Hello from an American!

[JohnMouse]

I am an American too, and I am also fascinated with the British terminoligy.

What exactly is the tradition of Boxing Day? I know it has nothing to do with pugilism. I believe it has something to do with Christmas packages.

When I was in WDW last year, I could tell if someone was from the UK when they were wearing a soccer--uh, football shirt. I remember seeing my share of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and at least one of Tottenham Hotspur.

I had dinner in the Rose and Crown one night.....my server was a pretty young lady from Wales. I told her that one of my favorite film stars was Catherine Zeta-Jones, who is also Welsh.

They sell the Daily Mail in the hotel sundry shops. I bought a copy every day of my trip--er, holiday.

And finally, what do you think of the hostess--I mean, presenter of the Top 7 Must Sees? Do you think Stacey is cheeky?

 

[wifey]

Hi Boxing Day was I think started by Queen Victoria , she began the practice of returning unwanted gifts to the people or shops they came from. All unwanted items were re-boxed and returned some shops used to give back the value of the goods or you could have chosen something more suitable. I guess it's one of the reasons we have "Boxing Day sales" too.

Your corn bread always fascinates us it has the same texture and a similar taste as Victoria Sandwich Cakes sans icing sugar and filling !! We wouldn't dream of eating one of those along side a savoury meal here... may have it be for dessert but that's all.

 

[Danauk]

The reason I have read that we have boxing day was that in Victorian times servants would have to work on Christmas day to serve the household. However they were given the following day off and were given boxes with presents in and left overs from the house Christmas meal in boxes, hense the term Boxing day.

 

[Dimplenose]

I think the real reason for Boxing Day has been lost over time but there are many theories. As well as the ones above it is also believed that Boxing Day was the day the churches opened their poor boxes and distributed the money collected to the poor.

My family are from the south east of England but we lived in the midlands when I was a girl. My friend told me that her dad was "on the box" and I thought she meant he was on TV - but it was a local expression for being on sick pay!! So it's not just across the Atlantic that meanings change.

 

[Pugsly]

One thing that always gets me when I visit the USA is when people ask for biscuits and gravy. To us biscuits are cookies and what you call biscuits to us are more like savoury scones. I

OMG! so *that's* what a biscuit is in the UK! When we visited a few years ago, we were eating at a KFC in Leicester Square (London) and I kept asking for a biscuit. I might as well have been speaking Chinese - because the girl behind the counter just kept shaking her head "no" and had a very blank expression on her face. Bread? I asked. No. Rolls? I asked. No. Never did get a bread-like product to eat with my fried chicken.

 

[CarolynU]

Ok here's some other differences.
Faucet = tap
You have an expression .... do the math. We don't often say that, but if we did it would be do the maths plural.
In Canada I sometimes hear people say......... true that.
Again not something we are familiar with. If we did use those words we would say ... that's true.
Subtle differences. Oh and the bangs thing. Totally had me confused for ages. My daughter in law is Canadian and kept talking to me about pinning back my bangs???????????????? I had no clue what she meant at all. LOL!
Oh and thongs = flip flops. Thongs in the Uk are very different trust me!!!!!!!!!

 

[orlandothebeagle]

Lots of differances, I met a df on these boards we were cruising with, I told her I had bought cool new pants for the cruise that were iluminuos colours, she asked me to send her a piccy, I thought it was a bit of a strange request but never thought anything much of it.

I think she spent the next week cleaning coffee of her computer

 

[wifey]

Our family has never understood why you call the stuff served with the patriot platter and similar meals like that "gravy" we never have gravy that looks like that Our gravy is never grey or lumpy and is made from real meat stock with minimum amounts of flour involved. It certainly doesn't have the texture of thick wall paper paste. We laugh about it when we visit Orlando.

We found the biscuit thing funny too, to us your version is a plain scone ours is definitely a cookie as you would call them.

Another one which caught my attention the fist time we visited was in the ladies restroom the "napkins" we call sanitary towels Napkins here are what we put on the table to wipe your hands clean after a meal (useful after eating things covered in sticky sauce).

 

[Dimplenose]

I've just remembered another couple of differences:-

The plural of Lego is Lego (not Legos).

We don't drop the h in the word herb.

 

[orlandothebeagle]

I've just remembered another couple of differences:-

The plural of Lego is Lego (not Legos).

