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Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2009 17:36:45 GMT
... by a common language, as they say. On top of that, we have quite a few Canadians here, which complicates the matter, since they are sort of straddling the fence.
I thought it might be interesting if we could discuss cases where the British and the Americans use radically different words for the same thing, to the point where there is sometimes confusion.
Therefore this isn't about words like 'holiday' vs. 'vacation' which both groups understand (I think) but more along the lines of:
sidewalk vs. pavement
In this particular case, I must vote with the Americans, because it seems to me that both the walkway and the roadway are both "pavements" since theoretically they are both paved.
"Sidewalk" also has the advantage of being specific since such things are along the side of the road or street.
If a British person tells an American "please walk on the pavement!" there is a risk that the American will walk in the middle of the street due to the misunderstanding. (I doubt that the reverse is true, because I assume that the British learned long ago what the word "sidewalk" means to Americans.)
What about other confusing variations of vocabulary? (Such as serviette vs. napkin, for example)
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Post by lola on Oct 19, 2009 18:07:10 GMT
Every other time I post on fodor's, practically, I unwittingly include a double entendre that British persons helpfully point out. When you factor in Cockney rhyming slang, practically no word is safe.
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Post by imec on Oct 19, 2009 18:49:25 GMT
What about other confusing variations of vocabulary? (Such as serviette vs. napkin, for example) In Canada, we say serviette and reserve napkin to describe a feminine hygiene product.
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Post by fumobici on Oct 19, 2009 19:14:01 GMT
Pants ;D
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Post by existentialcrisis on Oct 22, 2009 8:43:41 GMT
Huh??? I live in Canada and I use the word napkin to mean... well... napkin. What is a serviette???
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2009 9:12:25 GMT
That's why I say the Canadians are fence straddlers about this -- some adhere to British usage and others to American usage.
Serviette has the same double meaning in French anyway -- there is serviette for napkin and serviette hygiénique for sanitary napkin.
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Post by hwinpp on Oct 22, 2009 9:45:09 GMT
And serviette for plate, right?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2009 10:04:12 GMT
A place is an assiette.
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Post by hwinpp on Oct 22, 2009 10:06:58 GMT
Oh, oh, right... serviette is also a towel, right?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2009 10:34:21 GMT
Yes, a serviette de bain is a bath towel.
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Post by imec on Oct 22, 2009 11:26:30 GMT
Huh??? I live in Canada and I use the word napkin to mean... well... napkin. What is a serviette??? You must be in the American part ;D - or way younger than me.
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Post by existentialcrisis on Oct 22, 2009 12:01:48 GMT
From Nova Scotia.... lol ... didn't realize it could be an age thing?
But Canadians are supposed to say "pop" instead of "soda", right?
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Post by imec on Oct 22, 2009 12:07:27 GMT
Pop it is - soda is what my Dad drank his Scotch with.
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Post by bjd on Oct 22, 2009 14:37:23 GMT
I remember some American laughing about Canadians saying chesterfield. I personally say couch. Do Americans say couch or sofa?
By the way, I also say napkin, not serviette.
I also had an American friend who mentioned a "pocketbook" and I thought he meant a paperback book. He meant a purse/handbag.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 22, 2009 14:43:04 GMT
I usually say purse, but recognize & sometimes say pocketbook.
There are Americans who say chesterfield, also divan. I say couch and sofa interchangeably.
Both Canada & the US have regional usage and accents.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2009 14:48:40 GMT
My American grandmother said davenport.
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Post by imec on Oct 22, 2009 14:53:13 GMT
My Dad (who was British but spent time in the US in the 50's) used that term to describe a couch that folded flat into a bed.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 22, 2009 14:57:18 GMT
Oh yeah ~~ davenport. I forgot about that one, which is odd because I remember the first time I heard that word. I was around nine or ten and a little friend said her grandfather "died right there on the davenport".
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2009 16:31:15 GMT
Moving right along... I think that most Americans have no idea what hoovering is, and not just because they are dirty.
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Post by livaco on Oct 22, 2009 16:43:03 GMT
The word "fanny" can certainly cause problems. In American it means the backside or butt, and it is a very inoffensive word -- like what you would use if you were talking to a child or your grandma. In British it is a completely different part of the anatomy!
"Fag" is never used in American to mean cigarette, so it would cause confusion in the US. I think the other meaning, though, is known to Brits.
Also I think the use of "Public School" in the UK to mean, well, a private school, is confusing. I never did get that.
I have a certification of pregnancy from the UK which lists the date of conception at 5/10/91 and the expected date of birth at 12/7/92. Which is very confusing for anyone who would try to read those dates as US ones...
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2009 22:38:07 GMT
A serviette is also a briefcase in French.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 22, 2009 23:41:37 GMT
That's interesting! How did that come about?
(serviette/napkin is servieta in Spanish -- definitely not used for briefcase)
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Post by imec on Oct 22, 2009 23:59:39 GMT
I'll never forget sitting in the lobby of the Intercontinental in Athens when a young British girl strolls in and says to her apparently newly found American boyfriend "Are you ready then cock?". He turned beet red, quickly looked around to see who else might have heard and then said with astonishment "WHAT did you call me?", she pauses for a second and says "It's a term of endearment", he says "It certainly is!". ;D
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Post by livaco on Oct 27, 2009 0:45:12 GMT
I can remember a few times reading British books when I was a child and totally thinking that people in the story were going around with sticks of wood that were on fire when they were camping, or even in their homes during a power outage (!). It wasn't until much later that I figured out "torch" meant "flashlight".
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Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2009 5:25:27 GMT
I was always perturbed by that word, too, although I quickly figured it out. "Flashlight" isn't any better. You'd think that both sides of the ocean could have come up with a slightly more appropriate name like 'handlight' or 'pocket lamp' or some such.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 27, 2009 6:01:07 GMT
I always call them hand-held emergency light emitting devices.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2009 6:11:06 GMT
Is it always an emergency?
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 27, 2009 6:21:48 GMT
No. Sometimes I just stick the thing in my mouth, turn out the lights, and pretend to be a scary monster.
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Post by existentialcrisis on Oct 27, 2009 10:26:50 GMT
I think I recall a situation where an Australian in an American classroom asked a classmate for a "rubber" ... which to him meant "eraser".
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Post by patricklondon on Oct 27, 2009 16:41:53 GMT
And of course, there is much hilarity in the UK about the fact that what we call by the brand name Sellotape (and the US calls Scotch tape), is known in Australia by the brand name Durex - which in the UK is what the US calls a rubber.
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