Regional vocabulary differences

Travis   Fri Oct 14, 2005 9:00 am GMT
>>casual day instead of bermuda day<<

I've heard the term "casual day" used many times in the context of workplaces, but I've *never* heard the term "bermuda day" before.
Geoff_One   Fri Oct 14, 2005 9:45 am GMT
bermuda shorts day
Uriel   Sat Oct 15, 2005 1:07 am GMT
People still wear bermuda shorts?
Uriel   Sat Oct 15, 2005 1:09 am GMT
Well, we have barracks, and you can certainly get laid in them, so maybe there's an echo of a similarity ...
Turn it up   Sat Oct 15, 2005 1:52 am GMT
"Well, we have barracks, and you can certainly get laid in them, so maybe there's an echo of a similarity ... "

"To barrack" means "to screw" in some part of the world?
Uriel   Sat Oct 15, 2005 2:25 am GMT
Not that I know of ... in the US, at least, "barracks" are the buildings on military installations that you house soldiers in. In Australia, "barrack" is a verb meaning to support, back, or be a fan of a particular sports team. "Root" was actually the word in question, since in the US it means roughly the same as Australian "barrack", but in Australian, something of a less delicate nature, not USUALLY involving large foam fingers and facepaint ... although that's quite an image....
Frances   Sat Oct 15, 2005 3:59 am GMT
Uriel is right. Barrack means to support a particular team. No one exactly knows the origin of the word, some say it is a combination of an Irish word meaning to support (Barrog?) and an Indigenous word (which sounds similar) that means "to jeer the opposition".

"a root" means the act of sexual intercourse.
Turn it up   Sat Oct 15, 2005 5:50 am GMT
For a moment there, I thought "to barrack" had another meaning outside of Britain and Australia. ;)
Rick Johnson   Sat Oct 15, 2005 10:13 am GMT
The word "fanny" is another that trips up Americans visiting Britain as it means female genitals rather than a buttocks. I remember one American woman talking about how, at one event, she had been sitting next to Princess Marget and remarked how funny it was that "she should have been rubbing fannies with a princess", a sentence that gained a whole different dimension in translation!
Angie in Wisconsin   Fri Nov 04, 2005 7:07 pm GMT
To answer the original questions:

I say "soda" but also know many that say "pop"
I say "bubbler" (No one says water fountain)
We also say "stop and go" lights instead of traffic light

Vacation (vs Holiday)
Fall (vs Autumn)
Highway (vs freeway)

Also:

Distance is measured in time, versus mileage. Example: I live 15 minutes from Appleton.
Travis   Fri Nov 04, 2005 7:25 pm GMT
>>To answer the original questions:<<

Just to give my following comments a bit of context, I myself am from Wauwatosa, WI, less than a block from Milwaukee, even though I currently live in Madison (but still relatively frequently commute between it and the Milwaukee area).

>>I say "soda" but also know many that say "pop"
I say "bubbler" (No one says water fountain)<<

I use both "soda" and "bubbler", and while I know others do use the other two, "water fountain" still sounds quite formal to me, and "pop" just sounds sort of off to me.

>>We also say "stop and go" lights instead of traffic light<<

I do hear that usage, even though I myself am more used to the term "stop lights" or even just "stop light".

>>Vacation (vs Holiday)
Fall (vs Autumn)<<

Yep, I use those too (and don't use the other two, at least in the same sense), as probably do most Americans.

>>Highway (vs freeway)<<

I myself use both the terms "highway" and "freeway", but they mark two distinctly different things, a "freeway" being a divided highway only accessable via on-ramps and off-ramps and which does not have intersections, and a "highway" being everything else, that is, which lacks on and off-ramps, does have intersections, and which most the time is *not* divided. Also note that in most cases, I use the term "highway" only to refer to such in rural areas and more outlying suburban areas, and will not use such a term to refer to things which are officially "highways" but which are in specifically urban areas, with probably the only exception being "Highway 100", also known as "Mayfair Rd." and "108th St.", depending on where one is along it.

>>Also:

Distance is measured in time, versus mileage. Example: I live 15 minutes from Appleton.<<

In everyday usage, I do as well. For example, Madison is an hour and a half from Milwaukee, and Kenosha is an hour from Milwaukee, whereas I don't even *know* what the actual distances in miles between those points are. Yes, Madison is probably about 60-something or maybe low-70-something miles from Milwaukee, from what I've seen from road signs, but I myself would not usually ever make reference to said distance in miles in actual speech.
Uriel   Fri Nov 04, 2005 7:54 pm GMT
I was under the impression that freeway only refers to interstate highways, so if it doesn't have an "I" in the name (I-10, I-25), it ain't a freeway....
Adam   Fri Nov 04, 2005 7:58 pm GMT
"I say "soda" but also know many that say "pop"
I say "bubbler" (No one says water fountain)
We also say "stop and go" lights instead of traffic light

Vacation (vs Holiday)
Fall (vs Autumn)
Highway (vs freeway) "

Why can't you speak RP instead of your local dialects? How are us Brits suppsoed to understand you?

Soda?! Why don't you just say "soft drink"?
Adam   Fri Nov 04, 2005 8:05 pm GMT
Here's some slang from Bolton. Boltonish.


oookin - very good
spov - very nice
woofer - not very attractive person
trollied - drunk
kecks - trousers
soz - I apologise
muppet - silly person
gizza sken (please may I take a look)
peggit! - run for your life!
oined pestered/annoyed
owt anything
nowt nothing
pen -allotment
chuck it - throw it
bomb it - run away
ta ra - good bye
butty - sandwich
buttybox - lunchbox
bait packed - lunch for work
baitbox - lunchbox
mi-mo - weavers' speak
me mam my mum
bumpers - basketball boot (60's/70's)
ducking skiving
corporation pop - water
chucking it down - raining
clod hoppers - big feet
skint/broke/ tapped out - no money
flicks - cinema
codswallop - unbelievable
cut - canalbank
cracker - a good looking girl
Travis   Fri Nov 04, 2005 8:18 pm GMT
>>I was under the impression that freeway only refers to interstate highways, so if it doesn't have an "I" in the name (I-10, I-25), it ain't a freeway....<<

The term "freeway" is used to refer to all restricted access highways around here, even if they are not interstates per se; for example, the term is used to refer to highway 45, which, while not being an interstate per se, still has the same form as them, and which does directly link into the interstate highway system.