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In today's video, @OldFashionedAF and I look at some of the more uncommon British and American word differences we've encountered as a British-American couple.
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Those police batons/nightsticks were also called billiclubs
I'll fully vouch for KZhead Premium -- I can't stand KZhead without it, TBH! Oh! And if you're a college student you can get it for I think half price? After you use your free trial of course 😅
Your wife has amazing Norks 🎉
Fun fact, ZIP stands for Zone Improvement Plan.
😂
As an American, I use both "shredded" and "grated," but to me, they mean two different things. "Shredded cheese" comes in oblong, often stringy pieces. "Grated cheese," on the other hand, comes in a form reminiscent of sand or dust (i.e. minuscule, roughly spherical pieces). Grated parmesan is a staple of my diet, but I've occasionally eaten shredded parmesan too.
Agreed. Exactly.
I used to work in a grocery cheese counter... part of my job was to pack and label these very products, and you are correct that that is the difference, but I think in some places people just use them interchangeably.
I like to think of it as the finest grade of shredding. There's thick cut shredded > Shredded > Finely shredded > Grated. Grating cheese works better on super hard crumbly cheeses (Romano, Parmesan, Asiago) . Whilst shredding cheese is best accomplished on younger cheeses with a bit more moisture (e.g., younger cheddar, edam, gouda).
Also American, I just realized I refer to the cheap shitty stuff in bags for lazy fat people who don’t care about plastic waste as being “shredded cheese” and use the term “grated” to describe freshly grated cheese because that’s what it is. Edit; God I love riling up the Walmart set.
Ah, yes ! Shredded cheese is what I use on pizza, salads, and the like, while Grated (Parmesan & Romano) are the kind of cheese I use on spaghetti sauce, and the like.
UPDATE: Just threw the ring light out the window.
It was a wee bit distracting and somehow I KNEW you were gonna comment on it. lol Loved the video!
Hahaha I came to the comments just to comment on it 😅
I confused this with the Wonderwall music video.
Not the glasses ... your lovely wife didn't have he same distraction ...
Set it higher or position lower, no need to rid yourself of it. Another option is a reflector umbrella
At 3:47 I, an American, would call the room that the front desk is in the lobby. In most hotels in the US the elevators (lifts) have an L for the lobby where the front desk (reception) is found.
Or alternatively, you've got Lobby for the entire entrance room/area, Reception for the corner where you check in, and the Reception Desk as the counter at which you talk with someone to check in.
Baton, billy club, or Nightstick can be interchangeable when referring to the wooden sticks, especially the side-stick variants (tonfa?), however when hearing nightstick wooden sticks are the image that comes to mind. When most hear baton they think of the metal extendable ones, or the ones with the spring tips.
I've heard the telescopic batons called asps, but may have been the brand.
@@derekhobbs1102 That is a brand. A very popular one.
In the US, gherkins are a specific type of small, sweet, pickled cucumber. “Pickles” refers generally to pickled cucumbers of all types. Any other pickled vegetables would generally be referred to by their name: pickled okra, pickled ginger, etc. (with some exceptions like some pickled peppers).
My Dad was often pickled....God rest his soul.
in the south they eat pickled pig feet and pickled pig ears . you can usually by some in most gas stations
Don’t forget about pickled eggs
Well put. An excellent explanation
@Ojisan642, as I remember, Peter Piper picked a peck of them.😀
As an American woman married to an Englishman for 21 years, I understand your struggles. I've lived in the U.K. a long time now and sometimes forget which word is mine vs his for things. Recently, he texted me, asking to get a "bag of chips" from the store I was in, so I naturally assumed he meant British "chips" so got a big bag of frozen French fries. I put them in the freezer when I got back and ,a bit later, he came down and started looking through the cabinets and said, "I thought you bought chips?!" To which I replied, "yeah, I put them in the freezer," which brought on his response of, "MAKE UP YOUR MIND WHICH LANGUAGE YOU SPEAK!!" 😂😂😂 I think he was confused, though, because he's the one switching the terms there! 😂
That's pretty funny! He was being accommodating to you, using your native terminology; you were being considerate of him, inferring his native terminology. Chaos ensued!
How sweet!! You were both trying to be polite and speak the other one's language! 😁😁😆🌵👵🖖
Aw! A linguistic version of The Gift of the Magi. Maybe, Sort of. Discount version perhaps.
at least the confusion was over 'Chips' and not 'Pants' 😆
a case of code switching gone awry.
I'm sorry if I've shared this with you before, but it's a good story, so it's worth it. On a walk (hike) on the ,Peak District, I told my British friend, Allison, that I thught "jumper" was a stupid name for a knit pullover. Allison replied, "Well, "sweater" is disgusting." She was right. I haven't been comfortable in any of my jumpers sice then.
In the U.S., there is already an article of clothing called a jumper: a sleeveless dress worn by little girls.
@@firstenforemostI do remember those. There’s some old You Tube footage of the Cowsill’s where Susan is wearing them. I had the sewing pattern for them. I also wore them as a youngster back in the early 1960’s.
That's how wars get started
I know an American family who had the last name Wanker. They lived quite peacefully until the British term made it across the pond. They ended up changing their last name due to the abuse and ridicule they got.
😮😮😮😮😮😮😮
I hope they didn't change it to Tosser!
Poor people! I just learned that from this channel. I can imagine the horrible abuse they suffered. Glad his first name wasn't Randy!!
I've always called what the policeman is holding a "billy club". Beside the bed is a "nightstand". I really enjoy the videos with you both!!
I'm from Maine, not Texas, and I concur wholeheartedly with both of your pronouncements. I came to the comments specifically to see if anybody else called it a billy club.
I guess you could say "The bobby is holding a billy club." His name is probably Billy Bob.
I think US cops also now call their "nightsticks" batons---It sounds like a much more gentle means of getting one's skull crushed.
When I was a kid, my mom actually had different words for the thing beside the bed. It was a nightstand if it had drawers, and a bedside table if it was, ya know, just a table. But when the cops beat you up, it's with the billy club, for sure.
I had to change to "bedside table, like a small end table". No one knows nightstand in Hong Kong.
There are three British terms that stumped me for years: fairy cakes, candy floss, fairy lights. I finally learned what all three meant from Hyacinth Bouquet in an episode of Keeping Up Appearances.
