Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related UK versus US English: Smackdown 2004

Woo-hoo! 100th post in this thread! Cool! <g>

Anyway, Laura explained the school system and the traffic circles (aka toundabouts), but I thought I'd address this:

Ensuite and serviette I know from my dim memories of high school French. Ensuite basically means "together" or "and then...", IIRC, and serviette is a napkin (or towel, depending on context). In the US, we'd just use the english words.

Entree is used in some (generally more upscale) restaurants to mean "the main course." It's not really used day-to-day.

We do have homogenized milk, but we don't call it "homo milk." "Homo" here is a derogatory slang term for homosexual. Generally, we just call it "milk," actually. It's all pasteurized and homogenized.

"A micky" is a drug some unscrupulous person might "slip" in a date's drink or something. The term is kind of old-fashioned, though. Just "Mickey" is a cartoon mouse.

I don't know what "poutine" is, and it seems babelfish doesn't either. Oh well.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that those folder things have a name around here. They're "three-ring binders." Generally they're just called "binders."

Paul

A mickey was short for mickey finn, which is all I knew, and I was curious enough to try finding out who Mickey Finn was. I found a couple of possibilities, but as always with the origins of phrases you can take them with a pinch of salt.

or

As Paul says, it's not a word/phrase much in use these days.

As for poutine - french fries covered with melted cheese and gravy? (oh and we call french fries chips btw, not to be confused with chips (US) which we call crisps ) No, don't think we have any equivalent to that one, Roo!!


LabRat

Couple of random bits to throw into the mix:

'homo milk', to my ears, sounds positively kinky.

Paul used 'upscale' - the UK equivalent would be 'up market'.

You may be right. We appear to be getting lots more 'bendy buses', which are single-decker buses that are twice as long as normal buses but are articulated in the middle. The joke is that these new-fangled bendy buses had to be withdrawn from service for a while because they kept catching fire. Could it be that we're rapidly losing those tedious, old-fashioned skills that no-one's interested in any more - like how to make a vehicle that doesn't kill its passengers?

Oh, and on a tangent - can you believe that my hairdresser didn't know where Canada is? "It's somewhere in America, isn't it?" she said. I asked carefully what she meant by America, just in case she meant the continent, rather than the country. Nope, she meant the country. So can I take this opportunity to apologise to Canadians for the English educational system, which seems to have omitted Canada from its geography lessons?

(Mind you, the EU forgot to include Wales in a recent map of the UK, so the English aren't the the only ones with geographically-challenged citizens...)

Yvonne

Can I just say how much I love your hairdresser, Y, given that she's just smashed my record as Queen of the Geographically-Challenged forever? There's no way I can ever mess up worse than this. Even if I get on the train to France and end up in Tibet, I'm still way ahead.

LabRat

Brava on your attitude, Lab! But I did want to let you know, I've read *most* of this thread, but I haven't gotten to read SOMH yet (high on my list of to-do, Lab!! I'm exctied to read it. ). I don't consider myself spoiled in regards to SOMH. You all are talking about such a small snippet of the story that out of context, all it tells me it that Lois ends up falling for Clark. And, well...I would have expected that eventually, right? Anyway, I like to think of it like I do movie trailers. If you watch a movie trailer *after* you've seen the movie, you think "Man, *why* would that put those clips in there?! That gives away the whole movie!" But then when you see a preview (trailer) *before* the movie, do you remember that little clip showing the guy with the gal that you didn't think would get together? Not really.

Anyway...I've veered OT, sorry.

Here in Arizona, we have words painted on the roads. And yes they're written in the order in which you drive over them, presumably for easier reading :rolleyes: . This always confused me and I remember asking my mom when I was younger why they had the words out of order. (AHEAD SCHOOL...that's for those smart kids, right? The ones who want to get ahead? )

I know a few others have answered this already, Vicki, but I thought I'd share too. To me, I use either. "He lives just up the road" or "He lives just down the road." Just whatever word comes out first I guess. For quite some time, the nearest Krispie Kreme was in Phoenix, two hours away. People would actually *pay* others to buy them a dozen KK's when they heard there was a trip to Phoenix! Weirdos! Anyway, people were *so* excited when they finally opened one here. :rolleyes:

Lab, you should talk to Mere...she thinks you can *drive* from California to Hawaii! /me ducks

Sara (who really hadn't expected to catch up with this thread, let alone post )

I'm not very good at this lurker business...

