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Tweak says, "Sweet dreams are made of this"

C l a u d i e (lipsofpoison) wrote,
@ 2009-09-18 18:41:00

American-British Word Bank
As tweeted about, this is the wordbank thus far. If you can think of anything I'm missing, please leave a comment.

American-British Word Bank

It's not absolutely necessary to use all British words, but for the purists or those who just don't understand one that's been used, there's this. If you have any you'd like added, just leave a comment.

Word	Translation	Example
argy-bargy	a fight	"they're having a right argy-bargy in there"
aubergine	eggplant
balls up, cock up	screw up	"he's cocked that up," "that was a right balls up"
old banger	old car, beater	"my old banger wouldn't start"
bap	1. a soft bread roll or a sandwich made from it. 2. breasts
bedsit	one room apartment that serves as a bedroom & living room, usually with mass sharing of toilet, kitchen and other facilities.
berk	insult	"he's such a berk"
big girls blouse.	Someone who's soppy.	"Aww, a hug. You big girls blouse."
bint	insult	"You stupid bint"
biro	ballpoint pen
black pudding	blood pudding, blood sausage
blag	bluffing or lying	"I'm worried about this exam, I haven't studied." "Just blag it!"
bloke	man
bobbies, peelers	policemen
Bob's your uncle	"there we go" "it's that simple"	"just flip the switch and Bob's your uncle, the light goes on!"
bum something	ask for something	"Can I bum a light off you?"
cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey	freezing, very cold
boffin	someone very smart and eccentric
bog	toilet, bathroom	"need to run to the bog!"
bog-standard	ordinary	"just a bog-standard telly."
boiled sweet	hard candy
bristols	breasts
brolly	umbrella	"take your brolly with you"
bugger	expression of irritance or surprise	"oh bugger" "bugger it"
buggered	doomed	"we're buggered"
bugger all	nothing	"it's a whole lot of bugger all"
bum bag	fanny pack
bureau de change	currency exchange
butty	sandwich with a hot food filling	bacon butty, chips butty
cack	ridiculous	"that's a load of cack"
cack handed	clumsy	"You're cackhanded"
candy floss	cotton candy
chancer	opportunist	"Don't trust him, he's a chancer."
cha, char	tea	"nice cup of cha"
chippy	a takeaway (or eat in and takeaway) that sells english food like fish, chips, battered sausages, saveloys, pea fritters, etc	"Going down the chippy, do you want anything?"
chips	fries, though usually thicker.
chuffed	happy or proud	"I'm dead chuffed with my results"
clapped out, clapper	old and worn out	"it's a right old clapper" "It's clapped out after one use."
cling film	saran wrap, plastic wrap
codwallop	rubbish	"That's codswallop!"
cobblers	rubbish	"That's a load of old cobblers."
cop off	hook up with someone	"He's copped off with her."
Council house/flat/estate	projects, public housing
courgette	zucchini
crisps	potato chips
CV	resume
divvy	insult
dodgems	bumper cars
dogsbody	someone who does menial labour	"He's the office dogsbody"
dole	unexployment benefit	"They're on the dole"
dosh	money	"He's in the dosh"
draughts	checkers	"Fancy a game of draughts?"
drawing pin	thumbtack
dustbin	trashcan
plaster	bandaid	"Have you got a plaster for my paper cut?"
estate agent	realtor
faffing	dithering, procrastinating	"stop faffing about and do it."
fairycake	cupcake
fag	cigarette	"Can I bum a fag, mate?"
fancy	like, attracted	"Do you fancy him?" "I fancy that bike!"
fit	attractive	"she's fit"
fizzy drink, lemonade	soda
flat	apartment
football	soccer
fringe	bangs	"I'm thinking about getting a fringe"
fries	french fries, very thin chips (think McD's)
fun fair	carnivale
get off with	kiss, snog	"Do you want to get off with me?"
git	insult
gobsmacked	open mouthed shock	"I'm gobsmacked"
gormless	dumb
greengrocers	shop that sells fruit and vegetables
hash sign	pound key	#
headteacher	principal
high street	main street
higgledy-piggledy	in disarray	"My desk is all higgledy-piggledy."
hoover	vacuum
hundreds-and-thousands	sprinkles, jimmies
ice lolly	popsicle
invigilator	proctor
jacket potato	baked potato
jammy	lucky	"You jammy devil"
johnny	condom
jumble sale	rummage sale
jumper	sweater
kerfuffle	disturbance	"No need to cause a kerfuffle."
kip	nap	"I need a kip."
knackered	tired	"I'm knackered."
knackers yard	glue factory or junk yard	"You're useless, might as well take you to the knackers yard!"
knees up	a gathering of people drinking	"Come around mine for a knees up!"
knickers	panties
ladybird	ladybug
launderette	laundromat
letterbox	mailslot
lodger	tennant
lollipop man/lady	sidewalk man/lady
loo	toilet
lorry	truck
lurgy	equivilent of "cooties"
manky	gross
moggy	cat
naff	lame	"it's a bit naff"
nappy	diaper
nonce	idiot
newsagency	convenience store
nosh	food	"it's time for a bit of nosh"
off-licence	liquor store
paracetamol	tylenol
petrol	gas
pissing it down	raining heavily
plait	braid
plonker	fool
ponce	someone preoccupied with airs and graces
poof, poofter	homosexual
poof	hassock, ottoman
postal order	money order
postcode	zip code
poxy	lousy
pram	baby carriage
pub	bar
pushchair	stroller
Quid	one pound stirling (£1)	used the way you would with "buck"
rashers	strips of bacon
roadworks	construction
row	argument
rota	roster
sellotape	scotch tape
shag	to have sex	"I've shagged her."
shirt lifter	homosexual
sixes and sevens	muddled up	"I'm all sixes and sevens today."
skint	out of money
skive	playing hooky	"I'm skiving today."
slag	insult, female
sleeping partner	silent partner
snog	kissing with tongues
sod off	get lost
spend a penny	pee	"I just need to spend a penny"
spliff	blunt
spot on	right on, correct
stone	unit of weight, 14 pounds	"She's about nine stone, five pounds."
stroppy	moody	"You're in a right strop today."
suck it and see	take a chance
swot	nerd
ta	thank you	"ta very much."
take the mick/ take the piss	to make fun of
throw a wobbly	throw a tantrum
toff	posh person, short for "toffee nosed"
tosser/wanker	insult
trainers	sneakers
twee	overly cute	"He's very twee, isn't he?"
up himself/herself	someone who thinks themselves better than everyone else
vegetable marrow	squash
Y fronts	briefs
Your mum	The best insult ever.

