Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Queen's English as a Second Language Part 14

I took a break from blogging a few months ago. We moved from London to Chicago in September and I spent our last few months focusing on doing everything on my London list (post on that to follow). I have one more post of Queen's English words and a few other posts to come wrapping up our time in London.

Squidgy--soft and wet, as in "I don't think the bread is done baking, it's all squidgy in the middle."

Manoeuvred--maneuvered, as in "When I move back to America I won't know how to spell words like manoeuvred."

Shedload--a large amount, as in "I spent shedloads of money on dinner last night."

Bogeyman--boogeyman, as in "My parents told me when I was a kid to be good or the bogeyman would get me." Also, the word "bogey" is "booger" in American English. 

Caravan--mobile home or RV (Recreation Vehicle), as in "My dad wants to go caravanning as a family on holiday this summer."

99p (short for pence)--99 cents, as in "Can you believe I got this for only 99p?" Speaking of money, if something costs 4.99 you'd say "four pound ninety-nine."

Potter--occupy yourself with something pleasant, as in "I'm fine to potter about by myself."

Bruv--slang for brother, as in "Hey, you alright bruv?"

Spiffing--a very posh way of saying excellent, as in "We had an absolutely spiffing time, old chap." 

Chippie--local chip (french fries) shop, as in "I'll pop down to the local chippy."

Pernickety--persnickety, as in "This job is full of painstaking, pernickety work."

Gorgeous--delicious, as in "You've got to try this gnocchi; it's gorgeous!"

Rough Sleeper/sleeping rough--a homeless person who sleeps outside, as in "Some churches offer sections of pews to rough sleepers during the day." 

These last few are rude words and I include them to be thorough in my efforts to point out as many differences between British and American English that I can find in print. 

The "s-word" in the UK is pronounced "shy-t" and is spelled like the American version but with an "e" on the end. It is used exactly the same way, but many think it sounds a lot posher. 

Speaking of the "s-word", "shat" is the past tense version. 

Fanny baws--this is a Scottish word meaning stupid bastard, as in "Shut up fanny baws."

This last one is a group of words describing...well, I think it is self explanatory. Americans have their own list but some of these are purely British.

1 comment:

  1. Too funny, Rae. Would love to see the reaction to the last one (bookmark) on the shelves of any US store! Ha, ha. The crazies would be out in droves protesting. Actually they'd probably put it under plain, brown wrappers.

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