A customer at my old job once told me a story. She had recently moved to the US from Britian and needed to send a package through the mail. She didn't want to miss the carrier so she put a note on the door that read "Postman, please knock me up and I'll pay you". I guess he explained that in the US, postmen don't perform that kind of service. 😂
I think the term “wife beater” also became more common in the US after the advent of the show Cops in the 90’s, where every man arrested for domestic abuse seemed to be wearing the same dirty shirt.
And that is because of classism. Statistically, domestic violence occurs at similar rates across class, but Cops will never show you a CEO getting busted for it.
Growing up in the 1960s that type of shirt, at least for males, was just an undershirt. I don’t think I have ever heard someone use the term “wife beater” referring to a shirt in an in person conversation. Again, back in the day, a man or boy might strip down to wearing an undershirt on a very hot day if working in the yard. Yet most of the time, if you expected it to be hot and you were likely to be seen by your neighbors, you wore a tee shirt.
My husband and I owned a telephone service business in Georgia and hired a tech who had just moved here from London. The communication between our thoroughly Southern techs and this wonderfully good humored Londoner named Peter was quite entertaining. Like when my office manager was quite undone when he asked her for a "rubber", not knowing he was asking for an eraser. Then he was working on some wiring in the basement of an old wooden schoohouse and asked another tech for a "torch" because he couldn't see. This immediately startled the other tech who responded excitedly, "you'll burn the building down!". Of course Peter explained it was a flashlight. Then Peter was asked what do you call a "torch", and Peter responded a "light". That was the same day he was late because he was standing in "queue" at the bank to "lodge" his check. Peter worked for us for 4 years before moving on to bigger things, but we never forgot his good natured humor as he laughed at us just as much with our very Southern language differences.
Julia Belisario - I might as well share this story, as it is similar to yours. About '68 or so, I was about 15 and my brother a few years older. He was invited to be an 'exchange student' with guy named George, from London, England. TL/DR (too long, didn't read, just to make it longer). This is not required reading. As well, these parapraphs could be in a better order, forgive me. To the story ..., Fair trade I figured, and I was right. Not only did I get rid of my brother for a month, but we got this cat from England in return. I think we got the better part of the deal. Just kidding, I'm still quite fond of my brother, but now I was bunking with a guy from England (as he just took over my brothers place in the family, more or less). We were a big family (6 kids), in a large house, out east on pastoral Long Island, NY, basically, in the middle of heaven, for a kid. Of course, the whole idea was for George, with his Herman Hermit's good looks being fawned over (even before he opened his mouth), was to be given a whirlwind tour of all NY had to offer. He saw a lot of it, and I usually went along for the ride, as I was generally his guide or confidant. This 'exchange student' program, had a profound affect on me, and the rest of my family as well. Often enough, George would come to me, a bit perplexed. What did that mean, what was that all about? So, I would tell him, and then he would tell me how things were in England. I learned a lot about our two nations 'divided by a common language', that summer. Oddly, I don't remember if the whole 'Revolutionary War' thing ever came up, but lots of other stuff did. We wore George down ragged, but every now and then, my Mom would say, just take George out for whatever you do, so that he can relax a bit. Sure, Mom, whatever you say. One time, we hitchhiked to my local beach, about 5 miles away, as the road flies, which was an easy hitch, that I did often. I had a small sailing boat on the harbor, that I had helped my father build and even by my mother, after certain tests, I was allowed free range on it, in my harbor (of about 2 by 5 miles in breadth), by the age of 13. I was certified 'safe' by both of my parents, and rightfully so, as after all, I was raised on the water, and I passed all their tests. I was a pretty responsible kid as well, and they knew it. What better way, to be left to your 'druthers'? Now, George knew how to swim, or so he said, and he had been on boats before, but only Ferries on the Channel or smaller power boats on the Thames, but never a sailboat, or the pilot of any. We both had life jackets on. It was a bright sunny day, with the warm water of summer and the wind as just enough and steady, that you couldn't ask for better sailing conditions, for such a minor adventure. I could see the terror in his eyes. Don't worry man, I do this all the time, in much worse conditions, and I've never capsized this boat in the two years since we built her, and as I've had reigned captain, which is true. By the end of the sail, I brought the boat closer to shore and handed him the tiller, which he took, and I must say, for a novice, he sailed it pretty well. Sure Mom, just to relax him, even tho it took his testicles traveling up to his esophagus to occur, to put it politely. Yeah, now he's relaxed. Of course he wasn't, but it was a lot of fun, and I know he got a kick out of it, particularly, that he actually got to sail. It's an interesting thing, the first time you get to do anything, and I remember them all well. Let me assure you, days off, as my Mom considered them, George never did, as it was free range for me to show him, well, all the stuff I normally did, which was usually worse, but my mother didn't quite get that, which is how I preferred it A day in Manhattan, seeing a Broadway show or such, was not even close to my common sense of mayhem, which I shared with him, as if it was my mission to, which is how I considered it a job well done. I brought him to tears many times, and I still miss him, but oddly, I was glad enough to get my brother back.
@@dobiebloke9311 Reminds me of a story from my childhood. My father was an English immigrant from London. He and my mother (A Canadian) had come Iowa just before I was born. They bought an old farm house on the edge of town with 2.5 acres, their "farm" as they were both from urban areas. We had a pair of Shetland ponies for us kids to ride around the pasture. When my cousins came to visit from London they had to get pictures taken of themselves on the ponies. Then they sent them to their schoolmates back in London as proof that they were "riding horses on their uncles ranch in America".
@@voiceofwisdom3408 - That's a kick. Basically the same story tho. Shetland ponies, man, you were living in tall cotton. I've got a few horse riding stories for you, that I can liquidate down to this. As surrounded by them as I have been, even when I was actually a cowboy, I was much better at walking, roping, cooking or driving a jeep I never got the hang of riding a horse, being more or less a 'Jerry Lewis' comedy act, but not for the lack of trying. Don't get me wrong. I love being around horses, and I can do everything with them, but ride them, with any sense of dignity, for either of us. I'm not talking about bucking broncos here, but rather old mares who took pity on me, which is the story of my life, and why I am still married. The old gray mare, ain't what she used to be. Yeah, yeah, donkeys and mules, but give me some poetic license. Interesting that you don't need a license to ride a horse, as I often proved, or my wife, apparently. Don't worry, she approves of the joke.
No joke... One of your videos about food word differences actually saved us from a possibily very bad alergic reaction. My mom is very alergic to celantro, but had no idea it was the same thing as coreander... We'd had coreander come with our spice rack but never knew what it was or how to use it, so we didn't.... After your video we perged the spice from our rack, and thankfully knew to ask about coreander when looking into a new spice mix this week.... Soo, your videos about words have potentially saved a life .... You may now feel superior ;D
"I think the American way makes more sense" Her Majesty the Queen has hereby issued a worldwide warrant for your excommunication. Please hand in your Britishness card to the nearest Consulate.
I can understand though how the british usage of the term came about, you'd only CALL it a floor when you HAVE more than one, so it's the first one that qualifies as a floor...
