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Some fun with Australian English vs British vs American English.

Lovebug said:
Brits are still using "fortnight", it isn't a term commonly used in the U.S.
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I worked six years at a Thai owned school in Bangkok that was run by and dominated by Aussies, the Thai owner having two degrees from Aussie universities down under.

Once in a blue moon they hired someone not Australian, ie, moi, and a couple of years later they hired a guy from Canada. The Canadian guy who was a regular guy came and sat next to me and cracked me up, "WTF's a fortnight?"

A guy the Aussies hired from Scotland who couldn't believe the nonsense at a weekly staff meeting said to me outside, "Well, that takes the biscuit." I told him we say that takes the cake and he just blinked.

One time I said "a stone's throw from here" and all the Aussies said they'd never heard that. So it goes both ways it does. A lot of foreigners watch American movies to get the expressions and sayings as well as the fun and action.

"I'll be back."
 
Tangmo said:
I worked six years at a Thai owned school in Bangkok that was run by and dominated by Aussies, the Thai owner having two degrees from Aussie universities down under.

Once in a blue moon they hired someone not Australian, ie, moi, and a couple of years later they hired a guy from Canada. The Canadian guy who was a regular guy came and sat next to me and cracked me up, "WTF's a fortnight?"

A guy the Aussies hired from Scotland who couldn't believe the nonsense at a weekly staff meeting said to me outside, "Well, that takes the biscuit." I told him we say that takes the cake and he just blinked.

One time I said "a stone's throw from here" and all the Aussies said they'd never heard that. So it goes both ways it does. A lot of foreigners watch American movies to get the expressions and sayings as well as the fun and action.

"I'll be back."
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We have so many different words and phrases right here. Vacuuming vs sweeping, doing the wash vs laundry, pop, coke, soda....comes to mind.
 
Lovebug said:
We have so many different words and phrases right here. Vacuuming vs sweeping, doing the wash vs laundry, pop, coke, soda....comes to mind.
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This one amazed me when i first heard about it. The harry potter books are rife with changes between american and english version.

Why the name change from "Harry Potter and the Philosopher''s Stone" in the UK to "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer''s Stone" in the United States ? | Notes and Queries | guardian.co.uk

Why the name change from "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" in the UK to "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" in the United States ?
Mick Gilbert, Long Beach, USA
"Sorceror" sounds exciting, "philosopher" sounds boring, and nobody in America knows what a philosopher is. Famous title changes to take account of the incredible ignorance of the average American include "Licence Revoked" which became "Licence to Kill" when over 70% of those polled didn't what "Revoked" means, and "The Madness of King George III", which had to drop the "III" because it was realised that Americans would be uninterested in the film since they'd obviously missed the first two films of the trilogy.


Simon Blake, Shrewsbury England
Perhaps it was thought that an American readership wouldn't pick up on the mystical connotations of "Philosopher's Stone".
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Lovebug said:
and not to forget the pronunciation of NZ. It came up this morning in a Covid thread, so I thought we could have some fun. I.e.
when you watch a Kiwi show and wonder why one would copy a litter, don't assume they are talking about puppies. A litter is what we commonly refer to as a letter, a bid isn't made in an auction house, but is something you sleep in... Yes, stay home, watch shows from around the world, and you will learn a lot.
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I don't think that pronunciation of a word is what the title implies, although some people hit upon actually word differences later in the thread. If you wanted to talk about pronunciation, we could do that with just different regional accents in a single country.

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Lovebug said:
Brits are still using "fortnight", it isn't a term commonly used in the U.S.
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Unless you're a SCAdian, Rennie or D&D player.

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maquiscat said:
I don't think that pronunciation of a word is what the title implies, although some people hit upon actually word differences later in the thread. If you wanted to talk about pronunciation, we could do that with just different regional accents in a single country.