The Bucket woman?
@@davidlevy706Yes, but be sure to pronounce that "bouquet" or Hyacinth will be annoyed, and you don't want that.
Sheridan! You need how much?
"IT'S MY SISTER, VIOLET! THE ONE WITH THE SAUNA, THE SWIMMING POOL, AND ROOM FOR A PONY!"
I love that show! Haven’t been able to find it so haven’t watched it in years. I always got a kick out her long-suffering husband asking “what’s wrong with Bucket?!?” since that’s how it’s spelled. But she’s too “fancy & proper & dignified” to accept that. Lol
The thing you have to remember is American English is peppered with words and terms from many different languages. Not only English but French, Irish, German, Mexican, and native languages and other Languages from around the world. My Great Grand Mother was from Britain and we used many British terms in our home. I personally have used the term base board and skirting but on different things. for instance a base board is the bottom part of a wall and skirting is the bottom portion of material that goes around the outside of a house.
Modern British English is specifically the way it is because of foreign influence. It has moved on so far from Old English because of many invasions (both the invading of our country and us invading/colonising other countries)
Oklahoman here and we say trim for what she says baseboard for, so is different even state by state. We do use the word skirting like you do. A trailer house comes to mind when I think of skirting though, it can be used for a regular house too but used you here it more around trailer houses.
All of English is like that it's not special to American English they have it in AUS, NZ, SA. it's kind of just how English works don't have a word for something see if another culture/language does before you waste you time thinking of one.
I'm from the Pacific Northwest (both west and east side, which is actually important linguistically). I say both "shredded" and "grated", but usually in my mind "shredded cheese" is what comes prepared in a bag, and "grated cheese" is the cheese that was grated by hand by someone at home. But they are pretty much interchangeable. Also, to me a "gherkin" is a type of small cucumber that can be used for pickling, but we tend to like a larger variety of cucumber for pickling. A "gas burner" is usually what we call a stand alone burner, so we call the "hob" a "gas stove" or "gas range". We use "road construction" and "road work" interchangeably.
6:40 OOOOH, That's why The Doctor in Doctor Who said "Anyone for dodgems?" to the Daleks. I never knew what he meant. Now that scene is even funnier, thank you.
I love how Tara always looks a little bit annoyed by Laurence when he starts talking...
She’s just assumed that face cuz that’s how Lawrence looks at everyone ;)
Isn't that how wives look at husband's usually, when they start talking?
That's the sign of true love.
The spouse's prerogative 😅😅
I hate it when Laurence calls Tara "wife"!
*TRIVIA:* In 1851, Elias Howe developed a device called the *“Automatic Continuous Clothing Closure"* which collected dust up on a shelf, as he was inventing the sewing machine. In 1890 Whitcomb Judson was awarded a patent for an improved device called the *“Chain Lock Fastener”* later called the Clasp Locker, and even later the Judson C-Curity Fastener. Third time's a charm? Nah. Even though it showcased at the *1893 Chicago World’s Fair* the thing still didn't *_catch on_* (I can use a pun too, Laurence). In 1906 Mr. Judson's company, “The Universal Fastener Company,” which later became the “Automatic Hook and Eye Company,” which later became the “Hookless Fastener Company” (still awful with the naming) hired a Swedish electrical engineer named Otto Frederick Gideon Sundback. The new hire took the lack luster product back to the drawing board, then up to Canada, and an early *"Hookless Fastener"* design was patented on April 29, 1913 by Sundbeck himself (tsk tsk). In 1917 he patented a much-improved version called the *Separable Fastener* (things had more name changes than Instanbul). His new business "The Lightning Fastener Co." started actual manufacture of the silly thing. It wasn’t until 1923, that Benjamin Franklin (BF) Goodrich saw the invention and liked the noise it made. He used these fasteners on the company’s new rubber boots and decided to call the new fastener a *“ZIPPER”* - and, Bob's yer uncle.
When I worked in Japan, I had 2 coworkers, one from the UK (Wales specifically) and one from Australia. I'm American. All 3 of us had just recently started at the job together so we often talked about our new expat experiences, and one day, the Welsh coworker came to us to talk about the her stove (gas burner). I forgot the exact reason why we were talking about it but the Welsh coworker kept saying the word hob while the Australian and I took a full couple of minutes trying to understand what she was saying. None of us thought to pull out our phones and just google "hob" but instead we kept asking her "what's a hob?"
Whether Front Desk or Reception, both are usually found in the Lobby. I learned "Skirting Boards" (aka base boards) by watching Brits refurbish very old buildings in France. But I can't think up what they/you call the one that goes at the top of the wall, againt the ceiling. I call that the "Crown Molding". A camper van would be motorized, a camper trailer is pulled. A caravan is many vehicles in line, going to the same destination.
Campers can also be "Travel Trailers," that are pulled from a bumper hitch, or a "5th Wheel (Camper)" so named for the attachment like those on Tractor-Trailers (Is there a specific word for that type of truck in the UK other than Lorry?)
A caravan is a line of camels trudging across the desert.
@@lorraineschwartz9956 Hahaha! Camels also can be used as a vehicle, for transport!
A "caravan" camping trailer maybe called that due to it being pulled behind another vehicle, "in caravan", so to speak.
@@lorraineschwartz9956. And, by association, a group of vehicles traveling together.
Tara's "Do that now!" Laurence impression was spot-on!
Some of the American terms are regional, too. Tara had terms rarely heard in the West. When I moved to NM from CA, I learned new terms for many things
Foyer
Yeah, I was going to point out that in The west we use many of the same terms that Lawrence did for things. Some we use more or less interchangeably.
As a Californian, I always say "grated cheese" although the packages in stores seem to draw a distinction between "grated" and "shredded" which I believe is based on how finely the cheese has been grated. The furniture next to the bed is always called a night stand, and work done on the road is generally called "road work" although it can be called construction. Also the "camper" can also be called a "trailer". Also, Lawrence may not have talked about "painters tape" (2:23), but if he had I would need to note that I call it "masking tape".
