Formal words that the UK use but we don't

AlphabetCards

Electric Sheep wrote: »

Keep telling yourself that.

I will, as I would never have the nerve to refer to myself as an immigrant for taking a £30, 30 minute flight to a partner nation, when people who have to leave their lives behind due to war, famine and persecution die every day as they cross deserts and seas to migrate. That is real migration, not moving to a first world country from a first world country.

kirkfx

cavemeister wrote: »

In the UK, they don't use the word ATM. If they are getting money out, they get it from a "Cashpoint"

Eww

blinding

AlphabetCards wrote: »

I will, as I would never have the nerve to refer to myself as an immigrant for taking a £30, 30 minute flight to a partner nation, when people who have to leave their lives behind due to war, famine and persecution die every day as they cross deserts and seas to migrate. That is real migration, not moving to a first world country from a first world country.

Britain has been no partner to the Republic of Ireland.

Since the 26 Counties left the Uk it can be argued that for most of the time Britain made life as hard as it could for the Republic of Ireland. Certainly up to 1990 just to put a date on it.

lawred2

blinding wrote: »

Britain has been no partner to the Republic of Ireland.

Since the 26 Counties left the Uk it can be argued that for most of the time Britain made life as hard as it could for the Republic of Ireland. Certainly up to 1990 just to put a date on it.

Duration of New Labour apart - the UK has not been a friend of Ireland

the beer revolu

AlphabetCards wrote: »

I will, as I would never have the nerve to refer to myself as an immigrant for taking a £30, 30 minute flight to a partner nation, when people who have to leave their lives behind due to war, famine and persecution die every day as they cross deserts and seas to migrate. That is real migration, not moving to a first world country from a first world country.

Love how you get to decide the meaning of a word, regardless of what the word actually means to the rest of us!

whisky_galore

Shadow Minister, sounds like a Marvel villain.

the purple tin

Head teacher instead of headmaster/mistress or principal.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

Deleted User wrote: »

It’s a bit like “can” and “may”, which was explained to me as a seven year old at school. A bit of light corporal punishment helped seal the message..

Me (with hand up in class): “Please sir, can I go to the toilet?”

Teacher: “Yes. Of course”

I leave the room, have a pee, and return to my seat

Teacher: “Where have you been?”

Me (somewhat quizzically): “Er, to the toilet, sir”

Teacher: “And who gave you permission?”

Me (now perplexed and heading towards panic): “You did, sir”

Teacher: “No, I did not. You said, ‘Can I go the toilet”, to which I replied, ‘Yes’, because anyone can go to the toilet, because they are physically able to do it. But not everyone may go to the toilet, without asking permission first. Take this note to the Headmaster.”

Me: (Reaching for exercise book to shove down the back of trousers): “Gulp”

Never forgotten the difference.....

It's perfectly valid to use can to express permission as well as ability. Teachers who do this are idiots.

blinding

Chancellor of the Exchequer ; Some FFG-er; Minister of Finance

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

Deleted User wrote: »

But shall and will are very different. Shall means it must be done. Will means you have chosen to do it. You have free will

You can also say "It will be done."

You can say "I shall do it."

Will does originate from the Germanic root meaning to want to do something, but it has largely lost that connotation over the centuries. Will and shall don't really have a difference except in the minds of pseudo-linguist English teachers.

Electric Sheep

Dr Devious wrote: »

A lot of the English seem to feel they are above emigration, always called or described as an “ex pat” even though they have no intention of returning home to “Blighty”.

Judging by this thread, it seems some Irish feel the same way.

El_Duderino 09

Xertz wrote: »

Americans pronounce EVERY leading H very strongly and then go out of their way to say "an (h)erb..." and "(h)erbs" and will correct you for saying it with a voice H.

Do they pronoun the H in honest? I don’t think so.

Also an interesting one is that Irish people say the letter H with a ‘h’ sound at the start hay ‘hay-che’. The English and Americans are more likely to use proper pronunciation which is more like ‘ache’ with an “ay” sound at the start ay-che

El_Duderino 09

blinding wrote: »

Chancellor of the Exchequer ; Some FFG-er; Minister of Finance

To be fair, Chancellor of the Exchequer is a position that has been in use since 1316 under King Edward the second. That's pretty cool.

El_Duderino 09

AlphabetCards wrote: »

I will, as I would never have the nerve to refer to myself as an immigrant for taking a £30, 30 minute flight to a partner nation, when people who have to leave their lives behind due to war, famine and persecution die every day as they cross deserts and seas to migrate. That is real migration, not moving to a first world country from a first world country.

