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

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the differences in British and American slang, humor, and cultural references. Participants share anecdotes and explore various terms used in both cultures, highlighting misunderstandings and humorous exchanges related to language and expressions.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants express confusion over British terms like "bin men" and "dustmen," sharing their experiences with these terms.
  • There is a humorous exchange about the term "bathroom," with some participants noting the differences in usage between the UK and the US.
  • Participants discuss various names for baby pacifiers, including "soothers," "comforters," and "binkies," with differing opinions on their usage.
  • There is mention of Canadian slang, with participants noting terms like "Timbits" and discussing how brand names can become generic terms.
  • Some participants explore the meaning of "pissed," noting its different interpretations in Canada and the US, and how language evolves over time.
  • Humor is prevalent throughout the discussion, with participants sharing light-hearted comments about the absurdity of certain terms and cultural references.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally share their experiences and observations, but multiple competing views remain regarding the usage of specific terms and their meanings across different cultures. The discussion does not reach a consensus on several points, particularly regarding slang and cultural references.

Contextual Notes

Some terms and expressions may depend on regional usage and personal experiences, leading to varying interpretations. The discussion highlights the fluid nature of language and the potential for misunderstandings across cultures.

Who May Find This Useful

Readers interested in linguistics, cultural exchanges, or humor related to language differences may find this discussion engaging.

  • #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 already in them,
is this a pull wollies leg day?:smile:
 
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  • #32
wolram said:
Hang about, i have seen doughnuts cooked and the hole is already 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 already 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".
 
  • #51
George Jones said:
I haven't heard it. I guess it comes from "you all'.

From where i am, if say some one from management addresses a gathering of employes with (how are you all), it is a mild insult.
 
  • #52
Canadian English: pencil crayons meaning coloured pencils. :biggrin:

I've heard both soother and pacifier used but assumed that "binky" was some sort of specific-to-one-person slang, much like euphemisms for genitals that are taught to children.

Edited to add: to this day it cracks me up that we call our one dollar coins "loonies". On the Wikipedia site it said that we call our two dollar coins "doubloons" but it's lying. We call them "toonies".
 
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  • #53
GeorginaS said:
Canadian English: pencil crayons meaning coloured pencils. :biggrin:

I've heard both soother and pacifier used but assumed that "binky" was some sort of specific-to-one-person slang, much like euphemisms for genitals that are taught to children.

Edited to add: to this day it cracks me up that we call our one dollar coins "loonies". On the Wikipedia site it said that we call our two dollar coins "doubloons" but it's lying. We call them "toonies".

We used to have many different names for our coinage/paper money but
since decimalisation it has to my knowledge died out.
 
  • #54
All y'all looky here, especially Moonbear...pancakes are pancakes, NOT flapjacks. Cookies = biscuits, pissed = really mad, truck = just about anything that's not a car, a pickup is what Walker Texas Ranger drives, highwaters is when you wear pants (not trousers) that are just a little too short unless you are a girl and then they're capris or gauchos, flip-flops are those sandals that slap your heel when you walk and are sometimes called slaps or shower shoes, jelly is actually BAMA grape jam, nose = snot-locker, the excretory orifice can be called many things, rusty starfish, wrinkled grommet, turd-cutter(my fav), I've never called them sneakers because they are tenny(tennis) shoes, lips can be called soup-coolers.

Then there's the military jargon/slang but I'm whipped and going to sheet lane.
 
  • #55
Here in Maine, out-of-staters are said to be "from away" if you're being polite, and "flats" (contraction of flatlanders) if you're not. Even if you have lived here for years, if you came from another state, you're "from away" for life. There is an old joke about a mother that brought her baby to the General Store to show him off. She said "Bob and I have lived here for 5 years, and we're still 'from away', but Bobby Jr was born right here and he's a real Mainer." Over at the checkerboard, an old-timer said "Just because the cat had her kittens in the oven, that don't make 'em biscuits."

Tourists from Massachusetts have a well-deserved reputation for needlessly aggressive driving, and when they offend, they are generally called M*******s. Seagulls can be called "dump ducks", "flying rats" are rock pigeons, and moose are "swamp donkeys".

edit: the aggressive drivers from Massachusetts are called MassXXXXX, a reference to a bodily part that the filter wouldn't let through. Is there a filter that will deny "holes"?
 
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  • #56
selfAdjoint said:
y'all provides a plural third person pronoun; a very useful thing, and something that so-called "standard English" sorely lacks.

Although not a pronoun, isn't a British equivalent to y'all, "you lot"?
 
  • #57
wolram said:
With great british bulldog spirt i have surfed the web without rest to find this
site, now there will be no excuse for misunderstanding.

I be a Yank. From our side of the pond, for the following, I hadn't a clue.

bubble and squeak
twiglets
cawl
saveloy
plonk
toad in the hole
bangers and mash
 
  • #58
Ouabache said:
I be a Yank. From our side of the pond, for the following, I hadn't a clue.

bubble and squeak
twiglets
cawl
saveloy
plonk
toad in the hole
bangers and mash

I have never heard of a (cawl), bubble and aqueak is yummy as is toad in the hole, i dare say i am an expert in the cooking of it. :smile:
 
  • #59
A dictionary for Americans to understand other tongues...

Reminds me somewhat of the guide for Americans traveling abroad:
• Think as big as you like but talk and act smaller. (In many countries, any form of boasting is considered very rude. Talking about wealth, power or status - corporate or personal - can create resentment.)

• Listen at least as much as you talk. (By all means, talk about America and your life in our country. But also ask people you're visiting about themselves and their way of life.)

• Save the lectures for your kids. (Whatever your subject of discussion, let it be a discussion not a lecture. Justified or not, the US is seen as imposing its will on the world.)

• Think a little locally. (Try to find a few topics that are important in the local popular culture. Remember, most people in the world have little or no interest in the World Series or the Super Bowl. What we call "soccer" is football everywhere else. And it's the most popular sport on the planet.)

• Slow down. (We talk fast, eat fast, move fast, live fast. Many cultures do not.)

• Speak lower and slower. (A loud voice is often perceived as bragging. A fast talker can be seen as aggressive and threatening.)

• Your religion is your religion and not necessarily theirs. (Religion is usually considered deeply personal, not a subject for public discussions.)

• If you talk politics, talk - don't argue. (Steer clear of arguments about American politics, even if someone is attacking US politicians or policies. Agree to disagree.)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...ur16.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/04/16/ixworld.html

:biggrin:
 
  • #60
wolram said:
I have never heard of a (cawl), bubble and squeak is yummy as is toad in the hole, i dare say i am an expert in the cooking of it. :smile:
If I find myself in your neck of the woods, I wouldn't mind sampling those tastey recipes..:-p
I hear tell, cawl is a Welsh soup..

ref
Leeks and cabbage... forms the basis for what is virtually the national dish of Wales: cawl. There is no exact translation for cawl; the word in Welsh signifies 'broth' or 'soup', but it is much more than that, a classic one-pot meal, originally cooked in an iron pot over an open fire, containing all the goodness of the land: fat home-cured bacon, scraps of sweet Welsh lamb to flavour the stock, cabbage and orange-tinted swedes, tiny marble-sized new potatoes, and slender, thin leeks, added to the pot only at the very end so that they are still raw and crunchy and peppery. Recipes for cawl vary from region to region, house to house, and from season to season, depending on what vegetables are available. While cawl can be eaten all together, in many houses the broth is served first and the meat and vegetables follow afterwards.
swedes? i didn't spot that one.. i thought they are folks from sweden..
 
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