This tag is for questions related to English as spoken in the isles of Britain and sometimes Ireland.
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Origin of “you lot” and other plural forms of “you”
I've often heard the phrase "you lot" in British programs on PBS, e.g. "Oi! You lot! Shift y'selves" or thereabouts, and have sometimes wondered about its origin and how it gained currency. It seems ...
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2answers
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avoid the slash?
Should the slash be avoided?
For example every week/day in my head is translated to every week or day. I think I started using slashes because I saw them used in forums and in articles.
Is using ...
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3answers
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“Practise” vs. “practice”
As an Australian, I like to follow British forms of words such as license/licence and practise/practice. I have no problem with licence the noun and license the verb, but I find it hard to keep ...
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2answers
681 views
'Ours' meaning 'our home' - where is it used outside the UK, if anywhere?
In expressions like:
Let's go back to ours and have some food.
There's a party at ours on Friday.
There's a bottle of brandy at yours, isn't there?
'ours' and 'yours' are synonyms for ...
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2answers
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Where does the pejorative meaning of “shower” come from?
shower British informal
a group of people perceived as incompetent or worthless
I think this term is becoming obsolete. It's certainly not something I've heard in the street recently. The ...
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Do Americans use the world 'turtle' as a generic word to mean 'tortoise'?
Obviously there are two different animals — a tortoise and a turtle. But I have been told by a colleague that in the US the word turtle is used to describe both.
I find this odd as for example the ...
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2answers
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Is the proper spelling “judgment” or “judgement”?
I always thought the proper spelling was judgment, but I see judgement all the time, even in articles, news, etc. Merriam-Webster lists judgement as a variant spelling for judgment.
But is the ...
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Why is “bloody” considered obscene in the UK but not in the US?
Why is the word bloody considered obscene in the UK but not so in the US?
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What does “cable” mean?
I came across the word "cable" very often in http://www.guardian.co.uk.
Like:
WikiLeaks cables: Drive to tackle Islamists made 'little progress'
US embassy cables: How the Guardian protects sources
...
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2answers
874 views
Is there an American English dialect that sounds as “distingushed” as British English?
Obviously there are a lot of subjective words in the question. There are dialects of British English that don't sound distinguished at all (Cockney). Also, what sounds distinguished is somewhat ...
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What exactly does it mean to “mug somebody off” in British English?
I tried looking this up at the Urban Dictionary, but it gave only one net-upvoted definition, and that definition wasn't even clear. The background for my question is coming my watching from a movie ...
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“Checked shirt” vs “check shirt”
My son is learning English as a foreign language and I notice a mixture of British and American words in his vocab lists. Is there such thing as a checked shirt, or should it be a check shirt?
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Recognizing a Welsh accent
For an American, I'm pretty good at UK dialects. I can immediately tell an Irish or Scottish accent from a typical (educated, Londoner) English accent. But I'm on shaky ground with Welsh accents, ...
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3answers
272 views
“Posting in all its branches” in the nineteenth century: travel, mail, other?
"Posting in all its branches" is a phrase I've seen a number of times in 19th century British sources.
A google search (regular and books) gives context mostly in reference to traveling or ...
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4answers
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Does British English use the term “heel” for the end slice of bread?
I'm Irish, and hence speak Hiberno-English. Here is a photograph of some sliced bread:
The topmost slice of this (that's crust on the end), is called "the heel". Is this meaning for "heel" ...
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1answer
762 views
UK English: Is “dived” a valid word?
Proofing a manuscript, I found this in the middle of a chase scene:
Spotting an opening, I dived into it and was horrified to find it was a dead end.
Is “dived” a valid past tense of the verb ...
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3answers
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“A similar hat to Jane” vs “A hat similar to Jane’s”
Of late I have noticed British people using the following sort of construct:
John and Jane make such a cute couple because John always wears a similar hat to Jane.
To my ear, that is ...
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1answer
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Is Australian English closer to US English or British English?
It would seem obvious to me that Australian English is closer to British English due to the historical events that led to English people living here. But it seems when differences occur that US ...
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1answer
126 views
How was “ben't” used, and when did it cease to be used?
In Jane Austen's The Watsons, the maid of the titular family utters the following sentence:
"Please, ma'am, master wants to know why he ben't to have his dinner?"
I have never encountered ben't ...
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1answer
356 views
“courgettes” vs. “zucchini” under a historical perspective
In this TimLymington's answer it is said:
Interestingly, there is another vegetable with the same identity problem; what the British call courgettes and the Americans zucchini.
What is the ...
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1answer
275 views
Capital Letters from 1700 [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Capitalisation of nouns in English (historically)
After reading a recipe from 1747, I noticed that all of the nouns are capitalized. Is that a normal thing for that era? ...
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Why do we use a French term for a currency-exchange office?
In British English and across Europe, the term Bureau(x) de change is used to describe what US English speakers would call a Currency Exchange or Foreign Exchange (office).
Why do we use a French ...
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5answers
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When and how did “momentarily” come to mean “in a moment”, rather than “for a moment”?
"Momentarily" used to mean "for a moment" only, and not "in a moment". Thus, newscasters could be divided into two clear groups: those who would say "we'll be back momentarily," and those who would ...
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'Expired' or 'Passed away'?
When someone dies, do we say they expired or passed away?
Does the word expired give any more respect when used? Or less respect than passed away?
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“Pricey” vs. “Pricy”
I've recently encountered these two variations of the spellings for the informal word for "expensive." My dictionary and the online dictionary seem to indicate that both of these spellings are ...
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6answers
428 views
What do British and American post boxes say when they don't want any advertising?
Advertising leaflets shoved en masse into mail boxes are one of the banes of modern society.
