Colloquial expressions.

[michel]

My son James is home; whilst he was teaching in France, he met an American Girl who looked at him blankly when he criticized a woman for looking 'like mutton dressed as lamb'.
He had to expain to her that it meant an older lady dressing to look younger than her age; she had apparently never come across in The States.
Are there any differences between expressions across the States ? are there any that you have heard of, from England which you would never use ?

 

[Dinogrrl]

I'm sure there are, but without any examples to base this on, I wouldn't know for sure :}~.

All I know of for sure is that I'm from the South, and I'm stuck out in the West/Midwest (South Dakota) for school, and there are some words that I say that people out here don't know squat about XD. Well...some people say 'do you want to go with?' instead of 'do you want to come/go with me?', which is wierd to me. I say 'yall' still, which people out here find hilarious XD. I say 'soda' or 'coke' instead of 'pop'. My friend Brandon says I have a cute little Southern accent, and I'm just like "what accent?"

He also gets confused on where I'm from. "Not North Dakota, that other...North place..." (North Carolina 9_9).

And nobody out here knows what country ham is >:/ grr.

 

[Unedited]

I'm not very good at noticing the differences. What with moving around a lot, my way of talking is a bit of both British English and American English. All my American friends say I sound like a brit, and all my British friends say I sound American. Recently I heard someone say that they were "tuckered out" which I guess is American, but I had no clue what it meant.

I had a weird disscussion over the phrase "I knocked myself up." The person I was talking to thought I'd gotten myself pregnant , but I just meant I'd over exherted myself. I really can't remember which way goes with which though.

 

[Dinogrrl]

Yeah, "tuckered out" is an American thing. Means that you're tired :}. I don't hear it that often myself.

 

[Saint Xtreme]

I've heard alot of British slang and expressions that completely lose me, but I can't think of one of the top of my head.

 

[Unedited]

Yeah, "tuckered out" is an American thing. Means that you're tired :}. I don't hear it that often myself.

I wish you'd been there to explain it to me the first time. The person I asked said it means the same thing as "I'm pooped," which I had never heard either. My imagination was running wild trying to figure that one out.

 

[michel]

As far as I can see, you Americans are well off - we, in England, have to put up with regional accents. When my father firswt moved to this country, I had to interpret our next door neighbour's english (South west) to my father, as I had to explain cockney (born within the sound of 'Bow bells, in London') to him - totally illogically, it is more arduous than using the word it desribes - Apples & pears (For stairs), slice of bread (head) - hence 'use your loaf'.

I'm sure this sounds incomprehensible, but it is factual.:jiggy:

 

[Bastet]

Cockney slang made its way to Australia...my grandparents used it all the time. There's a thread around here somewhere about it. Ah, here it is: http://www.religiousforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8276

I used the phrase "storm in a teacup" here not long ago, and somebody (don't remember who), said they'd never heard it before. I have many friends online who are from the US and Canada, and I've had some amusing times trying to explain some of the phrases I've used to them. The day I had to explain to my Canadian friend what "running around like a chook with its head cut off" meant, springs to mind. Poor girl was baffled... :biglaugh:

 

[KateTacular]

I was working at Menards [big home improvement type store] once and a woman asked me where the buggies were. I had no clue what she was talking about [from Northern Indiana].

 

[Dinogrrl]

You think America doesn't have its regional dialects/accents? :}~ Try living in New England for a while and then moving down South (as in the case with my dad).
Well, okay...at least we can understand each other (most of the time). But it's still wierd .