UK sayings that arent in common use in the US

[cdneh 3,112]

Snogging...................

... is a great word!

And Gemmie... there's a sweet shop here called Minge's. (I think it's "Peter Minge's & Son", but the sign just says "Minge's"). I have a photo of the shop sign somewhere, must dig it out and post it sometime! I couldn't quite believe it the first time I saw that place - had to walk home and grab my camera!

Oh my...

[featherB 1]

Snogging...................

... is a great word!

And Gemmie... there's a sweet shop here called Minge's. (I think it's "Peter Minge's & Son", but the sign just says "Minge's"). I have a photo of the shop sign somewhere, must dig it out and post it sometime! I couldn't quite believe it the first time I saw that place - had to walk home and grab my camera!

Oh my...

Can't find my photo of it, but here's a much better one. I was going to search for one at work this afternoon, but was a bit concerned as to what results a Google image search on "Minges Cincinnati" might pull up...

[MissusM09 1]

every time i ask for a bag of chips i feel like i have to get the salt and vinegar out!

They just dont understand when I call men "blokes" or "geezers". my lovely man :wub: has a friend that i called "a dodgy geezer" and he loves it. I even had to break down what a dodgy geezer was. i didnt however go all harry enfield, saying they're a bit whoooooa and a bit wayyyyyy. that would have really confused.

oh and about the touching cloth thing ( which btw i have never heard of in my life) my aussie mate from Tazzie , said once , charmingly "ah prima its headbutting my shorts"!

now thats lowering the tone

sorry

[thatbritishlass 2]

They just dont understand when I call men "blokes" or "geezers". my lovely man :wub: has a friend that i called "a dodgy geezer" and he loves it. I even had to break down what a dodgy geezer was. i didnt however go all harry enfield, saying they're a bit whoooooa and a bit wayyyyyy. that would have really confused.

I once did a (very bad) Swiss accent and did the Swiss Tony thing off Fast Show (?) where he says '[insert mundane activity here] is like making love to a beautiful woman...' - other half looked at me like I'd finally lost me mind.

[Krikit 1,164]

But I do have my uses - my fiancé thanked me 2 days ago for being British cos it meant he was actually able to understand most of the new Harry Potter film

OMG, I made my husband watch The Full Monty and he couldn't understand a word of it! It took all the fun out of it when I had to explain everything they were saying. I've decided not to make him watch The Commitments.

I love it when my Mum says "You pong!" (Not to me, though!) I think that's my favourite word.

[transformer 0]

i told my cousin to put the vase(vahz) on the shelf and she was like;

what?

i said,vase(vahz);

she didnt get it.

and i had to get out of the bed and put it on the shelf.

and she started laughing and said it was vase(vayz).

[cdneh 3,112]

But I do have my uses - my fiancé thanked me 2 days ago for being British cos it meant he was actually able to understand most of the new Harry Potter film

OMG, I made my husband watch The Full Monty and he couldn't understand a word of it! It took all the fun out of it when I had to explain everything they were saying. I've decided not to make him watch The Commitments.

Oh my gosh I forgot this...it was like watching a picture in a foreign language for him

[xbitterduskx 0]

One of my all time favs!

I forget what we were talking about... but it went something like this:

him: I'm sure it will be alright... touch wood.

me: ...wait, WHAT?

He laughed at ME when I said we use the phrase "knock on wood"

ooh! and "pop down to the chemist" when i first heard that one, I was like... You guys have chemists??!!! And they sell Stuff? Little did I know, chemist=pharmacy.

There's so many! I love them all

[SCFsnoopy 0]

I'm Aussie, but we use a lot of British slang... at least I do

When I was working in Connecticut as a nanny, telling my kids to "grab your jumper" ... the 5 year old just looked at me and went, WHAT? "Go get your sweater!"

They also didn't understand "put it in the bin."

I couldn't say "or" ("aw"), I had to roll my r like an American to be understood.

My American friends still get a kick whenever I say "stop, you're giving me the shits!" or "I've got the shits!" - meaning, stop, you're annoying me, or, I'm really annoyed. Without fail they reply with, "want some Pepto!?" I've made the rubber/eraser/condom mistake too.

The classic Aussie one - thongs = flip flops. I adamantly refuse to say flip flops because it sounds utterly stupid to me, so my fiance started saying "thongs" as well. We walked into a skate/surf store at the mall one day and he in his great big booming voice announced, "I need some new thongs!". I watched the two attendants in the otherwise empty store struggle to keep a straight face while I burst out laughing at him.

I also throw in lots of little words that he mostly understands through context - twit, ####### (which, interestingly, my host father of New England/Swedish decent used just as much as I did), crikey, snog, pash (Aussie word for making out), she'll be apples, out in woop woop (I was surprised he got the gist of that one first time around), far out, fair dinkum, you reckon? ... and so many others.