Location: Formerly Hen Wlad fy Nhadau, now, Murcia, Spain
Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 9:32 pm Post subject: British to American translations
Just been reading about the 'gas gauges' on the Petrol cap thread. How many UK to US translations can we think of? Here are a few off the top of my head. I'd be interested in some more unusual ones.
Petrol - gas
Boot - trunk
Pavement - sidewalk
Nappy - diaper
Tap - faucet
Holiday - vacation
Courgette - zucchini
Biscuit - cookie _________________ "You can't win races with passion alone."
Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 10:03 pm Post subject: Re: British to American translations
kathy wrote:
Just been reading about the 'gas gauges' on the Petrol cap thread. How many UK to US translations can we think of? Here are a few off the top of my head. I'd be interested in some more unusual ones.
Petrol - gas
Boot - trunk
Pavement - sidewalk
Nappy - diaper
Tap - faucet
Holiday - vacation
Courgette - zucchini
Biscuit - cookie
waistcoat - vest
jacket - coat
porridge - oatmeal
football - soccer
motorway - freeway
railway - railroad
lunatic asylum - NRA meeting _________________ “When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race.” — H.G. Wells
Location: Formerly Hen Wlad fy Nhadau, now, Murcia, Spain
Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 11:45 pm Post subject: Re: British to American translations
[quote="C]
If a biscuit is a cookie, then what is a biscuit? [/quote]
I've no idea. Describe a biscuit to me.
Cape, I'm surprised to infer from your list that words like 'shag' and 'knackered' aren't used in the US. _________________ "You can't win races with passion alone."
Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2008 12:10 am Post subject: Re: British to American translations
C wrote:
If a biscuit is a cookie, then what is a biscuit?
It sounds like biscuits and gravy for breakfast would be a hard sell over there.
[quote='kathy']I've no idea. Describe a biscuit to me.[/quote]
American biscuits:
_________________ "Listen, my son. Trust no one! You can count on no one but yourself. Improve your skills, son. Harden your body. Become a number one man. Do not ever let anyone beat you!" -- Gekitotsu! Satsujin ken
Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2008 1:09 am Post subject: Re: British to American translations
Runitout wrote:
It looks like a mutated muffin.
I have just researched this. Apparently there is no British equivalent to American biscuits. Some scones come close but the texture is different. In fact the baked goods area is a minefield of confusion when it comes to British and American terminology.
US------------------------------------------UK
Cookie------------------------------------Biscuit
Muffin-------------------------------------Muffin/Cream Muffin
Cupcake----------------------------------Fairy Cake/Cupcake
English Muffin----------------------------Muffin(?) or doesn't exist
???????----------------------------------Crumpet
Scone-------------------------------------Rock Cake(?) or Scone
Biscuit------------------------------------No exact analogue but similar to savory scone or dumpling
???(US dumplings are boiled)----------Dumpling
Crepe--------------------------------------Pancake
Pancake-----------------------------------Pikelet _________________ "Listen, my son. Trust no one! You can count on no one but yourself. Improve your skills, son. Harden your body. Become a number one man. Do not ever let anyone beat you!" -- Gekitotsu! Satsujin ken
Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2008 1:12 am Post subject: Re: British to American translations
Runitout wrote:
It looks like a mutated muffin.
Or a scone, perhaps.
In Australia, the influx of American culture means that cookie is widely understood and often used, but it tends to have a specialised meaning. A biscuit can apply to anything the Americans would call a 'cookie', including biscuits for cheese or hard or processed biscuits, including chocolate biscuits. A 'cookie' tends to be used only for the 'home-baked' style of biscuit (or something attempting to emulate it) that is softer in texture, larger in size and less uniform in shape.
A scone is something else again. Nothing beats a CWA scone, with appropriate lashings of cream and jam, baked by some grandmother from a recipe handed down to her by her great-aunt during the war, etc, etc.
***
EDit: I noticed your post, Bro. Ta.
One Americanism that I always found peculiar was 'entrée', being used to describe a main meal.
Didn't they always say that the UK and the US are two nations separated by a common language?
Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2008 2:02 am Post subject: Re: British to American translations
The fact that in America the entree is the main meal makes no linguistic sense to me - unless the desserts are simply enormous.
The single biggest problem word is 'pants'. Lots of embarrassment there for all to go around. In Australia, we also use the American term (whereas generally Australian usage follows received English usage).
It can give quite the wrong impression for a skirt-wearing lady to say, "I might put some pants on" at a gathering in the UK. _________________ And saying so to some
Means nothing; others it leaves
Nothing to be said.
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Still makes me laugh.