In the north of England 'chipsintgraivy' is very popular, and in the Midlands you often come across cheesey chips... so put the two together (somewhere around Chester maybe...?) and you end up with 'cheesey chipsintgraivy'.

Helga

Two thoughts on being Geographically-Challenged:

1 - I've travelled all around the world, and everywhere I go, I have to point out Puerto Rico on the globe. I'm surprised how many people I've met who thought it was "somewhere in the Pacific"!

2 - Back when I lived in the States (NY, to be exact), we had 2 visitors from Italy. (They were visiting interns at our town's hospital, and I can't remember how they ended up at our house. But I digress...) I remember they asked if we had a map of the U.S., because they were planning to go on a road trip. I guess they were used to looking at maps of Italy, and didn't realize just how much bigger the U.S. is, because they got all excited, saying, "Oh, we can drive down to Florida on Saturday, and then on Sunday we'll drive out and see the Grand Canyon, and then on Monday we'll go see Hollywood..."

- Vicki

I did that. A few years back, Stuart and I were planning a US road trip and by the time I was done we had three years worth of things to visit packed into two weeks. We kept having conversations consisting of:

Me: So we can go from there to there and that will take up Saturday afternoon...
Stuart: But that's four day's worth of driving...
Me: Oh, don't be silly - it's only a couple of inches on the map, look!

Much rolling of eyes and one more attempt to explain relative map distances from husband...

We never did make that trip in the end - which was a good thing as it turned out, because that was the year that all the national parks etc had to close down due to budget deficits meaning there was no cash to keep them open and Arizona was flooded out in the worst rains for as long as anyone could remember.


LabRat

Not to dis anyone at all for being geographically challenged, but it does always amaze me when I meet someone who can't read a map. And I mean, has no idea which way is North. Perhaps because we traveled so much when I was a child but I can get us pretty much anywhere as long as I have a good map. I love maps. Nothing more fun to look at than a brand new Rand McNally!

I'm always very saddened by the US educational system when it comes to geography. If a child is lucky, they will leave school knowing all fifty states, the continents, and the larger nations of the world. When I was in school (back in the dark ages) we had to memorize all of the countries of each continent. I've met Americans who have no idea where Ohio or Indiana is - they imagine that the US starts with New York on the east coast, skips a few dozen states and all of the sudden you are in California on the west coast. For crying out loud, it's their own country!

Just a pause to say WOW! Is this some kind of board record - the number of posts in one thread? This is so amazing!!

Lynn

Yes! I've met people like this, too! It's sad that a college friend of mine from Massetcheusets (going to school in Ohio) had a hard time distinguishing from Iowa and Ohio -- "They both have farms and are there in the middle and have lots of vowels". When she was interviewing for her job at the Cleveland Clinic, the person who was interviewing her thought Minneapolis was a city in Massecheusets! And even worse, there have been people who mistake Idaho, Ohio, and Iowa!

- Laura

Adding to the geography part of this thread... I had to learn the locations, names and capitals of all Canadian provinces and territories. Course that's 13 as opposed to 50... I can also always locate Israel - I can point out where it is even if it's not marked, which happens on small maps.

Julie

Regarding firearms laws in MN, they recently passed a law that made it legal to carry concealed weapons if you have a permit. The loophole is that business and organization owners can ban weapons on their property even if the owner has a permit -- and most do. So now everywhere you go, you see signs up saying "No Guns/Weapons Allowed."

Regarding the geography, I can read a map -- but I usually need a compass to know which way I'm going unless the road signs are well marked.

Some people seem to think that Minnesota is along the same latitude as the North Pole and we have snow all year round. It was absolutely beautiful today -- about 70 -- and the fall colors are just gorgeous.

A variety of unrelated comments here...

1) Poutine. We were completely stumped when we first saw poutine appearing on fast-food outlet menus in Canada (four years ago). It's not cheese and gravy on top of chips, Rat; it's cheese curds. It's a Québec thing. Never been tempted to try it!

2) Entrées. That term is used on many restaurant menus in the US, Paul - just about any table-service restaurant I've been to. And I can never figure out why 'entrée' is used to mean main course! It would make sense for an entrée to be a starter/appetiser, given the meaning of the word. Its use for a main course makes no sense at all!

