7 Harmless British Words Americans Might Find Rude
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 มิ.ย. 2024
- Since everyone's been asking so nicely, here begins a two-part series in which I look at harmless words from Britain or America that might be perceived as rude in the other.
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In the U.S. you can still come across the phrase "tit for tat".
Now all the Americans that read your comment have started sniggering because you said "come".
@@Kyrelelas an American:
1. it doesn't really read like cum in a verb phrase
2. we say "snickering", and oh boy, this is 100x more likely to get you glances than saying "tit" or "cock"; best case you would be quietly corrected
There was a young lady named Pat
Who had triplets named Mat, Nat and Tat.
It was fun in the breeding,
But hell in the feeding:
She found there was no tit for Tat.
(I didn't make that up.)
@@Kyrelel it would have to be spelled as “cum” for us Americans to laugh at.
I've heard that as "tittle for tattle" as a longer version.. "We exchange something, usually information or gossip". 😊
Poppycock isn’t a very common but not unheard of word here. Banger has made its way into American vernacular to mean a song that you can jam to or bang your head along to, thus, banger
I believe you but I think we might come from different American cultures. 😂
I know about banger, like “This song is a banger!” I see it a lot on the internet too. And I’ve heard “poppycock” but I’ve never heard it used in everyday speech
I've gotten used to it just meaning something good. "You need to check out this new show, it's a legit banger."
Arrested Development did a bit on it with Tobias Funke saying: "would you like a banger in the mouth?"
Poppycock is also a snack that contains popcorn and nuts with caramel.
I remember my late stepmother telling me about when she was on a business trip to London. She asked for a 7AM wake up call and was told "I'll pop up at 7 and knock you up". She was not amused...
This is the one I was looking for. I had a coworker from the UK and she told the tale of the first time she used the phrase with an american neighbor.
"The service at my hotel was STUNNING, cannot wait to return, 5/5."
My stepmum used to be our nanny from Liverpool and she had other nanny friends she'd get together with weekly...one story was her friend Jan, also from around Liverpool, asked her male employer what time did he want her to knock him up in the morning. He replied, 'Jan, I hardly know you!'
@janinewetzler5037 "My stepmum used to be our nanny. . . ."
I see a whole story in that phrase!
sounds fine to me, but I see how it could be misconstrued
About 15 years ago, a guy from Scunthorpe joined our team at work. When making polite conversation at lunch on a Monday, I casually asked "did you do anything exciting this past weekend?". He replied "I smoked a joint". After a pregnant pause, I followed up with "did you barbeque a large cut of meat?"
In Colorado, we'd call junk cars "beaters", not "bangers".
Same in Virginia, altho we also might call it a shitbox.
As a native of the Motor City, I can honestly say that I have never heard the expression "banger" used to describe a junker car. Beater is what is consistently used here.
Same in Upstate New York
In Wisconsin we call it a beater as well.@@cate9540
Same in Oregon
Here in Brazil we have a similarly rubbery confusion. In most of the world, Durex is a brand of condoms. But here, it's a brand of adhesive tape. You can imagine how "I have to buy some durex" can be misunderstood. It gets worse if you try to explain that you need it for work.
It is (or was anyway) also a brand name for tape in Australia. There was quite a well known comedy sketch in the U.K. about a Brit arriving in Australia, going into a shop and hearing a customer ask for ‘an extra large roll of Durex!’
Reminds me of Trevor Noah being taken out for tacos for the first time in California and being something between disgusted and terrified when asked if he wanted a napkin; to Trevor that meant a diaper...!
@@stevetournay6103Same in Australia/New Zealand, a serviette is what you would wipe your face with. However I might call a fabric version in a restaurant a napkin. Also the term “nappy” is so ubiquitous now I suspect some have forgotten it’s actually a slang term for napkin.
I thought the word "Rubbers" referred to those rubbery boots people wear when wading in a pond while fishing.
No, those are Waders.
Your American accent when describing what your stage director said was spot on for the Midwest. As someone from the Midwest, it was very uncanny to hear the same voice go from British to American Midwest in the span of a second. Great job.
The old British TV show "Are You Being Served" played on a few phrases like this all the time. As a kid back in the late 80s, early 90s, I first heard some of the phrases on PBS reruns of the show. I quickly changed the channel because my parents wouldn't want me to be watching a TV show with that kind of language! 😂
One time, I was aroused in the middle of the night. So I threw open the bed covers and flung my kitty across the room. It was so disconcerting. My poor pussy was sore for a week.
"Laugh all you want about that bird, but remember it can fly, what can you do?" is the greatest line and burn I've heard today.
As an American visiting London as a college girl I was mortified by not knowing what "fanny" meant there.
As the early/mid 70s all female band "FANNY" found out the 1st time they toured the UK. Apparently nobody in the band or the record company knew that it meant buttocks (they knew that) in the US and the other side of the anatomy in the UK.
Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "fanny pack"... 😅
i always thought it was their word for a womans derriere not her 🐱
Just means you haft to move the bag from your back to your front when you travel to the UK. haha
In the US it's a fanny pack and across the pond it's a bum bag. Either has the same effect on the other side.
As someone who grew up with an American father and British mother in the 40s and 50s, this was a delight! Many household use words/terms ended up with me in the principal's office at school with a parent conference to clear things up.
Well, my daughter spoke Norwegian at home as both her my now-ex and I are Norwegian, so to her, a cow was a ku.