NM? Where's NM? Now I'm questioning my knowledge of 50 states 😅
@@arnoldrivas4590 New Mexico
For most of my adult life, I thought the British term "supply teacher" meant a teacher who was in charge of the school's supply room - the place where the pencils and erasers and paper etc are kept. It was only a couple of years ago that I discovered it means the same as the American term "substitute teacher". Suddenly, those supply teacher jokes make more sense. It took a long time to realize what a "tannoy" is, too - in the US it's a loudspeaker. I assume "tannoy" was just a brand name at one time.
Yep, Tannoy is a brand name 🙂
I learned that usage of "supply" in the Episcopal church. Even in the U.S., they use the term to mean a priest who comes to fill in when your own priest is sick or away. A substitute preacher, so to speak.
The hotel room with the front desk in it is called the lobby.
As a Southerner, Tara's "Midwesterness" is really endearing.
As a lifelong American for several decades, I’ve usually said “reception desk” over “front desk.” I’ve also heard “grated” cheese often in the US, but packaged stuff is usually labelled “shredded.” I’ve usually heard what police carry as either a billy club or nightstick (baton might be a bit old fashioned). And I’ve also heard both “stands” and “bleachers” in the US. “Gherkin” often implies tiny (
Oh that's interesting! I live in Utah, and I've only heard gherkin referring to those really large pickle spears! The tiny bite-size pickles we call "petite pickles" or "baby pickle"
@@runnerfrog13 I've heard "baby pickle" used too, but any packaged pickles I've seen w/ "gherkin" on the label have also been the tiny whole pickles.
They should have also pulled the paper out of the bathroom, I believe that is bathroom paper in UK. Don't be jerking yer gherkin 😂.
@@paulwoodman5131oh! I've always heard "Bog roll" for TP in the UK, which just sounds entirely too evocative and icky for me 😅
@@moxiebombshell America should adopt Bog Roll ... perfectly borderline ick.
I love to see Lawrence and Tara do these videos together. I worked at a very nice inn. The main entrance opens into the lobby or reception area. The desk area is called either the front desk or reception desk. It depends on the area of the country and how upscale they want to appear. 😊
When they were doing the front desk/reception I thought they were going to go for lobby/foyer.
Please do more videos with Tara! She's lovely and you 2 are such fun together. It doesn't have to be about different words. Anything would be fun. ✌️
I couldn't agree more. The episode where she made the PB&J is one of my favorites and I have shown it to all my family and friends.
Great video ....please have Tara guest star in more videos ...she is such a funny and sweet girl
Yes, I agree. More Tara!
Yes, she is lovely!😊
As a Canadian it's so interesting to hear which words we say the same as England, and which are the same as America. Def have a combo of the two!
Yeah it's a strange mix where it seems we've picked at random which words to use.
@@EnbyGaemer2005 I made a list; it's over there on the chesterfield.
I was thinking the same thing, lol.
In nz too, well we've got a few more in common with the brits but a surprising and random selection in common with the us.
I agree my Canadian brother
In Canada, we often call napkins, serviettes. But my family will say "could you pass me the soviettes?" Often Canadians get to choose between US, UK and/or French terms for their linguistic needs.
Same in German… Serviette. Germans adopted a lot of French words!
Did you say Soviets?
what's interesting as an australian is that with a lot of these i grew up using and hearing the english terms as a kid, but now as an adult mostly only hear the american equivalent in conversation.
One I never knew until visiting London a month ago was calling a “rest room” or “bathroom” a “toilet” in the UK. In the US, “toilet” is the term for the actual device in the room.
Probably cos like a lot of homes here... my toilet isn’t in the same room as my bath
Everyone kinda knows they call it the "loo" or "water closet" over there. Like I'm American and I heard Brits say "loo" or water closet (often seen as WC) when I was a kid lol
In most European countries this public room is called a toilet (toilette) or WC because you go there to use the "device" not to take a bath - there's no bath tub anyway - or to have a rest.
I teach it in ESL as calling it a bathroom, restroom, or wash room sounds more polite because when you say toilet, we Americans immediately think of using the actual device. You might need to poop but we don’t want to think about it. It’s a weird hang up about a natural bodily function that we all do but ya know, smells bad. But if they find themselves mainly in Europe, follow what they hear. I want my students to choose words they want to use knowing connotations behind those words but also know the alternatives when they hear them. But to also be aware when they hear someone say “I need to take a piss” that it might not be the best way to phrase it at a restaurant
@@UnicornsPoopRainbows Well, you certainly may use the word you like, but I find these American euphemisms rather funny if not to say strange.
Police club is a billy club. The pickle… in America a gherkin is particularly a small sweet pickle.
I'm a Yankee, and I sometimes refer to that board twix floor and wall as the mop board in that it is something that protects the wall from the mop head banging up against it. That thing the police (or constabulry) carry is also called a billy club or a night stick.
The thing with the US is it's so big that all the different regions have their own words for things. I'm from the northeast coast and I would use front desk and reception interchangeably, and the room is the lobby. Side table/bedside table/nightstand are also interchangeable as are police baton/nightstick. Roadwork is repairing or expanding the road, construction is building something new. Shredded and grated cheese are different, with shredded being longer and thicker and usually used in salad or things that require melted cheese, while grated is finer and used as a topping. Language is fascinating lol
6:15 Grated VS Shredded is an interesting one. When you buy Parmesan in the can, its grated. When you buy cheese in a bag, like what you show in the video, its shredded. Shredded is coarse and grated is fine. That's how I would define the difference. And we have both in America
I feel like grating is what happens in the video where you rub the cheese against a rough things with holes, a grater. Shredded cheese comes in a packet and has been processed through a shredder, which might be just a series of little knives or some sort of extruder. Grating involves friction to make little bits.
Love the random Tara videos. She adds a fun counterpoint.
Not knowing any other way to contact you, I'll have to post this here. I just had a thought about a topic you might like. There are words in American English that are uniquely American but started out as foreign words. Here are a few examples. Vamoose: To depart hurriedly. It originated as the Spanish word vamos, meaning "let's go". Boondocks: Any place that is far from comfortable, familiar surroundings; rough, remote, or isolated country. The word originated in the Philippines, and is derived from the Tagalog word bundok, which means mountain. It was adopted by US soldiers after the Spanish-American war, when Spain ceded a number of its colonies to the US. Head Honcho: A boss, leader or manager; the person in charge. It originated in Japan. When the country was occupied after World War Two, US servicemen observed that young Japanese school children were organized into groups called "han" to walk to and from school. A group was lead by an older child who was called the hancho, which literally means group leader.
