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#101
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how about powderroom? as if many of us actually usually felt an
irresistable need to powder our noses.... Johanna Gibson wrote: On Tue, 18 Jan 2005 20:36:03 -0800, DrQuilter wrote: I went to a british school back home. when I moved to the States I had to get used to not say 'rubber' and learn to use the american word 'eraser' instead because everybody would giggle at lab... however, it is OK to say rubber ducky and nobody would think condom, so go figure! ) Maybe the youth is getting "Americanized" here, but I never hear a person under say, 30, say "rubber" to mean eraser. I hear them say "eraser". I think they know very well that it means something else in the US, what with all the US television programs. I think perhaps the word Sally is referring to is "toilet". You can ask where the toilet is here, and all is well. You would not ask where the bathroom is, because you will be shown a small room containing a tub, and a sink if you are lucky, but quite possibly lacking a toilet. If you ask for the bathroom, people will assume you want a bath. However, there seems to be some problem with asking where the toilet is in the US (is it rude, or is it shocking? because people stare at me when I ask this now)... and you have to use an evasive way to ask; "bathroom" and "restroom" spring to mind. Hmm. I usually don't need a bath or a rest when I'm out in public. -- Jo in Scotland -- Dr. Quilter http://community.webshots.com/user/mvignali (take the dog out before replying) |
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#102
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"Maureen Wozniak" wrote
In Illinois, Chicagoan's who find themselves south of I-80 are puzzled when someone asks if they "want to go with?" Okay, I'm a looong way south of the I-80. Any chance of explaining what that means? I find more and more people here are asking for "the bathroom" too, which is strange. In most houses in Australia, they won't find a toilet in there! We Aussies are generally much more direct. We just ask for the loo, dunny, toilet... -- Leigh Harris Perth, Western Australia www.leighharris.info (Real email is bearleigh at bigpond dot com) |
#103
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crapper is also used in none too polite circles! Also potty....
-- Sharon from Melbourne Australia Queen of Down Under http://www.geocities.com/shazrules/craft.html (takes a while to load) http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/shazrules/my_photos (same as website but quicker) ********************** "Leigh Harris" wrote in message ... "Maureen Wozniak" wrote In Illinois, Chicagoan's who find themselves south of I-80 are puzzled when someone asks if they "want to go with?" Okay, I'm a looong way south of the I-80. Any chance of explaining what that means? I find more and more people here are asking for "the bathroom" too, which is strange. In most houses in Australia, they won't find a toilet in there! We Aussies are generally much more direct. We just ask for the loo, dunny, toilet... -- Leigh Harris Perth, Western Australia www.leighharris.info (Real email is bearleigh at bigpond dot com) |
#104
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Hey, I can barely say the word eraser! Maybe it's from having a trad
catholic school upbringing, half our teachers were stuck in the past! :-D Charlie. "Johanna Gibson" wrote in message ... On Tue, 18 Jan 2005 20:36:03 -0800, DrQuilter wrote: I went to a british school back home. when I moved to the States I had to get used to not say 'rubber' and learn to use the american word 'eraser' instead because everybody would giggle at lab... however, it is OK to say rubber ducky and nobody would think condom, so go figure! ) Maybe the youth is getting "Americanized" here, but I never hear a person under say, 30, say "rubber" to mean eraser. I hear them say "eraser". I think they know very well that it means something else in the US, what with all the US television programs. I think perhaps the word Sally is referring to is "toilet". You can ask where the toilet is here, and all is well. You would not ask where the bathroom is, because you will be shown a small room containing a tub, and a sink if you are lucky, but quite possibly lacking a toilet. If you ask for the bathroom, people will assume you want a bath. However, there seems to be some problem with asking where the toilet is in the US (is it rude, or is it shocking? because people stare at me when I ask this now)... and you have to use an evasive way to ask; "bathroom" and "restroom" spring to mind. Hmm. I usually don't need a bath or a rest when I'm out in public. -- Jo in Scotland |
#105
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When I went to Scotland several years ago, I went *knowing* that 'fanny'
