The Wide, Wide World Of Slang

[pepper67]

Out of curiosity, what does 'taking the piss' mean? I always thought it was a Britishism for when a good thing goes on too long... like when when you really have to pee, start urinating, and can't stop.

Not even close, sorry, chiqui! It means to mock someone, tease them. 'Taking the mickey' is the same thing.

[Deleted]

we were surprised to discover that in Ireland, one stocks up on booze at establishments known as "off-licenses." Who knew?

In Canada we have "off-sales".

[underjoyed]

However, I don't agree with some of his pronunciations, so I suspect that his accent is a lot different from mine (which is mainly Lancastrian with some Scouse).

::also waves to fellow Brit:: (although I grew up in Canada, so you'd never know it by my accent. Dad was from Maghull, which used to be Lancashire but I think has since been eaten whole by Liverpool. He probably has a similar accent to yours, Pepper67)

Moldy, I'm pretty sure off-sales (in UK and Canada) refer to the pub owner selling you drinks to take away - usually at a tidy profit to themselves, because liquor stores are closed. And, in Canada (well, in BC*), you can't just go out after the pub closes and buy alcohol at 7-11s or supermarkets. Just large warehousey-type-things with an anonymous sign on them saying "Liquor Store". It's all very Scandinavian socialist. (Cold beer and wine stores - no hard liquor sold - have sprung up over the past decade or so, but they close well before pubs and bars.)

Back on topic, when living in the UK, I found the description of someone being "mad as a box of frogs" to be deeply amusing. "Daft as a brush" is a good one, too, although I was never able to work out what was so daft (i.e. stupid/silly) about brushes.

Another one, which I still find confusing, is the difference in the UK (especially Scotland) between "shit" and "shite". Sometimes one is used, sometimes the other. They seem to be interchangeable, although "shite" is more often used as an adjective (i.e. "Madonna is a shite actress.") Then there's "piss" and "pish", which I rarely heard in England, but often in Scotland (including, before you ask, when the speaker was sober).

*I really should know better than to confuse Canada and BC (British Columbia), when BC - which I dearly love - is clearly on its own little plane of existence.

[pepper67]

::also waves to fellow Brit:: (although I grew up in Canada, so you'd never know it by my accent. Dad was from Maghull, which used to be Lancashire but I think has since been eaten whole by Liverpool. He probably has a similar accent to yours, Pepper67)

Hey, underjoyed! I have a friend who was born and grew up (until she was 9) in Canada but who now lives in Maghull. Weird coincidence or what? And yes, Maghull is now part of Liverpool - even down to its postcode.

As for 'shit' and 'shite', I loathe 'shite'. I don't know why but I always think it sound far worse than 'shit'. Never heard 'pish' though.

(I was born a Geordie, grew up a Kiwi, now a Yank. I get bored easily.)

Your Grace, I knew there was NZ in there somewhere!

[ownlife]

Just large warehousey-type-things with an anonymous sign on them saying "Liquor Store."

They're called ABC (Alcoholic Beverage Control) Stores here in Virginia and they're operated by the Commonwealth, I believe. These stores are so sparsely stocked and have so few employees, I always wonder if liquor sales are a front for something else. Reminds me of the empty dusty shelves in the "candy stores" in my old Bronx neighborhood where the real business was illegal gambling.

[spider]

now buying beer is one thing I am well qualified to comment on as it's slang I tend to pick up quickly wherever I live

-Beer store/ Wine store in PA (they are different things). Off-sales are when you can't be bothered driving 10 miles to the beer store and instead buy a six-pack from the local pizza joint for a premium, and I do mean premium, price.
-State shops or ABCs in Ontario. Where a case is 12 beers.
-Packies in Boston where a case is 24 beers and 12 is a "twelver".
-Off license or offies in the northern UK.
-Liquor Stores in CA (or you can just buy your alcohol at a gas station or grocery store or whatever).

Bottle shops is a weird one: I've heard it in London and in Canada but I've been told it's Australian slang?

[CyberCathy]

Oh, is this thread ever for me!I've recently moved to Houston after spending my entire life in Milwaukee. I never knew how funny I was!

Along with the previously mentioned items (bubbler vs. water fountain vs. drinking fountain; soda vs. coke vs. pop, etc.) I have never failed to bring about a rash of hysterics when I ask for the TYME Machine.

Yes, we in various parts of Wisconsin will refer to an ATM as a TYME Machine. It's not as common as it used to be, but a lot of native Wisconsinites will still use it.

On the flip side, I still have issues when I hear a local Houstonian say "I'm fixing to..." Urrrgh!

For the record, TYME = Take Your Money Everywhere.

[foxyepicurean]

CyberCathy, don't you love it when Texans need you to repeat something that they didn't hear/understand and instead of saying "What?" or "Could you repeat that?" they say "Do what?" It was SO confusing when I first heard it. I was like, "I didn't ask you to do anything..."

My brother and I mocked that phrase so much that we eventually found ourselves saying it without irony. That's when we knew it was time to move back to Oregon.

[nikluhmann]

Ditto CyberCathy. I lived in Boston for a long time and called them 'ATM' machines, went to undergrad in PA where no one had any idea what I was talking about. And when I returned to New England, no one knew what the hell a 'MAC' was.

[pamster2]

They were MAX machines here in Florida for a while; but now they're just the generic ATMs.