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American/British Dictionary

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Mon Oncle Ignatius

12:08 / 31.01.06

Round these parts we say "pota'er", pardner.

Maybe they say "potarto" at Eton or other such aristo-infested places? It does seem unlikely though.

12:20 / 31.01.06

They don't eat potatoes at Eton, just lightly braised swan.

14:28 / 31.01.06

Under glass.

Mon Oncle Ignatius

14:32 / 31.01.06

Pronounced "Glas" or "Glarse"?

14:35 / 31.01.06

Or "the" glass, as the case may be.

Also, why do all American recipes that I find online include a can of something, most frequently a can of soup?

You'll have to blame the 1950s for that, and the rise of the military industrial complex. That's when delicious dinners started coming in boxes, cans and pre-frozen trays, and when companies started churning out gazillions of cookbooks and recipe cards using their products as ingredients.

I usually have eggs & toast for breakfast. Sometimes just toast (with marmite and marmalade -- not American at all). Sometimes a sort of off-the-cuff muesli (cereal + raw oats + granola) with either yogurt or soy milk. Because I'm a hippie.

That's not cream on the waffles, by the way -- that's whipped butter.

Sunday breakfast would include pancakes or waffles, hopefully with some kind of fruit or nut involved (pecan waffles kick ass).

15:11 / 31.01.06

Oh, what’s granola? I thought that was muesli.

pointless & uncalled for

15:39 / 31.01.06

It's like sugar/honey coated muesli.

15:56 / 31.01.06

Muesli is raw oats with things mixed in (dried fruit, puffed corn (maize!), whatever). Granola is oats soaked/boiled in honey, so it's crunchy as hell, and then it has almonds or sunflower seeds or whatever to maximize the crunch. Most Americans eat granola in the form of granola bars, which used to be mountaineer food but is now just fattening snack food disguised as health food.

Actually, most Americans ridicule granola as hippie food. Muesli is kind of exotic European stuff.

Goodness Gracious Meme

02:37 / 02.02.06

potaytoe round here, generally with with a sprinkling of potay'oe

08:45 / 02.02.06

I believe the correction pronunciation is "chips". Or if you have a lisp, "crisps".

pointless & uncalled for

14:11 / 02.02.06

Wrong again.

It's spud.

Spud U Like for the Upper Classes.

15:00 / 02.02.06

Does the word 'bogey' have any childish connotation in the US. I mean i know you have 'boogers' in its place, but do US-ers find it hard not to snigger at

"sir! There's un-identified BOGEYS on my screen!"

21:34 / 18.02.06

So I've just seen the third episode of "Life on Mars" and was wondering what Party Seven is. Could someone help me out?

21:37 / 18.02.06

A Party Seven is a seven-pint can of beer, so named, because you can get one in for you and your mates at a party.

It's a bit like a baby keg, basically. They were popular in the seventies - large, cheap, good value.

ONLY NICE THINGS

21:39 / 18.02.06

The Watney's party seven was a miniature keg of beer, containing seven pints. You put it down, left it for somebody else to try to work out how to open it, and swiped a real beer for yourself from the drinks table.

Jawsus-son Starship

21:43 / 18.02.06

According to hit John Simm drama Life on Mars the party seven was a two man job, both armed with hammers and screwdrivers, that was a primitive beer bomb that couldn't be opened without emptying its contents on every person/wll/surface in any given room.

00:34 / 19.02.06

"sir! There's un-identified BOGEYS on my screen!"

Not funny, really. We'd think of the star of African Queen and Casablanca first, I think.

00:45 / 19.02.06

Americans pronounce "bogey", M.E. a ghost, differently from "boogie", from "booger", which no one really seems to know the origin of. "Boogie" to dance or to hurry maybe be originally African.

01:15 / 19.02.06

Dude, you so need to read Fungus the Bogeyman... full of all manner of mucus delights...

08:22 / 20.02.06

How do you pronounce St Louis? Loowee or Loowis?

08:27 / 20.02.06

"Boogie" to dance or to hurry maybe be originally African.