3) College/university. While 'university' is more frequently used in the UK, people do also talk about 'college' when meaning a university. Some UK universities are organised on the 'college system' - in other words, the university is divided into several colleges. Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, the University of London and the University of Wales are among those organised that way. I did my degrees at Trinity College, Dublin, and would always say that I was going in to college, not to university, when leaving the house. But what I can't understand is why Americans refer to universities as schools. To me, a school is something one attends between the ages of 4 or 5 up to between 16-18.

There may have been more that I intended to comment on, but can't remember at the moment! Fascinating thread!


Wendy

To me, a school is any place where you can learn something with a group of people in a classroom setting. So a college/university would fall into that category.

Oh, goodie more to read but I cannot read it all right now.

Oh duo tangs are not binders. We call binders...binders! LOL Yeah, I always giggled when I was younger about homo-milk. I don't drink it now so I don't think much about it. My pen pals still tease me about it.
I thought not all milk is homo. There is Fat Free, 1%, 2% and so on. I know when I went to Starbucks I had to say whole-milk when I was in North Dakota. That was when I had my first coffee...and I drank it all. I made sure I called it that b/c I didn't want to offend anyone.

Oh I was in Minneapolis hmm....Sept of 2003. I think in the first week b/c it was a long weekend here. I shopped 'til I dropped. Clothing specifically.

Oh I realize not all Americans just drive American cars I just had mini shock when I went to Grand Forks and saw only one 'foreign' car and that was at the end of my trip. I just thought it was odd. The second time I went I saw more, but they where mostly from Minnesota.

A poutine is a French Canadian dish. It is chip (French Fries) with gravy and cheese on top. Sometimes it is cheese curds but some restaurants use graded cheese. Cheese curds are better.

I call pot. chips crisps and fries either fries or chips, but in public I call crisps potato chips. At my old work crew got confused when a customer would say chips and they would give them old Dutch pot. chips and not French fries. Ugh.

I've been on double deckers and bendy buses. the bendy's made me dizzy.

The big drive I've done a couple times is only Winnipeg to Edmonton. I almost did WPG to Jasper, but that is a total headache. When I saw the sign that said take this road to Alaska, boy was I tempted. Now, I wish I did.

OH this is a total side note, but since it is in my head and most likely won't be in a few minutes I'll spill it out here. Where on Earth are the 7-11s? I looked it up and there are non in North and South Dakota. The closest one to me is in Chicago. They are plentiful up here, they are EVERYWHERE. Winnipeg is the so-called Slurpee capital. Who knows. I just thought it was an American country and well, wouldn't they be everywhere? I was there and I needed a Slurpee BAD. Here we have Frosters at Macs, Cold Sucks at Husky, I can't remember the name for the ones at Shell and well Slurpees at Sev (sorry that's 7-11 for those who are going huh?)

Here a Mickey has to do with beer.
2 4 has to do with...beer.
Shimmy is hockeyish...and well apparently you need beer for that.
vendor is where you get....beer.

I don't like beer, but I think the old stubbies are very cute.

Another side note = I’m annoyed that no one sells mushy peas here,

When I was in school I had to learn all the prov an capital like any other poor sot, but I had to know the all the States and all the capital and American History. I learned all the countries and their capital of all those in South America, Central America and the Caribbean. We choose a couple other continents to learn, but I chose all b/c I enjoy it...while other groaned. Now meet me in French class and I'll groan. No I didn't go to a private school, I was public and it has a bad rep. Gangs...now it is finally getting it's due. It was named one of the better high schools in Cda in a national magazine. I just wanted to say I'm proud of them b/c they've been fighting the bad rap since they opened in the 1960s when my mum went there. (Side history note that I'm proud of, sorry I gotta do it. Do you know the Guess Who or Neil Young? The Guess Who gang, most of them went to my High School. I think Neil Young got kicked out and had to go to another one in the area but he lived a couple of blocks away an a few from my Mum. The Maintence guy I used to work with at McD hated Burton Cummings b/c the guy though he was all that in HS. LOL. SORRY. My school just gets teased so much. When I went to university and the teacher asked which school I was from the kids proceeded to move their desks away from me. They though I'd beat them up. Ugh, they were all from the South End and River Heights...rich kids. My husband went to the school I was afraid of. A lot of his graduating class went to jail and many are rolling in money though too. LOL FUnny he thought my school was bad. Perspective can be funny. One of the premiers of our prov went to my HS. Maybe there is hope for me yet. Fingers are crossed.....Shut up ROo.)
Sorry my typing is horrid. I'm typing in the dark on my notebook in bed w/ the screen on it's lowest light setting. Don't want to disturb the husband.