I believe the British use of 'Ground Floor/First Floor' comes from medieval tradition, wherein the bottom floor (as in the floor on the ground) was used for storage and whatnot, and the floor above was the first floor that was inhabited (i.e. used as you normally would). IIRC, this helped in defense, as well as giving a bit more living space inside, as anything usually stored above would instead be put in the 'ground floor'.
Floors are numbered both ways in the US, though having a separate ground and first floors is less common than having them be the same floor. One of the buildings where I went to college had a 0th floor, which makes sense because it was used by the computer science department.
at my university there was a building where the first floor was 2 floors underground and the basement was to the side halfway between the first and second floor. this building also originally housed the architecture department and the mathematics department. so... yeah, I gave up on humanity a long time ago.
The Statler Brothers had a hit song in the 1970's called Do You Remember These. It was banned in England because of the line "knickers to your knees." In the US knickers were shorts that gathered at the knees. In England they are underwear.
Whereas ground floor in the US often means a floor *below* the street level floor (which is aka first floor). Because, you see, it's a floor *in the ground.* But that's usually only when there's only one such floor, otherwise they are basements or sub-basements. And an unfinished basement is a "cellar" (or, rather perhaps, a finished cellar is a "basement") Except such as out west where there are rarely ever such things as cellars under houses and you just have the "crawl space."
@@romulusnr in my experience in the US "ground floor" means the floor *at ground level* i.e. rests on the ground i.e. "street level." Assuming the street is at the same height as the main entrance.
(In the interest of clarity, I'm referring to Canada here.) That star indicator can be quite useful for buildings that sprawl up the side of a hill, for instance. I was in a fairly large complex some years back where I entered on the ground floor (floor 1) and left from the ground floor (floor 4). Those were, of course, different entrances. Normally, however, "ground floor" and "first floor" will be the same.
@@Markle2k Wife-beaters aren't vests. Plus I wore sleeveless shirts as a teen that wouldn't be called vests. I've only heard 'vest' used for garments worn over shirts. Of course not many people wear sweaters in Texas.
I am a Davenport...but probably not related to that particular family...I knew about the desk but didn't know about the sofa...and in Australia we had a brand name here for a few years which were Davenport underwear...so it was kind of cool to wear nickers with my surname splashed across the band as a teenager
Was in youth group back in the 1980s with a family whose last name was Couch. They made it quite clear when people came over to their house you were welcome to sit on any sofa 🛋 but you'd better get permission before you sit on a Couch.
In Australia we call tank tops/vests singlets although tank top has gained ground when describing such a garment designed for outerwear but singlet is still used and nearly always used to describe the undergarment. Vest is used a lot more in place of waistcoat although most will know what you're talking about if you use either word. Pants are trousers over here and the two words are interchangeable. We also call them dacks. Trackie dacks is vernacular for tracksuit pants. We tend to call underwear undies or knickers, sometimes panties but that's dropped out of usage a lot and really wasn't used until WWII when the usage was picked up from US soldiers. It's now considered a bit pervy sounding and so it's use isn't recommended if you come over here. We usually call knitted vests sleeveless jumpers as a rule and if you describe one as a knitted vest, it will tend to conjure up an image of a knitted waistcoat with a button up front. Sweaters are jumpers over here and you won't hear sweater being used much at all, although we'll get what you're talking about. We tend to call the squash vegetables marrows with the exception of butternut, which we include in the category of pumpkins over here. Pumpkin, of which we have many varieties, is a popular savoury vege over here, with it cut into pieces and roasted, steamed, mashed or boiled, also pumpkin soup is very popular here. Pumpkin pie has migrated over here but still isn't what you'd call a regular dessert. We also call lemon fizzy drink lemon squash and the concentrated fruit syrups we call cordials. Lemonade is what we call Sprite or 7Up type fizzy drinks. We don't call anything a wife beater over here other than a man who beats his wife.
I was so confused the first time I heard a tank top referred to as a "wife beater" - I think I was like 28 and saw it without context and wondered why people were discussing domestic abuse in a conversation about clothing.
I 'd always heard that it's slang that started with the TV show COPS. That it seemed that every time they had a call of a Domestic, chances were the guy was wearing the basic sleeveless white undershirt.
@PestoMayo yes I can imagine my mother would not have allowed that talk. So as you can imagine I was out of the loop on a lot of things in high school social settings.
@@elgatofelix8917 I'm not sure but in my neck of the woods where domestic abuse was more common than it should have been the stereotypical guy who would beat his wife would most likely be wearing a muscle shirt and for some reason I also think of him as trailor trash. Oh lord I can see the comments now. Haha anyway, So that's why I think it's called that.
I remember a time that the submarine I was on was moored in Portsmouth; we had a tech come down to help me troubleshoot and fix our Xerox machine. The tech asked me for a torch - I took a moment to think about it and then took out my Zippo and asked him if he also wanted a cigarette. Obviously he was asking for a flashlight, but I was still uneducated in English, english.
I remember very well my great grandmother's blue velvet Davenport. I grew up with a lot of her furniture, as we inherited it when she passed. Lots of very formal beautiful antiques.
@@maryturpel8413 Yes! I'm a few years older, but when I was under 8-9, the davenport was the sofa, or in my house, the couch. I never used the word sofa at all growing up and still wouldn't.
My grandparents also called it the Davenport, curious if it’s more east coast? Grandparents moved from Pennsylvania to the Midwest in the 50s, I didn’t know anyone else that used the term.
When you say both countries "use" the term "jumping jack" to refer to the toy, well, presumably we don't use it that often. I mean, frankly, I don't even think I had ever heard that term.
@@galaxiaad it is. Marionettes strings are above the doll. The strings of a jumping jack (which I just learned the name of in t this video) are below and addres typically tied together so you pull all 4 strings at once ssns thre doll looks like it's doing a jumping jack.
OMG this is totally reminding me of my time living in the UK and how much trouble I got into in the first few months I was living there til I got the hang of this stuff!
"So here you call that the ground floor, and we in America call it the first floor, but that is another storey." --paraphrasing John Ritter co-hosting a royal gala performance, possibly with David Frost(?), in the 80s (I recorded it from TV, and that VHS was stolen in 90s...Robin Williams was also in that show.)
@@YvonneWilson312 Not according to a girlfriend visiting Germany who said it after a meal and apparently it was a huge faux pas. She said it meant you were pregnant there and it was really inappropriate when she said it.
And to get even more confusing the sleeveless sweater or jumper worn over a shirt was also called a sweater vest so we have a complete reversal of terms. I find the differences in terms very fun and frankly at this point I watch more Brit shows than American and have accordingly managed to shift my terminology to skew more Brit.
Yeah. I watched a lot of Top Gear before Clarkson and the gang left. I learned that if I wanted to change the oil in my saloon car in England, I'd need to lift the bonnet, wait for the aluminium engine to cool, drain it, then grab the 4.8 liter (5 quart) jug of new oil from the boot and pour it in. Then I could take it for a drive on the motorway. Funny enough, Firefox is telling me aluminium is spelled incorrectly.
Id say the *brits* have it backwards. What they call a "tank top" is just a sweater, but sleaveless. A sweater vest. Our tanktops arent garments that go over other garments.
