The Wide, Wide World Of Slang

[Deleted]

I've been trying to think up an international kind of topic to take advantage of our international group, find out more about places & people outside the U.S., but feared it would fall off the politics cliff before long. So maybe this will work as a first step in international relations -- slang terms from around the world.

I watch a lot of BritComs and have heard references to "Standing Hampton" and "Little Hampton" so for you Brits out there, is "Hampton" a euphemism for the male organ? Or am I just a pervert for thinking that?


Also, for you Aussies, are females still called "sheilas?"
Do you grit your teeth when Yanks refer to your country as "Down Under?"

[pepper67]

If ever a topic was needed...

I was reading a fanfiction story that was a crossover between two different US series and, for the ease of readers who hadn't seen one or the other, there was a brief description of the characters. Great idea, right? Not when you factor in the difference between US and UK English.

Mack likes wearing suspenders.

Suspenders in the UK are called 'garter belts' in the US. For three days, I was convinced the character was a guy who was into wearing ladies' underwear.

And "Little Hampton" is a place. I've never heard of "Standing Hampton" though (or a "Standing Hampton", if you're right).

[underjoyed]

Hell, even within a country the differences can be amusing. I grew up on the west coast of Canada and to me, "thongs" were what others call flip-flops (those summer shoes held on to your feet by the bit between the toes). Apparently they are not called "thongs" in eastern Canada, because when speaking to someone from Ontario and mentioning that I was looking forward to summer so I could wear thongs on my feet, I got looks of concern.

"Pants" is a good one for UK/North America confusion. In the UK, "pants" are what N. Americans call "underwear" and "trousers" are what N. Americans call "pants". It makes for some confusing situations and unintended over-familiarity (I recall telling someone I barely knew that I liked the pants they were wearing, and wondering why they looked nervous, responded with a strangled "You mean you can see them?" and then ran off to the bathroom tugging their shirt down over their trousers.) Also, in the UK, calling something "pants" is equivalent to calling it crap (i.e. "The first two Star Wars movies were pants.") After a few years of living there, I now find myself snickering inappropriately at the traditional use of the word "pants" back on the other side of the Atlantic.

[Deleted]

When I was growing up my family invited a visiting British couple to dinner. (I'm a New Englander.) After dinner when we were all sipping tea and coffee the guy said, "Oh, this might be a good time to have some of the biscuits my wife brought!"

It threw me off for a minute. Hereabouts, a "biscuit" is like a roll or other type of bread that you have before or during your meal, certainly not when you're finished with dinner. But, of course, he meant what we call "cookies."

Speaking of which (and I think this is just a regional thing around here): I say "Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner." Others insist on "Breakfast, Dinner and Supper." (I recall mentioning to someone that I had to get home to dinner (in the evening) and they said, "Oooh, fancy! You don't have 'supper' you have 'dinner' at night!"). Totally confused me.

And some people think it's dorky to call jeans 'dungarees' around here, while others think it's totally lame to call dungarees 'jeans.' It's all really pretty fascinating, in a way...

[suzyp]

I'm from Chicago and when I went to school in DC, it was easy to find out where people came from by what they called carbonated drinks. Here in the Midwest, it, of course, is pop. East Coasters called it soda. My roommate who was from the South called everything a coke do matter what it was. Pop drinkers of the world unite!

[topher]

Unite we shall!!!

Nice to see a fellow Chicagoian on the board.

IIRC, there is a book that lists regional varaiations of slang in the US.

When we played tag as a kid, the area where you couldn't be tagged was called gool. In other section of Chicago's suburbs, it was goal.

[Ginger]

East Coasters called it soda.

Except New Englanders, who call it "tonic".

[Deleted]

I guess this isn't really slang but just a dialect thing but for some reason, I find it interesting that hoagies are called different things in different areas. I am in NJ and we call them "hoagies." I had a boyfriend from CT, who called them "grinders." Some people call them "subs."

[suzyp]

Found this site from Test Pattern's Five Link Friday (on MSNBC) one week. It goes along with the regional differences of word usage. How Yankee or Dixie are you? Take the Test!

[dwanollah]

One that flummoxed me was "gyro"... you know, the Greek sandwich...? In SoCal, it's pronounced with a silent G, "YEE-ro" and we laugh at anyone who says otherwise. But when I lived in NYC and first ordered one from the cart outside my office building...? They thought I was nuts! "You mean a JAI-ro?"