkins, because that's what the brand Dunkin' Donuts calls them, and that brand is found all over the US while Tim Hortons is mostly in Canada and a few northern states near the border. Doughnut holes is the more generic term that nobody actually uses. :biggrin:

Hang about, i have seen doughnuts cooked and the hole is allready in them,
is this a pull wollies leg day?:smile:
 
  • #32
wolram said:
Hang about, i have seen doughnuts cooked and the hole is allready in them,
is this a pull wollies leg day?:smile:

Here in North America, we get to eat doughnut parts that add negative Calories to us!
 
  • #33
George Jones said:
Here in North America, we get to eat doughnut parts that add negative Calories to us!

We have jam buttie mines in England :-p
 
  • #34
wolram said:
Most houses have an up staires ( bathroom toilet)

The apples and pears "toilet" [translation?] if in the shadow of Big Ben?
 
  • #35
Ivan Seeking said:
The apples and pears "toilet" [translation?] if in the shadow of Big Ben?

Ivan, apples and pears is (staires), one could say,( get up those apples and pears to bed), an alternative is up the woden hill and down sheet lane.
 
  • #36
wolram said:
Hang about, i have seen doughnuts cooked and the hole is allready in them,
is this a pull wollies leg day?:smile:
No, but it is the particle-hole transformation day!
 
  • #37
Ivan Seeking said:
The apples and pears "toilet" [translation?] if in the shadow of Big Ben?

Not sure but i think most cockney people use,

khasi n. Pronounced "kah-zee", this is a rather... err... coarse word for the toilet. Would be more likely to be seen in the context of "I'm away to the khasi to drain the lizard" rather than "Excuse me, madam - could you direct me to the khasi?" I'm told it is derived from the Arabic. This might not be true. People lie to me all the time.
 
  • #38
wolram said:
Not sure but i think most cockney people use,

khasi n. Pronounced "kah-zee", this is a rather... err... coarse word for the toilet. Would be more likely to be seen in the context of "I'm away to the khasi to drain the lizard" rather than "Excuse me, madam - could you direct me to the khasi?" I'm told it is derived from the Arabic. This might not be true. People lie to me all the time.
"drain the lizard" <snort>
 
  • #39
Most people i know use, chopper, pecker, knob, john thomas, tool.
 
  • #40
And here I thought that 'tallywhacker' was the proper English term. :rolleyes:
 
  • #41
Danger said:
And here I thought that 'tallywhacker' was the proper English term. :rolleyes:

I think we need a Canadian to English dictionary,
may be you can start with a few Danger, better straight from the horses mouth so to speak.
 
  • #42
Okay, here are a couple that might be unique to us.
Tank (short for piss-tank)--an alcoholic
Sugarbush (get your mind out of the sewer)--a stand of maple trees tapped for syrup production
Yall--someone from southern US
Diefenbunker--a cold-war shelter constructed for senior government officials
I have to get some work done now, but I'll pop back when I think of some more.
 
  • #43
Danger said:
Okay, here are a couple that might be unique to us.
Tank (short for piss-tank)--an alcoholic
Sugarbush (get your mind out of the sewer)--a stand of maple trees tapped for syrup production
Yall--someone from southern US
Diefenbunker--a cold-war shelter constructed for senior government officials
I have to get some work done now, but I'll pop back when I think of some more.

In light of some comments I made in another thread, what about screech?
 
  • #44
Danger said:
Okay, here are a couple that might be unique to us.
Tank (short for piss-tank)--an alcoholic
Sugarbush (get your mind out of the sewer)--a stand of maple trees tapped for syrup production
Yall--someone from southern US
Diefenbunker--a cold-war shelter constructed for senior government officials
I have to get some work done now, but I'll pop back when I think of some more.
You call us "yalls"? :eek:
 
  • #45
Math Is Hard said:
You call us "yalls"? :eek:

I haven't heard it. I guess it comes from "you all'.
 
  • #46
George Jones said:
I haven't heard it. I guess it comes from "you all'.
Well, we do use "y'all" quite a bit as a contraction in the South, so yes, I am sure that is where it comes from. It's just funny to me that they call us by this.
 
  • #47
Math Is Hard said:
Well, we do use "y'all" quite a bit as a contraction in the South, so yes, I am sure that is where it comes from. It's just funny to me that they call us by this.

Just shows how ignorant some people can be (all present company on this thread excepted!).

y'all provides a plural third person pronoun; a very useful thing, and something that so-called "standard English" sorely lacks. The New York City dialect word "youse" serves the same purpose. Middle America could benefit by using either of them.
 
  • #48
After working for a couple of years with a guy from Alabama, I've managed to pick up and incorporate y'all into my vocabulary. It is clearer that you're including an entire group of people, and not just the one who happens to be in your line of sight as you say something.

I do laugh when I hear someone say, "all y'all" though. :biggrin:
 
  • #49
Moonbear said:
After working for a couple of years with a guy from Alabama, I've managed to pick up and incorporate y'all into my vocabulary. It is clearer that you're including an entire group of people, and not just the one who happens to be in your line of sight as you say something.

I do laugh when I hear someone say, "all y'all" though. :biggrin:
Around here, some say "you-uns" instead of ya'll. I had never heard that before I moved to TN.
 
  • #50
larkspur said:
Around here, some say "you-uns" instead of ya'll. I had never heard that before I moved to TN.
My college roommate from Pittsburg always said that.
Sometimes she said "yins".
 

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