UK/US Translation Thread

[RindaR]

I think in Canada anyway 'hydro' refers to electricity/power...?

 

[pocossin]

Yes, here's an example.

We lost hydro and were plunged into full darkness for over 2 hours.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUser...sort-Huntsville_Muskoka_District_Ontario.html

 

[pocossin]

British "beef mince" = American "ground beef"

 

[pocossin]

British courgette = American zucchini, but apparently the British also refer to the yellow crookneck and straightneck squash as courgettes, and when they (the British, aka united kingdomers) are quite relaxed, they refer to all of them as marrows. Who knows what the Scots and Welsh do?

 

[pocossin]

charcuterie = cured meat shop

 

[Trojina]

I don't know where you come up with this stuff but from where I am it's surreal to say the least. I have never seen a shop in Britain called a 'charcuterie'. We do not have 'cured meat shops'.
We have delicatessens and butchers selling cured meats and most often it's bought from the supermarket.

Now you might find a link somewhere to some shop called a 'charcuterie' in London or somewhere to prove me wrong but since I live in Britain I can tell you I have never seen one of this name having lived here all my life.

The idea of this thread initially was for you to tell me the amercian part and I/we tell you the English.


Similarly we do not go around calling courgettes 'marrows' and are familiar with the word 'zucchini'.

Don't let me stop you.....but you are way off track most of the time

 

[butterfly spider]

We always call the pieces of bread either end of a cut loaf a nobbie.
In the East End where my family are from - it is quite a common word. I remember having a conversation however with some friends at College (an International Hall of Residence). and none of them had heard if this word (various other words such as Enders toppers).
A girl from New York however said that is what her family used and was a common word. We got to thinking that it might have crossed the water with GIs at the end if the Second World War

Don't know about this. Anyone any ideas

 

[pocossin]

I don't know where you come up with this stuff but from where I am it's surreal to say the least.

If instead of fussing at me, you were to Google 'British charcuterie' you would find such delightful entries as:

For 8 generations the Woodall family has been innovating using traditional curing and smoking methods to produce delicious British Charcuterie. Today we still continue to use the family's original British recipes and skills mastered since 1828.

By carefully selecting and butchering perfect cuts of British pork, we've created our unique range of air-dried hams and salami. Each having unique flavour profiles with melt in the mouth textures.

Doesn't that sound delicious?

The idea of this thread initially was for you to tell me the amercian part and I/we tell you the English.

My idea of this thread is that I post to it perplexing Briticisms that I encounter at Clarity and am compelled to look up.

Similarly we do not go around calling courgettes 'marrows'

I think some of you do because I have encountered these endearing terms of confusion in email from native British. Marrow to me is in the center of bones. Not in the UK! This distracting thread made me overcook Crookneck Squash that I was preparing for a morning snack after a spell of transplanting snapdragons. I may have invented a new food: blackened crookneck. Still good, and appropriate for rednecks.

Don't let me stop you.....but you are way off track most of the time

It's much less crowded. "More elbow room!" said Daniel Boone.

 

[pocossin]

We always call the pieces of bread either end of a cut loaf a nobbie.
In the East End where my family are from - it is quite a common word.

Knobby? A rounded protuberance. Also called the heel. The bread is being compared to the human body -- knees, elbows, or heels. End slices.

 

[butterfly spider]

Did post this morning but I probably wasn't logged in
I got some strawberry Jam at the market and my son said that in Ameruca they call it jelly

I said I had contacts()
And knew a man who would know

Sounds cool...

 

[Liselle]

Hi Butterfly,

Speaking only for myself and not for all of America, the terms are somewhat interchangeable, and I personally use "jelly" more often than "jam" to refer to all such spreads (as in, "Would you like jelly on your toast?" even if what I'm actually talking about is jam).

However, strictly speaking, I believe "jam" is correct when pieces of the fruit are left in, and "jelly" is correct when it's been strained. So strawberry jam would have strawberry seeds in it, and strawberry jelly would not.

But to answer your specific question, both words are used here.

 

[pocossin]

In the US, jelly is made from juice, whereas jam included seed and pulp. If there are seed in your jam, them it's jam in the US. I have not made strawberry jam, but I have made an imitation strawberry jam from figs and strawberry Jello. The results looks and tastes like real strawberry jam. If my figs make this year, I may do it again.

http://www.cooks.com/recipe/wy4kg6zs/strawberry-jello-fig-preserves.html

 

[canislulu]

In case anyone here travels to Kentucky I am adding this:

If you ask someone from Kentucky, USA if they would like to do something and they say, "Don't care to", it does not mean that they do not want to do it. Rather it means something more akin to:
"Don't mind if I do." In other words, "Don't care to" in Kentucky means "yes" NOT "no".

And the proper KY way to ask someone if they want to do something is to say, "Do you care to..."