The Language barrier?

[Dr Iguana]

Seaham Harbour to be precise. The NE accent does have subtle changes in the area. It is at it's hardest in North Shields (which is the one I have attempted to reproduce) but the Durham Coast accent is quite hard too. It stays that way down the coast before the quite sharp boundary change to the Tees-side accent just north of Hartlepool.

I have put in quite alot of dialect there too. I have always regarded accent as being merely a change in the timbre of the words whereas dialect involves word substitution and changes in syntax. The Tyne/Wear voice is easy to reproduce on paper, I could not reproduce the Tees-side voice as it is almost entirely accent.

(This post starts in such an odd way because it was moved at this point from another section of the forum. Should anyone be even remotely interested you can find the earlier parts of the thread under Pyramids and Gold Coins/The Yorkshire Pyramid/ Fri 28th March.)

[adamwest]

We should start a whole forum on this one. the list would go on forever
rubber
fanny
queue
knock on
censored
Bees Knees
Bender
Bleeding
Blunt
censored
Bugger
Bum
Cheeky
Cheerio
Chuffed
Codswallop
Dodgy
Duff
Filch
Fruity
Gander
Get stuffed
Hash
Jammy
Khazi
Knees up
Naff
Nicked
Off your trolley
Pissed
Quid
Right
Taking the biscuit

Twit
Waffle

Wonky
we should make a post a word and discuss section......
it's funny while i was making this list and previewed it i got CENSORED on one that i did think would be that bad,
the funny part is that there is just as long a list for american word probably.

adam

[cornettracing80]

queue is a line of people or a wait right? that a good one..
do you guys call getting mad going postal? ha! probably not..
and the root word of censored - the nic gets sensored meaning ass which does not get sensored lol
sidewalk
subway
interstate highway
tollway
what do you guys call a "one night stand"?
all beers are called "a beer" except guinness is called a pint here...
hookers
what do they call marujuana there?
dogwalk
the toilet is in the "restroom"
dump,crap,#2,weighing anchor,seeing a man about a horse
i wish for just one moment i could be something other than what i am just to hear what you guys hear because to me (as you think you dont as well)
i have absolutely no accent what so ever...my wife uses words like "yall",and "yermom an nem"=your mom and them
yeet =did you eat lol
but i speak proper american english with no accentuated slurring.to me anyway...i dont talk like anykind of city slang besides maybe something like....do you want the ketchup,or no?....an accasional "thats the shiznat" just to make my kids laugh
oh yeah i forgot ..its pot,weed,smoke,chronic,doobie,joint,ganja,dope and mary jane here lmao
its gas,not petro or what ever you guys call gasoline....and its by the gallon just like milk...only thing i buy by the litre is soda,pop,cola,pepsi
do you guys really call cigarettes "fags"? that would not go over here very well...sucking on a fag means someting TOTALLY different here..

[cornettracing80]

are sin nick got sensored?

[smartybones]

The differences in language considering we are all supposed to speak English is funny....

We don’t usually use postal. But I am aware that it comes from the fact that a large percentage of postal workers over the years have gone totally mad and gone on a rampage with guns killing a bunch of people....

Sidewalk = footpath
Subway = underground, a subway is a footpath that goes under a road.
Interstate highway = motorway.
We don’t have many roads that you pay a toll on.... only the M6 Toll, and a collection of bridges.
at one night stand is the same
Beer is still beer, but we call them by the names of each type of beer, larger, cider, stout, bitter, brown ale.....
Hookers = pro, hoe, etc...
Toilet = bog, toilet, or if you are from a naval background, "the heads"
Ketchup = tomato sauce, or "tom sauce" , and to add, steak sauce, is brown sauce here... and goes on more than steak...

but lots of stuff gets called different things in different areas... over in the north east, a cigarette would be a tab, most other places call it a ciggie or a smoke, in prisons it’s called a burn, and the drug taking community would call it a straight... since a fag has become a derogatory term for a homosexual, it’s not really used as much a anymore,,, maybe the midlands or London...

we have about a million different words or sayings for "crap", a few are not really suitable for in here... but there is, dump, number two, drop the kiddies off at the pool, talk to the Arabs (Mustafa crap)..

lol,,, and it embarrasses our kids if you try to use the latest buzzwords they use.... so this must be done on a regular occasion...on more than one occasion i have been told "you’re not allowed to use that word, your too old"

Oh and marijuana is the same as what you have over there,,, but spliff is quite common too...

[erin-rae]

In our neck o the woods, some clever folk have put together a Dictionary of Brizzle/Bristle (Bristol) which is highly amusing...
Slider = Slide (childrens playground article)
Whaz = going for a jimmy / jimmy riddle - piddle, wee.
More here:
http://www.thatbebristle.co.uk/dictionary/a.shtml

[anash27]

Here's a great story from my travels.

