Useful information for foreigners visiting Britain

[OutOfBreath]

"gravy" is slang for "petrol"

I'll let you guys in on a secret.

For every word or phrase in the language, we have half a dozen alternatives at least. As soon as you (poor Johnny foreigner) get a grip on a slang term, we'll use another one, just because we can. These phrases also merge and mutate over time, and they are regionally based ...

That's not exactly unique to Brits - that's almost the definition of slang! Context is also important, I suspect. For example, if I'm driving my car and I look at the fuel gauge and say, "I need to get some go-juice" it's a good bet I'm talking about gasoline. If I'm sitting at my desk at work and say, "I need to get some go-juice" it's a good bet I'm talking about coffee. If I'm driving but not looking at the gas gauge and I say, "I need to get some go-juice" then what I mean is a complete toss up

[seanny]

i thought that quid was actually derived from an Irish word for 'portion' -
apparently Irish labourers on worksites who didn't know English used to ask for their "quid" ie. pay and that's how it came to mean what it does

[buddhu]

I'm not a stereotypical American tourist for the main reason that the typical American tourist actually has the money to tour somewhere. Nevertheless, I'd certainly put King'sWalden on my list of "must see" areas. It sounds charming - except for the absence of street lighting which just sounds dangerous. The website is great. I actually looked at your websites because I was intrigued by the acrylic plates - didn't know what they could be. Private companies can print and distribute license plates in the UK? Only the government does it here.

If anyone tried to erect electric street lighting around here they'd probably be burned for witchcraft...

The Dusk and Kingswalden sites I linked in my sig because they're community sites that I thought might interest the occasional passer-by. The license plate site link is to a site I put together one afternoon as part of my day job. I linked to that as a search engine ranking experiment - very dull, and I suggest everone ignore that link!

The government in the UK actually issues the registration numbers, but it is possible for individuals or plate trading companies to buy and sell registrations. There are strict display rules, but many of the numbers do bear an amusing resemblance to words or names. A colleague of mine has the surname Stout and his car plate is S7 OUT.

Some of these numbers sell for hundreds of thousands of pounds.

I sometimes find it hard to believe that I'm living in the real world...

Apologies for the uninteresting, way off topic diversion.

[CHIFF FIPPLE]

"gravy" is slang for "petrol"

I'll let you guys in on a secret.

For every word or phrase in the language, we have half a dozen alternatives at least. As soon as you (poor Johnny foreigner) get a grip on a slang term, we'll use another one, just because we can. These phrases also merge and mutate over time, and they are regionally based ...

That's not exactly unique to Brits - that's almost the definition of slang! Context is also important, I suspect. For example, if I'm driving my car and I look at the fuel gauge and say, "I need to get some go-juice" it's a good bet I'm talking about gasoline. If I'm sitting at my desk at work and say, "I need to get some go-juice" it's a good bet I'm talking about coffee. If I'm driving but not looking at the gas gauge and I say, "I need to get some go-juice" then what I mean is a complete toss up

Or as we say in Scotland.
That's nae exactly unique tae brits - that's almost tha definition ay slang! context is also important, Ah suspect. fur example, if aam drivin' mah motur an' Ah swatch at tha petrol gauge an' say, "i need tae gie some go-juice" it's a mental bit aam talkin' abit tanked up. if aam sittin' at mah desk at wark an' say, "i need tae gie some go-juice" it's a mental bit aam talkin' a wee dram. if aam drivin' but nae lookin' at tha gas gauge an' Ah say, "i need tae gie some go-juice" 'en whit Ah pure techt ye guess is as good as mine but ifin i'm sayin lets go and get tanked up it means i'm off oot on the piss

[buddhu]

i thought that quid was actually derived from an Irish word for 'portion' -
apparently Irish labourers on worksites who didn't know English used to ask for their "quid" ie. pay and that's how it came to mean what it does

Sounds possible to me: after all, we've nicked words from Greek, French, German, Latin, Hindi, Chinese...

A few years ago I lived in Wales for a while and I commented to a friend how unexpected it was to hear the lady in the local shop chatting away to a customer in Welsh (which I do not speak) and then to hear the word "helicopter" in the mix.

My friend, who was from Liverpool, agreed, and said that he'd noticed the same with some of the Indian people in his neighbourhood. Over the years as I've got to know more Asian people it has become clear that most of the words he mentioned were actually ones we lifted from various South Asian dialects, so he'd kind of put the cart before the horse...

Is that the metaphor I wanted? I doubt it, but you get my drift...

[DCrom]

i thought that quid was actually derived from an Irish word for 'portion' -
apparently Irish labourers on worksites who didn't know English used to ask for their "quid" ie. pay and that's how it came to mean what it does

Sounds possible to me: after all, we've nicked words from Greek, French, German, Latin, Hindi, Chinese...

A few years ago I lived in Wales for a while and I commented to a friend how unexpected it was to hear the lady in the local shop chatting away to a customer in Welsh (which I do not speak) and then to hear the word "helicopter" in the mix.

My friend, who was from Liverpool, agreed, and said that he'd noticed the same with some of the Indian people in his neighbourhood. Over the years as I've got to know more Asian people it has become clear that most of the words he mentioned were actually ones we lifted from various South Asian dialects, so he'd kind of put the cart before the horse...

Is that the metaphor I wanted? I doubt it, but you get my drift...

I came across a line once (probably garbled in memory):

"English doesn't borrow words from other languages. English waylays them in dark alleys, bashes them over the head, then riffles their pockets for every word that it can use."

Add Spanish to the list of sources, at least for the American dialects of English. And if my daughter's Anime-loving friends count, Japanese.

[Martin Milner]

Context is also important, I suspect.

err.. which is exactly what I said, John, if you read my whole post. You have quoted me out of context. <would put a smiley moti here but my PC won't let me> However your example re-inforces my point, and illustrates another too.

Insufficent context can lead to misunderstanding or confusion, something that happens a lot on Forums like C&F - as per your "driving but not lookig at the gauge" example. Emoticons can help here, to indicate a comment was made as a joke or tongue in cheek, but can still be misinterpreted.

Deliberately giving false, ambiguous or insufficent context or leads is the basis for a lot of English humour - I can't talk for the other British nations.
With friends I know well, I will often attempt this - with strangers, not so recommended.

Deliberately choosing to misunderstand is also a great source of jokes, but relies on the other person realising the misunderstanding is deliberate.
If they don't get this, they just think you're stupid, which in my case is usually right.

[Jerry Freeman]

Typical conversation in this household:

Child -- "Can we have some pistachios?"

Jerry -- "Gesundheit. Now what was it you wanted?"

Child -- "Pistachios."

Jerry -- "You sneezed again. What?"

Child -- "PISTACHIOS!!!"

Jerry -- "Gesundheit."

(Example of humor by deliberate misunderstanding. The children seem to love this kind of stuff.)

Best wishes,
Jerry