I can also add to that confusion. In Germany we like to steal words from the English language and call that sleeveless sweater a 'Pullunder' (and that with sleeves a 'Pullover'), despite it being worn over whatever you choose to wear under it. Except perhaps for the jacket. But that would also be true for a Pullover. Hm.
And so we have the term "underpants" to avoid confusion. We used to live in Indiana. My parents came across an ad that listed a Davenport for sale. Being adventurous, interested, and not knowing what that was, they loaded us into the car and drove the hour or more to find out. We got there only to learn it was a couch/sofa, which I don't remember if we bought.
Ground floor is often used in buildings where the main entrance is at street level (on the first floor), but another street level entrance (usually the back of the building) also exists one level down.
We also say waist coat and the vests are the less expensive ones/ sweater jumper without sleeves ones. We do know about Davenport desks, but we did refer to as some sofas.
In my apartment building, the floor you're on when you enter the building depends on which door you use. The basement floor has a door out to the parking lot while the first floor has a door out to the city sidewalk. So, if you enter from the parking lot, you do have to take the elevator or stairs to get to the first floor.
In the world of railroads or railways there are several things that have different names on either side of the pond like ties which are called sleepers, track switches are called points, freight cars are called wagons, and my favorite switcher locomotive which is called shunter. I got a gentle ribbing from a model train shopkeeper in London last year when I asked if he had a switcher loco. He said “it’s shunter here!” in a pretend voice of seriousness and we had a good laugh about it after.
Why have I never watched any of your videos before? I've seen them but never bothered to watch them, assuming they were like all the other comparison videos. Once you've seen one, you've seen them all. Today my rheumatoid arthritis is bad & my fingers feel like bricks. As a result I accidentally clicked on this video. By the time I'd realised & managed to pick up my phone to switch videos, I was already hooked with your sense of humour. I've subscribed & am going to spend a very lazy day browsing your back catalogue. 😁
Brits do sometimes refer to star jumps as jumping jacks too. The word vest in uk in 2020 can mean- a sleeveless top, a under garment to keep you warm, a waistcoat, short for vestibule. People do often wait a jack over a vest/waistcoat. Especially when it’s cold. It is more used to give a pop of colour. Under the jacket then to keep you warm.
Add to this the British couple who were checking into a Colorado hotel on a ski holiday and asked the desk clerk where the lifts were. They were somewhat taken aback when he directed them to go down the street about 200 yards and they would be on the left.
In houses the first floor is where you enter but many office buildings have a ground floor entrance. Fortunately elevators have an asterisk next to the button for whatever floor has the exit. Hospitals are strange like that especially parking garages.
The student union at my university (in the US) has an odd floor numbering scheme, probably because it is on a hillside. At the bottom is the basement level, then the ground floor (which has entrances from outside), then the first floor (which also has entrances from outside), followed by the third, fourth, etc.. To add to the confusion, the stairs (and lifts/elevators) all span different sets of floors. Also, to throw a wrench/spanner into the mix, there are two ground floors, separated by a parking garage/multistory car park.
We also refer to the little chain firecrackers as jumping jacks. What you call a tank top, we call a sweater vest. LOL My husband lost it when I when I called the tank style undershirt as a wife beater. I believe he said, "What is wrong with your people?". I still think the funniest mishaps were when he called me holely and shattered, not at once.
I think ground floor makes more sense, as it effectively is floor 0, which makes for a nice contiguous numbering if you have floors with negative numbers. Anything below zero is below ground, anything above zero is above the ground and anything that is zero is the ground.
My dads side of the family is from the Midwest (South Dakota and Nebraska). I vividly remember being at my great grandparents home and the sofa being called the Davenport.
The first floor is SOMETIMES the ground floor, but often not if you are in a hilly town/city. If the building is built into a hill such that the entrance on one side is on a different floor than the entrance on the other side, the lower of the two will be the ground floor while the higher of the two will be the first floor. You can also get the weird scenario (as in the building I recently worked in) in which there are two buildings at different heights due to a hill but which are adjoined by a breezeway which connects the ground floor of the building atop the hill to the first floor of the building lower down the hill. So the first building has a basement floor in line with the second building's ground floor, but to get from the basement to the ground floor you need to go up one level to the first floor, then through the breezeway to the other building, then down one level to the same floor you were on in the first place except it's now the ground floor.
In Britain, a vacuum cleaner is often called a 'hoover'. When you're using a vacuum cleaner, you're 'doing the hoovering', or 'hoovering something up'.
@@christelheadington1136 maybe it was a regional thing, but both sets of my grandparents always called the wooden doll on a stick that danced when you tapped on the stick a Bogangles, and they were all alive before shirley temple films were even dreamed of
In college I lived in a dorm on the first floor, which was one floor above the ground floor. Ground floor had 1 to 2 digit numbered rooms stating with 1. First floor rooms stared with 101, second floor rooms started with 201, etc.
First floor, as used in Britain (also Europe Australia Asia, NZ, etc) makes sense because any floors below ground level can be given negative numbers e.g on a lift/elevator floors are numbered -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, etc. in the USA, if 1 = ground floor, you must rely on letters for floors below ground level
On the topic of the first floor, there's an office building on the campus of the university that I attended (in the States) in which the lift buttons were labelled L, then 1-14. So that building's lifts were likely designed by a Brit.
I live in Oklahoma. Usually I hear sofa or couch, but this one lady I knew in the 90s always called it the “divan”. I guess that’s prob short for Davenport.
My grandmother was from East Texas and called the sofa a divan. I googled it and found this: Divan, from the Middle East, was a long seat formed of a mattress laid against the side of the room, upon the floor or upon a raised structure or frame, with cushions to lean against.
In Kalamazoo, Michigan houses in flood areas may have steps like that leading up to the main entrance. Usually with a front porch supported by stone pillars. If the house has a basement it will be shallow (only half under ground, half above ground). Sometimes those basements are finished, but I don't know if they call them "garden apartments".
Living here in the UK, I get the same things but in reverse! Driving is another thing. I drive on the left side of the street now, which is ironically, the right side to drive on!
Even as a fellow brit I have never heard of a jumping jack firework, even as a child in the later 90s/early 00s a jumping jack was a variation of a star jump
Thank you for finally explaining what Squash is in terms of a drink. I’ve seen other UK channels where they reference a drink called squash, but don’t ever explain what it’s made from. I thought perhaps in England y’all juiced butternut squash and drank it. 🤮
I've been in buildings that have been built into hills. You might enter on the Lobby level, go down one level and exit through the Garden level. Two floors up from the Garden Level you will find the First floor, which is also 1 floor up from the Lobby level. Of course, if there is a Mezzanine level then First floor would be the third floor if you came from the Garden level.
I have always used the term Jumping Jack as a firework that spins around (they were great if you threw them after you lit them, and they would zoom away). And I grew up in New York.
@@ladyjane8855 - Or 'free balling'. As to why, I suppose you just have to be here, not that I'm suggesting that either you or I should be here. I have a friend, who is a bit of a wacky artist, and he often reminds me, 'We are all naked underneath our clothes' Most things are more understandable when attributed to a wacky artist friend.
