Rubbers and fanny packs

[cyman1964uk]

Having chuckled quite a bit recently whilst reading other threads about allsorts, I thought it would be fun to start new one about things like differences in culture/language/spelling/pronunciation that might not be known by everyone.

It's meant to be a light-hearted thread, but I guess some care needs to be taken not to go too far as what is funny to one person isn't necessarily so to everyone - hopefully commonsense will prevail.

So, I'll go first ...

When I was knee-high to a grasshopper, we used to use Rubbers at school regularly. There was no other name for them, they were just Rubbers. Then, fastforward a decade or so to my first trip to the US to work on a camp in PA, and the first time we had the kids writing in books. Well you can imagine the looks on faces when I was asking one to pass the rubber to another. I actually had to explain to my co-counselor (american) that we use rubbers to correct mistakes when using a pencil, to which he replied that you've already gone way too far to be able to correct mistakes with a rubber!

I guess this rubber/erasor discrepancy is well known these days, but it certainly wasn't back then.

The following year, returning to work at a camp in VA, there were a few girl counselors from the UK and I can remember campfire time at the end of a week just about to begin. Everybody from the camp was present and were all stood up and this camp was actually quite pious and full of rather devout people (esp. relative to us Brits), which made what happened next even funnier. The campfire leader said in a big booming voice "Now you can sit down on your fannies and let the campfire begin!"

All the British women fell about themselves simultaneously, whilst the British men smirked and everone else just looked as if we were from Mars! It was and still is one of the funniest real-life (live) moments I can ever remember. If you don't know the difference, may I point you HERE, then all will become clearer in the context of my story.

I'm sure I will return to add more of these types of post, but in the meantime, I think Jocap should explain about the digestion of sugar butties ...

[Arizahn]

Us Irish apparently have a term called "craic"; pronounced "crack". We say "what's the craic?" - as in "what's going on?"
I say apparently, as we seem to use it more in front of tourists than locals, TBH...

[Tacey]

Well, I used to work in a pasty shop and in Bath we have a lot of tourists. an American pasty is apparently something rather different to what it is here though...! They always looked a little embarrassed...

[cyman1964uk]

Actually, I always suspected that about the "craic", but was never quite sure. I always thought it was like a word from NI that folks over here latched onto and thought was 'kewl' to use - especially if you could say it with a Belfast-type accent. A bit like saying something is "sick" these days, I suppose.

As for the pasties, that's hilarious! I never knew that - gotta go rib my American pals with that one!

Out of interest, do any americans say that their household water comes from a tap? I know that faucet is usually used, but is tap (in that context) never used?

Also, in Boston (and maybe even the whole of MA), why do they have that strange pronunciation of some words with an "a" like "car" compared with the rest of the country? Does anyone know what I mean by that? It's almost like how an Aussie would say "car".

[OwnedbyEmmy]

Not exactly on topic, but....

I've noticed on TV and some websites that "voilà" has been turned into "walla". *face palm*

I know Fozzy bear's catch phrase is actually "Wocka Wocka!" But, every time I see/ hear "walla" I think of Fozzy.

[cyman1964uk]

Also off topic ... but that is SPOOKY. You mention Fozzy bear and as I am reading that, Kermit and Miss Piggy are one the Jonathon Ross show right now!!! I haven't seen them on TV in donkey's years!

[GreensMom]

We say tap here. I also hate "walla". It never made me think of Fozzy bear but it will now.
I love this thread because I am always driving Jo crazy asking about "English" things.

[cyman1964uk]

Is that just you or people generally in your area/state, Kelly? And which region of the US is that?

[kglacer]

Hahaha this is funny!! I use tap and I'm Canadian lol I know what you mean about the Boston accent too. No idea why they have a different accent than the rest of the US. But I guess newfies have different accents than the rest of Canada too! I had a Newfie teach me Canadian History in High School - worst idea ever!!! Lol

I have a question for the UK people - what does the "x" at the end of a sentence/comment stand for?

This is also sort of off topic but the song lyrics:

"Back when a hoe was a hoe
Coke was a coke
And crack's what you were doing
When you were cracking jokes
Back when a screw was a screw
The wind was all that blew
And when you said I'm down with that
Well it meant you had the flu"

Its not really necessarily "cultural" but it makes a good point about the difference time makes!!

I also must admit the title brought an image of a fanny pack (waist sachel) full of condoms to my mind lol

[GreensMom]

(02-02-2012 04:38 PM)cyman1964uk Wrote:  Is that just you or people generally in your area/state, Kelly? And which region of the US is that?

