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

Ion,

Came off the Pencil Case Thread to confirm I'm willing to have a bash at concocting an collaborative article on words that have different meanings in our two countries. I have a quick look to see if this has been alreadydone before on H2G2.

Although there are one or two they either do not cover the same thing http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/A128143

or were left to wither
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/A182422.

I haven't a book to hand like you at the moment... what is the one you have called. I will see if I can russle one up at this end?

Anyhow to get some obvious words out of the way as a start


UK*************US
rubber*********eraser
condom*********rubber
pavement*******sidewalk
lift***********elevator
bonnet*********hood
boot***********trunk
trousers*******pants
rubbish********trash
toilet*********restroom
flat***********appartment /condo (condominium?)or is this something else
tap************faucet
curtains*******drapes
hall***********foyer?


Going for cup of char!

Your turn!


topher

Yep, a condo is a condominium. I don't know if you commonly use the words in this list. The book was hit and miss with Canadian stuff.

US (and Canada): UK
backyard : garden
High-rise : Tower Block
Horn, Siren : Hooter
Hooter : (woman's) Breast (or Owl, I suppose - careful, you'll get slapped!)
Bill (paper money) : Note
Bangs (of hair) : Fringe
Checkers : Draughts
Trailer : Caravan
Tread : Track (on tires)
Checkout Counter : Cash Desk
Chocolate Chips : Polka Dots
Cotton Candy : Candy Floss (I've heard both here)
Billboard : Hoarding
Bowel Movement : Motion
Battery : Accumulator
Dash (board) : Fascia (panel)
Glove Compartment : Cubbyhole
Moving Van (or Cube Van) : Pantechnicon
Rest Area : Lay-by
Shoulder (of a road) : Verge
Bouncer (at a bar, usually) : Chucker Out
Stroller : Push Chair
Fender : Wing (on a car)
Solitaire (a card game) : Patience
Shaving kit : Sponge Bag
Suspenders : Braces
Wrench (tightening tool) : Spanner

A hall here can be either a gathering place (like a concert hall or a church hall) or a corridor (usually called a hallway). If you say "front hall" are you talking about the area of a house just inside the door? Foyer works for that I guess... I'd be tempted to say "landing" but that might not be the same everywhere as it usually implies there's stairs.

Oh! Here's a good Canadian one.

Hydro : Electricity

A few queries from your list....

We call the thing that makes the noise on a car a horn, do you call it a hooter?

A trailer is what is on the back of a tow truck, also a short advert for a film or tv programme (program)

We also call the rubber on a tyre the tread, the mark it leaves the track(s)

We use checkout counter for a supermarket. Cash desk where this is separate from where you get the goods from in a shop.

Chocolate chip (ice cream?) Polka Dots is a new one on me.

Is the battery the thing which generates the electricity (generator) or stores it as we call that a battery). An accumulator is a series of bets (on horses)

We use dashboard for instrument panel and fascia for the wooden / plastic surround.

Glove compartment (in a car) Cubbyhole (under the stairs)

A moving van is a Removal Van a Pantechnicon is a very large one of these such as used by Rock Groups.

The verge is the grass section beyond the road edge which is the shoulder

For fender read bumper

What do you call a Licence Plate which attaches to the bumper?

Do you have a game called solitaire where you remove pegs from a board one by one a bit like checkers?

What do women call a sponge bag which is not just fror men in the UK?

Some new words

US / (Canada?)..........UK
Cookie................Biscuit
(Shopping) Mall.......Shopping Centre
Diapers................Nappies
Pantyhose.............Nickers
Freeway...............Motorway
car...................automobile
Film..................Movie

A few which I think have different names?

Articulated lorry
Socks / Strockings
Chips (Fries?
escalator
hoover (for cleaning floors / carpets)
vacuum or thermos flask
pram or Parambulator
Freezer (Ice box?)
Sweet


Running out of steamy. Your call!

topher



Potato crisps

Like I said, I didn't think all the stuff in the Bathroom Reader would be correct.

Heh... Nope! We call them horns.

We call pretty much anything that's pulled by another vehicle a trailer. We also use trailer for films.

The rubber part is tread, the marks it leaves are tracks.

Batteries store the electricicty.

Dashboard is the whole thing including instrument panel and mounting here. Sometimes abbreviated "Dash".

More appropriate than verge here is probably median (but only if it's in the middle of a divided highway). We don't really have a word for what's past the shoulder.

A License Plate is a License plate.

We do have that game. I don't know what it's called.