Starting preschool in France where we lived at the time, she happily pointed at an image of a cow and called it a ku.
Oopsie. That's how you pronounce cul in French. Meaning @$$. 😅😂
@@sarahgilbert8036😂 Coo or Cu is also how you pronounce Cow in Scotland. As in “a shaggy heelund coo.”
Yes, a lot of Scottish pronunciations come from the Norse times.
@@sarahgilbert8036 *pronunciation" not "pronounciation."
A friend came to the US and was filling out papers at immigration when she needed an eraser, and stood up in the middle of a room and asked for a rubber. She couldn’t understand why people were averting their faces in embarrassment.
Banger in the US is also used as slang to refer to a great song. I.E. "that song is a banger"
A banger is a club or party track!
Here's another one, although it may be obsolete in Britain now. My work friend had a British Dad and American Mom. They met during WWII - he was a soldier, she was a WAC stationed in the UK. They went out on a first date and had a lovely time - until it was time to go. He asked, "May I knock you up tomorrow?" She was horrified and said NO! They managed to solve the miscommunication and eventually wed after the war. He did knock her up, of course, but that was after they were married.
That's hilarious 😂
Oh, my goodness! I didn't know that phrase was normal in Britain. 🙈😂
@@evansjessicae The phrase used is that someone has been 'knocked up' not in the context of someone asking if they can knock you up!
So, funnily enough, to knock someone up is a phrase only really used in the UK these days to refer to getting someone pregnant. However, there is one exception: political parties in the UK still use the phrase "knocking up" to describe their get out the vote operations on election day, and this is the only place where, as a 33 year old Brit, I've heard the phrase used to mean calling at someone's door.
The real fun is knowing that, back in the gas-lamp days, there was a job colloquially known as the knocker-upper. Essentially they were a human alarm clock who went around knocking on people's doors and windows to wake them up in the morning so they could get to work on time, frequently while also extinguishing the gas street lamps or as a bit of bonus pay for a police officer (knocking up people on their morning patrol route).
Telling anyone in Britain that something is a bummer or that you were bummed about something leaves the funniest look on their face. 😂
Years ago when i was a little kid, my ex mother saw a cute fluffy bird and wanted to know what it was called. I looked it up for her in a bird book we had and once i said “Tuffed Tit Mouse” she yelled at me for saying an obscene word. I tried to show her the name in the book, to prove im not being vulgarly immature, but she refused to look at the book, and told me to never say disgusting adult language ever again. She flipped out as if I named the bird. 😑
Good thing she never saw blue-footed boobies 💀
5:53 "What Americans refer to as an ERAZER..."
It should be noted that while the spelling is the same on both sides of the pond, Americans pronounce the S in eraser with an... S sound, whereas Brits (and some others) vocalize it into a Zed sound.
I noticed this while teaching in South Korea. Koreans usually tend towards teaching English with American terminology and pronounciation, but for some reason they teach this word with the UK pronounciation. Which is fine, except the Zee sound doesn't exist in Korean, so it's hard for many of them to say. It often comes out as "erajer."
I think about the word "eraser" way too much.
In Japan, they used to teach "The King's English", i.e. UK English. Often with Japanese teachers, which can get kinda weird. Nowadays they're hiring native speakers from North America to teach English, but unfortunately they never really use it outside of school...
i heard the Z, but it didn't click. Thank You !:-)
Eraser in UK.
Yes, in British English, normally an S with a vowel on both sides is often pronounced as a Z and double S is usually an S sound. The exception with double S pronounced as Z is in the word "Aussie", for Australian. An Australian girl told me that in a movie, a famous actress pronounced Aussie with an S sound. I don't remember if the actress was American or British though.
@@MMuraseofSandvich Unless they have work involved with regularly speaking English, they don't have much opportunity to use it, which makes speaking it more rare as their country has a national language and majority of people there are Japanese.
Poppycock is also a popcorn based snack food very similar to Crackerjack. Rubbers are sometimes used in place of galoshes that you put over your shoes in bad weather.
I've called full-length rubber boots "rubbers" many times without ever thinking twice about it. I think it just comes down to being mature enough to recognize that a word can have many uses.
Fiddle Faddle
Yeah, I thought he was going to say the shoes. I've heard rain boots called "rubbers" on British TV shows but I've not heard erasers called "rubbers."
I was thinking of rubbers for shoes also
What about pratts bottom and balls cross?
I had a friend who married an Englishman. They were visiting his family when, at dinner, one night his mother asked her if she would like something else to eat. She said no thank you, I’m stuffed. Apparently his parents were shocked while his siblings thought it was hilarious. The common usage in the US was apparently not so common in the UK!
The first time I went to Pennsylvania to visit my old college roommate in Hershey, he took me on a guided tour of the area. That tour included a ride on an old-fashioned steam locomotive that went through Amish territory. The train line was just a local one for the area. After we boarded the train, the tour guide told us that our ride that day that Intercourse was halfway to Ecstasy! (Ecstasy was the end of the line!) Needless to say, the passengers roared with approval.
You should go to Newfoundland and visit the town of Dildo.
