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

... cheese

Cheese? Apropos of what exactly, Shea? Are you taking a photograph of us? I really think you ought to wait until we're all here before you snap the shutter Cheese is very lacking in America, variety-wise that is. You're pretty much limited to Cheddar, Swiss, Muenster (I don't know what it is either), and a few others I can't recall. Oh how I miss walking through the cheese dept. at Sainsburys and savouring the mingled smells of the hundred or so cheeses from all over Britain and Europe. I've bought Red Leicester here in Austin, but it cost an arm and a leg, and it's my favourite for cheese on toast

muenster cheese is the best! and bleu cheese is great on hamburgers

cottage is also an adjective

ummmm where were we?

oh, yes.

"cheese!"

Just cheese, really ... the cottage variety ... ya know ...

You know, I could use a UK/US Dictionary when you make statements like that ...

adding phrases is an idea, i mean if we're doing this to be practical and not just factual (if that made any sense at all... ) none of us was quite sure what the brassknobs was all about at first...

Too true ...

I knew

You're just so smart!

You just gotta be from a particular background to know about the brass knobs - after all, most of the non-NYC researchers didn't know what knishes were until you enlightened them Shea Me and 'er indoors (another British reference) are sitting here watching The Royle Family on BBC America right now, and I'm laughing at about twice as of it as she is because she doesn't have the cultural references to know, for instance, why "Can I have a 'P' please Bob" is so funny And if I didn't have family from Liverpool, I might not understand what a 'get' is.

Probably not ...

Here's another one for the tv section...
UK Family Fortunes = US Family Feud

The US one sounds so much nastier. Mind you, I don't suppose you get Families at War out there.

[What a smashingly brilliant idea this thread is!! Perhaps I'll be able to translate Public Television's imported 'As Time Does By' episodes directly now and dispense with the subtitles.]

In much of the American South [where else?], "coke" has become a generic term for soda, pop, tonic [New England, primarily], cola, soda pop, etc. Talk about your market penetration...

Is there a UK term for 'market penetration'? And do I now have to point out in future postings that 'rubber stamps' have nothing to do with contraception?

By the way - I know, I know; but BTW looks like a car name to me - never automatically call a Southerner [US] a 'Yank' even if we are from the 'colonies'. [Whooo! This stuff could get you high...]

Chow,
-7rob7

aka 'As Times Goes By'. Sheesh.

We just say "market penetration". That is quite impressive for coke; I mean over here "coke" is understood to be any cola and "Sellotape" is any sticky tape, but to be any fizzy drink is much better.

I would understand "rubber stamping" to be when someone who is supposed to check something (e.g. contract, electrical wiring) simply passes it having barely glanced at the thing.

Oh, and with all the brilliant comedy series Britain has produced they import "As Time Goes By". Oh dear.

Well it may not be the best British sitcom ever, but I'm prepared to watch anything with the great Geoffrey Palmer in it, despite the fact I detest Judi Dench (probably the most over-rated person in the acting profession ever).

Hey 7rob7! *waves*

I think it's important to note that not all Northerners like to be called "Yank" either (especially the Mets fans!).

Whoa! This thread whooshes by just like a deadline. Where was I two weeks when it was getting started? Oh, that's right - I didn't know anything about this place yet.

So yeah, Shea, I suppose a Mets fan would not want to be called a Yank. Probably a Cubs fan would feel the same; and that thereby exhausts my knowledge of baseball teams.

Having tried to get a little bit more up to the New York minute by lightly skimming the last two pages in this thread, I may be rehashing old junk but: Doesn't everybody know what a knish is? How could you not know? Sometimes I miss them so much I squirt brown mustard on my finger just to lick it off. And did you cover 'Lon Giland' already? How about 'youse guys' [Yankee for 'ya'll', which is considered more graceful and genteel] and "regular" coffee [polluted by the addition of milk and sugar]? Did any Yiddish make it in? Love Yiddish. Hate schmaltz.

Did you cover 'cheese curds'? Talk about Milwaukee's Finest. Isn't it cool the way they squeak?

'Bungalow' also refers specifically to one-story single-family houses done in the 'Arts and Crafts' style; more commonly called 'Mission' in Southern California [though purists will point out differences between the two], and Sears and Roebuck made a lot of money selling mail-order kits for 'em in the early years of the 20th century. It is rare to see the word 'bungalow' without 'cozy' snuggled up against it. L.A. is riddled with 'em.

And lastly: didn't the Beatles teach us what 'get' meant? All Those Years Ago...

[Please forgive any repetitions and dead threadends..]

Now I feel up to speed. Va-roooom, va-roooom.