Wow. I'm so confused. Or, it's just that I'm a Bostonian for life. At least 4 of the words Laurence used were the same that I/we use. Guess being closest to the Pond, we picked up some driftwood with some British pronunciations scratched on it. Great to see the gorgeous Tara! Thanks guys. Always, always, always FUN! 💐
I got to go to England for the first time last year. The first day I drove down a narrow road, in Bibury. From sleep deprivation from the time change, and from it being my first time driving from the opposite side of the road, I veered too far to the left. Well, this adorable little village had lined their adorable, narrow road with sharp rocks. I immediately got two flat tires. There was no shoulder to pull onto. I had no choice but to pull off the road on the right hand side of the road. There was parking there, but signs saying not to park there, with cones, but I had no choice. (Resulting in a ticket.) This charming village had only a restaurant we could go to to wait for help. As I called the insurance company, and waited for help, it got dark, and started to rain, and the restaurant was closing at ten pm. I was transferred to an assistant on the phone. She spoke English, but had a very thick accent. I can only guess Scottish. And she used different vocabulary for things pertaining to the car, so I had no idea what she was saying. Her words for license plate number (edit: registration number) and glove compartment, and the item she was asking me to check for in there (possibly to change tires) were unfamiliar words. I can laugh now, but it was stressful at the time. And she got irritated with me for politely asking her to repeat herself so I could try and guess what she was meaning. Help did not arrive before the restaurant closed, so we had to call a taxi. A wonderful guy arrived, and he had a very thick accent as well. Turns out he didn't accept cards as payment, so he had to drive us to a different town that was more modern to use an atm machine to get cash. The atm machine fee was very high for that. He drove us to our hotel. He was shocked when I tipped him. To be helpful, he went in with us to explain to the hotel clerk that the tow company would be bringing our car there. So kind of him. But when he left the clerk said to me that he didn't understand a word he said! They were both English. So funny. The next day, the car debacle continued. And the rest of the trip was adventurous too, though not meant to be! Driving downtown Edinburgh was a big mistake! lol. Lawrence, maybe make a video explaining the painted lines on the roads and what they mean. I still don't understand how as I followed two cars through a large intersection how a car was suddenly on my left, honking at me. :-) Oh, and the country signs too. Learning the train system when I gave up on driving was another crazy experience. We had a ton of fun, but next time I won't be renting a car. We traveled briefly from the south to the north. It happened to be the week of the Queens memorial events. We met interesting people and saw lovely countryside and had a double decker bus tour of London the day of the casket viewing. Lawrence, maybe do a video about car lingo and what to say and be prepared for in that situation? And how to travel by trains. I hadn't planned on using the train system. A wonderful gentleman helped us, but even that was hard because when in a thick accent he directed us to Saint Pan Cras Station, I had no idea what he was saying...lol. He was catching a train into town to watch a sport game, so he walked with us from the first stop, up and through the station, through security, and down to our connection. I'm so thankful. It was so kind of him. We loved the trip, but I need e re-do to learn from the mistakes. :-)
what did she call a license plate number & glove compartment
Registration number, glove box, per my expert source
cheers! yanks have a license plate and a registration decal on the windshield that i think brits also call something else
I meant to say registration number. I can't remember. :-)@@baxpiz1289
Yes, you're right. @@Hiding11
The tool used on the cheese is a grater, but grated cheese is small grains like salt, while shredded cheese is larger strips. There are of course several types of grater, box graters usually let you turn the cheese into 3 or four sizes of grated or shredded (on 3 sided models, the 4th side works kind of like a cheese knife.)
I never in my life called cheese shredded UNTIL they started selling it in the store and they all use the word, shredded. I prefer grated because I have had many a knicked up knuckle from grating cheese at home before someone else got the knicked knuckles so I could buy it at a store!
This is true.
Where are you getting this? I've never heard this in my life.
@@Bapuji42have you never seen a box grater? Common kitchen tool in most American homes. It can be used for a variety of tasks, not just shredding or grating cheeses. I use it to shred carrots for coleslaw, and sometimes zesting of citrus fruit.
@@denisegaylord382 What the fuck are you talking about? All I use is a box grater. I've never heard grated cheese called shredded and I've never heard that grated cheese is only "small grains like salt."
9:06 i live in america and the signs telling you about road work say “road work ahead” specifically
In England, we are even more specific with regards to the caravan. That is a small one we refer to as a touring caravan or 'tourer' for short. Because you would generally tow it to wherever you were going. The big ones that require a low loader to move are called static caravans, or 'statics' for short .
Shredded cheese are the long strings that fall off the block. Grated cheese is a much smaller shred and usually from a dry cheese such as parmesan. And I i have heard of pickles being called gherkins. They are generally smaller and sweet - sweet pickles. But I will say that since I don't care for them, I guess I haven't seen that term for awhile.
I get the impression from Laurence that he doesn't differentiate between the two. They're all shredded.
There definitely is a difference between shredded and grated cheese. Gherkins are small little pickles, but they can be had in dill or sweet.
The tool used in either case though is a cheese grater, not a cheese shredder
@@PixelatedH2O I wanna see a cheese statuette of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles villain, now.
@@hatchetman3662 I had a similar thought after I wrote my comment lol
Notes on two of the "differences" related to transportation engineering: 1) As it turns out, we in the USA do OFFICIALLY use "Road Work" as Laurence described, as it is a part of the legends of various orange construction warning signs as you can see in the MUTCD (or approaching any road construction project). However, that is because "Construction" is just too large to fit on a standard 48"X48" sign and be legible to motorists. 2) We in the USA who are engineers do technically refer to the yellow interval of a signal phase as "Amber" because of how the lenses for the yellow lamps were originally made. However, we represent it algebraically in our calculations with a "Y," because "A" is for the "All-Red" interval. This being the case, we end up using "yellow" anyway (e.g. "flashing-yellow-arrow").
