Thursday, May 14, 2009

Language Confusion

Ever been to the United Kingdom? Oscar Wilde said, “The Americans are identical to the British in all respects except of course language.” Going there can make for amusing language confusion.

If you go to the UK and tell a Brit that you’ve been watching the boob tube (U.S. television) it would raise a completely wrong image. In the UK, boob tube is a slang term for a tank top or knitted sleeve top. Oops!

Telling a Brit that your daughter just got braces on her teeth, may classify you as a wazzack. Braces mean suspenders in the UK and are used for keeping your pants up. They’ll wonder why your daughter has suspenders on her teeth.

In case you are wondering what wazzack means, I’ll tell you. If you aren’t wondering, I’ll tell you anyway. When the Brits call somebody a wazzack, it’s a friendly way of telling them they are idiots. For example, “Listen you wazzack, don’t you know the difference between braces and suspenders.”

When traveling to other countries, make sure you know what their slang means before you use it. Oh, by the way, horse pucky means horse shit in the UK.

4 comments:

itsmecissy said...

My all-time favorite British slang word is "bumpershoot" (colloquial term for an umbrella). We use it all the time in our house, never saying umbrella anymore.

Another thing about the Brits is that they have funny accents (LOL).

Pam Beers. said...

I completely forgot about "bumpershoot". We used bumpershoot all the time when my children were little.

What accents? (LOL)

Thanks for adding your charming wit to this blog post, itsme.

lightly said...

My little home country was a british colony , still is in a way and i was taught by english teachers shipped in from the motherland . we learnt english the real way and when i use it here (canada) people look at me all funny, not to mention i have a lot of South african in me as well and there are some english words that just don't mean the same thing.
lift = elevator
plimsolls = takkies (SA) = running shoes
robot (SA) = traffic light
pavement = sidewalk
and yes horse pucky means natural fertilizer in most countries or a second language since most of us speak it.

Pam Beers. said...

lightly, thanks for the great "new words". I like the SA version of traffic lights, and running shoes.I'll have to start using my newly acquired words.

I'm afraid we're all full of horse pucky from time to time. But it's fun!

It's always nice to add your humor and interestng comments to the Horse Pucky blog post. Thanks.