10.5.07

AN ENGLISHMAN IN NEW YORK - TT

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Thirteen different meanings !

Pookie is exhausted, she studied the difference between American and Oxford English meowing

When an English-English speaking person comes to the States how should he know that :

1. he doesn't go to a toilet but has to rest in a restroom ? Even when it's urgent !

2. he doesn't eat a biscuit but a cookie and doesn't even get an indigestion because he thought it was something for the computer

3. he is not a chap anymore but a guy and is afraid of wrong prononciation "gay".

4. he has not a booth in his car but a trunk and thinks he now has a corpse in his booth.

5. he doesn't drive in a lorry but in truck

6. he doesn't have a bonnet at his car but a hood. Wasn't that a bonnet to wear ?

7. he doesn't sit in a garden but in a yard and askes himself if it is bigger then a meter ?

8. he hasn't a pushchair to push but a stroller and what does a stroller then walking around and looking at girls ?

9. He is not in a lift but in an elevator. Fortunately both went up and down and didn't get stuck

10. He has no wardrobe anymore but a closet and wonders why he should put his clothes in a toilet or restroom

11. he doesn't get post anymore but mail and wonders why the postman rings twice and not the mailman ?

12. he isn't wearing trousers but pants and askes himself what he should put under his pants ?

13. He doesn't watch a film but a movie and his chair is not moving

Poor poor Englishman in New York !

21 comments:

Marie said...

ha ha!!! isn't it funny how we americans try to change every bit of the english language????? you'll get by, don't worry, you invented the language in the 1st place!!! it's not so bad!!! i hardly hear anyone use the word 'TOILET' anymore, though am sure everybody knows what that means!!! great list this week!

The Gatekeeper said...

Oh, that helps me a lot. I'm reader C.S. Lewis and I need English chap's dictionary. I now know what a lorry is. Thanks. Pretty awesome list.

MaR said...

Loved it!! but it applies to Spanish people traveling to Southamerica too :), and the nouns/verbs people use also vary from country to country in Southamerica too.
Vive la difference!

Anonymous said...

Oh no! More questions. This week my TT is answers to your questions of last week's TT. Be sure to stop by and check them out.

Very funny.
He would be a legal alien. :)

Anonymous said...

Funny post. I enjoy reading this. Happy TT!

Anonymous said...

Heehee - I have a few lists of words this week as well - things that my (Scots) parents say that we had to translate for my husband. Matches very well with your TT.

Robin said...

It's a wonder we understand each other at all sometimes.

I once went around in circles with a British coworker who insisted I make a table when I was trying to make a schedule - took at least a half an hour before we were finally sorted out.

Happy TT.

Melli said...

Oyyyyyy Vey! It's all true! I love the car boot and bonnet! Those two have always made me smile!

Pamela said...

1) or bathroom, which doesn't have a bath
2) or cracker The indigestion part is not clear to me???
3)or fellow
4)corpse????? don't get that one either. Must be lost in translation
5)or a pick-up
6)babies wear bonnets, yes
7)ha ha ha ha ha meter/ yard
I would make you weed, if you sat in my garden
8) we sometimes go for a stroll
9)a lift goes in your shoes (or in some cases your cross your heart bra)
10)there are still wardrobes, but they are free standing. A closet is built in

11) Postal service, but you are correct, we generally Mail our mail and the mailman drives the mail truck.

12)slacks, jeans, occasionally pants

13) I think it's called both -- but when you go to the "movies" that is a popcorn and candy event

Dragonheart, Merlin, Devi, and Chloe said...

LOL! :) You have to love the differences between British English and American English. Then there are Canadian English and Australian English, which are their own unique languages as well!

Anonymous said...

Hee, what fun. I love reading language-related TTs!

Happy TT, and thanks for visiting mine!

Lori said...

I never thought about it....good questions:)

Cinnamon Girl said...

Great list!

TopChamp said...

ha ha... yard/metre - clever lady!

Come and meet Dixie...

not thursday thirteen today

RennyBA said...

I have the same problem when visiting my inlaws in US - but they try to bare with me and after all I'm a Viking:-)

Anonymous said...

Lol. That's a good list, but the words would change depending on where the Englishman visited. If he came to Texas, he'd have even worse problems. As I recall, you think we talk funny.

Anonymous said...

These made me laugh, because my husband had/has some of the same problems!

Susan Helene Gottfried said...

Good one. I have had friends who never stopped calling hallways "passages" or ... shoot. Clothing. (Jumper, maybe?) And wallets!

I may be the minority, but I LIKE it when I hear things called by non-American names.

Happy TT!

Anonymous said...

How about living in a "flat" instead of an "apartment." I loved all the different expressions I picked up while living in London. And for what it's worth "pants" refers to underwear here in Japan!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jeanette said...

Hi Gattina. I see pookie been studing hard again and fallen asleep. Great post, I have a bonnet and a boot in my car, and a toilet in the bathroom, Take care ((((9hugs)))

Unknown said...

As they say, "two nations divided by a common language." When I was working in an auto parts store a gentleman came in to purchase a petrol cap. I knew what he was referring to, but it took my co-worker a while to figure it out -- he finally had to ask the customer what that was.