Words are Weird

[saifai]

I brought up the subject of regionalisms with a friend today. Brian is from London, and he's got a lovely cockney accent. Here's a few of the things I found out:

• Skivvy: US = Underwear (NAVY thing...) UK = Slang term for someone working a lower class job probably in some hands-on work of some sort (or at least that's the gist I got from Brian) UNKNOWN = Casual plain t-shirt (read it in a story)
• Whacked: US (West) = Crazy US (East) = Murdered UK = Tired

We had a good laugh about the last one. Brian decided he'd probably get himself into trouble one of these days from using a term that has more than one meaning. LOL!

Anyone else got some good ones that come to mind? I know they come up often in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Harry Potter fandoms...

Comments

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

There's always fag....


Gabrielle

[xionin.livejournal.com]

good one, though i heard that the brits are moving away from using that term for ciggies.

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

The ever-widening influence of American pop culture at work, I suspect.


Gabrielle

[saifai.livejournal.com]

What's the new term?

[saifai.livejournal.com]

That one's a classic!

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

Indeed!


Gabrielle

[xionin.livejournal.com]

re: west coast and 'whacked', i believe it's actually 'whack', at least that's what i always thought.

i guess it's kind of like the phrase "my bag" in lieu of "my bad". depends upon the speaker. =)

[saifai.livejournal.com]

Whack I suppose depends on the reference. "Tony got whacked" as opposed to "I'm gonna whack Tony."

"My bag" I have never heard before. I've probably seen it and never realized what they were talking about. Either that or assumed they misspelled "my bad". LOL

[sp23.livejournal.com]

Knocked up...

US - pregnant
UK - wake up call

I love that one. *g*

[saifai.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting one. Wake up call in the US has its own meaning entirely. LOL...You could confuse a lot of people with that one.

[darkhavens.livejournal.com]

Fanny

US = ass
UK = vagina

Huge misunderstanding can arise from that one :D

[saifai.livejournal.com]

Holy Hannah, what people in the UK must think of the ever so popular US bag called the "fanny pack"... 0.o