British phrases

[monster]

How about "I wouldn't touch it with a 10-foot bargepole" -is that a universal phrase? I just used it on another thread and realis/zed (:p) that I don't think I've heard anyone else say it over here?

[JayMcGee]

do they have canals over there?


the other variation is of course 'I wouldn't touch it with yours'.....

[monster]

Originally Posted by JayMcGee

do they have canals over there?


the other variation is of course 'I wouldn't touch it with yours'.....

yes. http://www.americancanals.org/

but so many people use phrases without understanding their origins that I wouldn't use a lack of canals as an indicator that the phrase wouldn't be used, anyway. Take for example "One Fell Swoop" -how many people even say it right, never mind have any idea as to it's possible origins. hmm, come to think of it, does anyone outside the UK use that one?

Do they have canals in Australia? And do they use that phrase there? It seems funny to hear Aussies use so many of the phrases that Brits do but Americans don't -no wonder so many Americans can't tell Aussie and Brit accents apart!

I really am at a very muddled stage after 6 years here where I sometimes really have to think about which phrases and words come from which side of the pond, and which one I need to use in a particular circumstance.

My kids' doctor (unintentionally, she says) played a mean trick on me. My daughter had a verruca that wouldn't go away, so we took her to see the doc. The doc has a Brit husband so understood what I was talking about, but never let on that Americans call them something different (Plantar Wart), then nearly peed herself laughing at the confusion caused at reception when I tried to book an appointment to have the offending growth removed. How on earth can you properly enjoy Charlie and the Chocolate Factory without knowing what a Verruca is?

[Urbane Guerrilla]

"One fell swoop?" Oh, absolutely, we use it in the States. Even if it took us until we read Tolkien in junior high school or so to see "fell" used in that sense in or on something other than a swoop.

All it takes is a spot of literacy.

I remember a doodle showing a hairy, goggle-eyed and friendly looking critter declaring himself "one swell foop."

Heavy reading of Patrick O'Brian novels suggests the barge in question that has a barge pole is an Admiral's barge, and the pole a boathook.

Also the literary record -- Donald E. Westlake IIRC -- records a refusal to touch something with an eighteen foot Lithuanian.

[steppana]

"Why would you expect them to know the Brit spellings?"
I expect very little from anyone. But why would they not know British spellings? Are Americans not exposed to British literature? British books are not rewritten with alternative spellings for the US market.

"Or were you referring to me?"
No.

I was really wondering if anyone would pick up on "gobsmacked".

[Kitsune]

Originally Posted by steppana

British books are not rewritten with alternative spellings for the US market.

Not all, but most are. There is plenty of editing done to books when they are shipped over from the UK for US readers. Not only spelling changes, but colloquialisms are "translated" for clarity.

Watched a British cooking show last night in which the woman placed a mixture in a "goblet" and "blitzed" it. The British do not merely blend!

[DanaC]

Really? Wow. I hate the thought of that :P I have real difficulty reading translated works (I'm thinking more in terms of fiction, rather than historical sources etc) it disturbs me that I am not actually reading the words of the author :P Don't know why, I just always have found that extra abstraction makes me feel too distant from the author's intentions.

Generally speaking, I don't think American books are altered to make them more understandable to a British audience, although cover designs are often very different. The assumed taste of the British reader seems to be different than the assumed taste of the American reader.

[Kitsune]

More on UK/US book editing. No changes needed for the Aussies, but the US and Canada get plenty of changes.

[DanaC]

I don't really understand why they would do that. There are plenty of books out there that utilise dialect and slang that isn't familiar to the reader. Some authors deliberately subvert grammatical and lexical conventions in order to create something new, like in Clockwork Orange, Vurt, Vernon Godlittle and a bunch of others.

Besides, just because something isn't understood in detail, doesn't mean the reader won't get the meaning behind it.

I just don't get it.....some of my most treasured reading memories have been American books and one of the things that makes them so great is the different use of language and imagery.


*wanders off muttering*

[monster]

That's nothing -they revoiced the Teletubbies and Bob the Builder! The Tellytubbies! Eh Oh? I'm sure it would really confuse American kids hearing "eh oh" in a Brit accent

Bob's hedgehog friends turn into porcupines and his cheese sandwiches become PB&J. it's not like American children don't come across cheese sandwiches, and hedgehogs feature in lots of kids' books. My American friends with sprogs don't understand why these were changed, either.

[Kitsune]

Originally Posted by monster

My American friends with sprogs don't understand why these were changed, either.

I know exactly why: someone gets paid to do it.

Along with all the other work done to music and video (PAL conversion, time codes, audio sample rate changes, compression and editing to match for commercial breaks, "radio ready", etc) there are entire companies out there that work with imported television shows to make the "broadcast ready" for the US by changing words, phrases, and accents through dubbing.

It is probably very difficult to sell a series to broadcasters in the states without proof that the show has the "broadcast ready" stamp on it, no matter how small the changes are.


...and are you sure about the Teletubbies? The "eh oh" had a British accent as I remember, as did the narrator. Same for that other exported abomination, Boobah.

[DanaC]

Kitsune, what do you think about that? Do you think it is a good thing or a bad thing?

[footfootfoot]

What about Lord Bargepole? Wasn't he a character from Punch magazine?

I had another uk ? and now I've forgotten it.

[monster]

Originally Posted by Kitsune

...and are you sure about the Teletubbies? The "eh oh" had a British accent as I remember, as did the narrator. Same for that other exported abomination, Boobah.

Oh yes, I'm sure -it was initilally British when I first moved here, then my two-year old got bored of it and when we came back to it for the next sprog it was all Americanized. Except for the "show and tell" segments, although they were often substituted for American ones which is fair enough, I think. But Kipper always kept the British voices.

Fortunately, my kids grew out of that stuff before BooBah came along, but from what I have seen of it, I'd be quite happy to stand alongside the Americans and toss it into Boston Harbor.

[monster]

Originally Posted by monster

toss it into Boston Harbor.

....and for all you Brits out there, I'm using the Amercan interpretation of this