And the Davenport in AU is a brand of art supplies.... Also it depends are where you are with the floor. In North Florida, some buildings are building to a hill so the ground floor could be the bottom of the hill or the top. I've also seen hospitals use the first floor as the floor above the lobby.
I grew up watching 'Seinfeld' and Elaine got "wasted" one night on muscle relaxers and hollered 'Stellllaaa'! I NEVER could figure out why? And now I know! Thank you! You're TH BEST 😂 frm TN 👍✌
The Davenport one's interesting, I'd never heard that before in the sofa context, but there's a line in Wayne's World where Brian Doyle-Murray's character refers to Wayne and Garth as "two chimps, a Davenport and a basement", and I never understand that line until now.
I live in the North of England (Cumbria) and we say Pants meaning trousers. Pants said to mean Trousers is more of a Southern England thing as far as I know.
In the north-east, we also use pants to mean trousers. If they've got elasticated waists, they're 'slacks'. At least, they were, back in the day, before 'joggers' were invented.
As a fan of many British shows, especial Steed and Peel in the vintage Avengers ... I have noticed several words either pronounced or used differently than where I reside in Wisconsin. The UK phrase "Ready, Steady .. and Go" we say "Ready, Set .. and Go" Of course we pronounce Aluminum differently. We have a totally different meaning for Chips, Crisps and Cider. We don't normally use the word "layabout" we just say lazy .. and no one around here would know what I was saying if I mentioned the word "Cheeky".
@@christelheadington1136 It seems they also use the word "Tights" to mean long undergarments "long underwear" when we refer to tights much more as outerwear.
I'm trying to think how I would order "fish and chips" in the US, I suppose I would say "batter fried cod with chunky fries or potato wedgies" ... if I just said fish and chips, around here I'd get some kind of fish and potato chips.
Then you have the chesterfield which to this day I have no idea where it came from. My dad used to call sofas chesterfields all the time and I’m still so confused.
I felt like such a knob when I got a room at an inn in Aberystwyth and she told me the room was on the first floor and I couldn't find it, and I said, you said it was first floor? And she said, yes, first floor, and (probably not deliberately helpfully) pointed *up.* And I realized my stupid tired American had-to-call-the-AA-and-drive-the-rental-on-a-temporary-tyre-from-Talsarn-to-the-Kwik-Fit-in-Aber-and-had-to-then-dash-on-foot-to-the-inn-before-it-closed mistake when I full well knew better.
@@christelheadington1136 Whoopie needs a free helicopter ride... That is if they can get Whoopie up in the sky without the helicopter crashing from excessive weight overload.
A customer at my old job once told me a story. She had recently moved to the US from Britian and needed to send a package through the mail. She didn't want to miss the carrier so she put a note on the door that read "Postman, please knock me up and I'll pay you". I guess he explained that in the US, postmen don't perform that kind of service. 😂
I think the term “wife beater” also became more common in the US after the advent of the show Cops in the 90’s, where every man arrested for domestic abuse seemed to be wearing the same dirty shirt.
^^^ That is absolutely right. They all wore the same dirty grungy tank top
And that is because of classism. Statistically, domestic violence occurs at similar rates across class, but Cops will never show you a CEO getting busted for it.
A Streetcar Named Desire
Brando wore a 'wife beater'.
@@its1110 That is so true. I forgot about that. Good call!
Growing up in the 1960s that type of shirt, at least for males, was just an undershirt. I don’t think I have ever heard someone use the term “wife beater” referring to a shirt in an in person conversation. Again, back in the day, a man or boy might strip down to wearing an undershirt on a very hot day if working in the yard. Yet most of the time, if you expected it to be hot and you were likely to be seen by your neighbors, you wore a tee shirt.
My husband and I owned a telephone service business in Georgia and hired a tech who had just moved here from London. The communication between our thoroughly Southern techs and this wonderfully good humored Londoner named Peter was quite entertaining. Like when my office manager was quite undone when he asked her for a "rubber", not knowing he was asking for an eraser. Then he was working on some wiring in the basement of an old wooden schoohouse and asked another tech for a "torch" because he couldn't see. This immediately startled the other tech who responded excitedly, "you'll burn the building down!". Of course Peter explained it was a flashlight. Then Peter was asked what do you call a "torch", and Peter responded a "light". That was the same day he was late because he was standing in "queue" at the bank to "lodge" his check. Peter worked for us for 4 years before moving on to bigger things, but we never forgot his good natured humor as he laughed at us just as much with our very Southern language differences.
Cheque*
Julia Belisario- Great story. Loved every bit. Been there, blokes and all.
Julia Belisario - I might as well share this story, as it is similar to yours. About '68 or so, I was about 15 and my brother a few years older. He was invited to be an 'exchange student' with guy named George, from London, England.
TL/DR (too long, didn't read, just to make it longer). This is not required reading. As well, these parapraphs could be in a better order, forgive me. To the story ...,
Fair trade I figured, and I was right. Not only did I get rid of my brother for a month, but we got this cat from England in return. I think we got the better part of the deal. Just kidding, I'm still quite fond of my brother, but now I was bunking with a guy from England (as he just took over my brothers place in the family, more or less). We were a big family (6 kids), in a large house, out east on pastoral Long Island, NY, basically, in the middle of heaven, for a kid.
Of course, the whole idea was for George, with his Herman Hermit's good looks being fawned over (even before he opened his mouth), was to be given a whirlwind tour of all NY had to offer. He saw a lot of it, and I usually went along for the ride, as I was generally his guide or confidant. This 'exchange student' program, had a profound affect on me, and the rest of my family as well.
Often enough, George would come to me, a bit perplexed. What did that mean, what was that all about? So, I would tell him, and then he would tell me how things were in England. I learned a lot about our two nations 'divided by a common language', that summer. Oddly, I don't remember if the whole 'Revolutionary War' thing ever came up, but lots of other stuff did.
We wore George down ragged, but every now and then, my Mom would say, just take George out for whatever you do, so that he can relax a bit. Sure, Mom, whatever you say.
One time, we hitchhiked to my local beach, about 5 miles away, as the road flies, which was an easy hitch, that I did often. I had a small sailing boat on the harbor, that I had helped my father build and even by my mother, after certain tests, I was allowed free range on it, in my harbor (of about 2 by 5 miles in breadth), by the age of 13. I was certified 'safe' by both of my parents, and rightfully so, as after all, I was raised on the water, and I passed all their tests. I was a pretty responsible kid as well, and they knew it. What better way, to be left to your 'druthers'?
Now, George knew how to swim, or so he said, and he had been on boats before, but only Ferries on the Channel or smaller power boats on the Thames, but never a sailboat, or the pilot of any. We both had life jackets on. It was a bright sunny day, with the warm water of summer and the wind as just enough and steady, that you couldn't ask for better sailing conditions, for such a minor adventure.
I could see the terror in his eyes. Don't worry man, I do this all the time, in much worse conditions, and I've never capsized this boat in the two years since we built her, and as I've had reigned captain, which is true. By the end of the sail, I brought the boat closer to shore and handed him the tiller, which he took, and I must say, for a novice, he sailed it pretty well.
