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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
Continuing a regular theme, here is a challenge for those of you who do not speak (predominantly) British/UK English as your first language. Here is a list of popular expressions from the United Kingdom which, according to the Britspeak website, are not in regular use in the United States (it doesn’t mention the rest of the world, so I’ll leave it up to you to decide if it's enough of a challenge). The challenge is to write a paragraph or so, containing ten (and only ten) of these expressions. More than one entry is allowed as long as they arrive by the closing date in a fortnight’s time – Wednesday 27th September – noon GMT. Suggestions are welcome for an appropriate prize. Send me a private mail with ideas. Here's the list: Agony Aunt All the World and His Wife Big Dipper Bob's Your Uncle Bog Standard Building Society Cannot ... for Toffee Central Reservation Cheap and Cheerful Cold Comfort Common-or-Garden Daft as a Brush Full of Beans Get Your Knickers in a Twist Ginger Group Gippy Tummy Hammer and Tongs Has Had Their Chips Invigilator Keep Your Pecker Up Ladybird Lager Louts Off Beam Over The Moon Plain as a Pikestaff Plain Sailing Press Stud Sail Close to the Wind Slanging Match Spanner in the Works Splash Out Squeeze Someone Until the Pips Squeak Suck it and See Swings and Roundabouts Take the Mickey The Full Monty Thin End of the Wedge Thin on the Ground Tuck Shop Works Like a Trojan You will find translations under the “Phrase of the Fortnight” section at: http://pages.prodigy.com/NY/NYC/britspk/main.html
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409 |
After a bunch of lager louts woke me up by having a slanging match in my garden at midnight, I wrote to my paper's agony aunt for advice. His reply: "Don't get your knickers in a twist, just laugh it off, pretend it never happened, and Bob's your uncle." Considering that they were going at it hammer and tongs, this was cold comfort, and I can't just let it lie. If I do, it might be the thin edge of the wedge, and soon all the world and his wife will be using my backyard for their blarneys. The lesson in all this? Columnists who give good advice are thin on the ground.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
Pooh-Bah
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OP
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
 Max, you win the prize for the fastest response! Very impressive!
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Hey, I just got up! No fair!  This should be interesting--not only am I not awake yet, I'm not looking anything up, so something may be hilariously out of place! ---------------------------------------------------------- A man and his wife inherited an ancient inn. She was over the moon, and got her knickers in a twist to renovate it. Hubby said, "Ah, ye're daft as a brush! It's plain as a pikestaff we canna' renovate this heap for toffee. Why, they'd have to squeeze me till me pips squeak--ye knows full we', we sail close to the wind anyways". She called the Building Society, and was given cold comfort. "All the world and his wife knows that place has been needing to be pulled down for donkey's years {a freebie--thanks to Mary Stewart}. Give it up, M'um." So they sold it for scrap and went to Madeira.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
Pooh-Bah
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OP
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
Jackie you get the prize for the fastest response from someone who has just woken up!
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409 |
Max, you win the prize for the fastest response!
Very impressive!Reluctantly, I must decline this praise. Almost all of the phrases on your list are a regular part of everyday NZ English. Combining ten of them into a paragraph took so little time because I do it so often. This forms a connexion with the thread on British vs. American (redux). NZ English is still very much closer to British English than to American, but drifting Stateside. We use "truck" much more often than "lorry", and here one will hear and read "resumé" and "CV" used about equally, and often together. For example, a job ad may ask for a resumé, and a CV. Our spelling still follows the British model, while now tolerating the American apostasy.  The word "fortnight" is a prime example of NZ's British affiliations. It is still the most common term used to describe a period of two weeks - "in a fortnight's time" is much more frequently used than is "in two weeks time." The main way in which NZ English is carving out its own identity seems to be in its increasingly liberal use of Maori, sometimes completely absorbing and Anglicising Maori words, most often adopting them as loanwords and retaining their original pronunciation and application.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
Pooh-Bah
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OP
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
Reluctantly, I must decline this praise
You still get the "prize for the fastest response". I went off to get a coffee and came back and you'd replied - not sure about the time difference. If it was mid morning for me would that be early evening for you? Has anyone worked out how the times shown next to our postings work? Martian time? I do enjoy the idea that people can be on line at the same time but at very different points in their day. I've noticed that my sleepy morning posts are sometimes better than my dozy late night posts and maybe better than the drivel I write in between when I am supposed to be awake!
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Max and Jackie did so well that I won't contribute, it'd be superfluous  . An aside: I'd bet the term "Full Monty" was completely unknown here in the US until the movie arrived. And Jo, the time stamps on the posts are US Central Time, i.e. Chicago time. Daylight Saving Time, or as you Brits call it, Summer Time, for a few more weeks. (GMT -6)
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
>(GMT -6)
Mmmm. It works a lot better when you read the time as 03:15:40 to be 03:15, not, in a hurry as 15:40!
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 167
member
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member
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 167 |
What's that in Swatch time? - Has anyone else seen this new system perpetrated by Swatch to create "metric-style" time and do away with the 24x60x60 system? GRRRRR! What a load of old cobblers! (to use a good Brit-speak expression). Just what we didn't need!!!
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