Frank and Ernest

[Tom]

Interesting observation Bob. My long-time perception is that US words are often longer &/or more words are used to describe something.

 

[BobNSam]

Interesting observation Bob. My long-time perception is that US words are often longer &/or more words are used to describe something.

Concede that there is ammunition on both sides of discussion. But the colonies won "the war".

By the way I truly enjoy British (and I mean Great Britain) comedy starting with Fawlty Towers, The Vicar of Dibley, Yes Minister and on and on. Not all have been imported to the U.S. U.S. remakes are generally not as good.

 

[carson]

Interesting observation Bob. My long-time perception is that US words are often longer &/or more words are used to describe something.

Talking about long words ....
  How about the German word for Zebra ?
    "Pinstripinggewearingclippenclopper"    ;D    8)

 

[Tom]

Fawlty Towers is an acquired taste, but not mine. The others are OK.

I listen to a lot of BBC podcasts at night, and it's clear that the Brit vernacular and humor have changed significantly over the last 20-30 years, not necessarily for the better.

 

[grassy]

Concede that there is ammunition on both sides of discussion. But the colonies won "the war".

By the way I truly enjoy British (and I mean Great Britain) comedy starting with Fawlty Towers, The Vicar of Dibley, Yes Minister and on and on. Not all have been imported to the U.S. U.S. remakes are generally not as good.

But they lost when they attacked us   ..and for good or bad, we still have our Queen..   

 

[Tom]

LOL Carson. Like Welsh place names, which are descriptive of the location, such as:

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

A small town in North Wales. One translation:

The church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid whirlpool by St. Tysilio's of the red cave.

 

[Ned]

I like anything with John Cleese, Monty Python being at the top of the list.  Benny Hill was also enjoyable, if you like burlesque type comedy.

 

[BobNSam]

Fawlty Towers is an acquired taste, but not mine.

Definitely agree...wife liked it and wore me down. Really got to where I acquired the taste.
Remember the Ministry of Silly Walks...

 

[Ned]

Remember the Ministry of Silly Walks...

That was from Monty Python, with John Cleese.

 

[Tom]

Remember the Ministry of Silly Walks...

Didn't ring a bell, so I looked it up online.

 

[BobNSam]

That was from Monty Python, with John Cleese.

Yep, shifted gears...hope I didn't strip yours.

 

[Frizlefrak]

The first time I went to England in the mid 1980's, it was a bit of a shock language wise.  I asked where Madame Tussaud's wax museum was, and this guy told me to "queue up" over there.  I was 21 years old, and I thought the guy had just told me to insert something in my nether region.  My older sis was with me and said "no dumbass....he told you to get in line".  Lesson learned.

The next day I asked someone where the subway was.  He pointed to a stairwell going down.  I went down the stairs, and came up on the other side of the street.  Funny....very funny....have a little fun with the young Yank.  I asked another guy where the subway was and he got a puzzled look and said "You just came out of it".  I said "no....the subway train".  "OH...you're  a Yank....you mean the Tube."  OK, sure.  I followed his directions, and I was on the train minutes later.  2nd lesson learned.

There were others....

 

[eric2015]

Aye Ian, we can. But Eric is a Hong Kong national waiting to come to the US, so the humour is a little tougher for him to get.

BTW my wife has folks in fits over Britlish words she used to have to explain/translate when we first came to the US. The one she doesn't tell is my pre-warning "honey, don't ask to borrow someone's rubber". She carried a "rubber" aka eraser in her purse for years, just in case  ;D

haha.... All about the funny discussion of language ;D

And i wonder why don't ask to borrow someone's rubber? And and why lipstick will make a mistake?

I assume that there are something similar pronounce?

 

[Tom]

And i wonder why don't ask to borrow someone's rubber?

In the US, 'rubber' is the nickname for a condom 

 

[eric2015]

I must say Hail Language !! And how about the lipstick metioned by Roy?

Tom I just spit coffee on the keyboard. Now that is funny. ;D A workmate had visited Australia and a woman she met asked to borrow a lipstick. She replied just a minute while I root in my purse. Her companion was horrified, the word has an entirely different connotation in Oz.

 

[Ned]

Yep, shifted gears...hope I didn't strip yours.

My gears were stripped long ago.

 

[BobNSam]

My gears were stripped long ago.

I often feel that mine were also.

 

[RoyM]

I should have highlighted root. The Aussie meaning of the word is unprintable here.