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

Double Meanings around the world

When ever a new product of any kind comes out within the worlds markets, months beforehand are usually taken to scour the worlds languages for double meanings, as some shows on TV have shown television adverts from around the world and the humour that a products name can bring in a different country. It also goes for any language or slang terms in general, including the spelling of people’s names.

In Britain, suspenders are for holding women’s nylon stockings up, whereas in America, they are the equivalent to our braces for holding trousers up.
British slang for a cigarette is fag! In America it’s totally different and refers to a person’s sexual orientation.

Without breaking the house rules.
If you know any "doubles" from around the globe, as with most of my threads, it’s all for humour. So get posting folks and let the humour flow.

oh pants

Thank God for this thread, Pheloxi's family thread is not the place for these things.

There's Ajax, a football team in Holland, a brand of toilet cleaner in the UK and France

Coral, my name and a brand of washing powder in France

Over here we had a (juku) tuition company called Nova, what it meant for the teachers was no vacation, they even worked xmas day

In the UK Durex means condoms! Down Under, Durex is a brand of sticky tape, like sellotape.

In the US, supporters of their favourite sporting teams are usually asked which team do you ROOT for, BUT Australians usually have a good giggle over this as 'root' is a word associated with getting laid sexually! The local word used in place of root is barrack; eg: "Who do you barrack for?"

Which opens up a whole new with regards to the new Prez of the US

Maybe not *quite* what you were after - but once when Kitty was about 4 years old, I came home from work and asked her what she'd been doing that day.

"I've been bonking on the bed with Jack!" (the same-age son of a friend)

Apparently this meant using the bed as a trampoline, and bumping into one another, collapsing in a heap of giggles!

She meant "boinking" (made the same mistake myself)

I'm glad we've got that cleared up!

I remember Marti Caine retelling an experience she and her hubby suffered in the US, she told the interviewer that they pressed a lift button and got an electric shock (from where she hails, such things are clled "bangs") so when they exited the lift she marched up to the hotel clerk's desk and complained loudly: "Me and my hubby just had a bang in your lift!"

()

when I was on holiday in America with two mates, in a slot machine place in Las Vegas, this lady put me on to a winning machine and as it started to pay out she said "I hope your going to look after me"(as in a tip). I jokingly said "ok! what time do you knock off"(Brit slang for finish work) she ran like hellfound out after that "knocking" over there means having sex

Boink in the US means much the same as bonk over here.

Cock is brummy for mate, where as much of the rest of the world uses it to refer to a male bird.
In the US fanny means bum, and bum means vagrant, where as in the UK Fanny is a girls... name and is short for Frances

The big four-by-fours called "Pajero" seemed very funny to the Spanish people I was working with in England.
In Spanish, it means w.

Novel use of smiley.

Once upon a time we had rubbers to erase pencil writing errors. These days we have 'erasers' as the Americans have a different use for the word rubber, calling to mind the earlier post about Durex.

Websailor

In the erea where I live, "quiche" is slang for a puddle of vomit.
In another part of France (can't remember where, though), it's slang for a beautiful woman.

"area", even.

I'm not sure of the area it came from, but an ex work colleague used to say "muck or mucker" meaning friend/mate - to us Yorkshire folk, muck is soil/dirt

and various area's of Yorkshire - laik(sounds like lake)= play
are you laiking out, or laiking off work

"flower" a plant
in Yorkshire it's also a term of endearment, mainly to ladies

nah then flower

Hen in Scotland is similar to flower in Yorkshire.

round Lincolnshire so is "duck"

nah then mi duck

When I was working for PG andE in california , on a nightshift outside on top of a turbine ,I couldn't see where the key was on a fin (it was dark )so I asked for a torch, nobody had one so one person went back to the shop to get one ,twenty minutes later he came back with a pair of bottles for cutting metal, I should of asked for a flashlight