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Martin Livings ([personal profile] martinlivings) wrote2006-09-22 06:59 pm
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Is this the same English???

This week's Alien Loves Predator comic is highly appropriate for us here in the UK. You wouldn't think there would be that many differences from Australia, with only 200-odd years of slight separation, but they keep hitting me in the face.

Is this the same English language? Sometimes I wonder...

Some examples:
  • PANTS - in Australia, this refers to trousers or slacks. In the UK, pants are underpants. Very confusing.
  • VEST - Izz hit this one the other day. Here, a "vest" is what we'd call a tank top or a singlet, at least in women's fashion.
  • THONGS - everyone knows this one. Back in Oz, I wore thongs all the time. Here, they'd be called flipflops, and thongs are g-strings.
  • DADDY LONGLEGS - now this one confounded me. I heard UK people talking about all the daddy longlegs this year, and I was very confused, because I hadn't seen a single one. Then I saw something on the BBC about them, and realised that in Australia a daddy longlegs is a spider, but here it's a freakin' fly! And not just any fly. It looks like a mutant mosquito, with long legs (well duh!). Here is what the British call a daddy longlegs, and here is what we sensible Australians call one!
There's heaps more, but they'll do for the moment. Does anyone else have examples to suggest? [livejournal.com profile] splanky? [livejournal.com profile] speshal_k?
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[identity profile] speshal-k.livejournal.com 2006-09-22 08:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Crisps!!

versus chips.


Also lollies over here are called sweets - they do have iced lollies but these are really icypoles.

I hadn't heard the daddy long legs one before. That's possibly the weirdest one yet!

[identity profile] chrisb74.livejournal.com 2006-09-23 12:38 am (UTC)(link)
Dinner is one that catches me when I go to NZ - In Australia, you assume an evening meal. In UK based areas (like NZ), it could be either lunch or the evening meal.

Actually, "Pants" caught me in NZ the other day - I was looking for trousers, but was presented with underwear. Doh!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinner

[identity profile] azhure.livejournal.com 2006-09-23 04:52 am (UTC)(link)
I dunno, but that crane fly is gross!

[identity profile] possbert.livejournal.com 2006-09-23 07:01 am (UTC)(link)
Lollies in Oz, sweeties in the UK.

Right wing, war mongering bastard of a Prime Minister in Oz...oh...yeah... sorry, forget I spoke.
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[identity profile] shrydar.livejournal.com 2006-09-25 08:18 am (UTC)(link)
Semi - in Australia, short for semi-trailer. Probably pinched it from the yanks. In the UK, a semi-detached house (one common wall). Duplex in Aus.

Iight bulb/light globe. Synonymous in Aus, and I've forgotten which one you have to use in the UK to be understood.

Hole in the wall - Never heard it in Australia, but in the UK it's an ATM. Also known in the UK as a cashpoint.

I did get some funny looks in a department store in the UK for exclaiming "look at all the thongs!" when confronted with a large display of flip-flops.

I've forgotten a fair few since I de-emigrated.
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