h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Ok, now I'm lost... What are they going to work out about braces?

BE QUIET!! *rolls eyes*

...


Richard Attenburough: "And here we see the specimen known as Cat-Eyes behaving in a most unusual way and being quiet, a quite uncommon occurence in this breed"

B&B:
bed and breakfast (?)


DIY:
Do It Yourself. Like Tim Taylor (Tim Allen) in Home Improvement.


allotment
part of a (big) thingy… you’re allowed to use this part for a certain period of time
(like a rented lot of land – allotment garden )


bangers
e.g. firecrackers, jumping crackers – stuff that makes loud noise after set on fire


to book something (Brit.E.)
to make a reservation (Am.E.)


boot (Brit.E.)
trunk (Am.E.)
back of the car, where you can put stuff in


braces (Brit.E.)
suspenders (Am.E.)
stuff that prevents your trousers from slipping away… (old) people wear them instead of a belt


braces
retainers (Am.E.)
Some terrible metal forced onto one’s teeth in order to make one look stupid for an estimated three years (not to mention how much it hurts), so that one looks neat when one has grown old.


candy floss (Brit.E.)
fairy floss (Aus.E.)
cotton candy (Am.E., Canad.E.)
(pinkish) stuff to ruin your teeth – tastes yummy - a bit like sweet air!


That’s fun!!!

Heehee I always love your definitions! Braces are to stop your trousers slipping away? What and running off for a holiday in Texas?
Well done, except for bangers....have another go.

banger (Brit.E.):
sausage

The other explanation is wrong then?

Hey everybody, just passed by and thought that a calling for all non-english persons might include me, as I'm a danish girl. So here I am, hello to you all...

Hello and welcome Norbera

I'm sure you'll be properly greated by Kat next time she's online

Kat in German there's the expression 'head banger', used for a person who shakes and bangs his head while dancing (expl.: hubby)or a sl word for sausage or a decrepit car (expl.:dictionary)

Thank you. Well, I have already "met" Kat (if you can say that ). But I would like to say hello to her, one more time... so here you are Kat: Hello!

*wanders in bleary-eyed*

Ah heya! Glad you could make it!

Well done B...or should I say well done dictionary!

So...this weekend...I want you to talk to me about something about England, anything you like, using formal language. I'll do it too if you wish.

Katkat

Just to be technical (pedantic) and cause I've had to go through all this stuff:

Retainer is in fact a differnt thing to braces. Braces (teeth kind) are the blocks and wires that go on your teeth. Once they get taken off, you either get a plate or a retainer (these terms are commonly interchangeable but technically aren't sposed to be). A plate is what I have (and hate) and (on the top, which most people would have seen) it has a plastic bit that's shaped for the roof of your mouth and then a wire that goes around the front of the teeth. The bottom one is fairly similar, but the wire is embedded in plastic at the front as well as there being plastic at the back. And it doesn't go back as far.

A retainer, on the other hand, looks like someone stuck Gladwrap ( cling wrap) to your teeth and took it off. It's a thin plastic mold of your teeth with no wire and no plastic arch of the roof of your mouth. These ones you might be less likely to have seen and are also hard to tell if someone is wearing one, cause it just looks like their teeth are shiny.

And then there are the other type of braces, but let's not go there...



OK, padantic rant over.

Go back to your definitions

Cat

Oh, also, we have head banger / banging (and of course i've never done it... *cough cough*... *shifty eyes*) where when you're listening to music with a strong bass (usually rock or metal) you 'bang' (or strongly shake) your head around. It usually results in being very dizzy, but it is fun... Moshing is better though...

We have head banging too but it's going rather out of fashion.

Oh and it's cling film

Right, well, most people here call it Gladwrap. Glad is a brand that makes it and even when you have homebrand, no-name brand or actually any brand, people still call it Gladwrap. Bit like Brevilles, but they've sorta gone out in my generation...

Oh and in American I think it's Saranwrap...in the same sort of brand-name thing.

This is correct. Or 'plastic wrap'.

I would like to learn about phrasal verbs. There are so many… and I often think that I know the meaning of a phrase, and years later it turns out that I’ve used it the wrong way all the time. Quite embarrassing!

Can somebody please help me with the following?

“She SAILED THROUGH her exams.”
Does that mean that she passed her exams easily?

Is there a difference between “to back away” and “to back off”?

Do the following sentences make sense?

“She BARGED IN our conversation putting her oar in.”

“I couldn’t BEAR UP seeing her like this.”

“After her illness she BOUNCED BACK pretty quickly.”


I’d be pleased for help!

OK, I'll help with the ones I know...

"She sailed through her exams"
Yeah, this means she passed them easily.

Umm... Depends on the context. "Back away" sorta means to move backwards whereas "Back off" means to lessen. So, if I'm raining insults on you, to back off would be to stop or stop the severity and to back away would be to leave. But I think Back off can also mean move backwards, but back away wouldn't mean to lessen...

"She BARGED IN our conversation putting her oar in.”
I think that should be said BARGED INTO not just in... We use barged into a convo but putting her oar in, though I don't really hear it or use it, does sound fine. I understand what you mean and it makes sense. Might be a bit heavy on metaphors, but you know...

“I couldn’t BEAR UP seeing her like this.”
I know you can say "I couldn't bear seeing her like this" but I don't know with the up being there...

“After her illness she BOUNCED BACK pretty quickly.”
Yes, that makes sense and is used here at least a lot..

Hope I was some help!

Cat

Thank you very much for the help!!!

Two more things: can you give me examples where to use “BEAR UP” and “BARGE IN”? My grammar book says that those are common phrasal verbs, but it doesn’t give sentences as examples, and I don’t know how to use them. One sentence for each would do.

Thanks again!

Well, to barge in is the same as barging into something. Into is... ahh... something someone who knows all the names for the thingies in the English language should explain. Ask Kat. Or that guy from the Danish department...

Bear up... Ummm... Only thing I can think of, cause I don't use this much, is to "Bear up and face it" or "Bear up and face facts" which is the same thing...

I don't think i was much help this time...

Cat