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

When I was a little girl taking piano lessons from Mrs. Sprauge
Mr. O'Riley rented one of the rooms in her mansion...a ruby team
lived there too

Wha'?
Sorry...had a flashback to those fellas in their little shorts.
One Thanksgiving mama invited the entire team over for thanksgiving.

Wha'?
Sorry...I keep thinking about...those fella's...
Mr. O'Riley came too. I think it's because of him I can do a really good Irish dialect & a kick-a** Irish dare-a-lect-hic too!
Anyway...these guys from AU really liked the wine even more than the food. (Mrs. Sprauge fed um everything BUT wine )
The guys kept saying they were so 'pissed'!!!
Finally my father had been insulted enough! He demanded to know why the 'kids' were mad at us! The ruby-boys looked at eachother & burst out laughing. That was enough for papa! As he was pitching the 2cd guy out the door, someone was able to
stop laughing long enough to explain that being 'pissed' meant
'being drunk'! Pops picked up the kid from the lawn & brought him back in for more wine.
As I was thinking about the rugby team, er, I mean the olden days I thought...why not start a thread regarding the subject?
So...here I am...starting a thread regarding the subject!

I jussss love learning new stuff....'specially important stuff like what being pissed means! Natch, in America it means you're mad....other places, you're drunk.

Next...

I had an English teacher who was formerly an Italian football player (in Italy). Anyway, he learned UK English and spoke with an English Accent. He used to tell us stories about not knowing wether to say "pants" or "trousers."

Here is Boston, pants and trousers mean the same thing.
Why would it matter which you chose?

Pandora, I was wondering why a team of rubies had to
wear shorts.

"Trousers" is correct, or "slacks". "Pants" is not because in English, it is a verb (the dog pants). In the romance languages, trousers are called "pantalones".

We call underpants pants in the UK. But you probably knew that.

Or if you dislike something you could say 'that show was terrible, it was really pants'.

We rarely use the word slacks, it was more common about 40 years ago.

Yeah, the word "slacks" is kind of antiquated.

Do you in America understand the idea of panto?

There are all of the food names that are different. That can be pretty confusing. Like cookies being biscuits. Who knows what they call a bicsuit. Or a cracker. Do they eat real baking powder biscuits and crackers in the UK? And fries are chips and chips are crisps.

Pantomine?

Indeed.

Food names are confusing. Just what are corn dogs?

I love corndogs. It's a frankfurter on a stick, dipped into a cornmeal batter and deep fried.

Fantastic sounding. I will make an effort to have one. Other linguistic features that are particularly confusing?

Has 'the mutt's nuts' crossed the pond? aka 'the dog's bo**ocks'
It means the best. Not to be confused with something that is just plain bo**ocks, which means the worst.

Liam.

Ah, the dog's b***ocks. What a fine phrase. Not to be confused with the dog's n*b, which means the very best, but which is in very rare usage.

>a ruby team lived there too

A ruby is curry in the UK - Ruby Murray = curry

Interesting, Roadkill, not heard that one.

How about 'mate' in the UK/AU/NZ or 'brew' in South Africa - either of those make it to US shores?

Liam.

And in the 1920s, if you were really wild about someone, you could say they gave you "hot pants."

A "brew" here usually refers to an unusual tea or coffee, usually a blend of varieties; ie shops with names like "Strange Brew" and "Brew Ha Ha".

Brew in the uk is a cup of tea. "To brew up" is to make tea. Though it doesn't usually refer to coffee.

Liam.

Here are a few problem words/phrases.

In the US a fag is a homosexual; in the UK it is a cigarette.
A mate in the US is a marriage partner; in the UK it is a friend
Knock up means to make pregnant in the US; it means to wake someone up in the UK.
In the US a rubber is a condom; in the UK it is an eraser.
In the US cranky means irritable; in the UK it means eccentric.
In the US homely means ugly; in the UK it means cozy.

Some rubbers are *not* condoms.
They are articles of footwear that
fit around your shoes so you can
walk outside without getting them wet.

I am an American now living in England and have to 'translate' our common language everyday. I heard the expression 'a sad git' and am not sure what it means. I was told that it should never be used in reference to a woman. (Apologies if it means something off-color; I am a stranger in a strange and wonderful land)