Once again Clive’s post last week got me thinking……
(https://cliveblogs.wordpress.com/2015/03/12/american-pi/)
Over the past few years I have been reading and reviewing quite a few books written by fellow Indie authors from the USA. I must admit that although we share the same language I’ve found that on quite a few occasions I’ve had no idea what some of the words mean. This has caused me to have to ask my American friends to elaborate on some of the more difficult ones for us Brits, which I have mentioned below along with a couple of others I’ve just come across, and one in particular which caused unbridled hilarity while I was on holiday in Canada.
Fanny pack: Over here in the UK I daren’t say what this phrase conjures up to us Brits. Suffice to say it would only be used by ladies of childbearing age…..
Converse: I found out this is a type of shoe. Thanks for that!
Dreamsicle: What’s this? I haven’t got around to asking about this one yet.
Dolly: Over here it’s a girl’s toy, but not sure what it is in the US. Can anybody help please?
Tooting: When in Canada in 2013 I mentioned to our host and hostess that we used to live in Tooting, South West London. I don’t know about the USA, but in Canada ‘tooting’ is apparently another name for flatulence! The ice was surely broken right there and then….
Durex: Another cause for a laugh. I’m not sure about the USA, but over here in the UK it’s a contraceptive. When I worked with an Australian nurse she told me that Durex is another name for Sellotape in Australia. So Brits, please don’t ask for a pack of 3 Durex in Australia – the results might be rather alarming….
Americans, here’s your chance now. Are there any UK words which have you stumped as to their meaning? Rattle them off, and I’ll do my best to provide the answers!
Stevie Turner 
Pingback: Medieval English Revisited | Take It Easy
What a hoot! Yes, we say ‘keep your pecker up’ over here, and it means ‘stay cheerful’ or something of that ilk. I think the funniest American phrase has got to be ‘fanny pack’ though!
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This has been fun reading first your post then all the comments. My sister who at the time lived in Vermont invited me to stay, arranged for her friends and neighbour’s to meet me at a very loud live music bar. The music was heavy rock/country so when I say loud… it was..
A guy cried in his beer literally “This week my dawg died, dum dawg. My wife of sixteen years left me and I am so so blue” *sniff*. Just as I shouted over the music, it stopped you could hear a pin drop when I slapped his back and roard “keep your pecker up.” The ground wouldn’t open for me. But it stopped the snivelling. Happy Rabbit ears weekend to you Stevie as I make my way back via the frog at the senior salon. P.s. i didn’t know I had just told a desperate man to keep his penis up. *gulp*
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A word I come across in American literature is credenza. Context implies it’s a piece of furniture – maybe similar to what is called an escritoir this side of the pond.
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I’ve never heard of a credenza! Google says it’s a sideboard or cupboard.
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Lots of giggles here. Thanks. A dolly can also be a hand-truck, which is a wheeled device for moving large objects, like refrigerators.
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Another one lost in translation! A hand-truck over here I expect would be called either a wheelbarrow or a trolley.
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Alright Stevie, so your next book will be about an American Dolly who is eating a Dreamsicle while contemplating shagging a British bloke who just so happens to have some Durex in his fanny pack.
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If he’s British, he most likely won’t need a fanny pack!
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I am always amused at how we are divided by a common language. But at least we spell the words correctly. And our ice creams sound so much better 😂
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The sherbet-like shell of the Creamsicle is identical to that of the Dreamsicle, but the payoff inside is ice cream in the former, ice milk in the latter. A frozen treat on a stick. I love the tooting one! lol
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It’s a shame I can’t eat any of these – I’m dairy intolerant! Ice cream/ice milk would cause me to chunder, or call loudly for Frank, Hughie and Ralph….
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I don’t eat them either. No dairy or meat or sugar or flour. I’ve never liked dairy so that’s an easy one.
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Oh, my! I have read enough British novels and watched enough Masterpiece Theatre (ah the British spelling!) to know quite a few I love. About the above:
Converse used to be popular running shoes (when I was growing up we called them sneakers) and my Canadian room mate in college called them trainers.
Dolly: My favorite uncle used to call me this when I was a child as a term of affection, as my mother did my daughter. So, for WWII generation folks, at least, I think it means a sort of cute little girl. We did have a President’s wife in the 1800s nicknamed Dolly (Dolly Madison, James Madison’s wife) who was known as a great hostess.
Dreamsicle is an ice cream bar made of vanilla ice cream mixed with orange sherbet, sort of swirled together on a stick…but old slang was occasionally (formerly) used like Dreamy, cute, dream come true. We had a television character on a tv show whose nickname was Dr. McDreamy.
Yes, tooting. Polite term often taught to children and giggled over till about age ten when they start to use more adult terms!
No Durex here. We use more lurid and graphic for slang plus all the enormous marketable terms! My husband tells a story of working in a pharmacy as a teen and embarrassing a customer asking for a “rubber” and his calling across the store ask the owner where it was kept. He thought the guy was asking for the rubber rings used on canning jars back then!
About your slang I love: knackered, mate, snog (at least in Harry Potter movies), bollocks, dodgy, cheers but could you clarify:
Scrummy – I know there are scrums in your football, I think Sounds a little like crummy which we use for something not good, as in that’s really crummy, but sounds a bit like an abbreviation for scrumptious.
Chunder – does it mean voimit?
Fun post!
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Lovely! Thanks for clarifying all these. Scrummy means delicious, and I think chunder is originally an Australian term which indeed means vomiting.
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Dreamsicle is a type of popsicle—delicious!! jodie
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Er…..what’s a popsicle??? I know….it’s like a Dreamsicle! Sorry, I’m being facetious. I get the feeling it’s something sweet and …..and……??
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I think the cute little beaver is one the American’s snicker over. I also know that one of my American blogger buddies has a pet cat called Spunky. For some of us Brits that’s a whole different ball game.
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Er…..you’re right there. Good pun too!
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Tooting reminds me of that other British word for farting: trump. Imagine if someone’s name was Trump!
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I’m going to giggle all day now….
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I think I did giggle for a second….and then remembered how not funny it is! Did you hear when he family came to the US his name was Drumpt – that’s still worth a giggle!
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No I didn’t know that. You learn something new every day!
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