Or you can “sleep in Comfort between Alice and Edna” (all are small towns in Texas, the phrase was used years ago to promote Comfort)
‘Bonk’ has a slang meaning in the UK that it doesn’t in North America. I was travelling across Europe by train many years ago. On one overnight stretch, a Canadian lady who was sitting next to me accidentally hit her head against my shoulder several times as she drifted off to sleep. At some level, she must have been conscious of it because she apologised in the morning for having ‘bonked you all night’. The Britons in my car were most amused!
So you got Bonked! all night by some attractive bird, and you don't remember it!! ...Gutted!!!
Try "spunk" in Aussieland. One of my favorite comic books when I was a kid (Tank Girl, before it was turned into a crappy movie) had an in-universe beverage called Spunk. Caused something of a stir on the American market.
Naw it also means that here lol
Ooh err missus! 😂
Never heard bonk used that way, but I've heard "boink" used similarly!
"You two sounded like you were boinking all night!" Would cause quite a stir in the USA 😂
I love how Ron Weasley's "Bloody Hell!" was offense in both countries but for different reasons.
Like how my Dad could use the Lord's name as any part of speech!
can you explain?
@@xyzzyx4839 In Britain it's offensive to say 'bloody', in America it's offensive to say "hell"
@@evelynlewis122 oh, is it actually offensive to say bloody in the uk??
@@xyzzyx4839 it's a swear word on the level of "damn", it used to be more offensive because it had religious connotations
I use poppycock all the time. No one even blinks. In England, I have heard someone suggest a situation has gone "tits up".
My mother, teaching 4th grade, told her students to get out their pencils and rubbers. The class dissolved into giggles.
The all time best one was when my mum asked my dad to
" knock her up at 6" the silence in the room was profound!
I still giggle when thinking of Helen Murrin saying she was afraid of going ;tits over ass' while walking up to stage during the Oscars one year!! (yes, that was on air!)
I'm reminded of a headline from a few decades ago featuring the names of two Minnesota towns "Fertile Woman Dies In Climax."
We have a Climax NC also.
There's also Embarrass, Minnesota.
My mom's name is Tommi; she was named after her dad. When she was a little girl she was very small. Her family used to call her a titmouse and say "Tommi, Tommi titmouse, came to live at our house". A titmouse is a small type of bird. I wrote this before I saw the portion of the video talking about the titmouse. LOL
Also 90s glamourpuss Abi Titmouse
Growing up in Minnesota and then Chicago we used the word "rubbers" to describe what are actually called galoshes. Those rubber overshoes used to protect your regular shoes from wet and snow. Mostly from snow.
Moms would regularly yell to their kids, "Put on your rubbers before you go out!" Nobody thought twice about it. The funny thing is we never transitioned to the word galoshes (except for me, because I own expensive leather shoes), but instead just stopped wearing galoshes altogether - mostly.
These would be called wellies by many British. BTW hello neighbor, I'm in Milwaukee.
@@blueptconvertible Wellies is short for Wellington boots. These are different than galoshes. That style of boot comes from the guy who beat Napoleon, and they're basically straight boots that go to the mid calf. They're very common in rubber (often decorated with flowers) as outdoor rain boots, but they aren't overshoes. You wear them alone. Galoshes are worn overtop of regular shoes. Some are low stretch rubber like the brands "Totes" or "Tingley," while other are boot length and have buckles to tighten them. These were what we wore as kids all winter long. You'll see them in many films depicting kids from the 60s, 70s, and on.
I commonly heard the phrase, "put on your rubbers", growing up and it always sounded euphemistic and funny.
"Rubbers' were short rubber slip-on overshoes. Galoshes are tall rubber boots with a series of strange fasteners, not used on anything else.
I was born & raised in Chicago and I never once heard rubber used that way. I’ve heard people say snowshoes or winter boots but i never heard them being referred to as rubbers.
I remember one episode of the Australian cartoon, Bluey, the girls were playing doctor and pretending to have to operate on their dad. They did an "x-ray" at one point and the drawing was called "a pot plant." And all the American Karens LOST THEIR GOD DAMN MINDS! Because they instantly went to a marijuana plant and not use their eyes to see it was a potted plant!
My grandmother used to talk about her pot plants. I told her she may need to be careful saying that in public, or the cops might show up at her door one day. 😂
"Playing doctor" is U.S. slang for naughty exploration.
Playing doctors and nurses in UK!
I said poppycock in a meeting and was threatened with discipline for swearing. Uneducated people in positions of authority.
For me it was the use of the word "rubber" in a Sherlock Holmes story by the chief inspector going on about being called away from his bridge game that caused trouble. In a classroom of mid-1970s 13-yr olds at a Baptist school, this caused an infectious titter. Which caused a prolonged telling off of the class by the teacher.
An infectious titter sounds a trifle smutty in itself, guv'nor...😁
The man wearing a scarf ran round the courtroom feeling ladies parts and as reported, "a muffled titter ran round the court"!
Drat. Now I'm thinking of why a "hand" or "round" of cards might possibly have been called a "rubber" which I had never before bothered about. Now I've come up with the likelihood that it was because the cards rub together in the hand, thus a "rubber."
Edited for spelling
@@adedow1333 Well, a British English dictionary offers this second definition as well as applying it to bridge.
"a contest consisting of a series of successive matches (typically three or five) between the same sides or people in cricket, tennis, and other games"
you said "titter"
My grandmother's generation (born 1900) used the word "rubber" in place of saying "rubber band". This gave middle school me great fits of laughter.
