UK/USA: Same word - different meanings!?

Question

Some words/phrases used in the UK/USA have totally different meanings here's a couple......feel free to add more.....

F a g - UK = cigarette....USA = Homosexual
Fanny - UK = Vagina.....USA = bum/backside/bottom (i think)

UK - Can I bum a f a g = can I borrow a cigarette - can you imagine asking an american that!!!!!

Answer 1

Ha - I misread it the first time. I thought you said "b u r n". I couldn't stop laughing.

Wanker in US is a deadbeat is a lazy person. Wanker in UK, well let's just say that the "fags" in the US would appreciate that word.

Does gay still mean happy anywhere or is it homosexual like it is in the US?

Answer 2

That is so true. The american culture has also dropped the 'U' in some really important places.... like in the world colour and neighbour and they deliberately misspell words like theatre and centre... words that we rightfully stole from the French... well, war reparations an' all were a bit cheaper 300 years ago.

But - how much does it really matter. So they stole our language and then are feeding it back to us. And expect us to live with it in some way?? Lets go back to the Boston Tea Party - and chuck all of the McDonalds burgers and KFC spicy chicken thingies into the river - be it the Exe, the Tyne, the Severn, the Thames, the Ribble, the Mersey, Medway, the Dart, the Aire or the Avon.... chuck 'em out, chuck 'em in!

Then we can be done wiv this question for once and for all!

Answer 3

I am not an English nor an American but I am currently residing in the middle east. Here in UAE, you could see the influence of British English. I do believe you all know the words I am going to list. My point is, what if others don't know how to speak your language well? I really am bothered.

LIFT - elevator
LOO - toilet, card game
( What if someone says, "where's the loo?" and the person asked points to a table of the card game? )
Rubber: (American English - condom, British English - tool used to erase pencil markings)

I also find these adds on new buildings: TO LET
=Luckily I know that it means for rent. Gosh, sometimes confusing. I was just used to American English I guess.

Here is a site though for all of these.
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/americanbritish.html

Goodluck my fellow non-native speakers.

Answer 4

i had a friend from Ireland who DID ask that question, in LA.
Luckily, he had nice people around who explained that it didn't mean here what it meant there.

Mark Twain said the England and America are two countries SEPARATED by a common language.

Answer 5

I had a friend from the US who went to London a few months back and she hung out with some friends of hers from there. They were telling her that they were going out to a bar that night and get "caned," which, apparently, is a British slang word for "drunk." We have tons of slang words for "drunk" in the US, but "caned" threw my friend for a loop. (in the US, and in non-slang British English, it would mean "being beaten with a cane" of course)

I think this is exclusively Australian (though maybe it's used in the UK, too), but "knocking someone up" in Australia means to wake them up in the morning/give them a wake-up call. In the US, it means getting someone pregnant.

Answer 6

2 countries separated by the same language.

Answer 7

Haha! Nice one...!

Try asking an American for crisps, biscuits, and a bowl of jelly. Just see what they give you...!
; )

Answer 8

i'm irish...while in holiday in the US i asked some yanks if they'd like to "go out for a bit of crack"!!!!! got a great reaction!!!!...i meant go into town for drinks and a laugh!!!

Answer 9

Um if you say can i bum a *** it means- can i shag a homosexual in england as well really.

Answer 10

LOL! I know, Englanders... I'm from england and only commoners use language like that lol