Interesting - thanks for sharing . I live in a small Illinois town & mostly see signs for " road work ahead " whether it's for actual road repair , roadside tree cutting / mowing , etc. , basically to let drivers know to drive cautiously . "Construction Ahead " pertains to large building / highway projects , heavy equipment in use , multiple workers , workers' vehicles parked along the area - in general , lots going on so pay attention ! ( Pretty much sums up all Illinois highways all months of the year ! 😂 ) Our rural township crew usually tells us in person such as meeting at the gas station , grocery store , visits at our mailboxes , when they're planning road work , especially tar 'n chip days , then we help pass the word to neighbors - love small town comradery ! 💙
Yeah, I see “road work ahead” signs all the time here in Ohio, because our highways are always under construction. I sometimes jokingly omit the “w” and warn to watch out for the dreaded Road Orcs. Better have your +1 sword at the ready.
@@jasonlescalleet5611 Witty ! 😂
It's a bit funny when you see a highway work zone advertised as "Road Work" on advance signs, but then the last sign you see afterwards isn't "End Road Work" but rather "End Construction". Referring to yellow lights as amber is also alive and well in the railroad industry if I'm not mistaken.
@@sabretooth1997 RE: "isn't 'End Road Work' but rather 'End Construction.'" This may be true in your state/municipality, but the official MUTCD sign for such purposes (designated G20-2) is "End Road Work" but in All-Caps, and this is what GDOT uses. I'd be interested to see a G20-2 with "Construction" on it . . .
“Hob” used to mean “hearth”. Hobnobbing was gathering at home since the home and hearth were inextricably linked. Likewise, hobnails were just household nails, not of specialised purpose. An interesting side effect of that is “hobgoblin”. This used to be a household goblin, much like Dobby the house-elf, or a booka. A little fairy creature that did household tasks in return for milk or causes mischief when snubbed. JRR Tolkien screwed up and accidentally used the term to refer to larger goblin/orcs, himself botching this despite being a doctor of linguistics. (He confessed to the mistake and lamented it later; he’d mixed the term up with ‘Hobb’, a Germanic term for a bogeyman.) As a result, hobgoblins are now interpreted to be larger goblins. (Gygax claimed D&D didn’t rip off Tolkien. Yet he picked up an accidental trap street, so to speak!)
Is the word for a gear-cutting tool derived from that or a completely different etymology?
We're in the uk and call it a gas ring
I thought hob nob came from Shakespeare like 'Willy nilly' Was 'Will I? Won't I?' That the language could negate a word by replacing the first letter with an 'N'. 'Will I, nill I?' So hab nab was 'have and not have' corrupted by Shakespeare to hob nob that's crowd chatter for the give and take of intellectual intercourse. Edit : (It wasn't Shakes who corrupted this but his character Falstaff.)
Hi guys. I love you guys. As a retired police officer, which makes me old, when I came on the job, what the police officer was holding, was called a nightstick. But then they change the style of it, and it became a baton. Either word is right, though the configuration of the baton is different from the nightstick.
Risers are what you stand on for group photos or for chorale competitions. My dad was a photographer, he built his own risers for when he took group pictures for schools, etc. Bleachers have seating. Inside school gyms, they fold up against the walls to make more room
We've used risers on stage (symphony orchestra), and they can be quite broad because some types have to accommodate chairs and music stands. There was one time when a couple of trumpet players fell off the back onto the stage (about 2 to 3 feet). I saw the conductor stop the orchestra, then looked at what he was looking at, the lead trumpeter disappeared, a thud, then "I'M OK!!"
Any idea what's bleaching about them? Why they aren't just "retractable seating?"
@@nthgthI think the term "bleachers" originated from the fact that decades ago when the seating material was made of wood, extended exposure to the sun bleached the wood.
@@melindar.fischer5106 that's really cool if it's the real reason. Regardless, it's very plausible and I never heard that, so thanks.
While in the U.S. Air Force I was stationed in Britain. One day, while eating at a local restaurant I spilled a drink and asked a waitress if I could have a napkin to clean it up. Omg you could have heard a pin drop, everyone in there stopped talking and was looking at me. It was only later that I should have asked for a "serviette', because I actually asked her for a feminine hygiene product (sanitary napkin).
Or a baby's diaper (a nappie)!
Gosh - was that some time ago? Brit here - never known anyone to have that issue / association with the word napkin. It's the word I use. Serviette, I find more... tacky / twee / prissy / mimsy, is the best way I can describe it. Unless maybe it was a regional thing...? Nappy (diaper) is short for napkin, for sure. But that diminutive form was coined and in common use from so many decades ago that I think many Brits nowadays may not even know that nappy is actually short for napkin.
@@KatieRae_AmidCrisis I was stationed at RAF Bentwaters nr Ipswich from 1985-1989, so you are right about it being a while ago. I was visiting friends at a small seaside town called Aldeburgh at the time.
Enjoy your channel. The word difference on cheese (shredded v. grated) refers to which side of the box grater you use. The grated cheese is done on the side that stick out as if nails were punched through the other side which gives the sort of powdered texture. Shredded cheese are strands of cheese used on the shredding side similar to shredded paper.
As a North Carolinian, thank you for mentioning our different dialects! I can go 5 minutes down the road and hear at least 3 or 4 different dialects lol Also....I realize I dont call most of those things either of the words yall used 😂 I grew up in the Sandhills Coastal Piedmont and now in the Central Piedmont area and have been told my dialect sounds like an NC or even Alambama mixed with Baltimore
Likewise for those of us living in Texas. West Texas is different from north Texas, coastal Texas is different from east Texas, etc.
Loving Tara's hair. You two are fun to watch together.
My favorite of this sort, not involving the UK but different flavors of English: In the US, the person at a restaurant who takes you to your table is called a "hostess". When I visited the Philippines I saw they called her a "receptionist". I didn't think much of it at the time, just an example of different dialects, but much later I learned that that's because in the Philippines, "hostess" means "prostitute". This led to a scenario running through my head where an American takes his Filipina girlfriend to an American restaurant and there's a sign saying, "Wait here for the hostess". And she says, "We are certainly not going to wait here. We're going to sit down and get our food." Him: "But we have to let the hostess do her job." Her: "Well she's not going to do her job with you." And so on.
Thank you for enlightening us. I’ve heard hostess/host, waiter/waitress, and server ((both) M/F).