Another is "fanny pack". I was working in a store here in America and an English woman asked me if we sold any...she couldn't think of the name so she indicated the area around her waste and I said, "Oh, you mean a fanny pack?" After her face turned 4 shades of red I realized that there was a miscommunication of some kind. But I brought her to the area where they were located and went on my way. It wasn't until later that I found out that "fanny", which here in America is as tame* as can be and simply means the buttocks, means the woman's parts located in the front in Britain!
I also had an experience with a young English boy asking if we sold "rubbers". Since he was only about 10 years old you can imagine my initial shock! But once he described what it does I realized what he meant.
* "Fanny" is so tame that most Americans wouldn't even blink an eye if you said something like, "Now, don't misbehave young lady or I'll spank your fanny!" to a 4 year old.
I think it's wonderful that some women are named Fanny, or Kitty, or Candy, or Cat, or Trixie.
@@theeclectic2919Ha! True! I can imagine a British person saying, "Hang on... Your name is PUSSY?!" (which is what 'fanny' means over there).
I believe you Brits gave a sweet word a dirty meaning. Fannie Farmer wrote one of the US's first cookbooks, so it was just a nice name once. I honestly think a brit misunderstood the US usage & switched it around. I work at a museum in the US West, a lot of old fashioned words appear that really get the "titters" going. Generations run long in my family, I'm only 53 but my grandma was born in 1898 so I still have a lot of very old fashioned phrases in my vocab too lol. Tourists find me delightful, which is fricking embarrassing
@@montananerd8244 I understand where you're coming from. My grandfather (not my great-grandfather, my father's father), was born in 1853.
Not mentioned in the original comment but "rubber" is a pencil eraser! Some Americans will call their rain boot covers rubbers as well.
I think most people are aware that in America "pants"=trousers and in Britain "pants"= underwear. This little difference led to some quiet chuckling from my friend's British husband as we were shopping for "work pants."
In another instance, a friend of my in-laws had a difficult time calling his friend who was staying at a British hotel. He would call the front desk and ask to be transferred to his friend's room. When they asked who they should say was calling he would say "Randy" (a common American nickname for Randall) and the hotel personnel would hang up on him thinking it was a prank. 😂😂😂
A lot of people in england use pants to mean trousers, i think mostly in the north.
Reminds me of the whole Fanny pack vs Bum Bag
I have a friend in law enforcement, who tells a tale of an officer who visited on exchange from Britain. He was appalled when a particular weapon was referred to as a "sawed off shotgun". Once feathers were soothed, my friend inquired as to what the weapons were referred to in Britain. The answer a "sawn-off shotgun."
Well, in the UK we have a little thing we like to call "Grammar".
@@Kyrelel But do you not add an "-ed" to a root verb when turning a past participle into an adjective? "Sawed off" is the adjective, while sawn is a past participle. So using sawn in that case is really incorrect grammar.
To make sure something wasn't different in the UK, I verified on the Cambridge dictionary that sawn is listed there as a past participle as well.
@@REALfish1552 I believe the British use "sawn" because "sawed" sounds like "sod" which is used as a dirty expletive.
@@REALfish1552Sawn is correct as the sawing was done in the past.
@@susanwestern6434So what tense is "sawed"?
Anyone else notice there’s a lot of “weird” things that the Americans do that if you go back, the Brits started but for some reason or another changed their minds.
😂
That’s like every short on this channel lol
You mean things like invading other countries ?
The British didn't give up that habit until they couldn't afford to do it anymore.
@@Kyrelel
We'll invade, but eventually leave. But we do have military bases all over the place. We don't take over vast countries and rule them. However, we'll start wars in various places, kill and be killed by a lot of people.
We don't see ourselves as an Empire, but we do have the same hubris as in "Exceptionslism". That's not an American only thing. It's been used by others, British and France for example.
When I was in Primary School in the very early 80s, and about 9 or 10 there was a teacher exchange. My class had a teacher for the year from St Paul, Minnesota. She was great 👍. I sometimes wonder about contacting her to let her know that this little girl (who is now past 50) still remembers her with fondness.
In addition to my first ever try of pumpkin pie, she set us up with pen pals back at her school (this was long before email and nobody had home computers). One of my fellow pupils wrote to her little US pen pal that she collected rubbers (erasers), and she never heard from her again.
When I studied abroad in the UK, I balked at how the Brits would ask for the toilet. I had a whole conversation with a Scot about how Americans would seldom ask someone in public where the toilets were. We'd ask for the restroom or the bathroom. He couldn't understand my discomfort! I said it's basically akin to asking where the "shitter" is. Hopefully that translated ;)
I've always wanted to have a home big enough to have a dedicated bathroom, i.e. a room containing only a bathtub. If American guests asked for the bathroom they would get directed to that room!
@@Phiyedoughmost (99%) Norwegian homes have toilet and bath in separate rooms. Both contain a sink.
I'm more shocked at the fact that these two rooms are combined everywhere else.
@@sarahgilbert8036 Homes with more rooms are more expensive.
Why ask for the bathroom if you don't want to bath?
@@treetopjones737 not necessarily. A toilet room isn't counted in the property tax calculation, neither is the bathroom or kitchen. Only the number of bedrooms. Adding a wall around the toilet is "peanuts" when building.
I remember a new student from the UK asking our teacher if she had a rubber. She was stunned and set him to see the principal. I recall the principal having a talk to her afterwards.