We don't drop the h in the word herb.

lol, erbal essances

Hey, we love america, no need to be hesatint!!!!!!!!

 

[AngieBelle]

Our family has never understood why you call the stuff served with the patriot platter and similar meals like that "gravy" we never have gravy that looks like that Our gravy is never grey or lumpy and is made from real meat stock with minimum amounts of flour involved. It certainly doesn't have the texture of thick wall paper paste. We laugh about it when we visit Orlando.

We found the biscuit thing funny too, to us your version is a plain scone ours is definitely a cookie as you would call them.

Another one which caught my attention the fist time we visited was in the ladies restroom the "napkins" we call sanitary towels Napkins here are what we put on the table to wipe your hands clean after a meal (useful after eating things covered in sticky sauce).

Hmm...I don't call sanitary towels napkins- I call them pads. I use napkins the same way you do.

And I also say flip-flops: thongs can mean the type of flip flop with the thing between the toe, or they can mean a type of underwear.

"true that" is just slang- probably a regional thing. I don't say it myself.

"Do the math" means essential "check out the facts, the answer is obvious." I've never heard anyone say "maths." I didn't think math had a plural form!

 

[wayneg]

"Do the math" means essential "check out the facts, the answer is obvious." I've never heard anyone say "maths." I didn't think math had a plural form!

Welcome AngieBelle

I was watching news coverage of your elections a few weeks ago. The presenter commented on the word math. He said over here in the US they do the math, whereas in the UK we do the maths, short for mathematics.
We have a friend from CA, now moved to NC, I thought it was him saying it incorrectly until I found out you all say math.
Will have to get some sleep now, our plane leave for Orlando in 10hr:45mins.

 

[lawlesslovewdw]

Hubby asked for full fat coke in WDW last week The poor server looked so confused until he said regular
My son is now using the word awesome for everything

 

[orlandothebeagle]

Oh yeah , I got room service, I asked for a margarita(spelling) I thought I was getting a pizza but got a drink with tonato juice if I mind right(yuk)
I got the cheese and tomato pizza on the house half hour later!

 

[ScotsMinnie]

Love you girls at the BBB. MY DD had an amazing experience there - one she won't forget.

I love the differences in language there are. Fanny pack has to be the funniest though. And pants................

I was siting next to a family outside Splash Mountain one day and the Mum, Dad, Gran. Grandad were having a drink while the 2 young boys were getting impatient to move on. One was really annoying the other one. The Dad shouted out loudly "stop bustin his chops" . I nearly spat out my own drink and couldn't hide my laugh. I love that!! People really do say that! Its a hilarious saying.

 

[AngieBelle]

Love you girls at the BBB. MY DD had an amazing experience there - one she won't forget.

I love the differences in language there are. Fanny pack has to be the funniest though. And pants................

I was siting next to a family outside Splash Mountain one day and the Mum, Dad, Gran. Grandad were having a drink while the 2 young boys were getting impatient to move on. One was really annoying the other one. The Dad shouted out loudly "stop bustin his chops" . I nearly spat out my own drink and couldn't hide my laugh. I love that!! People really do say that! Its a hilarious saying.

Hehehe

Yeah, aren't idioms funny? "Bustin his chops" means teasing him. I once found a book at the library that was all about idioms, and the illustrations were of the literal translations. We say some strange things- it's no wonder English is the hardest language to learn if it's not your first!

Even within America, different parts of the country have different words and expressions! Carbonated drinks might be called soft drinks, pop, or Coke depending on where you are. I was born in California and moved to Tennessee when I was 10- talk about culture shock! There was a lot of southern slang that wasn't familiar to me.

So glad you had a great time at the BBB!

 

[joemo]

I remember the blank looks when I told a CM we were staying for a 'fortnight', now I just say 'two weeks'!

Yes its childish, but DH and I have fits of giggles every time we hear someone saying 'fanny' or 'fanny-bag'......they just said a rude word!

On our last visit a lady was exitedly telling her husband about her new 'fanny-pack' - you can get a pack for it now??!!

 

[misscrossbee]

Even within America, different parts of the country have different words and expressions! Carbonated drinks might be called soft drinks, pop, or Coke depending on where you are. I was born in California and moved to Tennessee when I was 10- talk about culture shock! There was a lot of southern slang that wasn't familiar to me.

I'm originally from the Boston area where we always called soda 'tonic'.