Why do Americans say "Craig" funny?

[sheetz]

That is how it is pronounced in the US. Do other countries pronounce the "h"? Where are you from MJ6987?

It's uncommon but some people in the US do pronounce the "h" in "herb." Martha Stewart is probably the most notable one. I guess it's regional?

 

[Princess Jes]

That is awesome and terrifying at the same time. The most frightening animal we have here is a badger... which are tiny and you never see, unless its roadkill.

Sure, bears are scary, but have you seen the list of animals that are native to australia that can kill you basically just by looking at you?
And this buggers are small, you can't see them and hide like you can a bear! Lol

 

[BagOLaughs]

Sure, bears are scary, but have you seen the list of animals that are native to australia that can kill you basically just by looking at you?

Actually my one claim to fame in Australia is I worked at a wildlife sanctuary for 5 months (many years ago lol). I was in the Atherton Tablelands about a 3hr drive from Cairns.

And I agree, Aussie animals will get ya because you can't see them.

I was only there for 5 months and I saw 3/10 most venomous snakes in the world! Taipan, Eastern Brown snake and red bellied black snake - in the wild not in cages! I also saw a red back spider which was "fun"; they are so small. I also saw lots of carpet pythons and one amethystine python (which was beautiful) and one big old goanna waltzing along down a path.

Its a good thing I like wildlife! i'd love to live down under, you have truly the best wildlife in the world.

 

[samsteele]

Sure, bears are scary, but have you seen the list of animals that are native to australia that can kill you basically just by looking at you?
And this buggers are small, you can't see them and hide like you can a bear! Lol

Australians deal with a whole other wild animal kingdom than North Americans. The snakes alone are scary, scary. Props to you! Strange enough, the black bear isn't our most dangerous animal in Eastern Canada. Its actually the moose. And not just because of car strikes on the roads. Bull moose are incredibly aggressive in the Fall and they can/will have a go at people who wander into their territory. Moose are huge. And until you see one close up, you just can't fathom how large it is.

 

[Princess Jes]

It's funny because kangaroos and wombats are actually quite dangerous too.
Roos make adig mess and lots of damage when they bounce across the road and you're doing 100km/h
Same with wombats. Those little suckers have armor under their fur, it's like hitting shoulder.

I've thought of two other things:
Pies.
We eat meat pies. The only other pie we really have are Apple. Y'all seem to have lots of pies, of the sweet variety. I'm jealous, except for pumpkin pie. My sister bought one from Costco for the novelty, but it's packed with death spices (cinnamon, nutmeg etc) so it was it something I wanted to eat.

And what's with pumpkin being in everything? And sweet stuff?!
We eat pumpkin with a roast dinner, or in soup, but never in a sweet pie/tart.

 

[samsteele]

It's funny because kangaroos and wombats are actually quite dangerous too.
Roos make adig mess and lots of damage when they bounce across the road and you're doing 100km/h
Same with wombats. Those little suckers have armpit under their fur, it's like hitting shoulder.

Guessing this means that they are packed with muscle? So are solid little animals & do a lot of damage to a car when hit?

We have meat pie here although it isn't as popular these days. Big ones used to be tortiere (French Canadian meat pie with ground pork and some of your "death spices." ) and the British shepherd's pie.

Re the pumpkin pie: we absolutely adore it. Like most things, for true taste, you need to try home made. And it isn't pumpkin pie w/o real whipped cream on top. The Costco one wouldn't be a true representation of what a pumpkin pie actually tastes like. Let me know if you want my recipe & I'd post it later. However, I'm guessing you might have trouble buying the canned pumpkin in Australia (and also in the UK). I've heard its hard to find in your stores outside of North America? There are stories of Canadian & American expats slipping cans (you call them tins?) of pumpkin into their luggage so they can bake a pumpkin pie for Christmas & the holidays. However, I have a friend in the UK who told me since Harry Potter, she can now find the odd can of pumpkin in some specialty stores. Funny how HP has had such a big social impact.

 

[Princess Jes]

Guessing this means that they are packed with muscle? So are solid little animals & do a lot of damage to a car when hit?

We have meat pie here although it isn't as popular these days. Big ones used to be tortiere (French Canadian meat pie with ground pork and some of your "death spices." ) and the British shepherd's pie.

Re the pumpkin pie: we absolutely adore it. Like most things, for true taste, you need to try home made. And it isn't pumpkin pie w/o real whipped cream on top. The Costco one wouldn't be a true representation of what a pumpkin pie actually tastes like. Let me know if you want my recipe & I'd post it later. However, I'm guessing you might have trouble buying the canned pumpkin in Australia (and also in the UK). I've heard its hard to find in your stores outside of North America? There are stories of Canadian & American expats slipping cans (you call them tins?) of pumpkin into their luggage so they can bake a pumpkin pie for Christmas & the holidays. However, I have a friend in the UK who told me since Harry Potter, she can now find the odd can of pumpkin in some specialty stores. Funny how HP has had such a big social impact.