I have met a LOT of exchange students from all sorts of countries where they have been taught British English, and it is never not funny. I also like trying to work out the word "tramp." 😂
Indeed of an old saying from a pastor at my grandmother's church: a rubber in England is for correcting mistakes,a rubber in the US is used for preventing them.
Rubber is eraser
If it's raining, you put on your rubbers (overshoes)
@@TheRealBatabii What the heck are overshoes?
When I was growing up in Brooklyn in the 1950’s and 60’s, rubbers referred to small overshoes.
In some places, yes. My grandmother used that. And I had heard galoshes. On the west coast, we just called 'em rain boots.
Same in Chicago in the 70's
A friend of mine visited England when she was in college. When she checked into a hotel, the concierge asked what time she wanted to be “knocked up.” That would have been quite a wake up call, in more ways than one!
I remember talking to my grandfathers second wife who was British born, the question came up about what virtues I Like in a women and I said that I liked "spunky girls" or "girls full of spunk" meaning spirited or strongwilled but I remember her bursting out laughing and was confused and she never did tell me why. I later learned the british slang term spunk.....
damn... full of s*m*n... hardcore humour...
I noticed that you avoided talking about the British slang for cigarettes. 😉
You stole my thunder!
It's a little weird not to at least delicately mention that there's one more too offensive to even say.
The same word, begins with F refers to a meatball in the UK. Or sticks for a fire.
This video was hilarious. I didnt find a single word of it offensive. Thanks for the laugh, Laurence!
Poppycock was used by my grandparents like the word davenport for couch or sofa. Mom used wonderful words nere- do-well for someone who didn't work hard enough to support themselves.
This has nothing to do with "rude" words, but I've always wondered about the word "homely". In Britain it seems to mean a comfortable and inviting home. In the US homely refers to something (or some one ) that is unattractive or ugly. Can't remember if you've addressed this one before.
I'm an American, and this is the first time I'm hearing it used in the American way.
I've only ever heard it used in a comforting positive sense.
Poppycock is also the trade name for a delicious brand of candy coated popcorn with almonds or pecans.
I've heard of it, and seen it, but because of a certain way people will interpret things, I wondered at the wisdom of such a word. 😅
In the meantime, there's the ever-popular American convenience store name "Kum n Go," which has now been bought out by another company and the name is changing, sadly. It's been too much fun to make fun of the name, apparently. Killjoys. 🙄
The British phrase "I'll knock you up later." caught me off guard when I first heard it. To an American "knock you up" or to get "knocked up" means to get pregnant.
But in England they mean it as they will come by later and knock on your door to visit you.
Erm, no, it means the same in UK as it does in US. I have never heard anyone say it in the way you suggest.
I have never heard anyone say I'll knock you up later'. 'I'll knock for you later,' is used if your going to go around and actually knock on the door, but is probably not used much these days. Otherwise to knock someone up means you have made them pregnant.
I think it's only a regional thing in the UK, maybe midlanders use it
@@Wimpleman, yes that is very likely. Back in the days before personal alarm clocks became commonplace, many mill owners would employ "knockers up"s to go around their employee's abodes with a long stick, tapping on the windows to rouse them and get them out to work.
Pissed in America means annoyed, but in the UK it means drunk. I've never understood the euphemisms Americans use for going to the toilet. They use bathrooms with no bath in them and restrooms in which I wouldn't want to lie down.
My mother, who was French-Canadian, use to tell me to "Remember your rubbers"! Yikes Mom! What she actually was telling me was not to forget to wear my glosses, or Rain proof footwear, before leaving for school in the morning. To, which, I would giggle, and then she'd mumble something rude in French at me. 😅😂
I love your 'American' accent and would love to hear more of it.
Let's do the Australian version. That'll be fun.
Lol🤗
Yes. I'd like to see that, too.I'm rooting for you!
You c….an’t say that.
I love the Maryland flag design in your profile pic!!!
You mean half of the Aussie vocabulary?
For place names, there is in Barrington, NH a spot called Bumfagging Hill.
I lived with British roommates in Japan who smoked cigarettes. I was mortified the first time I heard one ask another if they could “crash a …” (in the us we would say ‘bum a cig’, which probably also mortifies English folks).
I’m a colonial and an Anglophile 🇬🇧 thank you for your videos!
I use "Oh, poppycock and balderdash" not infrequently, especially when expressing frustration at strangers online.
I use “balderdash” on a daily basis.
Me too, but in real life.
And hogwash.
Codswallop too
Sorry, but that just sounds like a load of malarkey. Biden didn't invent the word, it's been around forever...so...maybe he did invent it.
While on a college choir trip to England, we spent many evenings in the homes of those people brave enough to volunteer to board us. The best story from this 2 week trip that I can share is this. My friend Nick and I were staying with a very nice family for 2 days in central England, on the first night, they served pot roast for supper, and it was fantastic. We both probably shocked them in how much we ate. When the lady of the house asked us if we would like more, Nick said "no thank you, I'm stuffed!" This led to five minutes of laughter from the entire family, while Nick and I just looked bewildered. Then, still snickering, she explained what stuffed was slang for at the time!!😂
I'm guessing you're from the South as you said "supper."
@@treetopjones737 From Nebraska, that was their words, as I would normally say dinner! Peace.
While "I'm stuffed" means "I'm full", "get stuffed" is not a way of telling someone to eat up.
