RMS Gigantic Explains US Equivalents

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[TerryRussell]

Interesting how it changes by country.... This could be fun to find out! You guys curious about any expressions over here?

This thread is for RMS Gigantic to let us Brits (and Ozzies and Kiwis and others) know what US equivalents exist for various expressions commonly used here.

First few:

• In one ear and out the other
• You've made a right dog's dinner of that one
• I'm off down the rubba to sink a few
• Well, Bob's your uncle, then

[RMS Gigantic]

This thread is for RMS Gigantic to let us Brits (and Ozzies and Kiwis and others) know what US equivalents exist for various expressions commonly used here.

First few:

• In one ear and out the other
• You've made a right dog's dinner of that one
• I'm off down the rubba to sink a few
• Well, Bob's your uncle, then

The first expression is the same in the US. I do not know what the others refer to, though....

[Paddy134]

I'm British and i've never heard anyone say "I'm off down the rubba to sink a few"... perhaps its a regional saying.

[TerryRussell]

I'm British and i've never heard anyone say "I'm off down the rubba to sink a few"... perhaps its a regional saying.

I'll confess to having a head start. My wife is from Edison, New Jersey (we met in New York).

Off down the rubba...

Ruba-dub-dub, three men in a tub = Cockney for "pub".
Sink a few = "drink a few" as in pints of beer.
All best London expressions, common right down to the depths of Walton-on-Thames. If you haven't heard that one, you're either too young or you need to get out more 

"Bob's your uncle" = It's completed correctly.

"A right dog's dinner" = made a compete mess of that.

[Dave M]

Sink a few = "drink a few" as in pints of beer.

Hi Terry,
I'm from Portsmouth and I have certainly said and done that.

"A right dog's dinner" = made a complete mess of that.

"A pigs ear" has the same meaning.

Regards, Dave

[Paddy134]

"A right dog's dinner" = made a complete mess of that.

"A pigs ear" has the same meaning.

I tend to say say: you've c***ed that up big time   

[RMS Gigantic]

not sure if any of those others have US counterparts.... I know a mess is sometimes reffer to as a pig stigh, but that's about it.

[RMS Gigantic]

I tend to say say: you've c***ed that up big time   

Oh, yeah! Similarly in the US, we say "messed up" or "screwed up", or the swearers might say "****ed up", or things along those lines.

[Paddy134]

Do you call someone who is a bit Mad (not in an institutional way) a "loose cannon"?

[RMS Gigantic]

Do you call someone who is a bit Mad (not in an institutional way) a "loose cannon"?

yep.

[Dave M]

"A pigs ear" has the same meaning.
Regards, Dave

I think this comes from the saying that, 'you can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear', meaning that you can't make something from nothing. I could be wrong but we do tend to take a part of an adage, (or old saw?), (the sows ear bit), and make something else out of it.
The only reference I could find was here, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Byron , which is from the USA.

[TerryRussell]

Do you call someone who is a bit Mad (not in an institutional way) a "loose cannon"?

Around here, we call them "Fred"  .

But really, a loose cannon would be somone whose reactions won't neccessarily be those required by the "higher ups" (Bosses and so on). They would tend to do something different to what their company (or Platoon Leader, etc) might want.

The expression comes from the days of Naval Warfare. Imagine: You have loaded your cannon to fire at the French/French/Spanish/French/Dutch/French/French etc. It takes a few seconds for the fuse to burn down to the gunpowder. Your cannon is not properly secured and the ship rolls on the waves (of course). A loose cannon would roll backwards and forwards and when it fires, that cannonball could go anywhere.

Hence the term "loose cannon".

Some other expressions used in the UK for "mad" are:

Loopy
Crazy
A bit of a loon


More expressions:

Dead Chuffed
Top notch
U/S
Bodge Job

Any of those familiar in the USA?

In the USA would you call the doctor who analyses a mad person a "Trick Cyclist"?

[TerryRussell]

not sure if any of those others have US counterparts.... I know a mess is sometimes reffer to as a pig stigh, but that's about it.