In Australia that is usually done by a waiter/waitress, but if it is somewhere posh with a specific role they would be called a maître d'. Hostesses are the ladies who greet people in strip clubs.
@@catw6998 A host/hostess is *specifically* the employee who greets you at the front of the restaurant and takes you to your table. The employee who shows up later to take your order and then bring you the food is the waiter/waitress or server. Those terms are interchangeable, but I think a lot of places use server now because it is gender neutral.
@@StarryEyed0590 I don’t recall arguing against that but ok, yea I agree☺️. Better?
@@catw6998 Sorry, wasn't trying to argue. I couldn't tell from your comment whether you were an American or trying to learn the American terms, so I wanted to specify.
"Truck" is a general name for any big ol' thing that makes you swear when you're trying to turn right next to them because you can't see the oncoming traffic. That particular kind has multiple names here. When I was growing up in the Philadelphia area, it was a tractor-trailer. Having lived in southern CA for ages, I now call it a big rig. In the midwest and possibly the south, it's an 18 wheeler.
The desk at the hotel/business is reception and is always in the lobby. Reception is usually reserved for the particular desk area (from a kiwi) 😊
Three of your words I use interchangeable. There is a fourth word mentioned - pickle vs. Gherkin. So a gherkin to me is a tiny very tiny sweet pickle. Whereas, the larger pickle is usually more of a dill pickle/ kosher pickle unless you happen to be Polish. Polish pickles are spicy.
So many of my group photos were taken around steps to buildings.
Such a lovely couple. So funny together. You both have a good sense of humor
I’ve always said grated cheese for the kind you use a cheese grater for, while shredded cheese is the kind of stuff that comes in bags and doesn’t melt right because of the cellulose in it to prevent it sticking to itself
I’d generally call any sort of cabin-on-wheels, whether motorized or towed, an “RV” with different types having their own names, which you can hear on radio ads for RV dealerships. “Motorhomes” are the self propelled kind (and are often huge-the size of buses). “Travel trailers” are the kind you tow behind a pickup truck using the hitch. Really big trailers that you tow with a BIG pickup truck using a special kind of hitch installed in the bed are “fifth wheels” after the wheel like hitch (similar to the ones on big rig tractors). And yeah, “big rig,” “tractor trailer,” and “semi truck” (or just “semi”) are all things I use to refer to the truck/lorry shown in this video. Truck works too, though could be ambiguous (my Chevy Silverado is a “truck” but not a big rig).
What a wonderful surprise to see Tara. Please include her often. She is so lovely. Enjoy you both. Thank you for the fun video.
You guys are such a awesome hoot of a people when coming together, can we have more!? Obviously it’s fine if it’s just you Laurence, but I enjoy your wife perspective when you are together. It helps me learn more uk and us differences.
Re: bleachers vs. stands - I visited a friend in Ireland and we went to the football club, and the stands there were literally standing room only, no seats, just railings to lean against. This made a lot of sense.
The ‘stand’ in Britain can contain seats or standing terracing. It’s counter intuitive but when we use the word in this context it generally means the structure that occupies by the spectators. An open terrace without seating would probably be just called the terrace, an open terrace with seats would be called a stand, even though it is uncovered, as they are a comparative rarity so we haven’t had to invent another word like bleachers. At Old Trafford cricket ground there is a huge scaffolding structure that seats something like 6000 spectators. It is called the Foster’s Party Stand. Across the Pennines in Leeds they have a vast area of open seating called the Western Terrace. Bleachers would not suit either, however, as you are hardly likely to get bleached in Manchester or Leeds!
When football started out in the UK, most stands had only standing no seating areas. Until some tragedies happened.
For the police tool, i grew up calling it a billy club (when they carried the one shaped after martial arts weapon). But, now they carry the extending batons, so I just refer to it as a baton.
I like Tara's "Do that now" impersonation. Spot on.
I lol'd so heartily in the kitchen at her that my daughter came in to see what I was up to!
So my big question is, does Laurence know the difference between jelly and jam? I'm always amazed to hear folks from across the pond refer to jelly as jam when they aren't the same thing.
Yeah. They call gelatin, jelly. I guess it would definitely confuse a Brit to hear someone say that they were going to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich
jelly, jam, marmalade, and preserves... all different, but most people dont know that!!
@JeffN4POD, don't forget preserves and marmalade.
Yep jam has the seeds included, jelly is made from only the juice of whatever fruit it is.
@@arcticelectricI’ll have to check out the differences on the web. I know the dif between jam and jelly, but jam, marmalade, and preserves, I thought were pretty neigh the same thing.
2 seconds in and Tarah has stole the scene Lawerence. LOL I really enjoyed the fun and light banter between you. Please do more episodes together.
Yes, the baton is also called a night stick. However, I think nightstick is more commonly used. Gerkins are actually sweet much smaller pickles versus the common larger, dill pickles.
Due to the wide spread of American culture through movies, tv shows, etc, as a non-native English speaker I mostly knew only the US version so it was interesting. The exception was the Reception which I've always used but never heard of a "front desk" before. Now I kinda see why it's called "fronto" in japanese.
I think of it as the loby. I guess the area is the loby. (Hopefully with breakfast available.) But the place where you talk to the person I call the front desk.
@@anyascelticcreations I believe most people would spell it "lobby" I'm American. I call it the front desk, which is in the lobby. But if anyone called it the reception desk I would understand what they're referring to.
Interestingly, in the US we'd call the person sitting there the Receptionist but never call that desk "Reception"
Interestingly, as for the middle bulb on a traffic light, the OFFICIAL color here in the States **is** in fact "amber." The industry manual of standards for traffic control signs and signals officially refers to it as an amber light and specifies that it must be within a certain range of colors that is NOT to be considered "yellow." But everyone calls it a yellow light anyway, because... yeah, it's yellow.
I imagine it is the same as the amber indication LEDs that are on electronics, but they are commonly referred to as the "yellow light".