My Chicago-born mother always said supper.@@treetopjones737
Also I’ve heard “Banger” also being used to describe an appealing piece of music or media. It makes total sense they would also relate to fire works, or explosive sausages.
Maybe it's not used much anymore but when I lived in England the phrase "come and have a go if you think you're hard enough" was in very heavy use and well, to American ears it sounds like, well, an invitation to have sex. I actually burst out laughing on several occasions to head tilted looks of confusion.
Terry Pratchett used the second half of the phrase a lot in his Discworld books, but he turned it into more of a joke, because it was often being used by or at the mineral based trolls.
His ability to switch to different American accents is amazing.
So a teenage British girl on an exchange program comes to the US and asks a handsome young lad in her class if he has a rubber handy. That could get ugly. Or perhaps not so ugly.
It's only ugly when it's bumping. Banging? Er, Intercourse, Pennsylvania!
@@TestUser-cf4wjbonking
@@TestUser-cf4wj "INTERCOURSE the penguin!" - Monty Python
The exchange student from New Zealand took art from my dad. There were A LOT of rubber jokes 😂
Amazed that you left out the British slang word for: "cigarette".
He already said he doesn't wanna get demonetized
I love this kind of "class"! Having watched a lot of the BBC imports when I was younger, i consistently had a good time saying things with the UK usage and watching my fellow Americans. It was a hoot. And i never ended up in the principal's office at all!
Laurence using his American accent sounds eerily like a boss I had (from Chicago) in the early 1990s. Thanks for this cracking good video!!
Possibly because he's been living in Chicago for over a decade.
Might I add the word pissed. Here in the US it means you're angry and in the UK it means you're drunk.
its not uncommon to see both those definitions at the same time
So sort of the same thing 😂
It's just a contraction of "pissed off"
Brit here - the word piss means all sorts of things in the UK depending on context.
Pissed off - angry
Pissed /Pissed as a newt - drunk
On the piss - going out drinking
Pissing about - messing around
Piss off - go away
Pissing down - heavy rain
Piss up, heavy drinking session or plans that have gone wrong.
Pissing into the wind - useless activity
Or just as an emphasiser, used like f**cking - Pissing idiot/Pissing Hell.
I've probably missed a few.
@@gillianrimmer7733also taking the piss / piss-taker
Being pissy
I have a large number of family / cousins in the UK and every time I have visited there are always moments when we all look at each other and think "what did they just say"....
These two rude-in-the-other-country videos are the only ones I've watched yet, but can I assume that at some point, Laurence quotes the line, "the U.K. and the U.S., two countries divided by a common language"?
@@John_Smith_60 Often
We were going out for a winter walk and my British MiL went to put on her "titfer". Rhyming slang. "Tit for tat", thymes with "hat"
My boss used to say "I'm going to the J Arthur". That is Cockney rhyming slang for bank.
@@PhiyedoughJ. Arthur Rank = bank.
Poppycock is also caramel popcorn snack that includes nuts, that is sold in the US. 😋
and is very yummy
Yum! I grew up with that. It was always at gramma's house.
Carmel and Clint Eastwood
The texture of Poppycock is incidentally as far away from "pappekak" as you can get 😅
Do you mean caramel or Carmel as in the place?
I laughed out loud so many times during this episode, and I thank you.
Living in Lincolnshire spital in the street comes from shortening the word hospital, meaning long ago there was a cottage hospital there...along with many other places with spital included🎉 happy new year
Sounds like "spittle"
If you asked to stroke the dog's FUR, I'm sure no one would bat an eye.
I had a friend who visited the UK years ago and saw a cute baby. Trying to be friendly they exclaimed "what a cute little bugger" and the baby's mom got so offended. They did not use "Bugger" again on that trip.
That sounds appropriate though? We use it ironically, I hardly believe the woman thought that your friend was insinuating that her child was some sort of sodomite!
Lol that's exactly how I'd say it, knowing it's context in Britain.
But that IS an appropriate term? "little bugger" is in the national lexicon for God's sake!
It’s more likely that an American would say ‘cute little booger’….very different.
@@Reece-Mincher3601no one in the UK is going to call a baby a "bugger".
My Nana went on a work trip many years ago with a group of men and women. There were only two women, my Nana and a British lady. They were at dinner and she asked a male colleague who was staying on the same floor as her to "knock her up in the me up in the morning". The man went beet red and didn't know what to do or say. Everyone was laughing The British lady was confused. My Nana explained what the phrase means in America. The lady was embarrassed and said she just wanted him to let her know when he was leaving in the morning.
.
😂
The speak in riddles 😂😂😂
Haha I've heard that one in person, knock me up. 😂 I'm like, uh, ok.
A woman I worked with had an American husband and told me when she went to stay at her in-laws she had an embarrassing situation. At breakfast she said she had a "lovely lay-in." Her mother-in-law was really shocked and voiced her displeasure. The lady was referring to sleeping longer than usual and the mother-in-law thought she meant 'laying' referring to sex. Red faces all round but they did realise it was a miscommunication. She was told an American would say 'I overlaid' instead.
What? Are you sure your typed that correctly? You wrote: "knock her up in the me up in the morning". That doesn't make sense in any language.
I suggest you catch some old reruns of the later episodes of M*A*S*H with Harry Morgan as Col Potter, as POPPYCOCK was one of his more common epithets (next to HORSE-HOCKEY!)