Here a "pigsty" would be somewhere that is very untidy. Not quite the same as "dog's dinner", which is about doing something incorrectly. "Screwed it up" would be similar to "made a dog's dinner of it".

Hi Terry,
I'm from Portsmouth and I have certainly said and done that. "A pigs ear" has the same meaning.

Regards, Dave

Round the corner from you, here in Selsey every 3rd house is pub.

In the UK, I think we have more slang expressions for "drunk" than anywere else in the world. I won't list them all here, since some might be classed as swearing, but here are some:

pickled
soused
cranberried
... as a newt (first word is often implied rather than stated)
Brahms and List
a bit Brahms (see above)
rat bottomed (cleaned that one up!)

and on it goes.

Any US equivalents?

[RMS Gigantic]

Terms for drunk here includes things like "wasted", "blitzed", "tipsy", "hammered", "smashed", etc.

[TerryRussell]

Yep, we have all of those as well. "Tipsy" being only slightly drunk, and hardly qualifying for us, as Brits.

Not forgetting the ever-popular "pie-eyed".

[RMS Gigantic]

Yep, we have all of those as well. "Tipsy" being only slightly drunk, and hardly qualifying for us, as Brits.

Not forgetting the ever-popular "pie-eyed".

wow... I never knew you guys actually refered to yourselves as "Brits"....

[TerryRussell]

wow... I never knew you guys actually refered to yourselves as "Brits"....

Don't forget, I have a wife who I imported from Edison, New Jersey. That may seriously affect my outlook on life...

[RMS Gigantic]

ahh....

[Mad_Fred]

Around here, we call them "Fred"  .

  

Heh heh

[Agent|Austin]

More expressions:

Dead Chuffed
Top notch
U/S
Bodge Job

Any of those familiar in the USA?

Top Notch is the others I haven't heard of.

BTW it is funny you call of "America" when really we refer to it as the United States (and don't really care about the "of america" part)

[Mad_Fred]

BTW it is funny you call of "America" when really we refer to it as the United States (and don't really care about the "of america" part)

I hear and see plenty of United Staters call it America though. I guess it's like with our country.. Some might prefer to call it the Netherlands, others prefer to call it Holland. Personaly preference in most cases perhaps. 


Fred

[Agent|Austin]

I hear and see plenty of United Staters call it America though. I guess it's like with our country.. Some might prefer to call it the Netherlands, others prefer to call it Holland. Personaly preference in most cases perhaps. 


Fred

Well in this "region" I never hear "america" :p

[Mad_Fred]

 

Well yep, I do agree that most of the time I hear/see people call it the United States. But yeah, it's not uncommon for it to be called America by Americans in my experience. 

Oh well, not that it matters of course..  We all know what country is meant, no matter which one is used. 

Fred

[LucAtC]

To continue the small talk, at least in French, US citizens are called "Américains", which is also a valid definition for all Americans, and that is also why "America" is often used instead of "USA". Some people begin to use "les Etats-Uniens", as a variation with a slightly different meaning.
Somewhat like inhabitants of the "Pays-Bas (NederLand)", for which there is no related name (les Pays-bassais, Pays-bassiens, Pays-bassistes, ...), so that they are called "Hollandais" although everyone knows (or ought to know) that Holland is a region of the Netherlands (I think  ).
How do citizens of the USA, or elsewhere, call the people of the EU? European Unionists?
 
Luc

[TerryRussell]

Here we might call the USA "America", but when you add countires such as Brazil and Mexico etc, collectively we would often call them "The Americas".

But confusingly, we would only call people from USA "Americans". Someone from Brazil would be "Brazilian".

But obviously, all Americans are "Yanks", whether from the northern or southern states.

That terms comes from the friendly insult made by the Dutch settlers in Pennsylvania to the surrounding British. The Brits called themselves "John Bulldog" (meaning hard as nails). The Dutuch called them "John Cheese" (meaning soft as cheese).

To a British ear the Dutch sound was like "Yankees". Fred may be able to say Jan Cheese for you to hear if you listen loudly enough... Eventually, the British "back home" in Blighty called their counterparts in teh Americas "Yankees", now "Yanks".