Sure Mom, just to relax him, even tho it took his testicles traveling up to his esophagus to occur, to put it politely. Yeah, now he's relaxed. Of course he wasn't, but it was a lot of fun, and I know he got a kick out of it, particularly, that he actually got to sail. It's an interesting thing, the first time you get to do anything, and I remember them all well.
Let me assure you, days off, as my Mom considered them, George never did, as it was free range for me to show him, well, all the stuff I normally did, which was usually worse, but my mother didn't quite get that, which is how I preferred it
A day in Manhattan, seeing a Broadway show or such, was not even close to my common sense of mayhem, which I shared with him, as if it was my mission to, which is how I considered it a job well done. I brought him to tears many times, and I still miss him, but oddly, I was glad enough to get my brother back.
@@dobiebloke9311 Reminds me of a story from my childhood. My father was an English immigrant from London. He and my mother (A Canadian) had come Iowa just before I was born. They bought an old farm house on the edge of town with 2.5 acres, their "farm" as they were both from urban areas. We had a pair of Shetland ponies for us kids to ride around the pasture. When my cousins came to visit from London they had to get pictures taken of themselves on the ponies. Then they sent them to their schoolmates back in London as proof that they were "riding horses on their uncles ranch in America".
@@voiceofwisdom3408 - That's a kick. Basically the same story tho. Shetland ponies, man, you were living in tall cotton.
I've got a few horse riding stories for you, that I can liquidate down to this. As surrounded by them as I have been, even when I was actually a cowboy, I was much better at walking, roping, cooking or driving a jeep
I never got the hang of riding a horse, being more or less a 'Jerry Lewis' comedy act, but not for the lack of trying. Don't get me wrong. I love being around horses, and I can do everything with them, but ride them, with any sense of dignity, for either of us.
I'm not talking about bucking broncos here, but rather old mares who took pity on me, which is the story of my life, and why I am still married.
The old gray mare, ain't what she used to be. Yeah, yeah, donkeys and mules, but give me some poetic license.
Interesting that you don't need a license to ride a horse, as I often proved, or my wife, apparently. Don't worry, she approves of the joke.
No joke... One of your videos about food word differences actually saved us from a possibily very bad alergic reaction. My mom is very alergic to celantro, but had no idea it was the same thing as coreander... We'd had coreander come with our spice rack but never knew what it was or how to use it, so we didn't.... After your video we perged the spice from our rack, and thankfully knew to ask about coreander when looking into a new spice mix this week.... Soo, your videos about words have potentially saved a life .... You may now feel superior ;D
"I think the American way makes more sense"
Her Majesty the Queen has hereby issued a worldwide warrant for your excommunication. Please hand in your Britishness card to the nearest Consulate.
I can understand though how the british usage of the term came about, you'd only CALL it a floor when you HAVE more than one, so it's the first one that qualifies as a floor...
I believe the British use of 'Ground Floor/First Floor' comes from medieval tradition, wherein the bottom floor (as in the floor on the ground) was used for storage and whatnot, and the floor above was the first floor that was inhabited (i.e. used as you normally would). IIRC, this helped in defense, as well as giving a bit more living space inside, as anything usually stored above would instead be put in the 'ground floor'.
That is what I was led to believe aswell
My mom was British, my father American. I grew up with constant confusion, finally needing therapy as a teen. 😁
When I was growing up, the 'tank top/wifebeater' shirt was known as a 'muscle shirt'. We in the US also have 'Jumping Jack' fireworks.
Floors are numbered both ways in the US, though having a separate ground and first floors is less common than having them be the same floor. One of the buildings where I went to college had a 0th floor, which makes sense because it was used by the computer science department.
at my university there was a building where the first floor was 2 floors underground and the basement was to the side halfway between the first and second floor. this building also originally housed the architecture department and the mathematics department. so... yeah, I gave up on humanity a long time ago.
The Statler Brothers had a hit song in the 1970's called Do You Remember These. It was banned in England because of the line "knickers to your knees." In the US knickers were shorts that gathered at the knees. In England they are underwear.
This makes much more sense now
Ground floor here in Canada. But if you're confused, look for the button with the star next to it. That'll be street level.
Is the first floor the one above it? In the US, ground floor and first floor are synonyms.
@@chitlitlah yes ground floor and first floor are the same. The next floor up usually will start at floor 2
Whereas ground floor in the US often means a floor *below* the street level floor (which is aka first floor). Because, you see, it's a floor *in the ground.* But that's usually only when there's only one such floor, otherwise they are basements or sub-basements. And an unfinished basement is a "cellar" (or, rather perhaps, a finished cellar is a "basement") Except such as out west where there are rarely ever such things as cellars under houses and you just have the "crawl space."
@@romulusnr in my experience in the US "ground floor" means the floor *at ground level* i.e. rests on the ground i.e. "street level." Assuming the street is at the same height as the main entrance.
(In the interest of clarity, I'm referring to Canada here.) That star indicator can be quite useful for buildings that sprawl up the side of a hill, for instance. I was in a fairly large complex some years back where I entered on the ground floor (floor 1) and left from the ground floor (floor 4). Those were, of course, different entrances. Normally, however, "ground floor" and "first floor" will be the same.
But that sleeveless knitted garment that that man was wearing is also called a vest in the United States. So we have come full circle.
Anything sleeveless is a vest. Puffy down-filled vests are a thing as well.
A sweater vest to be precise. BTW In the US, if you invest in a "start up",you're "getting in on the ground floor."
It's a sweater vest. Which I guess is a vest, but I honestly would never say "vest" in isolation and expect anyone to think of a sweater vest.
@@Markle2k Wife-beaters aren't vests. Plus I wore sleeveless shirts as a teen that wouldn't be called vests. I've only heard 'vest' used for garments worn over shirts. Of course not many people wear sweaters in Texas.
A lot of people in the US actually say "sweater vest" for that kind of thing.
Most likely we call the exercise a "jumping jack" because it mimics the motion of the toy.
I’m related to the Davenport family. It was funny to hear as a kid because my brain went to family when someone said to sit on the Davenport.
When I was a kid, in the 50s-60s, we always said Davenport. It slowly became couch, became sofa.
I'm related to the Davenport family as well. My mother was a Davenport. No one in my family called it a Davenport, it was a sofa.
coasterb1, I live a few hours, as does Laurence, from a place called the Quad Cities, and one of them is Davenport, Iowa.
I am a Davenport...but probably not related to that particular family...I knew about the desk but didn't know about the sofa...and in Australia we had a brand name here for a few years which were Davenport underwear...so it was kind of cool to wear nickers with my surname splashed across the band as a teenager
Was in youth group back in the 1980s with a family whose last name was Couch. They made it quite clear when people came over to their house you were welcome to sit on any sofa 🛋 but you'd better get permission before you sit on a Couch.
In Australia we call tank tops/vests singlets although tank top has gained ground when describing such a garment designed for outerwear but singlet is still used and nearly always used to describe the undergarment.
Vest is used a lot more in place of waistcoat although most will know what you're talking about if you use either word.
Pants are trousers over here and the two words are interchangeable. We also call them dacks. Trackie dacks is vernacular for tracksuit pants.