I suppose Toiletries Bag would be the closest thing for a sponge bag. What do you keep in a sponge bag?

We use Film and Movie interchangably.

An articulated lorry has two trailers? We call them Tandem Trucks. That should probably be on the list... A Lorry is a Truck here. Socks are the same (I think). Stockings are what women wear, normally made out of Nylon (they're also called Nylons). Chips are "French Fries" or just "Fries". Crisps are Chips. Hoover is a "Vacuum Cleaner". We just use "Thermos". We call "Prams" either "Bassonets" (for infants) or "Cribs". A freezer is a freezer. Sweets are candies.

Bathroom or Washroom : Water Closet

I know backyard is different but I don't know exactly what the right word is. My dad suggested Junkyard but that's where we put scrap metals and such.

It gets more complicated the more one thinks about it. Do you get the feeling this is a bigger task that we first thought. Need to pace ourselves and develop some simple rules or we could end up describing two different things but think they are the same.

Also I thought I'd better give you the chance to opt in or out before you are driven insane by my witterings!

If Ok at your end to carry on then how about picking a topic and working through it methodically. Or one each. Sounds like you are involving the family, same at this end. If you are up for this, some thoughts at my end have thrown up the following for a start:- transport, food, household items, clothing, sport.

Let me have your thoughts.

topher

PS Are you American or Canadian. Might sound a silly question but its not obvious at this end?

Yeah. So it seems. I think "link to pictures" is a good rule.

I'll opt in, what the hey... It could be fun. I think picking one topic would work better than doing one each because I don't know what words about a particular topic might be different in the UK.

Transport first? We seem to have a bunch already. We could start with road.

LOL... Any (intelligent) reference to Canada typically implies a Canadian, just for future reference. We have a show called "This Hour Has 22 Minutes" in Canada and they did a segment called "Talking To Americans" that was so popular (and FUNNY!) that they turned it into a full two hour special.

They got Harvard Geography professors (if I recall correctly) to talk about the evils of the Saskatchewan Seal Hunt and say they would be interested in going out onto the ice floes to watch the Seals in the interests of tourism rather than hunting.

Saskatchewan is big. And flat. And dry. And boring (trust me, I've been there). It's grassland. There isn't ice to be seen anywhere, particularly not ice floes since there's no ocean.

Rick Mercer, who hosted the show, got George Dubyah to call our Prime Minister "Jean Poutine" on camera. Poutine is French Fries with cheese and gravy, in case you don't know. His real name is "Jean Chretien".

It's been proven to my satisfaction that Canadians know more about America than Americans know about Canada (on average - nothing).

(P.S. - I'm Canadian if you hadn't figured it out by now )

Just as well George Dubbua has his hand's full in the Middle East or you could be the focus of his next campaign! Watch out if he starts calling you 'Folk' that's a bad sign!

Glad to hear you are up for this. Agree good idea to start on transport.

......pause..... I'm thinking!........We got quite far with the car but a few I think may be a few more that are different

Gear lever.........Gear shift
Tyre brace.........Tire lever (For removing the hub cap)
hub cap..........
rear view mirror.......
offside (middle of road) and nearside (kerbside) wing mirrors......
indicator light......
headlamp......
side lamp.....
roofrack......(for bags suitcases etc)
petrol... gasoline


Not sure if any of the following will bear fruit....

bus - doubledecker sometimes (formerly omnibus)......
bus conductor (issues tiickets but does not drive)....
coach (more luxurious single decker bus and usually chartered)....

bicycle / bike (footpowered).....
motorcycle / motor bike......
pedal(s)......
handlebars.......
spokes( rods that support the wheel rim)......
gearchain......


Your spin.....

By the way I'm off to Yorkshire for 3 days at a conference and not back until the weekend so don't take offence if there is a delay of a few days!

topher

We usually call a "Gear shift" a "Stick shift", in my family at least.

When you say removing the hubcap - you mean to change the tire?

A hub cap covers the bolts used to remove the tire here. Usually they clip on to the wheel hub.

Rear view mirror is the same

Offside is "left" and nearside is "right". Pretty simple .

Indicator light - are these the lights that warn you that your battery has died, etc that you're talking about?

Headlamp as in the ones on the front of the car to light up the road? We call them headlights.

I'm not sure what you mean by side lamp.

Roof rack is the same.

A bus here is any kind of bus. Double deckers are rare here.

You have to go to the ticket counter to get a ticket here. We don't call them bus conductors.