@@RBrown-uk4xt That may have originally been the intent, but for the majority of the design's history, it's just been three plain clear light bulbs placed behind colored lenses, which makes the "amber" lens appear to be a lighter color than it probably should be. The only difference came about recently with colored LED traffic lights, but those still aren't as common as simply replacing the old incandescent bulbs behind the same kinds of colored lenses. And the LED lights are required to be within the same color ranges as the incandescent versions. Funny thing about that, too: I'm slightly color blind in a very narrow band of the blue/green part of the spectrum. We actually figured that out when I was growing up and referred to a green traffic light as a BLUE light. Clear lights behind a green lens look sky blue to me. However, green colored LED lights look almost fully green with just a slight blue tint to me. So far, no one has been able to figure out exactly why that is, because both types of light are supposed to be within the exact same color range, as per the same regulation that calls the yellow light "amber."
Amber is just a shade of yellow, So odds are the manual states amber so that all traffic lights use roughly the same shade of yellow and not just some guy going "Eh yellow enough".
In UK there were TV information adverts about how traffic lights work and they called it amber. Also, if you drive a vehicle you learn a book called the highway Code, which calls it amber.
@@JoshCollettaIf I remember correctly, the green aspect is tinted slightly blue and the red aspect slightly yellow, because red-green colorblindness is so common that they didn't want to risk them looking too similar.
6:10 - Those are different things like diced vs. sliced... A _"shredder"_ is what is shown and has larger holes w/ scalloped grooves that create distinctive _strings_ of cheese. A _"grater"_ has smaller, punched holes and rough "star" edges that reduce the cheese to fine particulate/powder. -- Shreds are better w/ relatively soft cheeses while some hard cheeses barely "shred" and grating is better for hard cheeses as most non-hard cheeses literally _can't_ "grate".
As a midwesterner. I differentiate between shredded and grated cheese based on the softness of it. Hard cheeses get grated. As for the police, the image would be called a nightstick or Billy club if being disrespectfully described, a baton is thought of as a slimmer striking device.
So happy to see Tara on this episode! I miss her videos.
Enjoyed this very much. Love your solo work but having the wife beside you adds nice variety. And since you often comment on the size of the US, Im sure you aren’t surprised that many of these items have multiple names depending on region. And Im also old enough to know that names for things have changed over time. Looking forward to your next post!
When the two English forms are compared the UK words are just an alternate for the US words. I was born in the South and grew up in the West (Texas and Arizona) when tn Texas I hear more of the UK words and visa versa in Arizona. Of course there are exceptions. English is such a wonderful language, one can go almost anywhere in the world and find others to converse with. Thanks to the British for spreadding the common we share.
grated cheese is created by using a grater producing a flatter shard, shredded is actually cut by a press or mandolin and has a MUCH longer strand - that bottle-opener looking tool you drag across the cheese (or your potatoes if you can't find the damned peeler) is a shredder
RE Gherkins - There was a young lady named Perkins, who was so very fond of small gherkins, that she went on a spree and ate 43, which pickled her internal workin's.
When I was in college I got a job working at a convenience store located about 1 block from Disneyland. The British tourists were to say the least confusing as it was my first exposure to British english. Words such as napes, biscuits, crisps and sweets threw me off at first. Some of them had accents so thick they needed sub-titles!
what is a uk nape?
I may not be spelling it right, but napes are disposable diapers. Many of the British tourists were traveling with young children. @@baxpiz1289
@@baxpiz1289, nape = napkin
@@Cricket2731 tx! incidentally, the irish call it a serviette, but otherwise use brit terms
I’m so very happy you were able to have such a wonderful experience early in your life! 😉👍 Obviously, it was not lost on you, or you wouldn’t be here now. Too many don’t get to rub elbows with people from other cultures until they are too crusty to receive any benefit from the experience.
In addition to baseboard, I often use the words moulding and trim. Although, those are more general terms which also describe around the windows, doors, and sometimes ceilings.
In regards to the baseboard/skirting board: I use the general term of molding. My grandpa was a carpenter and that's the word he used.
Listening to these word differences, as American, I am surprised at the many British terms I use in everyday speach. I know my ancestors came from many places among them was Wales, Ireland and Britain. Plus we are mostly from the southern part of the US. Guess our language influences are evident for many generations.
Southern US English is distinct in A LOT of ways, and even has regional nuances within. I grew up in the South too, we use more terms and grammar the rest of the country may consider old-fashioned and there is A LOT A LOT A LOT of Irish and also Scottish influence. I also frequently find that on these types of videos I have similarities with both, more from the old world, or just a totally different thing not even represented... oldy if the ever do an Aussie compression I also often find similarity there too.
@@GoodNewsEveryone2999 You are right about Southern US English being distinct I sometimes miss my mother tongue living with my hubby in Washington State of all places.
@@rustynails8756 yeah, i get nostalgic when i hear the various versions of it i grew up around
Ditto. I can’t recall exactly when I heard my Dad calling gas petrol.
There’s a few videos out with 4 females - American, British/UK, Australian, and maybe NZ doing word differences.
Love seeing Tara again! Interestingly, my father was a carpenter and used both terms baseboard and skirting board. He was raised mostly by his grandparents and they called it skirting board so he used that term if he had to do work in an older house. In a more modern one he used the term baseboard. My maternal grandmother also called them skirting boards. We also used both bread box and bread tin. If we had bread in a metal container then it was called bread tin, if wooden then it was bread box. We did the same with sugar, flour, and salt used in baking (and my grandmother and mother baked a lot) if the flour was stored in metal then it was the flour tin. If glass or ceramic then it was the flour jar.
I haven't done the research, but it might be worth exploring the history of the usage of "bleachers" in America. Ernest Lawrence Thayer's poem, "Casey at the Bat" (1888), contains the line: "Kill him! Kill the umpire!" shouted someone on the stand." Here the word "stand" clearly means what we might now call bleachers. "Stand" may have been the preferred term in the U.S. in 1888.
Zip in the US carries the connotation of quick (possibly the same in the UK). Anyway, the term zipper predates the USPS Zip codes. I'm not sure by how much, but I do remember when Zip codes began, and I'd been using zippers for at least fifteen years before that. Still, it made good banter, and I loved it.