Sent from my cp3705A using Tapatalk
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It is just to lighten the mood, nothing to get too technical about. I was watching a NZ show. They were talking about being happy for receiving a litter. What puzzled me was "copying a litter" later in the conversation. It took me a bit to realize the talked about a letter. Again, just some fun all y'all.
 
lurchadams said:
There are several commonwealth words that mean something totally different in American English. For example did you know if you're in Ausie or GB you should never say, "I'm just stuffed!" after a meal? It means something really naughty!

Also "pissed" in American English means angry and in Commonwealth English means, "drunk".

The "boot" in Australia is the truck of your car....

That's all I can think of right now in my current condition :)
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Telly and TV
lift and elevator
Petrol and gas
Chip and french fry (although the thicker ones typically called home fries in the US are called fries in the UK.)
Crisps and chips
Biscuits and cookies


Sent from my cp3705A using Tapatalk
 
soylentgreen said:
This one amazed me when i first heard about it. The harry potter books are rife with changes between american and english version.

Why the name change from "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" in the UK to "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" in the United States ?
Mick Gilbert, Long Beach, USA
"Sorceror" sounds exciting, "philosopher" sounds boring, and nobody in America knows what a philosopher is. Famous title changes to take account of the incredible ignorance of the average American include "Licence Revoked" which became "Licence to Kill" when over 70% of those polled didn't what "Revoked" means, and "The Madness of King George III", which had to drop the "III" because it was realised that Americans would be uninterested in the film since they'd obviously missed the first two films of the trilogy.
Click to expand...

Simon Blake, Shrewsbury England
Perhaps it was thought that an American readership wouldn't pick up on the mystical connotations of "Philosopher's Stone".

Why the name change from "Harry Potter and the Philosopher''s Stone" in the UK to "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer''s Stone" in the United States ? | Notes and Queries | guardian.co.uk
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Alas the Brits with their deep traditions of literature say irony while Americans in the modern times approximate that by saying "unintended consequences" which sounds more like CIA and James Bond stuff than irony, yet the sense of it is clear that you got something totally unexpected in the end. I'd hope that for the Brits and those Down Under that wouldn't hurt too much to put to you guys in the end.

I anyway think it was the NZ prime minister Muldoon who, when he was asked about NZ migration to Australia, said it increased the IQ level of each country. I found some eloquence in that that I don't usually find in the often bizarre phonics and speech patterns Down There. And while to some people Muldoon's salient statement might be considered irony, to other folk it's just a flat out statement of fact.
 
Lovebug said:
We have so many different words and phrases right here. Vacuuming vs sweeping, doing the wash vs laundry, pop, coke, soda....comes to mind.
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We might have to form a queue to get them all in. Which I'd suppose would be fine of course.

Foreigners learning English in their own countries are in general and widely interested in American English and least interested in Australian English. Many countries throughout East Asia, SE Asia, South Asia don't hire many Aussies as English teachers due to Aussie phonics. Parents and students don't want Aussie English.

When I went to South Korea and into the MoE program of native speakers of English teaching in the schools half the several hundred of us were Americans and the other half were from Canada. SK MoE had a handful of token Brits and Aussies in the national program and certainly no one from Ireland or Wales.

SK parents and pupils wanted what became called North American English, ie, Americans and Canadians. Yet because Australia is in the same neighborhood as SK the MoE put an Aussie in charge of the whole bunch of us. MoE simply appointed him without asking us anything about it so naturally we worked around the guy until he became a bump on a log...so to speak. We took over leadership of our group with a threesome of myself and two Canadians, two guys and a gal, in the same city. MoE simply accepted it.
 
Of all the accents in the world that I have heard, the one that grates on my nerves so much is a kiwi accent. Makes me grit my teeth; I want to grab hold of the kiwi by the collar and shake him/her until they learn to speak correctly.
 
