Englishisms

There's whole web pages devoted to this topic, so this is definitely not an attempt at being comprehensive. As most people know, people from England and people from America speak slightly different forms of English. This was made clear to me on my girls' first day of school where talk of time tables (schedules), tutors (home room teachers), key stages (not quickly translated), maths (math), etc. had my head spinning. Now that we've been here a while, here are some of our favorite "Englishisms."

I've asked the girls what slang they hear in school. Here's their list: 
rubbish
prat
you lot (instead of you guys or everyone)
brilliant (not as in smart, as in great)
mad (instead of crazy; as in, "You like Justin Bieber? That's mad!")
messing about (instead of messing around or goofing off)

pocket money (allowance)

Pretty much the same as what you'd hear in a Harry Potter movie!

I'm guessing this sign is a little tongue in cheek. Still, the English really do understate things compared to Americans, which I love. It's not "great coffee" or the "world's best cup of coffee," it's "really rather good." The modesty of it makes me smile.

In America, stores and ads are apt to say something along the lines of "Buy it today!" Here, it's a little more gentle. I generally see the phrase "why not" used. "Why not get a chocolate?" Or, "Why not try it on?" Either that or it's "might we suggest." "Might we suggest these leggings and booties?"

I love the impact of the understatement. One day I was reading a news story about a London theater that had the ceiling collapse during one of their performances (if you didn't hear the story, everyone was evacuated from the theater and ambulances were called for injuries, but no one was seriously hurt and the damage turned out to be more along the lines of plaster than structural). This is a quote from the story: "...things started falling and smoke, and I thought it was part of the show until something hit me on the head very hard. I thought, that's not quite right." No, not quite.

One of Mike's favorites is their use of the word scheme. When I think of the word 'scheme', I think of underhanded plots - visualize Dr. Evil petting his cat or Mr. Burns drumming his fingertips saying "Excellent!" But here it's used anywhere I'd used the word 'plan'. Mike says they are always having meetings at work to talk about one scheme or another. Yet these schemes are in my opinion quite dull, instead of taking over the world or something along those lines where I'd use the word.

My favorite phrase of the moment is "all talk and no trousers." As in this sentence from a weather report, "The predictions have been wild at times, but so far the weather's been all talk and no trousers when it comes to the white stuff." 

One of Mike's favorites is 'jiggery pokery' (think 'shenanigans'). He actually heard someone use that in a meeting once, but has been sad to find that it is not in common use. 

Some words I've heard on t.v. shows or read in books, but I've never heard anyone say: knackered, cracking or fairy cake. 

And there's some words we don't like, for no particular reason. Anya hates 'trolly' (cart) and 'lolly' (popsicle). Camille says she will never adjust to 'trousers' for 'pants', and I can't abide the term 'hen party' for 'bachelorette party'. 

My award for cutest name for the least-appealing food goes to 'bubble and squeak'. Doesn't that sound intriguing to order? When actually it's some leftover vegetables mixed with mashed potatoes shaped into a patty and fried. A fritter, I guess we'd call it? Actually, not my cup of tea.