Or it might be from the French "bouge", roughly to move or shove.

I always thought it was pronounced Saint Lewis.

09:35 / 20.02.06

Meet me in St Louis, Louie.

09:36 / 20.02.06

Judy Garland sang Meet me in Saint Looee, Louis.

10:02 / 20.02.06

This site points out that she sang Loo-ee but determinedly pronounced it Lou-iss in speech and not song.

Oh, and the question of the city's pronunciation is brought up early on, "St. Louis" or "St. Louie," when Esther and a city old-timer (Chill Wills) discuss the subject. He says it's always been "St. Louie," but Esther says it will always be "St. Louis" to her because the city is so proper. Of course, if she were right, we wouldn't have the title tune or the resultant movie. Sometimes, it's best to think in shades of gray.

Wikipedia says it's Loo-iss in English and Loo-ee in French.

12:23 / 20.02.06

Kinda like the split between those who say "Loss An-jeh-luss" and those who say "Lows Ahn-khhhhhhhhhhheh-less." The latter is more accurate, technically speaking, but also yards more pretentious.

The one that amuses me—and which I only hear in the occasional vintage movie—is the bastard Anglo mishmosh "Loss Angleless." Like, a loss with no angles. Jack Webb was great for that one.

18:13 / 20.02.06

Note on "boogie/bogey" etymology -- the English word for the creepy monster originally came from the much dreaded Bugis pirates of Indonesia.

I love that.

All Acting Regiment

18:30 / 20.02.06

Pirates from Indonesia? Insert a stupid ninja joke here!

18:37 / 20.02.06

I'm not sure about that grant. I hate to scribble on your filecard, but "bogey" as a fearful specter is connected to a lot of English and Ye Olde English words describing, er, fearful specters. "bug", as in bugbear, bogge, boggard, bogle, bwg, and in German you've got boegge. Goblin could also be related.

18:41 / 20.02.06

American Heritage insists "bugger" as in "sodomite" comes from a Medieval Catholic prejudice against Bulgarians, but that seems ridiculous to me.

19:10 / 20.02.06

The Bulgars in question there were Cathars, I believe, who were maligned in all sorts of ways by the mainstream church. No, not Cathars (them was French, mainly) -- but Bogomils. Gnostics, at any rate.

Wikipedia is inconclusive on the etymology of "boogieman", and although the online etymology dictionary only mentions European sources, it's interesting that it traces all of them only as far as the 16th cent -- which is when them Bugis-men started entering the European consciousness.

Bard: One-Man Humaton Hoedown

19:33 / 20.02.06

Query:

What the hell does "strewth" mean?

It seems to appear at least once in every issue of Hellblazer, no matter whether the issue is written by someone from the UK or not. What the hell does it MEAN?

...ahem.

I find myself using the V rather than 'the bird" despite being in Canada. Its easier on the fingers, I know I'm insulting someone, and generally THEY don't. Though my friend tells a humorous story about how while he was in the UK many, many years back a friend of his went up to the bar to order drinks for them.

So the barman asks "How many pints do you want?" Its quite loud, so this friend-of-a-friend does the one thing that comes naturally to all North Americans when they're in a loud bar:

Hand, nearest side pointed towards the barman, holding up the first two fingers. In Canada, an innocuous gesture. In the UK...well the gentleman on the other side of the bar wasn't so amused, but it was cleared up with the explanation "I'm Canadian." Quoting beer commercials solves all ills.

19:37 / 20.02.06

Strewth means "God's Truth".

19:37 / 20.02.06

Strewth = non-blaspheming version of the oath: God's truth!

19:39 / 20.02.06

The Bulgars in question there were Cathars, I believe, who were maligned in all sorts of ways by the mainstream church.

But, in England? How much contact did the English have with Bogomils?

20:07 / 20.02.06

I think the ideas were wider spread than the people -- it was an ideology that came out of Eastern Europe. The Cathars might (!) have been described as bulgari, ("Cathar" itself being a name applied by outsiders), and they had an organization that extended into England and northern France.

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