Coach seems to be the same. I'd say our coaches run inter-city transport and charters about half and half though I have no statistical evidence to support that.

Bicycle/bike is the same.
We usually don't use "motor bike", we use motorcycle instead.
Pedals - Gas and brake pedals in a car. Pedals for making a bike move.
Handlebars are the same.
Spokes are the same.
We just call the chain between the pedal gear and the other gear(s) the "chain".

Here goes some more:
Steering wheel...
Horn... (for getting someone's attention)
Dome light... (inside the passenger compartment in the middle of the ceiling)
Hazard Lights / 4-Ways / 4-Way Flashers... (makes both your turn signal lights blink on and off - use if you've had to make an emergency stop)
Turn signals...
(Daytime) Running Lights... (near your headlights, always on - a legal requirement in Canada)
Gas Pedal...
Brake Pedal...
Clutch... (use when you want to shift gears in a manual transmission vehicle)
Manual (Transmission) / Stick-Shift...
Automatic (Transmission)...
Shocks / Shock Absorbers... (suspension)
Springs... (more suspension)
Struts... (alternative to springs)
Backseat...
Cruise Control... (automatic speed regulation)

Running out for now. Your turn!

Returned from the frozen North.

Sunday our hydro (Impressed.. I've been practicing with language tapes you know!) went off as we had storms which blew a few trees down on the wires. 'Leci' was off for two days so just catching up today. We've been having earthquakes and tornados recently too so must of offended 'im upstairs I think.......

Anyhow,

See from later in your comments that you also call the gear shift a stick as in "I can't drive a car with a stick"... heard on 'Sabrina the teenage witch' this week! (my daughter is 13 which is my excuse for catching this!)

Hubcap 'snap' we agree on this
Indicator lights are the Turn Signals

headlamp = headlight as well here

Dome light = courtosy light

Hazard lights or 'hazards' yes same here

Tend to change gears rather than shift them.

All the rest appear the same.

Agree,.. I'm running out of steam on cars and bikes don't know enough about submarines or balloons to offer much more on transport.

Where shall we try next? your pick.



topher

Ack! I left this meaning to reply to it later and I completely forgot about it.

New topic... new topic...

House and home?

Canada : UK
Backyard : Garden

is the only one I can think of right now...

Hi Ion

Just a quick note as i got back online today after a break to see your posting.

Tap fawsett

A few to get started on I guess might be different but I dont know the Canadian

lino ??
Fridge ??
Cooker ??
hoover ??


Topher


I

Tap and Faucet are synonyms here.

Hmmmm... Lino? I'm not sure what that is.

Fridge is the same. Could also be "refridgerator".

Cooker... Oven? For baking and preparing food like roasts or poultry? Stove usually attached...

Hoover is a Vacuume or Vacume (Cleaner).

Hi,

Lino is short for linoleum which has recently come back into fashion and is used as an upmarket alternative to tiling as well as cheap flooring found in kitchens and bathrooms where water or food may be spilt. It has a plastic / rubber consistency on top and is backed with hessian. Looked it up in the dictionary and it was made from linseed oil (linum- flax oleum-oil) I wondered if it had even travelled across the Atlantic and if so whether there was another name for it.

A few more words on food

bangers ( alt name for sausages)

black pudding ( specialised sausage made from blood and offel of sheep!)

rashers sliced cured pork - bacon, usually fried

Devils on horseback - (rashers rapped around prunes!)

Chips ( I know these are french-fries in the US but given Canadian association with the French, at least in Quebec wondered if this was also the name)?

Baked beans (yellow beans previously cooked and tinned in tomato ketchup).

mushy peas marrowfat peas boiled until the begin to disintergrate.

Haggis, suspect this one has migrated to Canada

Spam! (as made famous by Monty Python)

Bread and Butter pudding (bread has to be stale buttered and baked with custard)

Spotted Dick! "Steam pudding with raisons)

Become a bit peckish so signing off to go in search of food

topher

This is a thread that may get this going again, http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/F96332?thread=267823 pedboy U200417

Most of the foods you've mentioned we do have by those names in Canada - many of us have roots in England, Scotland, Ireland, etc. so...

Never heard of rashers here, nor devils on horseback.

Chips are still French Fries (or just "Fries") in Canada. Amusingly enough they may not be in the U.S.. They were talking about renaming them to Freedom Fries to spite the French. Lest this post get moderated for mentioning the uh... situation... I will not elaborate.

Haven't seen mushy peas either.

I've seen the rest around in various pubs and restaurants.