Also, to your pictures of the Coal Tit, you might want to note to your viewers that it might LOOK like a North American Chickadee, but it is a different critter all together, being slightly larger than our bird over here, and according to its Wiki page, dominating the middle of Europe and Asia.
There was also the episode where Col. Potter said he'd seen more British toenails than American fannies.
American concierge to British visitor: “Hi, I’m Randy, let me know what I can do to make your stay more enjoyable.”
In graduate school at the University of Kansas, I was a teaching assistant for the Intensive English Center.
Yes, a student once asked me if I had a rubber.
I turned several shades of red. He noticed and made a motion over his paper and said he needed to rub out an error.
Eventually, I understood the meaning.
But, yes, I was shocked at first.
Ah, the rare UK/UK culture clash.
Ironically, working at a college, I received a case of trojan condoms (early 90s, still a bit controversial). I didn't really know what to do with them, so I just put the word out that students could get them from me. I was teaching & doing admin stuff, so I'm probably the only teacher who, when asked "do you have a rubber?," actually handed over 3-5 condoms (no one needs ONE condom).
@@montananerd8244 At the same university, early 70's, when a student at the Intensive English Center was filling out his admission forms, he asked the secretary what he should fill in for his Marital Status, should he put the number of wives that he has? She turned 15 shades of pink and then said, "I think Yes will be sufficient."
@montananerd8244 If you didn't know what to do with a condom, how did you know your students would need more thn one?
(just in case: /s)
Rubbers in America referred to protective footwear that you wore over your shoes, especially in the winter months, to keep your feet and shoes dry.
Yes in the '70's we used that word for protective footwear. Not many people say that anymore.
Galoshes in other words. Dad had a pair
Regarding that last one, when I was stationed in Cornwall, one of the RAF guys I worked with told a story of a vacation he took to Florida. While out to eat one night, his daughter got one of those paper mats with activities on it to keep her entertained while waiting for the food. She had made a mistake, however, and wanted to erase it, so she went up to the hostess and asked for a rubber. The look on my coworker's face when he described the hostess' expression, then he understood what his daughter had likely just asked the woman, was priceless.
I used to work for an international accountancy firm whose office in East Anglia frequently employed the wives of US servicemen deployed to Britain. The trainees in particular used to enjoy asking these ladies to get them a rubber from the stationery cupboard and watch their expressions.
Knackered meaning exhausted in the UK, can also mean Drunk in the USA
I have not heard a single American ever say that
@@sinistralitySame here but I can imagine an American using it for being drunk.
"Buggered" can also mean exhausted in the UK. Means something else entirely in the US
It’s used mostly by drunk Americans trying to sound whimsically British.
No knackered is not a word Americans use. This is totally bogus
I believe Gyles Brandreth explained titmouse as coming from "tit": small and "mace": bird; in either "The Joy of Lex" or "More Joy of Lex"; if you've not read these books, I highly recommend them.
I wondered how something which was not a mouse, and did not have tits, came to be called a “titmouse.”
As an avid birder in America, I've often wondered why our Chickadees were not originally called Tits, because they look very much like the European birds... much more so than our Titmouse species, which look neither like Tits nor Mice!
In America, Poppycock is a premium brand of snack food with caramel, popcorn, and nuts. I've heard that when in Britain if someone asks you if you would like a second helping at supper, you would get a strange reaction from your host if you say, "No thanks. I'm stuffed!"
My Grandparents were from Massachusetts, New England, and Rubbers meant Rubber shoes. Snow shoes or goloshes. "Don't go outside without your rubbers on."
I thought for sure you would have mentioned "Tits Up!" I have a UK friend who told me his computer had gone tits up and I laughed like a mad man. He stood there asking ok Wolf what did I say now. I'm crying tears laughing saying your computer has gone "tits up." He says to me yes Wolf as in Broken and beyond repair. As in Dead. Turns out I was able to fix his computer. It's what I do. Now that I look for it I've heard the term on a few UK TV shows.
That's a phrase I heard first in the US Navy, and I still use it.
It means the device is broken, but not badly enough to be FUBAR.
"It's all gone pete tong"- it's all gone wrong
Tits up is still referring to breasts in this context it's just we wouldn't expect anyone to laugh in response because it's fairly common expression in the UK. I think it originated from someone dramatically slipping over backwards and going tits up in the air before crash landing.
I'm English but I moved to Scotland and started a business repairing washing machines and other appliances. I quickly realised I would have to be very careful when using the word "done". To me it meant completed, to my customers it meant beyond repair!
@@WimplemanI love the British saying "popped his clogs" instead of died. 😂
When my sister was in England visiting our cousins. My cousin told her he would knock her up in the morning. Being my sister was 15, and what it means here in the US. My sister told my Mom, we have to leave now, and then my Mom explained what he meant. LOL My sister-in-law gave the peace sign to my cousin and got offended. They all had a big laugh after all was said and done.
The peace sign with knuckles forward with an upward thrust is the same as the middle finger in the US. Strange because you can see Churchill using that during old films during WWII. Wonder what he was up to?
@pamelaspooner7183 I assume that, for Churchill, a "peace sign" with curled fingers "outward" and the knuckles facing "inward" would have meant "V for Victory".
@pamelaspooner7183 This is covered in the film "The Darkest Hour".
