The THS script in the Welcome Guide reads, Please help yourself to anything you need whilst you’re here.” To an American, whilst sounds pretentious. People realize it’s used because THS is a British company so perfectly ok here. If I were a HO, I would change it in my Welcome Guide to while.
2 Likes
Is peerie from Shetland Quine is aberdonian neeps not turnip.crabbit is what I am if ho doesn’t leave anything in fridge for me to eat. Or doesn’t even offer me a sandwich when I have travelled since early morning. But have had lovely ho who have Cooked me lovely meals.
3 Likes
Oh I forgot “tea”
In the UK, it’s a tea OR a meal.
In Canada, it’s only a drink.
OMG, I need a translation!
And in Texas, “tea” is always iced tea (an abomination). You need to request “hot tea” to get a warm drink.
2 Likes
I made that mistake when I offered tea to my friends who were visiting me in NJ from North Carolina. I brought them a cup of hot tea. They were very surprised! 
4 Likes
A sausage!
3 Likes
The meal can be either afternoon tea or high tea
3 Likes
I LOVE properly made, not commercially bottled, lemon iced tea…yummmmmm😀
1 Like
Yep, I was brought up listening to the Doric in my summer holidays….an Aberdonian dialect loosely connected to English. My father never lost it so we all had to adapt. Now, I struggle.
I learn a lot with this post and I get lost😀
Oscar Wilde said: “The English and the Americans have everything in common except the language”. I found this sentence on internet
2 Likes
We visited The Carolinas in the US and found two new words we had never heard before
Hush Puppies which to us were a brand of comfortable shoes which there are fried corn snacks
Shaggers which to us was a rather rude word but there meant groups of line dancers. Large signs showing Shaggers Welcome made us fall about laughing!
7 Likes
I had a friend who had us in stitches after her holiday in the US. She humped on Wednesday and shagged on Thursday. Humping is when you go out on Wednesdays. Wednesday is the hump or middle of the working week. Shagging has been explained. She enjoyed both experiences but wouldn’t be drawn which was the best.
3 Likes
Hi @ CambridgeAnnie I had to chuckle when I saw the word ‘hush puppies’. This is a favorite comfort deep fried food usually prepared as a side dish. My mom used to cook fried fish quite often and we would have hush puppies as a side dish for the meal. It was a Friday or Saturday favorite growing up. I usually enjoyed the hush puppies better than the fried fish. 
1 Like
Here’s one I thought of while out walking the dogs this morning…
The word BOOT in the UK has lots of uses…
There’s the boot of the car… Called the trunk over the pond
A boot that is footwear
Putting the boot in … A fight
To boot someone/something out
To boot up (start) a computer
4 Likes
A few years ago we did a flat sit in Kennington, London. Next door to us was a gas(petrol) station with a stencilled sign on the side of it that said, “No fly-tipping”. For weeks I thought it meant no unzipping your fly(men) and removing a male part to pee on the wall (it was a fairly secluded side of the building). When I passed this by a British friend she roared with laughter and told me “No, it means no dumping trash!” I’m fairly certain no US American would ever have guessed that one!
So a few years later I read a comment from an American that they were in a pub and said loudly about a friend they were with that “He was a double-fisted drinker!” The whole pub went quiet and everyone stared at him in disbelief. When I had to pass this one by the same friend (gathering it meant something fairly dirty in the UK), she said she cried so hard with laughter at my innocence of this slang, as in the US it just means a heavy drinker who has a drink in both hands! Definitely NOT the British meaning apparently! 
4 Likes
I haven’t read every post, so I don’t know if the word “homely” has been mentioned yet.
UK version means something like “cozy”
American version means plain looking, almost ugly. If we were describing a cozy home, we would use the word “homey”.
I absolutely love it when I go to English speaking countries and the language is so unique and interesting to me!
6 Likes