Tara, it’s been too long since your last appearance in a “Lost in the Pond” video. You look so pretty. Love the hair! You and Laurence are so freaking cute together. 🥰
I’ve been dating a British guy for 11 years now and I, too, have gotten so used to hearing certain British terms that my brain doesn’t remember the American terms sometimes. I remember recently hearing a KZheadr from Virginia (where I’m from) mention getting a “carry out” and I 100% thought I was hearing a foreign language. I had to go back and listen again. I finally had to turn on captions to know what he was saying. Then it hit me, he was talking about a “take away.” 😅
I was reading a story the other day from the UK and the persons in it said "they were enjoying a pizza takeaway ". After a little googling, I discovered that meant carry out in the US. But, I wouldn't say I was enjoying a pizza carry out, it would be a carry out pizza, if I was inclined to mention the mode of pizza acquisition at all.
"To go" is also used a lot in place of carry out. The person taking the order will first ask, "Is that for here, or to go?"
I'm from Scotland and a carry out was always bottles and cans of alcohol bought to drink at home or outside.
I always called it ‘take out’ in Indiana so “take away” wasn’t too odd to me when I heard it the first time. ‘Carry out’ sounds really odd to me lol
@@UnicornsPoopRainbows I have heard "take out" used as well. Most likely a regional thing.
The seating known as "bleachers" can also be referred to as a "grandstand," though it's more likely to be called "bleachers" if there's no roof over it, or if it is the cheap section of a large stadium. In the US the "front desk" is very specifically the desk itself and/or the people attending it when spoken of collectively, while "reception" could be a reference to either the entire area or the people attending it. "Jackhammer" is the more common term in the US, but "pneumatic drill" is also used, though it's considered more of a technical term. I think both "nightstand" and "bedside table" are used pretty frequently where I live. "Truncheon" is something that seems very British to me, but "nightstick" and "baton" both seem normal. It can also be called a "billy club" in the US. "Scotch tape" is a commonly used term because of the brand, but we would consider the technical term "cellophane tape." We usually only use the term "grated" cheese for something in very small pieces rather than long strips. Otherwise it's "shredded." "Gherkin" is a term in the US, but it refers specifically to small pickled cucumbers, either because they are an unusually small variety or because they were picked early specifically for pickling. "Tic-tac-toe" is a reference to the winning position of three squares in a row. Both "yellow light" and "amber light" are readily understood in my area.
Having been married to a British woman one of the things that we realized was different was when I put bread in milk she called it saps and told me that that was what they fed puppies
Such a fun episode! Thanks, you two. Just a non-essential side-note from a life-long Californian.. I grew up calling the police baton a "billy club" and I am definitely calling bumper cars as dodg'ems (sp?) from now on. You guys rock
I'm from Georgia, as is my mom, but my dad was a southern California boy. Wonder if that's why I know it as a billy club?
For many years, even over here, dodgems were called bumper cars or bumping cars - only since the 70s have they been called dodgems - a portmanteau of “dodge thems” the idea being that you bump into other riders - not necessarily members of your party - whilst dodging other riders - the rubber around the base preventing you from causing damage to other cars or the one you’re driving - they should put them around real cars, I reckon - would avoid all accidents on roads!
Why Billy club though? In the UK, the slang term for a policeman is a Bobby...named after Sir Robert Peel who established the Metropolitan police force in London when he was Home Secretary in the British Government. It's interesting then that Americans refer to the police by a different name lol. 😀
Also from California (East SF Bay Area). Also always called them billy clubs.
Native Californian here and I have always just called the cops baton a club since they usually just carry a gun and a club. Of course I dont usually use 2 words when one will do. I guess that makes me a lazy talker.
Tara - I love your makeup girl!!!! I could NEVER do eyeliner that well!!
I echo that; plus Tara has the prettiest smile 😸
@@lolacorinne5384 And beautiful hair.
I grew up traveling a good bit in what yall calland camper van or caravan. We always called it a travel trailer (as opposed to horse trailers, utility trailers, or boat trailers).
Being Canadian I love these - we use half and half. Night table is all our own I guess.Exclamation mark, breadbox, scotch tape, grated cheese, baseboard, gherkins are tiny and sweet, road work, RV for camping, amber or yellow light. 🇨🇦
Lobby and reception desk.
There was a book published back I believe in the late 90s when I was in Britain a lot it was called divided by a common language and it was hilarious. Trying to explain the differences and if you get a chance to find it read it it’s excellent.
I second that book recommendation.
"Shredded" cheese is in longer bits than grated. Grated is crumbly. When will the Brits get it right?? 😇 Love the two of you together! ❤
Very interesting. Plectrum is the Latin word (borrowed from Greek) for the pick used to strum a cithara or lyre, the ancestor of the guitar 🎸
Growing up in Sweden, the English they teach you in school is mostly British. Always fun to hear the American version. But, nobody says "Lifts" or "Lorrys"
Definitely agree that the area in a hotel where you go up and ask the employee for this is reception, not the whole room. That whole room is the lobby.
In Utah, we refer to the “caravan generically as a trailer or specifically as a house trailer or camping trailer. I have also hear travel trailer or camper trailer. The word camper refers to the type that fits into the back of a pickup truck. I would probably use camper van to refer to a small motorhome that is based on a van frame. I think often the lazy term is to use RV for any of these. Although, I have always thought RV as referring specifically as a motorhome.
So am I the only person who'd call the general area around the front desk at a hotel the lobby? If it was in a hospital or an office building, it'd be reception, but I don't think I've ever heard the front of the house at a hotel called anything but a lobby. Or if it's a motel, they usually call it the office.
Hotel lobby is definitely more common. Reception makes me think of a wedding or doctor's office.
A Gherkin is a specific type of pickle. I use”pickle” as a collective term for cucumber that has been pickled in any fashion: sweet, mustard, dill, etc.
0:50 In Australia this whole articulated rig is known as a semitrailer or simply “semi” with the i pronounced “ee” as in tree. Yet, the trailer when detached from the prime mover’s turntable is the actual semitrailer, because only the back half of the trailer has its own wheels. Add a second semitrailer with bogie turntable on the lead semitrailer and you have a “B double” or bogie double. Three or more semitrailers together are then known as a roadtrain. “Trucks” in Australia (British lorries) are usually non-articulated rigid vehicles. Semis are often just called trucks and their drivers are truckies.
I learned to call them "billy clubs", not batons, however. It could be a regional thing. Where I am in the US, we indeed call it "road work", not "construction work". I suspect a few others may be regional differences as well.