We tend to call underwear undies or knickers, sometimes panties but that's dropped out of usage a lot and really wasn't used until WWII when the usage was picked up from US soldiers. It's now considered a bit pervy sounding and so it's use isn't recommended if you come over here.
We usually call knitted vests sleeveless jumpers as a rule and if you describe one as a knitted vest, it will tend to conjure up an image of a knitted waistcoat with a button up front. Sweaters are jumpers over here and you won't hear sweater being used much at all, although we'll get what you're talking about.
We tend to call the squash vegetables marrows with the exception of butternut, which we include in the category of pumpkins over here. Pumpkin, of which we have many varieties, is a popular savoury vege over here, with it cut into pieces and roasted, steamed, mashed or boiled, also pumpkin soup is very popular here.
Pumpkin pie has migrated over here but still isn't what you'd call a regular dessert.
We also call lemon fizzy drink lemon squash and the concentrated fruit syrups we call cordials.
Lemonade is what we call Sprite or 7Up type fizzy drinks.
We don't call anything a wife beater over here other than a man who beats his wife.
I friggin love your dry humor man, it makes my day!
I was so confused the first time I heard a tank top referred to as a "wife beater" - I think I was like 28 and saw it without context and wondered why people were discussing domestic abuse in a conversation about clothing.
I remember my mom getting so upset when my sister started using that term in the late 90s/early 2000s.
I 'd always heard that it's slang that started with the TV show COPS. That it seemed that every time they had a call of a Domestic, chances were the guy was wearing the basic sleeveless white undershirt.
I still don't get why they're called that 😂
Edit: just got to the part of the video where he explains why. Still funny tho 😂
@PestoMayo yes I can imagine my mother would not have allowed that talk. So as you can imagine I was out of the loop on a lot of things in high school social settings.
@@elgatofelix8917 I'm not sure but in my neck of the woods where domestic abuse was more common than it should have been the stereotypical guy who would beat his wife would most likely be wearing a muscle shirt and for some reason I also think of him as trailor trash. Oh lord I can see the comments now. Haha anyway, So that's why I think it's called that.
I’m so mad !!! I hadn’t found and followed you sooner. You are wonderful. Thank you for coming to America
I remember a time that the submarine I was on was moored in Portsmouth; we had a tech come down to help me troubleshoot and fix our Xerox machine. The tech asked me for a torch - I took a moment to think about it and then took out my Zippo and asked him if he also wanted a cigarette. Obviously he was asking for a flashlight, but I was still uneducated in English, english.
I remember very well my great grandmother's blue velvet Davenport. I grew up with a lot of her furniture, as we inherited it when she passed. Lots of very formal beautiful antiques.
Laurence you are a font of information.
Every time I watch your videos I learn something new that I didn't know about britain.
Great video as always
4 days shy of 44 and I now know why my grandmother called a sofa a "Davenport".
The only meaning of "Davenport" I'd ever heard of was the city in Iowa :-P
67 here, and that was what we called the sofa!
@@maryturpel8413 Yes! I'm a few years older, but when I was under 8-9, the davenport was the sofa, or in my house, the couch. I never used the word sofa at all growing up and still wouldn't.
My grandparents also called it the Davenport, curious if it’s more east coast? Grandparents moved from Pennsylvania to the Midwest in the 50s, I didn’t know anyone else that used the term.
@PestoMayo I've often called Davenport "couch" IA.
1:16 This explains the Rolling Stones song "Jumpin' Jack Flash" so much
When you say both countries "use" the term "jumping jack" to refer to the toy, well, presumably we don't use it that often. I mean, frankly, I don't even think I had ever heard that term.
It used to be a firework when I was a kid!
Yeah, I remember a toy/game just called 'jacks'. Put jumping before it and it's the exercise or a firework.
Agreed. Is it different from a marionette?
@@galaxiaad it is. Marionettes strings are above the doll. The strings of a jumping jack (which I just learned the name of in t this video) are below and addres typically tied together so you pull all 4 strings at once ssns thre doll looks like it's doing a jumping jack.
Plus it's a boring toy.
OMG this is totally reminding me of my time living in the UK and how much trouble I got into in the first few months I was living there til I got the hang of this stuff!
"So here you call that the ground floor, and we in America call it the first floor, but that is another storey."
--paraphrasing John Ritter co-hosting a royal gala performance, possibly with David Frost(?), in the 80s (I recorded it from TV, and that VHS was stolen in 90s...Robin Williams was also in that show.)
"Chuffed". I laugh everytime a Brit uses this word on FB. It sounds a bit naughty.
Being stuffed is naughty I understand.
@@bonniegirl5138 Usually being 'stuffed' means you have had so much to eat that you couldn't manage another mouthful.
Chuffed isn't but chuff is.
@@YvonneWilson312 Not according to a girlfriend visiting Germany who said it after a meal and apparently it was a huge faux pas. She said it meant you were pregnant there and it was really inappropriate when she said it.
Wifebeater is a very insulting term. It is a sleeveless t- shirt or undershirt.
And to get even more confusing the sleeveless sweater or jumper worn over a shirt was also called a sweater vest so we have a complete reversal of terms. I find the differences in terms very fun and frankly at this point I watch more Brit shows than American and have accordingly managed to shift my terminology to skew more Brit.
Yeah. I watched a lot of Top Gear before Clarkson and the gang left. I learned that if I wanted to change the oil in my saloon car in England, I'd need to lift the bonnet, wait for the aluminium engine to cool, drain it, then grab the 4.8 liter (5 quart) jug of new oil from the boot and pour it in. Then I could take it for a drive on the motorway.
Funny enough, Firefox is telling me aluminium is spelled incorrectly.
Id say the *brits* have it backwards. What they call a "tank top" is just a sweater, but sleaveless. A sweater vest. Our tanktops arent garments that go over other garments.
I can also add to that confusion. In Germany we like to steal words from the English language and call that sleeveless sweater a 'Pullunder' (and that with sleeves a 'Pullover'), despite it being worn over whatever you choose to wear under it. Except perhaps for the jacket. But that would also be true for a Pullover. Hm.
While working in the court system it amused me how many men arrested for domestic abuse actually appear in court wearing...a wife beater.
And so we have the term "underpants" to avoid confusion.
We used to live in Indiana. My parents came across an ad that listed a Davenport for sale. Being adventurous, interested, and not knowing what that was, they loaded us into the car and drove the hour or more to find out. We got there only to learn it was a couch/sofa, which I don't remember if we bought.
My grandmother in Indianapolis had a davenport, which we called a couch. Classy folks called it a sofa.
We always said couch as well. I never heard the term Davenport until I met my husband grandma who calls every couch/sofa a Davenport.
Davenport OR Chesterfield.
My grandmother in South Bend IN also called it a Davenport!
Ground floor is often used in buildings where the main entrance is at street level (on the first floor), but another street level entrance (usually the back of the building) also exists one level down.
You usually wear a vest over shirt and for men a suit jacket over the vest. It adds warmth without being too bulky.
Hello Lawrence! Thank you for the series update.
