National/ regional differences in slang and cursing

"neice" = "niece"

Yes "bazaar" should have also read "bizarre" although I could try to pretend that I meant a middle eastern market!

<<Why in the US are they called "real estate agents" is it to differentiate them from thousands of pretend ones? >>

LOL. They're all pretend as far as I can tell.

But if you really want to know, and I'm not sure you do, "real estate" is a legal term, real property as opposed to "personal property." Real property is land or buildings, whereas personal property are objects not attached to real property (like furniture.) It comes into play when you sell or in our convoluted tax laws. The law was probably patterned after British common law, which is where most of our laws (convoluted and otherwise) came from.

If you'd like another complication, then there's intangible property, like money and securites and such.

Anyway, hence, "real estate agents."

Have you fallen asleep yet?

<<There seems to have been a slightly puritanical view of some words in Victorian times. For example, "titbit" (still used in the UK) was considered in the US to be a little bit rude and as such was changed to "tidbit".>>

Interesting. Never knew that. I think the Victorians were even more puritanical than the Puritans. You were lucky to have unloaded so many Puritans on the American colonies.

<<I think the word that produces most amusement for British people, when used by Americans, is fanny because whereas it's considered a polite word for buttocks in the US, in Britain it refers to the vulva. I remember watching Little House on the Prairie when I was about 5 and the Aunt said to her neice that she would "kick her fanny", I turned around to see my mother's jaw drop to the floor at such vulgar and flagrant use of foul language on childrens' TV. >>

Really? Even women were named or nicknamed Fanny here way back when.

Hahah, oh god, I had no idea that 'fanny' meant 'vulva' in Britain. Jesus. I know people named Fanny...

As to 'shite,' Americans (including me) do sometimes use it, but it's different from 'shit,' and it wasn't something I learned from other Americans, it was something I picked up from British movies/books/etc. It's hard to explain, but I guess I use it as a slightly-less-offensive-than-shit kind of word, for some reason. I think that it's because 'shit' sounds much more harsh to me than 'shite,' which has a more open, less abrasive sound, at least in my opinion. When I say 'shite' it's usually in mild comical annoyance, whereas when I say 'shit' it's because I just dropped something heavy on my foot.

<<Hahah, oh god, I had no idea that 'fanny' meant 'vulva' in Britain. Jesus. I know people named Fanny...>>

Actually I remember reading that a couple years ago. ;-)

<<As to 'shite,' Americans (including me) do sometimes use it, but it's different from 'shit,' and it wasn't something I learned from other Americans, it was something I picked up from British movies/books/etc. It's hard to explain, but I guess I use it as a slightly-less-offensive-than-shit kind of word, for some reason. I think that it's because 'shit' sounds much more harsh to me than 'shite,' which has a more open, less abrasive sound, at least in my opinion. When I say 'shite' it's usually in mild comical annoyance, whereas when I say 'shit' it's because I just dropped something heavy on my foot.>>

That reminds me of "feck", which I (and I think most Americans who've ever heard of it) learned from the show "Father Ted". Likewise it seems more "open" and comical than the more commonly used alternative. ;-)

<<As you know, we in the UK (certainly in the North of England where I am) like to call a spade a spade, so a toilet is called a toilet>>

In fact, "toilet" to mean "lav" itself is a euphamism. If you check the etymology, it used to mean a dresser or even a clothes bag. Hell, "lavatory" itself might be euphamistic, it comes from the latin for "wash".

And there's also the word "loo", which is used in Britain and Australia, but not in America. So the Americans aren't alone!

And I checked the word "dunny" in dictionary.com just now, and the only definition it knows of it is "deaf, stupid", which is certainly not what *I* mean when I say "dunny" or "dunny can". I don't know if those are unamericanisms or just australianisms or what...

(Interestingly, asking for the bathroom in Australia is not likely to be very useful if you're after the toilet; we usually keep our toilets in separate rooms from our baths/showers, and the bathroom is the one that has the shower and/or bath.)

Out of curiosity, what exactly does dunny/dunny can mean? I've heard it somewhere before but I have no idea what the meaning is..

I also feeling appending to that last comment that this means that whereas "toilet" is less used in America, in Australia it has an additional meaning: the room where the toilet is. So for instance the toilet in my grandmother's old house had two doors: one from the laundry and one from the bathroom. (It also has a third door in it, but it only goes to the cupboard where the vacuum cleaner's kept.) I expect Americans might be a little concerned about having doors in a toilet ... perhaps even doors to a bathroom would be odd, I dunno. Do Americans just call a bathroom a bathroom, or have they invented some other word?

Oh, and I think that's another difference... I get the impression (and I could be mistaken) that in America "laundry" means "the washing", whereas the laundry is called the "laundry room". I have a suspicion that in America "the washing" means "the dishes".

<<perhaps even doors to a bathroom would be odd, I dunno.>>

No, a bathroom having doors doesn't seem odd to me. ;-)

<<Do Americans just call a bathroom a bathroom, or have they invented some other word?>>

"Bathroom" is what I would call it in pretty much any situation.

<<I get the impression...that in America "laundry" means "the washing", whereas the laundry is called the "laundry room".>>

Yes, that's how it works for me.

<<I have a suspicion that in America "the washing" means "the dishes".>>

I don't think the phrase "the washing" is really part of my dialect at all. I would just refer to "the dishes" (the dishes themselves) and "doing the dishes" (the action of washing them).

No, "the washing" usually means "laundry", not dishes. (Besides, any self-respecting American has a machine to clean the dishes!) We typically do have "laundry rooms" in our houses -- when we HAVE separate rooms for that purpose, that is; most of us probably make do, like I do, with a little closetlike area off of the kitchen.

I have seen American bathrooms that isolate the toilet in its own little room, or behind a dividing wall -- especially in bigger, better-appointed bathrooms. But most US shitters (yes, we use that word, too) are an exercise in cramming as many pieces of plumbing as possible in the smallest space allowed by the laws of physics. If I stretch out my arms in mine, I can touch both my shower curtain and the opposite wall.

I would imagine that bathroom may not be as much of a euphemism as people like to think, but perhaps a reflection of which item made it into the house first.

I dunno, I've never heard anyone say 'the washing.' The closest I've gotten is 'the wash,' meaning the laundry (as in, the clothes that need to be washed, not the room- I say 'laundry room' for that.)

<<would imagine that bathroom may not be as much of a euphemism as people like to think>> I agree, I don't think bathroom is really a euphemism. If I was trying to be polite about it I would probably ask for the restroom or the ladies' room, not the bathroom.

"Bathroom" may have originated as a euphemism, but it is so universally used here that it isn't perceived as such - it's just become your basic, run-of-the-mill term for it. Aside from "shitter", you'd really be hard-pressed to find a term for it that *wasn't* euphemistic in origin.

True, to us "bathroom" is a very generic term. We have other terms that we would consider true euphemisms -- restroom, ladies' room, powder room, etc.

I don't personally use the term "the washing", but I have heard it used, as in "hang out the washing". It does tend to sound a little old-fashioned to me.

<<"real estate" is a legal term, real property as opposed to "personal property.">>

No, I really did want to know! I've been asking people that question for years and it's the first time I've ever had a logical answer- thanks!


"dunny" I've always thought was an archaic Scottish word, which is only used in Australia/ NZ today.