means something much diferent in UK English than it does here. That's not the mistake I made. It gets better... I was with some friends at a bar in the hotel in Glasgow. We were attending a sci-fi convention. That night was the costume contest and one of the girls was dressed as Gabrielle from 'Xena'. She was carrying a large club and said she felt like a cave woman and could go bash herself a man in the head and drag him away to her cave. When I asked her to 'bonk' one for me as well, everyone burst out laughing and she agreed very quickly! It was interesting to know how easily I could still blush... -- Debi Ever stop to think, and forget to start again? "georg" wrote in message .. . Anne wrote: I have a couple of Brazilian friends who learned "American" English, then went to England to study at university. One day himself went into M&S to buy "suspenders" as his trousers didn't have belt loops, and found out he really needed "braces" instead of a "garter belt". His wife once complained of the cold, saying it was her own fault though because she wasn't wearing "pants". She meant "trousers"; her companions heard "under garments". Somehow they both survived :-) (and still dine out on their malaprop stories) My brother drank for free for a week on his smooth move in German class- while as a Rotary foreign exchange in Iceland. (he was 18, so is there drinking age). A pretty young thing, knowing he spoke pretty much only English, asked him for a rubber. He reached into his wallet and handed her one. She had to explain she meant eraser. I will admit, that language combination will twist anyone up- he didn't speak Icelandic, the language in which all of his classes were taught, and they put him in German III, another language he never had a lesson, so it was all gibberish to the poor dyslexic lad. Good thing those grades didn't count, as he graduated here before going. -georg |
#106
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Down here in Redneckland (the South) there are some funny ones too.
We mash the switch to turn lights off and on (and other button-activated devices), when it is 'fixin' ' to rain really hard, it's 'comin' up a cloud', a really hard rainstorm is a 'frog-strangler'. Someone can 'grin like a mule eating briars', and someone who is rather too big for the size clothes they're wearing looks like they tried to pack 'fifty pounds of $&!# into a five pound sack' and look 'uglier than a bucket full of smashed armpits.' -- Debi (who never ever says 'y'all' or 'fixin' to' or anything like that, Nosiree! ;-) Ever stop to think, and forget to start again? "Bonnie" wrote in message ... You don't have to leave the states to find differences in language. I grew up in Philly and then moved upstate. I had to learn a whole new vocabulary. Red up - means to tidy the room Outten the light - means to turn the light off It's all - means there is none left Make down - means it's raining There are others, but these are the ones that popped in my head. -- Bonnie NJ |
#107
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.....and don't people named Crapper hate their name being used that
way....lol Dee in Oz |
#108
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Dee in Oz wrote:
....and don't people named Crapper hate their name being used that way....lol Dee in Oz Thomas Crapper was a very industrial plumber in the late 1800s/early 1900s. Many many public loos were installed with his name on them in the basin as a company signature. American GIs started calling the toilet a "crapper" because, after all, that's how they were labeled. And they brought that term home with them. So he was a real person. Stands to reason he's got relatives out there somewhere. The original John is Sir John Harrington, godson of Queen Elizabeth, who was the first to auther a book describing a cistern-flushing device similar to our modern johns. Yes, I have a copy of this book. And some places in England they will also refer to them as Sir Harry's for the same person. -georg the research blog with more comments on plumbing: http://georgresearch.blogspot.com/ |
#109
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Leigh Harris wrote:
"Maureen Wozniak" wrote In Illinois, Chicagoan's who find themselves south of I-80 are puzzled when someone asks if they "want to go with?" Okay, I'm a looong way south of the I-80. Any chance of explaining what that means? If someone is going to the store, you might ask - want to go with? In other words, do you want to come along with me? -- Bonnie NJ |
#110
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Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate!!!
PAT, LOL in VA Kate Dicey wrote: Sally Swindells wrote: On Tue, 18 Jan 2005 17:57:16 -0500, "Violet \"F'loonslayer\" Volfie" wrote: And what did they call the movie, "The Shaggy Dog" in the UK? Giselle (btw, if I had said I needed "ragging" directions, THAT would have meant something odd to *me*) Shaggy isn't rude! but I can remember reading in the paper of great hilarity at the cinema when 'Free Willy' was advertised. Sally One with every bloke... |
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