I wish we had British Squash over here. I got hold of it once, and it's one of my favorite things to add to vodka.
i’m british and a tank top is the beach thing and a jumper vest is the knitted thing
We also say waist coat and the vests are the less expensive ones/ sweater jumper without sleeves ones. We do know about Davenport desks, but we did refer to as some sofas.
It’s a sweater vest! As horrible as that is. It’s a Sweater vest.
In my apartment building, the floor you're on when you enter the building depends on which door you use. The basement floor has a door out to the parking lot while the first floor has a door out to the city sidewalk. So, if you enter from the parking lot, you do have to take the elevator or stairs to get to the first floor.
Davenport is a tennis player who won the US Open in 1998 and Wimbledon in 1999.
Have you discussed the word "fanny" yet? LOL
Ha Ha, was wondering if he brought that up! =)
Similar to the davenport in the US, chesterfield is the old-fashioned word for sofa in Canada.
I was in London and offered an "Orange Squash." I didn't ask what it was and just declined.
In the world of railroads or railways there are several things that have different names on either side of the pond like ties which are called sleepers, track switches are called points, freight cars are called wagons, and my favorite switcher locomotive which is called shunter. I got a gentle ribbing from a model train shopkeeper in London last year when I asked if he had a switcher loco. He said “it’s shunter here!” in a pretend voice of seriousness and we had a good laugh about it after.
Why have I never watched any of your videos before? I've seen them but never bothered to watch them, assuming they were like all the other comparison videos. Once you've seen one, you've seen them all. Today my rheumatoid arthritis is bad & my fingers feel like bricks. As a result I accidentally clicked on this video. By the time I'd realised & managed to pick up my phone to switch videos, I was already hooked with your sense of humour. I've subscribed & am going to spend a very lazy day browsing your back catalogue. 😁
Brits do sometimes refer to star jumps as jumping jacks too.
The word vest in uk in 2020 can mean- a sleeveless top, a under garment to keep you warm, a waistcoat, short for vestibule.
People do often wait a jack over a vest/waistcoat. Especially when it’s cold. It is more used to give a pop of colour. Under the jacket then to keep you warm.
Add to this the British couple who were checking into a Colorado hotel on a ski holiday and asked the desk clerk where the lifts were. They were somewhat taken aback when he directed them to go down the street about 200 yards and they would be on the left.
I second the request for a video on the British vs American eating styles/table manners.
Already exists
Look for 5 Ways British and American Meal Etiquette is Very Different, 8 months ago.
In houses the first floor is where you enter but many office buildings have a ground floor entrance. Fortunately elevators have an asterisk next to the button for whatever floor has the exit. Hospitals are strange like that especially parking garages.
Davenport, couch, sofa... And in Canada, Chesterfield. (For reasons very similar to the use of "Davenport")
Don't forget *divan*. lol
Chesterfield are a popular style of sofa in the UK too. Low-backed, with buttons and often covered in velvet.
We had a davenport...growing up... And I also was in a Street Car named Desire... I played Blanche... Her speech into madness was difficult..
The student union at my university (in the US) has an odd floor numbering scheme, probably because it is on a hillside. At the bottom is the basement level, then the ground floor (which has entrances from outside), then the first floor (which also has entrances from outside), followed by the third, fourth, etc.. To add to the confusion, the stairs (and lifts/elevators) all span different sets of floors. Also, to throw a wrench/spanner into the mix, there are two ground floors, separated by a parking garage/multistory car park.
Man I remember "back in the day a few months ago". Those were the good old days.
I really appreciate your wit. Good job.
We also refer to the little chain firecrackers as jumping jacks. What you call a tank top, we call a sweater vest. LOL My husband lost it when I when I called the tank style undershirt as a wife beater. I believe he said, "What is wrong with your people?". I still think the funniest mishaps were when he called me holely and shattered, not at once.
I think ground floor makes more sense, as it effectively is floor 0, which makes for a nice contiguous numbering if you have floors with negative numbers.
Anything below zero is below ground, anything above zero is above the ground and anything that is zero is the ground.
You must be a fellow C/C++ (or assembly) programmer.
Butternut squash is also a thing in the UK.
We have jumping jack fireworks, as well. My childhood cocker spaniel used to try to eat them.
Oh... they'll try to eat any/every thing. :)
My dads side of the family is from the Midwest (South Dakota and Nebraska). I vividly remember being at my great grandparents home and the sofa being called the Davenport.
The first floor is SOMETIMES the ground floor, but often not if you are in a hilly town/city. If the building is built into a hill such that the entrance on one side is on a different floor than the entrance on the other side, the lower of the two will be the ground floor while the higher of the two will be the first floor. You can also get the weird scenario (as in the building I recently worked in) in which there are two buildings at different heights due to a hill but which are adjoined by a breezeway which connects the ground floor of the building atop the hill to the first floor of the building lower down the hill. So the first building has a basement floor in line with the second building's ground floor, but to get from the basement to the ground floor you need to go up one level to the first floor, then through the breezeway to the other building, then down one level to the same floor you were on in the first place except it's now the ground floor.
Davenport was generic for a sofa in my neighborhood growing up. Haven’t heard it used that way for decades.
My grandmother called it a "davenport", Dad called it "sofa" and Mom called it "couch". So I was very familiar with all the terms growing up.
I never heard of a "devenport" referred to as a sofa.
In Britain, a vacuum cleaner is often called a 'hoover'. When you're using a vacuum cleaner, you're 'doing the hoovering', or 'hoovering something up'.
@@graceygrumble Hoover is just a brand name for vacuums here in the U.S.
@@rtyria I know. In Britain, it's a bit like 'googling', irrespective of which search engine you use.
Lol, the Jumping Jack toy here in the south is called a Bojangle, hence the song Mister Bogangles
Mr. Bojangles was an actual person/dancer. He was in some Shirley Temple movies.
@@christelheadington1136 maybe it was a regional thing, but both sets of my grandparents always called the wooden doll on a stick that danced when you tapped on the stick a Bogangles, and they were all alive before shirley temple films were even dreamed of
@@chefbubbaclemson3701 -It may well be where the man got the nickname then.
I've never heard of a toy called a jumping jack, and I've never seen such a toy as depicted in the video.
Squash is also a game played in an enclosed room. You have a paddle (I think) and two players bounce a ball around the walls and floor.
In college I lived in a dorm on the first floor, which was one floor above the ground floor. Ground floor had 1 to 2 digit numbered rooms stating with 1. First floor rooms stared with 101, second floor rooms started with 201, etc.
First floor, as used in Britain (also Europe Australia Asia, NZ, etc) makes sense because any floors below ground level can be given negative numbers e.g on a lift/elevator floors are numbered -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, etc. in the USA, if 1 = ground floor, you must rely on letters for floors below ground level
On the topic of the first floor, there's an office building on the campus of the university that I attended (in the States) in which the lift buttons were labelled L, then 1-14. So that building's lifts were likely designed by a Brit.
Two years ago, I lived in a co-op building in Lynbrook. It's 'first floor' was actually the second floor, and the lobby or ground floor was just that.
I live in Oklahoma. Usually I hear sofa or couch, but this one lady I knew in the 90s always called it the “divan”. I guess that’s prob short for Davenport.