In Germany, putting a note saying "Bitte keine Werbung" ("No advertising please") on your box protects ...
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4answers
537 views
Why is stainless steel “stainless”?
Inox steel is stainless because it does not stain, but is stain the same thing as rust? I just want to understand since stain reminds me of clothing stains, for instance, and I am rather curious as to ...
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2answers
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“Kebabs, fruit machines, and brasses” — what do these slang words mean?
More from the British movie The Football Factory. In the following dialogue, the main character, a Cockney English speaker played by actor Danny Dyer, waxes philosophical about why he enjoys being a ...
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“Skipping rope” vs. “jump rope”
Well it is summer time and I have to lose some weight so I have chosen the cardiovascular activity to do that jumping rope. While digging on some information I have asked myself a few questions:
Why ...
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6answers
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British English equivalent of American English Internship
I've been trying to think of a good British English term for a summer job, the equivalent of American English Internship.
I'm sure that when I've worked with students my company had hired over the ...
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6answers
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The origin of the phrase “Now then!”
This pair of adverbs of opposed meaning, one indicating the present and the other the past, when conjoined is used to attract attention to what is going to be said or suggested next, in other words ...
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2answers
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Is “Should be *ing” a valid English phrasing?
I'm Portuguese and my girlfriend German. Because she is a Germanic-language native-speaker, she is constantly correcting my English. Though, often it is annoying that she corrects me in grammar ...
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How offensive is it to call someone a “slag” in British English? (NSFW)
One more colorful slang term I gleaned from the British movie I recently watched is slag. In the movie, it was used in curses like, "Fuck-ing dogs! Slags." "Right slag, that one."
Now I know via ...
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4answers
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What is the name of the phoneme produced in an upper-class Briton's pronunciation of the word “Duke”? What's different in the articulation?
When someone with a Received Pronunciation accent pronounces the word duke, as in The Duke of York, he doesn't pronounce it with a "hard" 'd', as one might pronounce the word duh, but a softer type ...
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What's the equivalent phrase in the UK for “I plead the fifth”?
In the United States, a person under examination on the witness stand may "plead the fifth" to avoid self-incrimination. In other words, a person asserts his or her Fifth Amendment right.
Citizens of ...
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“Season” vs. “series”
TV shows, other than ones that have new episodes year-round (e.g. news, soaps), typically group episodes in batches — most often per year, although not necessarily calendar years, and sometimes there ...
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1answer
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Why is “fulfil” spelt as “fulfill” in American English?
In this answer, simplification is stated as one reason for spelling variations in American English. But unlike in color and favorite, the number of letters to spell the word in fulfil increases in ...
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“Tourists” for visiting sports team
In news about English and "Commonwealth" team sports (e.g., rugby, cricket), I occasionally hear the visiting team being referred to as "tourists" (e.g., "the tourists won the match ..."). This usage ...
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1answer
201 views
Where is “Wednesday” pronounced “Wedinzday”?
I recently heard a BBC radio announcer pronounce "Wednesday" in a peculiar way. The 'd' wasn't dropped, resulting in something like "Wedinzday" (wɛdnzde).
I've read some Scottish dialects use this ...
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3answers
992 views
Is suffixing a personal name with “-azza”/“-azzer” a standard Cockney nicknaming rule?
In two British films I recently recalled, I noticed a trend in nicknaming that I'd like confirmation of, by someone familiar with spoken Cockney English.
In the first one, Lock, Stock, and Two ...
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Sorted vs Sorted out
I'm an American and I refer to a situation which is settled as "sorted out." My English family would just say that it's "sorted". Which is the earlier expression? Did Americans add the preposition ...
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7answers
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Does “pants” more commonly mean “trousers” or “underpants”?
In the UK, I've heard pants being used as slang for underpants (or was it in Bridget Jones' Diary?), whereas in India it almost exclusively means "trousers".
Describing the meaning of "put your pants ...
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2answers
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Successfull/successful - is this a UK/US difference?
I would tend to write double-l, but Google gives me more single-l, so I'm guessing it's an Atlantic divide thing.
And I guess all the other *full words.
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Is there a different understanding of “rubber” in British and American English?
I was well aware of the different meanings of rubber, not least because there are the same definitions in my mother-tongue. However, while reading a text about differences between British and American ...
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4answers
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“S'il vous plaît” = “If you please”?
In Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot detective stories, Poirot uses the phrase “if you please” a lot. Does this come from the French phrase “s’il vous plaît”?
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Why do British people pronounce “Ibiza” as “Ibitha”?
My brief overseas experience in Great Britain has taught me that British people tend to pronounce Ibiza as Ibitha. My questions are as follows:
Why is this the case?
How did this develop?
What are ...
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5answers
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How serious an insult is “wanker” in British English? [NSFW]
In the spirit of this question, "How profane is it to call someone a
'slag' in British English", how insulting is "wanker" in British English on the spectrum of profanities and vulgarities? What's ...
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3answers
559 views
Should pronunciation of the r in “heart” be the same as r in “rabbit”, in UK English?
My 5 yr old daughter was given a task by her teacher to "find as many things as she can that have the sound r" with examples of rabbit, barrow, and ruler (all r's were underlined in the 3 words).
...
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2answers
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What does the phrase “half seven” mean?
I've heard the British term "half seven" (or "half nine," "half five", etc) used to tell time. I can't remember though if it means 6:30 or 7:30 (i.e. half an hour before seven, or half past seven)?
...
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Footwear: Runners. Sneakers. Trainers
There's a type of shoe which I, being Irish, would call runners. They're comfortable for running or walking in.
The British call them trainers, probably because they can be used for sports or ...
