15 British phrases that confuse Americans

This is quite amusing.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/201...ericans_n_5591520.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

 

I still don't get exactly what "taking the piss" is supposed to imply.
Makes me thing of a guy collecting people's piss in glass vials and taking it to a lab or something.

 

he he
It's in the comedy section.

 

pissed = britishism for getting drunk/americanism for getting angry.

fag = britishism for tobacco cigarette/pejorative americansim for gay male

loop = britishism for passing sideing/americanism for baloon track.

siding = britishism for industrial and other, often single ended service track/americanism for passing 'loop'.

as with most languages and dialects, i notice as much or more about things relating to trains then those relating to human society.

 

I tried reading Russell Brand's book and I found it tough going trying to understand all the slang. I gave up, actually; decided I didn't care about him.

 

that seems strange. WHICH russel brand book? and what does caring about its author have to do with reading a book?

i seem to recall that name in connection with a project back in the 60s and 70s called the whole earth catalog. didn't know about him writing a book.

haven't read my e-mail in a couple of days, so i haven't seen my daily kos yet.

 

It was his autobiography -- that's why I lost interest.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

No, not Stewart Brand, silly.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

i don't think i know of any other?

 

Russell Brand is the British actor who married Katy Perry and screwed it up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

ok. i would have never known.

autobiographies and celebrity are two things i don't pay attention to.

 

It means mocking someone or something. It's another use of the word 'piss' which doesn't in this context imply anything to do with alcohol or urine.
'Taking the mickey' is a less 'offensive' version. No idea whether that's an American usage or not.

There's a lot of American slang and usages which you don't get over here - calling someone/something good a 'badass motherfucka' for instance. 'Douchebag' is another (I like that one, seems very appropriate in some cases).

 

He's become a bit of a would be revolutionary these days. Telling people not to vote, appearing at anti-austerity demos. He also supports drug reform.

 

Stewart Brand=Whole Earth Catalog.

 

i won't even try. i would probably enjoy the article, but my computer is ancient and slow and huffington post is so full of ads and spyware or something that it freezes up the whole computer the entire time it's loading, which takes forever.

 

His stance on drugs and the things he's had to say about both Amy Winehouse's and Phillip Semore Hoffman's deaths are the reasons I like him anymore.

 

When my friend and I arrived in London and checked into a hippy hotel near Hyde park the gal at the counter gave us our rooms and then brightly asked "Would you like to be knocked up in the morning?" Seeing our stunned expressions she cracked up laughing.

 

Hahaha knew most of those as a Kiwi - but some of them I didn't understand either!

 

In the late 70's my boss was a British woman who moved here after WWII. She had to learn not to use that phrase when telling people to come over and visit her. :2thumbsup:

We became really dear friends. She died a few years after I relocated to Ohio. I really miss her. She had so many incredible stories of growing up and being in London during the war. She also had an amazing sense of humor.