I live in North East Pennsylvania. It is just short of an hour's drive to the Pocono Mountains. Everyone says tap here. More to refer to the kitchen. When referring to the bathroom sink or tub we say faucet. Commercials on television refer to it as tap water also.

Speaking of water does anyone use the term flat water? I said it at work and people looked at me like I was crazy.

[bocobutz]

i say tap.....but i also call it a "bubbler" where as most of where i grew up at (Colorado) called it a water fountain....

and if you think the east coast has a strong accent, go to Texas and the south.....yeah, that "Texas" or "southern" drawl is quite strong, too.....

i also spell it "colour", "neighbour", etc....

(oh, and as for "rubbers"? i grew up w/ rubbers being things you put on your feet when going out in the rain....you know, galoushes?

[cyman1964uk]

(02-02-2012 09:26 PM)GreensMom Wrote:  

(02-02-2012 04:38 PM)cyman1964uk Wrote:  Is that just you or people generally in your area/state, Kelly? And which region of the US is that?

I live in North East Pennsylvania. It is just short of an hour's drive to the Pocono Mountains. Everyone says tap here. More to refer to the kitchen. When referring to the bathroom sink or tub we say faucet. Commercials on television refer to it as tap water also.

Speaking of water does anyone use the term flat water? I said it at work and people looked at me like I was crazy.

Wow, do you know Dingman's Ferry? That is where that first camp I mentioned I worked at was. Thank you for clarifying the faucet/tap issue - I didn't know that.

What is flat water? The non-carbonated kind?

My comment about the Boston accent wasn't that it is strong, just that it's the same as anywhere else on that general area (north-east) except for the "a" in words like "car" (I'd guess it's words where the "a" is followed by an "r"). Most americans would tend to roll the "r", but they don't, plus the "a" sound is different. It's weird!

As for spelling "colour", "neighbour" like that, we'll someone over there's gotta get it right, I guess.

I'm not sure what is meant by putting "x"'s at the end of a sentence/comment, but when people I know do it, it represents a kiss. It's the 'e' version of putting them on a greeting card, I guess. I had no idea that was a British-only thing.

We're learning, ain't we?

[katy_harvey]

(02-02-2012 03:36 PM)Arizahn Wrote:  Us Irish apparently have a term called "craic"; pronounced "crack". We say "what's the craic?" - as in "what's going on?"
I say apparently, as we seem to use it more in front of tourists than locals, TBH...

We say that to! Well the younger folks anyways

[katy_harvey]

(02-02-2012 08:56 PM)kglacer Wrote:  Hahaha this is funny!! I use tap and I'm Canadian lol I know what you mean about the Boston accent too. No idea why they have a different accent than the rest of the US. But I guess newfies have different accents than the rest of Canada too! I had a Newfie teach me Canadian History in High School - worst idea ever!!! Lol

I have a question for the UK people - what does the "x" at the end of a sentence/comment stand for?

This is also sort of off topic but the song lyrics:

"Back when a hoe was a hoe
Coke was a coke
And crack's what you were doing
When you were cracking jokes
Back when a screw was a screw
The wind was all that blew
And when you said I'm down with that
Well it meant you had the flu"

Its not really necessarily "cultural" but it makes a good point about the difference time makes!!

I also must admit the title brought an image of a fanny pack (waist sachel) full of condoms to my mind lol

The "x" at the end of a sentence is a kiss. I didn't know only us brits did it haha!

If there are more than one kiss theeeen we probably like you haha!

Oh Pants in the UK means underwear and we say trousers instead of pants. So that TOTALLY throws me off haha.
AAAANNNDDD when people from the US say purse, we would say hang bag... or bag. A purse is a female wallet here lol!

I am sure there is a lot more.

Funnily enough I had this conversation with my boyfriend the other day as he goes to america frequently

[kglacer]

My bosses are from UK originally and they have 2 young kids and use the word trousers and it throws me off big time lol I ask where their pants are (the kids - also proclaimed nudists ) and they look at me like I'm crazy!

They've got tons of other words I don't understand but I can't remember them right now.

I spell colour....I'm supposed to spell color but it doesn't look right to me :S

Thanks for clarifying the "x". I mean there's times I'll throw in an "xoxo" when I'm signing off a conversation online but I've noticed the x's a lot lately from meeting you all on here and I was curious!