OH don't feel bad y'all who are geographically challenged. I've had a geog proff who was that. I think I've told that tale before.

Hmmm, I think it is better to be better with words personally. It's harder and well you use it more often and you need it to communicate. I wish I had that gift. I'm horrid with spelling, vocabulary, grammar.........

Hmmmmm. Guess there must be regional variations of the recipe then – this was the website I found through Google: Timon\'s Poutine No idea what cheese curds are, but sounds icky. <g> I'd actually be tempted to try the gravy and cheese thing - if chips weren't so unfriendly to my current diet and off the menu.

LabRat

I looked them up, and found: Cheese curds are fresh, young cheddar cheese in the natural, random shape and form before being processed into blocks and aged. (Cheddar cheese is typically aged from 60 days to 4 years before being sold.)

I'd never heard of them before.

French fried with gravy are the quintessential after-drinking snack back where I grew up. At 4 am the bars would close, and the diner where I worked as a waitress would fill up with people ordering coffee and fries with gravy. No one ever asked for cheese (or cheese curds) to be put on them, though!

- Vicki

I googled too, Rat, and got the site you found. Interesting - cheddar and gravy doesn't sound too bad at all. But most sites refer to cheese curds, which makes me go

For anyone who's interested, here's an article about the origins of poutine.


Wendy (wishing everyone a happy Canadian Thanksgiving )

Geography lessons depend on the school. When I was in.. um, it was Mr. Baher (Bear), so that was 7th grade, we went through and learned all the countries and their placement in Europe, and possibly Africa. I don't remember doing Africa, but since his favorite town was Djibouti, Djibouti, I'm sure we must have. Seriously, it's fun to say. Djibouti, Djibouti, Djibouti... but I digress. In other classes, I had to learn all 50 states and their capitols (which I did fairly well in, since I had a game where I had to match states and capitols a few years before that, but I can't remember them all anymore!), and learn all the counties in Pennsylvania. But don't ask me where certain counties, or even countries, are anymore. I've forgotten most of them. With Europe, I can at least usually remember what's in Western Europe, since those are the big countries. Anything else is "isn't around here somewhere?"

Driving distance in Europe seems odd to me. I know it's a 3 day trip from my place to California, and at least one full day of driving to Canada, since it's 9 hours to my dad's in Pennsylvania, another 2 hours to the PA/NY border from there, and then whereever I want to cross from beyond there. I look at a map of Europe, and boggle that it's not that much of a drive from one country to another. But I'm also a map hog, so I tend to look at distances and milage markers.

Gravy with fries just seem weird to me. But, then so do wings and gravy. We regularly go to a wing place with some friends, and my husband ordered Southern-style wings (heavily breaded and fried). They gave him brown gravy to go with it. I know we're in the south, but ew. A friend of ours looked at her cheese fries and his gravy, and then asked for the gravy. She decided that the combination was pretty good, and wiped out the rest of the gravy.

7-11's seem to be a north-eastern thing (when dividing the US into 4 quadrants, and ignoring the whole "midwest" idea). Of course, I've only really been in the eastern side of the US, so can't speak for the west, other than I remember one in Dallas-Ft. Worth. I saw a fair amount in Northern Indiana, and a few in Pennsylvania, but it's rare to see one in the south. I miss Big Gulps. *sigh*

The ones I've had, the cheese curds are put on cold and the gravy heats it up and melts it. Yum. Great now I want some! Mainstream places like New York Fries have yummy poutines. McD tried and those didn't taste so good. When I go to KFC I always get fries and gravy. OOOOH.
Thanks! Me too.

When I had Japanese relatives come over for a little while they thought they could drive over to Niagra Falls and come back in a weekend. Only Superman can do that or a lot of money by plane... My English relatives got flabbergasted when they went on a road trip to BC. I had a penpal who didn't understand why I didn't go to the Mountains to go snowboarding more often. She said she did it. Yeah, but she lived in Germany and she just had to hop over to Switzerland. Lucky gal.

This isn't related to grammar and food, but it is a US/UK difference. Tea, how do you y'all make it? My family get offended easily when tea has been poorly made. I won't go into what they really say. I thought it was just personal preference on how picky you are, but I was told no. I won't get into CDN stuff b/c I'm sure we are just a combo of it all.