I was in San Francisco last year for a few days with PUZZ. We arrived at the hotel and inside the reception area the lighting was very dark. We approached the reception to check-in and PUZZ commented to the receptionist on the darkness. She said it was for the ambiance. PUZZ then said that "we should bring a torch with us next time" to which the receptionist said "so longs as you don't burn the place down". We looked at each other for a few seconds and realised that a torch in the UK is a flashlight not what the receptionist thought, which was a flaming torch.

We then went on to discuss some other differences in the British/American language, including the thing we use to erase pencil drawings is called a rubber over here (as it is used to "rub out" the pencil) and the ciggerette one (that you've already covered).

The one that makes me laugh the most is "pants". Now, pants in the UK are the undergarments that go under trousers or a skirt where the US version is simply trousers. The question i have is, what is the meaning of "trousers" in the US?

Not forgetting the "trunk" which to us British is either the nose of an elephant or an old-fashioned large chest used fo transporting people's belongings (an olde worlde suitcase). In the UK the rear compartment of a car is called the "boot" (I don't know why).

There are loads more I've suddenly thought of but don't want to ramble too much.


Ade

[RobNGem]

Not forgetting the "trunk" which to us British is either the nose of an elephant or an old-fashioned large chest used fo transporting people's belongings (an olde worlde suitcase). In the UK the rear compartment of a car is called the "boot" (I don't know why).

Ade

Because car trunk sale doesnt just sounds silly!

[steve]

If you ask the government what language they teach in the schools here, you would be told English.
If you are not from this part of the world and you sat in on a class you probably would not understand a single word.
The language we speak is a mix between old Doric, Celtic and English.
The accent and dialect are like no other in the UK.
A few examples for you,

Lune, pre adult human male
Quine, pre adult human female
Breater, brother
Noosin, is like gossip (catching up with the latest news)
Bunker, is a cupboard with a worktop above it (like in a kitchen)
Dookit, is a cupboard without a worktop above it
Dookot, is building for keeping doves in
Drookit, soaking wet
Pailin, is a garden fence (wooden, like a picket fence)
Fit'like?, how are you doing?
A fine piece, a cream cake
Me gan awa, I am going away
Furryboot?, where about?
A piece, a sandwich
Beelin, angry
Far?, where?
Simmit, vest (underwear)
Guy'fine, very happy
Rowan, gutter (to take rain water away from your roof)
Neep, turnip or Swede (vegetable)
Oh'me, a very common statement, doesn't really mean anything, would be said for example when you sit down after a hard day to relax (not an exclamation like"Oh my")

I have written these down as they are said, not spelt, there are thousands more but a lot of them the English alphabet struggles to create the correct sounds

[adamwest]

i have been trying to think of american unique words and this is what i came up with.

tanked-really drunk
floored- really mad
cruising- driving around for fun
period- full stop
first floor- ground floor
closest-cupboard
As for british english i still don't know what a "dog's bullock" is or "bob's your uncle"?
thanks Ade for moving my first post over.

adam

[Dr Iguana]

Winston Churchill said that the British and the Americans were "two nations divided by a common language."

He also said "This is the kind of English up with which I will not put."

[adamwest]

Honestly most of my British English words come from books that I have read Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett. I know that this is all trivial literature but great to read. Most American think that British humor it dry, any thoughts on differences in humor?

adam

[smartybones]

we have a couple of friends visit us from your neck of the woods steve..

i was a little alarmed at first when the daughter asked if she could "clap the dog" meaning to stroke the dog.... another one was when they said "chap the door".... which after a puzzled look translated to "knock on the door or ring the door bell."

[maka0020]

clap the dog to me sounds like she wanted to shoot it
anash - trousers to me are dress pants

i am surprised no one had mentioned the word
bloody

my grandma was very english so i could be dated in words but they sound familiar - another one she always used to say was

mind = watch out / start using it? this could be wrong because on the underground they say mind the gap...

she told me that
bugger - was a very bad name to call somebody

piddle = urinate

thats all i can think of off the top of my head

[Karen_G]

The one that makes me laugh the most is "pants". Now, pants in the UK are the undergarments that go under trousers or a skirt where the US version is simply trousers. The question i have is, what is the meaning of "trousers" in the US?

That reminds me of our trip to Melbourne, Australia. Outside many of the restaurants there were signs saying "No thongs allowed" . They meant no flipflops.. a simple type of sandle that is held onto your foot by a strap secured by the big toe, but in the UK, thongs are skimpy lower undergarments/ pants

Karen