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A Speedmaster, tea, and a guy who chops meat...

  1. tyrantlizardrex Jun 16, 2019

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    100% with you on that David.

    My parents are from Paddington, and Hackney respectively, so growing up some of these cockney colloquialisms were in use, but as you say, only the ones that are in wider circulation - I used "Butchers" in a staff meeting, at a tech company on Thursday... no one batted an eye. :whistling:
     
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  2. padders Oooo subtitles! Jun 16, 2019

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    Bloody yam yams. I live about 10 miles away and I can't understand half of what they say in Dudley.

    ps Rackhams is in Birmingham where people talk proper (and is closing down soon), and the whores have been moved on long ago, though the phrase is still in use round these parts.
     
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  3. madjestikmoose Can’t bat, can’t bowl Jun 16, 2019

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    Peaky fookin' bloindaz maaaaate
     
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  4. michael22 Jun 16, 2019

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    The whole thing sounds like a response to the Norman invasion.
    " Oi, I've got a cunning plan to confuse those bloody Frenchy's once & for all. Now, listen close like...."
     
  5. Longbow Jun 16, 2019

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    It’s the same everywhere. I moved to Germany many years ago and thought everyone spoke the same; boy was I wrong. This shows that the Germans are at least as diverse as the Brits:-
     
  6. ext1 Jun 16, 2019

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    As a related note - as a student learning English as a second language I came across 'lost my marbles' as the most memorable and quite favorite phrase for me.
    upload_2019-6-16_20-56-57.jpeg
    I keep imagining someone's head containing marbles like a gumball machine, and each marble falling down out of view as the 'sanity meter' keeps dropping.
     
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  7. M'Bob Jun 16, 2019

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    I'm still just a little unclear on the derivation of this. If pressed, I would have come up with something like: "well, fakk my old geometry teacher, back when she was young and hot..."
     
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  8. M'Bob Jun 16, 2019

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    On a related note: I've made it a recent goal to weave more Britishisms into my daily banter. On a few occasions, I've tried to inject "whilst" into my sentences, only to fail miserably. Apparently, only James Dowling can get away with this...

    Us Americans are vile behind the wheel, and I'm no exception. My nickname is "Road-Rage Rob." So, if I want to engage my anger in a more gentlemanly way, would I tell the other driver to:

    1) Fakk off!

    2) Piss off!

    3) Bugger off!
     
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  9. madjestikmoose Can’t bat, can’t bowl Jun 16, 2019

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    There's always 'wanker,' don't forget. It could be added to any of the above in fact.
     
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  10. tyrantlizardrex Jun 16, 2019

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    Have you considered something more passive aggressive?

    "Oh well done! Who knew it was possible to drive a motor car with your head wedged so deeply in your backside?"
     
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  11. ras47 Jun 16, 2019

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    Well it's official. I don't speak English - I speak American. Or 'Murikin if you're south of the Mason-Dixon line. :)
     
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  12. M'Bob Jun 16, 2019

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    To be completely genuine, would "arse" be an acceptable alternative to "backside"?
     
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  13. madjestikmoose Can’t bat, can’t bowl Jun 16, 2019

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    Arse is a lot less formal. 'Posterior' or even 'posterieur' would get maximum toff-points.
     
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  14. MRC Jun 16, 2019

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    Being English brought up and now resident again after living in foreign parts can I offer:

    No-one admits having lost their own marbles, it is only someone else who loses their marbles.

    "Getting knickers in a twist" == Panties in a bunch.

    "I'll knock you up in the morning" == I'll come round and collect you.


    While living in the USA I was careful to maintain my accent and throw in British phrases that would be at first not entirely understood but eventualy translatable. The Dolly Allen tapes of Black Country humour my mother would send me were handy for clearing stragglers out of the place after parties. "Bert & I" records of Down East humor do the same this side of the puddle.
     
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  15. jimmyd13 Jun 16, 2019

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    The snicket's easy - it's a small lane or footpath. A shortcut between field hedges or old terrace housing.
    Croggy, well, is this a variation on "crogger" as in: "Giz a crogger" which translates to "May I ride on the back of your bicycle?"
    Morngy ... best guess as well ... a word I've never seen written but always assumed was "maungy" which meant mawkish or of a miserable demeanour.

    Any good?
     
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  16. jimmyd13 Jun 16, 2019

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    I tried that ... no fucker understood me.

    Couple that with the fact that a machiatto in the US bears no resemblance to a machiatto, most of my mornings began miserably. The first time I tried to order a cab took 30 minutes ... and the car never turned up. The second time, I booked it in Spanish. I can't tell you how hard it was to have a telephone conversation there ... but in person most people understood me.
     
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  17. Davidt Jun 16, 2019

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    Top marks! Gi thee sen a pat ont back.
     
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  18. jimmyd13 Jun 16, 2019

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    I'm so fucking old now that I cricked my neck the other day looking over at the mirror in an HGV I was moving. If I pat myself on the back, I could die!
     
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  19. MRC Jun 16, 2019

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    Show some greenbacks ....
    .... oh 'scuse me. I miss understood.


    Any dish, name, presentation doesn't cross oceans without change, sometimes extreme. Does anything you can buy in England resemble an American "English Muffin"? A friend comes back from France with something called "Custard Anglais" (not quite right, it's a sort of egg (with no eggs) custard) or simlar. Horrid stuff, but I am polite about it. Just don't put any on my desert at supper.

    Oh how I wish I could get a decent Chicken Mole in EastLandia. The sort I used to wait in line for at a NJ road-shack with no drink licence where you needed to bring two rations of drink, one for the line and one for the meal.
     
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  20. jimmyd13 Jun 16, 2019

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    Am I the only one who finds it funny how Americans add "English" to things to make them more appealing while the French use it disparagingly? "Creme Anglais", particularly when spoken by a Parisian waiter, sounds like they've coughed up a loogie and spat it out. (Try it ... even if you can't speak French, you've just mastered the accent).

    I too miss mole. And churros. And heuvos con chorizo.