Both the person who moved to England or America by choice and those who left under duress, are emigrants. The cheapness of the journey home is irrelevant.

Hardship is not contained within the word emigrant. It just means a person who leaves their own country to settle in another country.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

Chancellor is a funny one that causes a lot of confusion. In the UK, it usually refers to the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Minister of Finance). In Germany, and I think Austria, it's basically the Prime Minister. In Spanish speaking countries, it's the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Nigel Fairservice

Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »

Chancellor is a funny one that causes a lot of confusion. In the UK, it usually refers to the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Minister of Finance). In Germany, and I think Austria, it's basically the Prime Minister. In Spanish speaking countries, it's the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

You'd see it a lot in the UK in reference to university presidents as well.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »

It's perfectly valid to use can to express permission as well as ability. Teachers who do this are idiots.

Well, it was sixty years ago. Grammar and usage change. There are no hard and fast rules.

He was far from an idiot, by the way

lalababa

"Fack euufh yaa cant".....no idea what it meansðŸ˜

blinding

I’ll have you mate....And it’s not a Mating Proposal ! !

citytillidie

Londonde

No can’t complete that , the city up North. Derry the brits have another name for it

FishOnABike

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

I got some strange looks the first time I used it in the UK. It was with a group of people who knew it was probably not meant as a racist term and explained the context to me
- Mates, "what are you doing for lunch?
Me "oh I'll probably grab a sambo and meet you back in the canteen".

Took effort for me not to say it again though

You wouldn't want to have said "I could murder a sambo" . Sometimes it seems the phrase "Two countries divided by a common language" could be equally applied to England and Ireland as to England and the USA.

blinding

I am pretty sure Sambo ( for sandwiches ) was used in Britain until it became politically incorrect to use it because of the not nice use of the word !

the beer revolu

[Deleted User] wrote: »

He was far from an idiot, by the way

Perhaps he was just extremely unoriginal?

Mad_maxx

Dave0301 wrote: »

Cupboard...As in

English person: "where are the teabags?"

Me: "in the press"

English person: "the what!?"

Me "the press...there above the kettle."

English person "oh...you mean the cupboard!"

Me: "fúck off"

Wait...did you say formal or informal words :pac:

Every other nation says cupboard, press is unique to us

AwaitYourReply

blinding wrote: »

Britain has been no partner to the Republic of Ireland.

Since the 26 Counties left the Uk it can be argued that for most of the time Britain made life as hard as it could for the Republic of Ireland. Certainly up to 1990 just to put a date on it.

There were many times when it seemed like the UK was unfriendly towards this country. I think of the Great Irish Famine, Troubles in Northern Ireland, Birmingham Six , Guildford Four and other cases.

I've also heard our politicians say that Ireland was losing an important ally when the UK fully exits the European Union as a result of Brexit. Right now the UK is in a transitional phase so the impact is still unknown. The UK signed the Anglo Irish Agreement in 1985 behind the unionists backs under it's prime minister, Margaret Thatcher which gave Dublin some influence in the six counties for the first time since partition. The Irish punt was once pegged to GBP Sterling currency for many years. The UK and Republic of Ireland also created a Common Travel Area (CTA) pre-EEC days which is still going to be in effect even if there is a "hard Brexit".

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

Deleted User wrote: »

Well, it was sixty years ago. Grammar and usage change. There are no hard and fast rules.

He was far from an idiot, by the way

Can and may have both been used to indicate permission since at least the 19th century.

whatswhat

"May I" was posh talk when I grew up up England. "Can I" was used everywhere North of Watford

its_steve116

whatswhat wrote: »

"May I" was posh talk when I grew up up England. "Can I" was used everywhere North of Watford

Watford in Hertfordshire, or the Watford Gap in Northamptonshire??

Widdershins

Zaph wrote: »

Spot the Protestant!

Ha.
I was informed my family must've been protestant as an ancestor had a "fancy name" and "protestants name their children all sorts of things".

It was blatantly not a Christian name.

I also say cupboard even though theres no board for cups in there. No press in there either.
Admittedly I just got tired of being patronised by an English protestant when I called it a press

amadangomor

This quiz is interesting.

It will tell you what part of Britain or Ireland you come from by the words you use. Very accurate when I tried it.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/02/15/upshot/british-irish-dialect-quiz.html