U.S. vs UK words/sayings

Norm

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All though this is US vs UK one of my favorites is Sheila = female in Australia :D
Sheila has fallen from usage in Australia I can't say that I've heard it in normal conversation since I was a kid and I'm in my 60's now.

Norm
 

ven

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Sheila has fallen from usage in Australia I can't say that I've heard it in normal conversation since I was a kid and I'm in my 60's now.

Norm

Blast those Fosters lager adverts :laughing:..............its all lies i tell you lies...........:laughing:
 

Norm

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Blast those Fosters lager adverts :laughing:..............its all lies i tell you lies...........:laughing:

I'm talking everyday usage not the real world of advertising:devil:

Norm
 

Norm

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Next you're going to tell us that Outback Steakhouse lacks Australian roots and Foster's is not particularly popular in Australia.
Which you know is all true, nobody has ever heard of a bloomin, onion here, I've eaten there the steak was good but let's say it didn't really make me feel at home and some of the names of dishes on the menu are all marketing they certain didn't originate in Australia.

Norm
 
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ven

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Next you're going to tell us that Outback Steakhouse lacks Australian roots and Foster's is not particularly popular in Australia.


Eaten at one in San Fernando Valley ,AWESOME loved the steaks:D and the onion ring starters(although not rings :laughing: ) :twothumbs
 

idleprocess

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Which you know is all true, nobody has ever heard of a bloomin, onion here, I've eaten there the steak was good but let's say it didn't really make me feel at home and some of the names of dishes on the menu are all marketing they certain didn't originate in Australia.

Norm

Taco Bell - which vaguely alludes to itself as being Mexican - is positioned as unusual American fair in Central and South America.
 
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Steve K

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was just reading a British bicycle website (i.e. "push bike") and was reminded of the "mudguard"/"fender" difference. Functionally, I suppose "mudguard" makes a lot more sense. I'm not even sure what "fender" should really mean... other than to fend off the mud and slop?? Really, if you stopped to think about what the heck words should mean, you'd never be able to get of bed in the morning!

Some days I'm just stymied trying to figure out why it's "gray" in the US and "grey" in the UK.
Oh well, I still enjoy riding my bicycles as well as a cup of Earl Grey. Still haven't warmed up to Marmite, though. :p
 

mcnair55

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was just reading a British bicycle website (i.e. "push bike") and was reminded of the "mudguard"/"fender" difference. Functionally, I suppose "mudguard" makes a lot more sense. I'm not even sure what "fender" should really mean... other than to fend off the mud and slop?? Really, if you stopped to think about what the heck words should mean, you'd never be able to get of bed in the morning!

Some days I'm just stymied trying to figure out why it's "gray" in the US and "grey" in the UK.
Oh well, I still enjoy riding my bicycles as well as a cup of Earl Grey. Still haven't warmed up to Marmite, though. :p

And just think we drive on the correct side of the road in the UK.:D
 

Steve K

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Come to Australia both are acceptable as with Tyre and Tire.

Norm

"grey" gets some useage here in the US, but nobody writes "tyre".

courtesy of the interwebs, here is an etymology of "tire":
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=tire

tire (n.) late 15c., "iron plates forming a rim of a carriage wheel," probably from tire "equipment, dress, covering" (c.1300), a shortened form of attire (n.). The notion is of the tire as the dressing of the wheel. The original spelling was tyre, which had shifted to tire in 17c.-18c., but since early 19c. tyre has been revived in Great Britain and become standard there. Rubber ones, for bicycles (later automobiles) are from 1877. A tire-iron originally was one of the iron plates; as a device for separating a tire from a wheel, by 1909.

It makes me wonder if spelling wasn't standardized prior to the mass production and use of dictionaries. I can only assume that literacy was quite low in the days prior to the printing press, and this contributed to spelling variations?
 

ven

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I call tires boots........

Must admit the English spelling is stupid,as for where mr mcnair comes from welsh is very very confusing............well unless your welsh of course.

Yr wyf yn meddwl CPF yn safle mawr, ac yn gartref perffaith ar gyfer rhai sy'n hoff flashlight

Edit- flashlight should really be torch which is tortsh
 

ElectronGuru

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Oh well, I still enjoy riding my bicycles as well as a cup of Earl Grey. Still haven't warmed up to Marmite, though. :p

Brought a bicycle over from the UK, to discover that the left lever works with the rear tire and the right with the front!
 

inetdog

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I always thought that was the only way.
The front brake is the more powerful and touchy, so it gets controlled by the dominant hand.
 

Jay R

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Coming from England....
When I was 21 I went to stay in San Luois Obispo, California for a while. My Goth friend took me to her local hang out which turned out the be the place for all the drifters, goths, gays, bums, etc...
So, I'm sitting around a big table with about 15 of her friends getting along great, with them hanging on my every South London accented word when one of them offers me a cigarette...
"No thanks. I don't like fags."
It went REALLY quiet.....
Then it clicked...
"CIGARETTES, I don't smoke cigarettes......"
 
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