It was late when I wrote that, damn auto correct. They have armor under their fur. Lol

Yeah it's highly unlikey we have cans of pumpkin. Plus, there's the death spices to worry about :-/

 

[DisFanJen]

I'm loving reading all of these! And the purse\wallet thing. I carry a little phone case that also takes my cards and cash which goes straight in my pocket and I still call it a purse.

I was born in London but moved to Wales about 15 years ago. Now if you want weird words, Welsh is the way to go!

Here's a classic:

cwtch.

 

[Princess Jes]

Here's a classic:

cwtch.

1. How does that sound?
2. Is that English or an actual other language?

 

[DisFanJen]

1. How does that sound?
2. Is that English or an actual other language?

You'd pronounce it 'Kutch'
And it's Welsh.

Welsh is a weird one to get your head around. For example, ll = cl.

Wales in welsh is Cymru. But if you pronounced it the way it looks you'd have some very unhappy welsh people. It's actually pronounced 'Kumree'.

 

[Princess Jes]

You'd pronounce it 'Kutch'
And it's Welsh.

Welsh is a weird one to get your head around. For example, ll = cl.

Wales in welsh is Cymru. But if you pronounced it the way it looks you'd have some very unhappy welsh people. It's actually pronounced 'Kumree'.

Sweet baby jebus, it's bad enough getting our heads around the variations of English in this thread, let along another language

 

[samsteele]

It was late when I wrote that, damn auto correct. They have armor under their fur. Lol

No problems LOL. The laughs on me because I thought it was another cool Aussie-ism. And was thinking, in North America, the fur is usually under the armpit not the other way round. Too funny.

 

[FireOwl98]

So, while I'm sitting here freezing my butt off on a morning that the highest temperature for the day will be 12 degrees celcius (because for some reason, America is the only country that uses Fahrenheit, which, has no direct calculation to celcius, why is that?!)

Jes, there is an actual conversion from celsius to fahrenheit ( T(°F) = T(°C) × 9/5 + 32 ). So 12 degrees celsius is 53.6 degrees fahrenheit.

As for local sayings, everyone has their own treasure trove to pull from that would make others tilt their heads like a confused puppy. Around here in Philly, we have Beef & Beers (fundraisers where you usually serve roast beef and beer, many times there are raffles/auctions as well). We like water ice (pronounced wooder ice, other parts of the US call it Italian Ice, basically a flavored ice treat). We like to eat hoagies (pronounced hoeg-ee, long sandwiches with lunch meat that others call subs or grinders). We tend to have lazy speech patterns as well. When we ask "did you eat?", it literally comes out "jeet?"

 

[Princess Jes]

Jes, there is an actual conversion from celsius to fahrenheit ( T(°F) = T(°C) × 9/5 + 32 ). So 12 degrees celsius is 53.6 degrees fahrenheit.

As for local sayings, everyone has their own treasure trove to pull from that would make others tilt their heads like a confused puppy. Around here in Philly, we have Beef & Beers (fundraisers where you usually serve roast beef and beer, many times there are raffles/auctions as well). We like water ice (pronounced wooder ice, other parts of the US call it Italian Ice, basically a flavored ice treat). We like to eat hoagies (pronounced hoeg-ee, long sandwiches with lunch meat that others call subs or grinders). We tend to have lazy speech patterns as well. When we ask "did you eat?", it literally comes out "jeet?"

Ok well there is no easy conversion for C to F.
Eg. Miles to kilometers is 1.6:1
Prouds to kilos is 2.2:1


Your last example sounds very much like what we do here. Very lazy and very fast speech.

 

[samsteele]

Y'all seem to have lots of pies, of the sweet variety.

Thought of another one. Rhubarb. Last night I was in the garden harvesting rhubarb. I'm making easy raspberry rhubarb freezer jam tonight. I'll clean, cut up and freeze the rest for fruit crisps & pies in the fall & winter. Because it is tart, we like to mix it 50:50 with sweeter fruit like strawberries, raspberries, etc. I don't think rhubarb is as easily found in the southern US states as it is in the North. Do you "rhubarb" in Australia/NZ & the UK?

 

[BagOLaughs]

Yup!

Clicked post before I typed the rest of my post. Silly Rachel.

The rest of my post is below.

 

[BagOLaughs]

Do you "rhubarb" in Australia/NZ & the UK?

Yup! Rhubarb crumble is a UK staple. In the winter with custard.

Also Rhubarb and custard sweets are a british staple and can be found in all old fashioned sweet shops.

In fact that reminds me... here is something that is different

UK = Sweets, American = Candy, Aussies = Lollies, Canada = ???

So I'm referring to "a small shaped piece of confectionery made with sugar"

 

[samsteele]

Canada = Candy. Or awesomeness!

 

[vrajewski10513]

I love this thread. A common one over here is bagel. BAY-gull vs. BAG-ull. Also a good friend growing up used to pronounce milk as melk. I found that odd.

 

[samsteele]

UK = Sweets, American = Candy, Aussies = Lollies, Canada = ???

If you love candy here, you have what's called a "sweet tooth". Same for you?