LadyMoonlight said:
Of all the accents in the world that I have heard, the one that grates on my nerves so much is a kiwi accent. Makes me grit my teeth; I want to grab hold of the kiwi by the collar and shake him/her until they learn to speak correctly.
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From their point of view, you're the one not speaking correctly.
 
lurchadams said:
There are several commonwealth words that mean something totally different in American English. For example did you know if you're in Ausie or GB you should never say, "I'm just stuffed!" after a meal? It means something really naughty!

Also "pissed" in American English means angry and in Commonwealth English means, "drunk".

The "boot" in Australia is the truck of your car....

That's all I can think of right now in my current condition :)
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:peace:peace
 
LadyMoonlight said:
Of all the accents in the world that I have heard, the one that grates on my nerves so much is a kiwi accent. Makes me grit my teeth; I want to grab hold of the kiwi by the collar and shake him/her until they learn to speak correctly.
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I actually seek out shows set in other countries. Once you get an ear for the accent, it isn't that difficult to understand them. Since the pandemic shut down, and with so much more time on our hands, I find traveling around the world via netflix and such rather refreshing.
 
Google translator broke down on this one.

So did Bing translator.

So I'm asking for assistance with it....






"If you hold a pilot instructor writing...." I believe he tried to say "rating."

Can anyone verify that he tried to say "aerodynamically".

When he said "Over the ears...." I do believe he was trying to say 'years'.


There's more of course luv 'em. :)
 
Tangmo said:
Google translator broke down on this one.

So did Bing translator.

So I'm asking for assistance with it....






"If you hold a pilot instructor writing...." I believe he tried to say "rating."

Can anyone verify that he tried to say "aerodynamically".

When he said "Over the ears...." I do believe he was trying to say 'years'.


There's more of course luv 'em. :)
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I understood every word. Could be that I've watched a few Australian shows lately and developed an ear for it.
 
Lovebug said:
I understood every word. Could be that I've watched a few Australian shows lately and developed an ear for it.
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Indeed and good for you yet I worked with Australians in Bangkok every day for six years and those from the Aussie Labour Party hated Americans while Aussies who voted National Party or Conservative Party weren't anything like that. Aussies have come a long way from their origins yet some can't possibly overcome or surpass their origins, as the ALP demonstrates consistently and fiercely wherever they may be.
 
LadyMoonlight said:
You might find this interesting.

Australian slang dictionary
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Another good book is, "Let's talk strine". by Afferbeck Lauder, An example.

Strine – “Dja getny b’tydas fer dinner t’noite, maam?” “Air Aw did”

Translation: “Did you get any potatoes for dinner tonight, mum?” “Yes I did.”

Strine – “Cown! We ‘evn’ god ool dye!

Translation: “Come on! We haven’t got all day!”

Strine – “Doosa fiver, mite, wea?”

Translation: “Would you please do me a favour, mate, will you?”

Strine – “G’dye Spawt, hey gaan?”

Translation: “Good day, sport, how are you going?” (“sport” is another word for “mate”)

Strine – “Thirdy dies hes S’ptember, Ypril, June en’ November. Oola rest ‘ev thirdy one. Cep’ Febry witches twenny ite en’ twinny noine onna leap year.”

Translation: A rhyme in which Australians remember how many days in each month
 
Chomsky said:
"Muck"! :lamo
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My favorite is wanker. I just love that word. I say it and I get all sorts of looks. The looks I get when I call someone a bloody wanker, in an Australian accent no less is hilarious. I get the cocked head confused look. Its funny as hell. Another one I love is muppet. Not moppet, muppet. British slang for idiot. Thats a good one. Moppet means small child.
 
PirateMk1 said:
My favorite is wanker. I just love that word. I say it and I get all sorts of looks. The looks I get when I call someone a bloody wanker, in an Australian accent no less is hilarious. I get the cocked head confused look. Its funny as hell. Another one I love is muppet. Not moppet, muppet. British slang for idiot. Thats a good one. Moppet means small child.
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That's just bloody brilliant.
 
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