No, divan is a Turkish word
@@christelheadington1136 ohhhh. That’s really weird. They definitely aren’t Turkish or anything close. Lol.
We had a divan and an ottoman.
My grandmother was from East Texas and called the sofa a divan. I googled it and found this: Divan, from the Middle East, was a long seat formed of a mattress laid against the side of the room, upon the floor or upon a raised structure or frame, with cushions to lean against.
Just another word for couch.. makes it sound fancy..unless in a low southern accent lol
If you live in an apartment that you access by going down about four to five steps, it is known as a garden apartment in Chicago.
In Cleveland too.
That is a basement flat here in the UK.
@@christelheadington1136 NY too
In Kalamazoo, Michigan houses in flood areas may have steps like that leading up to the main entrance. Usually with a front porch supported by stone pillars. If the house has a basement it will be shallow (only half under ground, half above ground). Sometimes those basements are finished, but I don't know if they call them "garden apartments".
Living here in the UK, I get the same things but in reverse! Driving is another thing. I drive on the left side of the street now, which is ironically, the right side to drive on!
Even as a fellow brit I have never heard of a jumping jack firework, even as a child in the later 90s/early 00s a jumping jack was a variation of a star jump
Health and safety probably killed off Jumping Jacks.
Thank you for finally explaining what Squash is in terms of a drink. I’ve seen other UK channels where they reference a drink called squash, but don’t ever explain what it’s made from. I thought perhaps in England y’all juiced butternut squash and drank it. 🤮
I've been in buildings that have been built into hills. You might enter on the Lobby level, go down one level and exit through the Garden level. Two floors up from the Garden Level you will find the First floor, which is also 1 floor up from the Lobby level. Of course, if there is a Mezzanine level then First floor would be the third floor if you came from the Garden level.
I have always used the term Jumping Jack as a firework that spins around (they were great if you threw them after you lit them, and they would zoom away). And I grew up in New York.
So THAT'S what "jumping jack flash" means... The whole song is about life not sucking quite so much when you have fireworks!! 🤣🤣 My life is complete!
Telling someone you aren't wearing underwear is TMI.
Think it's called 'going commando'. No idea why...or why anyone would.
@@ladyjane8855 - Or 'free balling'. As to why, I suppose you just have to be here, not that I'm suggesting that either you or I should be here.
I have a friend, who is a bit of a wacky artist, and he often reminds me, 'We are all naked underneath our clothes'
Most things are more understandable when attributed to a wacky artist friend.
And the Davenport in AU is a brand of art supplies....
Also it depends are where you are with the floor. In North Florida, some buildings are building to a hill so the ground floor could be the bottom of the hill or the top. I've also seen hospitals use the first floor as the floor above the lobby.
I grew up watching 'Seinfeld' and Elaine got "wasted" one night on muscle relaxers and hollered 'Stellllaaa'! I NEVER could figure out why? And now I know! Thank you! You're TH BEST 😂 frm TN 👍✌
The Davenport one's interesting, I'd never heard that before in the sofa context, but there's a line in Wayne's World where Brian Doyle-Murray's character refers to Wayne and Garth as "two chimps, a Davenport and a basement", and I never understand that line until now.
I live in the North of England (Cumbria) and we say Pants meaning trousers. Pants said to mean Trousers is more of a Southern England thing as far as I know.
In the north-east, we also use pants to mean trousers. If they've got elasticated waists, they're 'slacks'. At least, they were, back in the day, before 'joggers' were invented.
I forgot this series, I started watching your channel on this series.
I was watching an episode of It's Me or the Dog when the narrator stated something as "doggy style". I almost spit out my drink. 😂
That little head teeter when you said fruity was everything 😅
That just helped me understand “Jumping Jack Flash.” Cheers!
Just discovered your channel and am subscribed. You are hilarious 😆 and I love your 📝 memos,
You are sooo refreshing!
In Canada the term Chesterfield is often used to describe a sofa, but is gradually dying out in favour of couch (or sofa)
As a fan of many British shows, especial Steed and Peel in the vintage Avengers ... I have noticed several words either pronounced or used differently than where I reside in Wisconsin. The UK phrase "Ready, Steady .. and Go" we say "Ready, Set .. and Go"
Of course we pronounce Aluminum differently. We have a totally different meaning for Chips, Crisps and Cider. We don't normally use the word "layabout" we just say lazy .. and no one around here would know what I was saying if I mentioned the word "Cheeky".
Sassy ?
@@christelheadington1136 On the TV Show "Keeping Up Appearances" ... the uniquely British word "Bone Idle" aka Onslow
@@christelheadington1136 It seems they also use the word "Tights" to mean long undergarments "long underwear" when we refer to tights much more as outerwear.
I'm trying to think how I would order "fish and chips" in the US, I suppose I would say "batter fried cod with chunky fries or potato wedgies" ... if I just said fish and chips, around here I'd get some kind of fish and potato chips.
Laurence, another type of vest we have over here is the down-filled ones sometimes worn under a parka, many times worn separately.
We call that a 'body-warmer'. Posh folks call that a 'gilet'.
I've heard all three words as a kid: DAvenport, couch, sofa for the couch... Davenports were hard, the couch is more casual, and a sofa is soft
I've got a long legged futon disguised as a couch.....then there are the "hide-a-beds".
@@christelheadington1136 I wonder is they have them in Britain. Laurance?
I heard all three words as a kid, but they were used completely interchangeably.
Then you have the chesterfield which to this day I have no idea where it came from. My dad used to call sofas chesterfields all the time and I’m still so confused.
@@DakotaCelt1 We have futon's here in the UK
In Canada we call it a chesterfield or couch or a sofa.
I've heard of chesterfields as a term for cigarettes.
Or Davenport, if it’s a Davenport.
I'm from the UK and have used jumping Jack's as star jumps when teaching sport.
i am so pleased you have continued with this! Your forays into our divisive English language are amongst my favourites! Born in the USA!:-) 👍 🖖
I felt like such a knob when I got a room at an inn in Aberystwyth and she told me the room was on the first floor and I couldn't find it, and I said, you said it was first floor? And she said, yes, first floor, and (probably not deliberately helpfully) pointed *up.* And I realized my stupid tired American had-to-call-the-AA-and-drive-the-rental-on-a-temporary-tyre-from-Talsarn-to-the-Kwik-Fit-in-Aber-and-had-to-then-dash-on-foot-to-the-inn-before-it-closed mistake when I full well knew better.
I did the same thing in London looking for my hostel room.
One of my grandmas always called the couch the davenport.
Jumping Jack? What a gas, gas, gaaas.
😅😅😅 brought back memories.
Great. Now THAT’S stuck in my head. 😂
My grandma always called a couch a Davenport!
I guess The Rolling Stones' Jumping Jack Flash takes on new meaning.
Provided you knew there was a meaning in the first place. (I always think of Whoopie Goldberg being hauled off in a phone booth.)
@@christelheadington1136 Whoopie needs a free helicopter ride... That is if they can get Whoopie up in the sky without the helicopter crashing from excessive weight overload.
My grandmother used to call her sofa a davenport. She was the only person I knew who did that.
It was once a brand of furniture such as sofas.