This feels like one of those channels that just make for a goldmine of out-of-context clips
for me the big one is the nickname for cigarettes. not sure if its still common but it was always interesting to hear it pop up in older shows like keeping up appearances. i know you probably can't mention it due to youtube guidelines
I know which one you mean. I was always a bit...concerned by the word, considering I've known people in the LGBT community here and there, and I knew the word was a slur on one side of the Atlantic, and slang for "cigarette" on the other. I am rather hoping Lawrence covers the topic, though how he's gonna get by the censors is beyond me. YT is getting danged ridiculous anymore. 🙄
it's used by my family a lot, bit awkward cuz of me
It is both in common use to mean cigs and a slur in the uk. It's original meaning as a bundle of sticks is quite rare though
I heard poppycock growing up in the south. But mostly from traditional southerners.
Me too.
It's a delightful gourmet popcorn too.
I live in Iowa and I have heard it used since I was a child. I use it to this day.
When I went to England for my son's wedding, I was shocked to hear "toilet" for bathroom or rest room. It sounded almost vulgar to me because "toilet" to most of us is the porcelain flushing thingy in the bathroom and we don't say, "going to the toilet." At least not here in Idaho (not exactly the most suave or sophisticated state in the Union).
I love it when you speak with an American accent.
Ill say toilet, bathroom or head
Yes! I don't think it's vulgar exactly. Just confusing. If someone says they were in the toilet, I think some sort of seat-left-up accident occurred. Because how could you be in the bowl?😆
Etymologically, ‘toilet’ is actually a euphemism deriving from washing, getting dressed, and wrapping in cloth. So ‘going to the toilet’ isn’t rude if you know its origin.
And when in Canada, I've pretty much exclusively heard "washroom."
@@timacrow In Canadian law, it is still clearly uses "toilet room"
Nathan here from the Midwest. Some years ago I dated an Irish lady- she was here in the states for the summer. Anyhoo, I'd call around and see if she wanted to go for a ride- this would entail driving around and sight-seeing or perhaps driving around & getting a Coke. I always wondered why the pause and giggle when I asked her- later she told me that "going for a ride," meant something rather clothes optional & generally "adult." Also we dont call broken-down cars "bangers," but rather "beaters." Good day!! How embarrassing, given the context, my handle refers to motorcycling 🤣
That's better than the Mob usage of "going for a ride" meaning taking someone out into the countryside to be murdered and dumped.
So in high school I was in a production of Gilbert & Sullivan's "Trial by Jury." The producer was a traditionalist and insisted we sing, "Is this the court of the exchequer?" "It is." "Be firm, be firm, my pecker."
First night the audience laughed for five minutes. After that we used "Have courage."
Poppycock is a word I heard my parents and grandparents use. All from northern Indiana.
I had to learn these while working for Rolls-Royce. I took dozens of trips to Derby, Hucknall, Nottingham, and London for many years, and remember having to figure out what people actually meant when talking to me.
Did you get called duck a lot?
I have a buddy in the UK who is a former RAF officer. You should do a show on their phrases. One I remember was "Care to BIMBLE in to town tonight? (Walk, Meander)
I love this channel! I've always been fascinated by the word differences on each side of the pond, and been intrigued and amused by the old saying that America and Britain are two countries separated by a common language. Keep up the good work!
I’m guessing “fanny pack” will be in the next video.
A place to store your rubber?
Your American accent is hilarious! Spot on ! (Or is it someone else doing a voiceover ?)
It fucking sent me 😂😂 I had to listen several times but im convinced its him
Right? He spoke in an American accent and I went "HUH?" and did a double take!
It's interesting how many Brits can do a great American accent. After I saw Who Framed Roger Rabbit I was shocked to hear Bob Hoskins' native accent during an interview.
T-flapping happens between vowels.
Titbit->tidbit is a separate process called “regressive assimilation of voicing” in which the vocal cords start vibrating for the “b” a bit too early and turn the “t” to a “d”. It’s the same process that turns “raspberry” to “razberry” for example.
As a Dutch guy I didn't know that poppycock is derived from the Dutch word pappekak. We don't use this Dutch word anymore. I didn't know it either. But I'd love to use it in modern Dutch again.
I've heard "Tits up" on occasion in the US and always thought it had a British origin. It's similar to saying something has gone sideways, or gone pear-shaped*, or gone to shit.
I think "gone pear-shaped" is almost certainly also British.
Tits up means DEAD.
Lying on your back in a coffin "tits up". Dead
I've more often heard that something (like a bankrupt business) went "belly up." Either way, ventral surface exposed, like a dead bug.
@@gloriaalex11 belly up is the approved version and tits up is the slang
@@gloriaalex11 Agreed on things going belly up but to belly up (or belly up to the bar) means to walk up to the where the stools in a bar are so you can get some drinks for yourself from the bartender.
@@NotSoMuchFrankly Yes, we know. But in that circumstance your belly would still be vertical, not (yet) horizontal.
We used tidbit growing up it meant a small amount
exactly
Everyone does
@@drunvertNo, Brits don't.
@@Wimpleman everyone in USA uses tidbit for a very small amount
@@drunvert I think that's the point he's making in the video
Back when- I met a guy who came to the US (from the UK) to attend college. He was mortified when his new roommate said he hoped it didn't disturb him because how much he tossed in his sleep- sometimes almost all night long.
I made my mom a cross stitch of some of these birds with the label "Great Tits" and she hung it up in her living room. We're from the midwest US and are easily amused.