(Post a new comment)

	corporatecake 2009-09-18 09:23 pm UTC (link)
	Just a note, people in the US do say cock up and Bob's your uncle! (Reply to this) (Thread)

	lipsofpoison 2009-09-18 09:56 pm UTC (link)
	I asked two people and they didn't know, so that's why they're there. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	lipsofpoison 2009-09-18 09:58 pm UTC (link)
	Actually, I messed that one up. They didn't know Bob's but knew cock up so you're spot on there. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	corporatecake 2009-09-18 10:01 pm UTC (link)
	Bob's might be a regional/generational thing in the US -- I think the only people I hear say it are like... 60, so that might be why some people are familiar, but I've definitely heard it being used by my apple pie eating grandmother. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	lipsofpoison 2009-09-18 10:06 pm UTC (link)
	I think I'm trying to make sure it's for everyone who is non-brit so they can get it, so I'm trying to keep it understood on regional too. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	rainbowling 2009-09-19 05:09 pm UTC (link)
	Are there any where the translation is a word/phrase that isn't ever used in the UK? Like, is scotch tape never used and ONLY sellotape? (Reply to this) (Thread)

lipsofpoison
2009-09-19 05:17 pm UTC (link)

That's a really good idea! I'll work on a page for that to go under the section.

Like scotch tape is only called sellotape or sticktape, we never use mailslot, we never call chips fries or crisps chips, cupcake has gained popularity over the last ten years but wasn't really used before that, we'd never call a plaster a bandaid, we'd never call candy floss cotton candy, we never call trainers sneakers, tylenol doesn't exist here, we do call zucchini's courgettes, we do only call eggplants aubergines and we'd never call an old banger a beater. I'm sure there's more but that's off the top of my head.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	rainbowling 2009-09-19 05:22 pm UTC (link)
	You could add a fourth column and put an X in it or something idk! Also I think mailslot might be regional too, or depend on if it's an actual slot or a box on the house, since I only hear "mailbox." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	lipsofpoison 2009-09-19 05:24 pm UTC (link)
	We don't have mailboxes. We only have slots in our doors so it's a letter box. A mailbox is something you post your letters in to be picked up by the postman and delivered. Possiby a good idea. I'm doing three other categories anyway, for british school systems, british food and british regions. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	rainbowling 2009-09-19 05:25 pm UTC (link)
	we call those mailboxes too. or maybe sometimes "drop box" but that might just be my father. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	lipsofpoison 2009-09-19 05:26 pm UTC (link)
	It may be a lost in translation thing. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	rainbowling 2009-09-19 05:27 pm UTC (link)
	yyy (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	lipsofpoison 2009-09-19 05:30 pm UTC (link)
	Wow, I'm taking a look at some of the words and going WTF Like, I didn't know what a twinkie was till I watched Buffy (Reply to this) (Parent)

	lipsofpoison 2009-09-19 05:22 pm UTC (link)
	oh and sidewalk is always the path or the footpath. (Reply to this) (Parent)