International Englishes

[BEAR]

Mrs. Pepper do you mean sea pie isn't popular (I've never heard of it over here but I'd probably eat it if it was) or do you mean meat pie because we put everything in a pie! Pie is good...mmm....pie..

I like steak and kidney pie the best but even better than pie is steak and kidney pudding made properly with a suet crust.

And why do Americans seem to call all sweet things in a pot 'pudding'? I mean it seems like that is what it is generically called whereas here they're yoghurts (pronounced with the 'o' as in 'got').

Pudding is the sweet bit you eat at the end of tea or dinner and it can be anything, fruit, yoghurt, sweet pie, crumble..cake... Or it's something like steak and kidney pudding which is steamed in a bowl.

I was chatting to an American the other day and she kept talking about 'British fish and chips' and I had to hold back from saying "You mean fish and chips."

The one that always gets me is when Americans say jello instead of jelly and jelly instead of jam

Nuts, now I'm hungry.

Jell-o is a brand name of gelatin desert. So any gelatin desert (no matter what company brandname) we call Jell-o. The fruit stuff we put on our toast we call it jelly and jam. They are two different condiments.

 

[luvtosr]

I think I have it sussed.

Jell-o is jelly but it's like Hoover, not allvacuum cleaners are made by hoover but that's what we call them. Jelly is jam and jam is conserve! Phew! I'm so pleased I know that

 

[That Announcer]

Man, if a Quebecer joins on here, we are going to be slaughtered...

Yep, I'll be dead as soon as he sees a Jean Chretien joke, and you'll be out as soon as you laugh. So, should I not make the jokes, or should I just keep it up and not care what he says?

 

[somethingofafan]

Here in the U.S. yogurt refers to a specific type of dairy product.
Fish and chips were mentioned; what you call "chips" in that dish, we would call "French fries", and what we call "chips" are "crisps" in England. Of course, they do share a common ancestry; crisps were invented by a cook deliberately slicing his fries too thinly to get back at a customer who kept complaining about sogginess.

As mentioned before, here in the southern U.S., "Yankee" refers to someone from up north, and "Coke" can refer to carbonated beverages in general (though in careful writing, "soft drinks" would be used).

As for pies, most of the pies we eat are dessert pies (apple pie, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, etc.). The only exception I can think of is the chicken pot pie (no, not that kind of pot).

 

[Don'tLiveonMoon]

I just love uniquely British words. It seems to me everyday speech there has an elegance that is just lacking here. I think I feel more connected with England than America. Almost all my favorite authors are from there. I must say, though, after reading the sixth Harry Potter book, that "snogging" is a rather alarming word. It just sounds so much more vulgar than kissing, doesn't it? I'd heard the word before, but it seemed to crop up an awful lot in this book... Anyway, British words rock!
Erin

 

[luvtosr]

I must say, though, after reading the sixth Harry Potter book, that "snogging" is a rather alarming word. It just sounds so much more vulgar than kissing, doesn't it?

Mmm-hmmm, 'snogging' is pretty vulgar but it's also the sort of word kids Harry's age would use, personally I hate the word. 'Making out' always used to make me laugh, I mean, it doesn't really make sense to me.

 

[toughrabbit]

And we end alot of sentences with eh. If you scanned some of my posts on here you'd probably notice it. Typical example is "It's mighty cold out today, eh?"
You can't just end any sentence with eh, though. It has a purpose. In that example it's kind of like saying, "don't you agree".

One of the times I went to a Colin Hay performance (ex Men At Work singer, born in Scotland, moved to Australia when he young), he was joking about how Australians often put "or" at the end of sentences. An example he gave was standing in the airport with all the band's gear and someone might come up to you and say "Are you in a band, or...?" "Are you going to Sydney, or...?" I've never heard anyone do this myself, but his description of it was funny.

In Pittsburgh, PA and the surrounding areas we called soda "pop." When I moved to Los Angeles I had to get used to saying "soda." Also, the ATM was a "MAC machine" It stood for Money Access Center. Shortly after moving here I asked someone where a "MAC machine" was and she looked at me like I had two heads. I had to train myself to say ATM. One thing in Pittsburgh that makes me cringe is the tendency for people to say "Yinz." For example, instead of saying to a group of people "Are you going to the movies?" someone might say "Are yinz going to the movies?" It's generally a blue-collar thing though.

 

[That Announcer]

One thing in Pittsburgh that makes me cringe is the tendency for people to say "Yinz." For example, instead of saying to a group of people "Are you going to the movies?" someone might say "Are yinz going to the movies?" It's generally a blue-collar thing though.

I suppose it could be worse. My idea of a British stereotype makes me think that they all say "youse". As in, "Are youse two taking the bus, or walking?" In reality, however, I often say "youse" in that sense, and say it a LOT more than the British people I know.

 

[luvtosr]

I suppose it could be worse. My idea of a British stereotype makes me think that they all say "youse". As in, "Are youse two taking the bus, or walking?" In reality, however, I often say "youse" in that sense, and say it a LOT more than the British people I know.

That's really more of a very Northern thing, mostly Liverpudlian, Geordie, Cumbrian and the Scots. It's not really a Yorkshire thing but we seem to have a dialect far removed from anywhere else. I try not to but occassionally I let something slip out onto a forum, I don't think I've done it here though.

It's a shame that the old dialects are getting lost, I love it when I can speak proper Yorkshire and have someone understand me completely.

 

[Beauregard]

I am one of those people in england who sticks sharply to the upper class english accent. When in poblic it goes up two notcches and becomes high-cass.