British Words

[elcamino/wheelhorse 9,299]

Took a while to come up with a title for this thread . Thought about " good help is hard to find" or my favorite " Messing with @squonk" . Hoping to get translations of British words I asked Sir Skunky to share his little book of British Words , he did, but not a translation.

I have translated words that I know, Some are a "?" mark.

Betwixt  ?

Boots     Tires

Dust Bin    Trash can

Green  A large area of grass that is in a village. Kind of like a town square.

Hull     Coop as in chicken coop

Pliars     Pliers

Plough     Plow

Rotorvator     Rototiller 

Skip    Dumpster

Tyres      Tires

Verges    Shoulder of a road

Lorry      Truck not sure if this includes all different sizes of trucks (pickups, vans, box trucks and 18 wheelers)

Spanners   Wrenches  Open end and box end ?  Not sure if this includes sockets and rachets .

Caravan   Travel trailer for camping

Please add words and I will ask @Stormin and @rangerto help with the translations.

Can the moderators tag , pin , nail this thread (whatever you call it ) so it is easily found?

 

Now the messing with @Squonk .

Would You rather have your arm around a Bint or a Moggie while walking on a green?    @Stormin  and @ranger Please don't help him.

[8ntruck 7,004]

Betwixt = between

Alternate meaning for boot - trunk, as in a car's trunk.

Alternate translation of boot - shoes, like "I went to Big O tire     store today and bought me a new set of shoes for my truck".

Hood - convertible top

Bonnet - the body panel that covers the engine compartment.   What we call the hood.

Damper - shock absorber

Chips - French fires.

Crisps - potato chips.

Biscuit - a crunchy cookie.

Cookie - short cake, like a bar cookie, a brownie, or a shortbread.

Trecking - hiking.  

 

Edited July 19, 2023 by 8ntruck

[rmaynard 15,460]

I watch a lot of UK police/ crime shows. Some of the words used there are not allowed on this family friendly forum, but I find them fascinating non-the-less.

However, what I find strange is that the Brits go to university, whereas we go to a university. Brits go to hospital, we go to the hospital. Can't figure why they drop the "a" or "the".

Anyway, it's fascinating to hear them speak. My wife and I have to keep closed captioning on so we can even translate the regular English they are speaking.

 

 

[Mickwhitt 4,624]

I say you chaps, there's nothing wrong with the way we Englishmen speak. 

After all is said and done we invented the language, it was you folk who messed about with it and came up with hood for bonnet and trunk for boot.

Not to mention the Australians who have butchered and mispronounced our beautiful language. 

You should try some of our dialects, Yorkshire (my particular one) can be pretty opaque,  even to English folk.

"A wa gunnar pop darn to't footy field to watch raggy lads lakin but it were rainin so I took dog off"

Translates to..

" I was intending to visit the local football park to see my team playing but due to inclement weather I decided not to go."

We watch a lot of US cop shows and are fascinated by all the jargon and abbreviations. We use a lot of TLA's in police work (three letter abbreviations) but you guys go nuts at it; POTUS foxed me for some time.

Any more requests to decipher English into Americanese then just let fly. 

Mick 

[squonk 41,118]

Will the contractors installing Waldo's gas line please get a move on to keep him occupied? Sounds like he's bored! 

[squonk 41,118]

@elcamino/wheelhorse I'll send you a link of a YouTube bloke who is hilarious and is quite the machinist. Very " colorful" 

[Mickwhitt 4,624]

Squonk, could you possible be talking about Fred Dibnah? He's a Lancashire lad and a back yard mechanic. I could listen to him describe machining projects or building work all day. He was a steeplejack so climbed chimneys and church spires to repair them. I'll dig out a clip or two. He passed a few years ago from Cancer, when asked if the doctors could do anything he simply said " No they can't mend it" 

[Mickwhitt 4,624]

 

 

[ri702bill 8,322]

Ah, yes... from acrost (there's another one !!) the Big Pond....automotive term "Wing" is a fender as we here know ir...

AND. Mr Lucas IS known as "The Prince of Darkness" for his lackluster "quality" in British auto components.... (they do NOT run in the rain !!!   )

[Stormin 9,981]

Wing can also be referred to as mudguard. Chassis = Frame. 

 

 

 

 

[Pullstart 62,883]

 is …

[elcamino/wheelhorse 9,299]

Since @squonk  always ribs @Stormin about driving on the wrong side of the motorway , I figured out that a Wheel Horse must have a center drive if the UK has right hand drive and the US has left hand drive . This does not aways apply since some of the known colonist will create some different machines from a horse . Like a mobile chicken coop powered by a WH.

[elcamino/wheelhorse 9,299]

Thought of another few words.

 

Mobile   Cell Phone

Posh      Rich or could be a member of the titled population

Nibbles  Snack food   From "Ab Fab "

 

I know a few Irish words since Mrs. El was Irish but this is a family forum.

 

A few from the States

 

Red neck   comes from the sun burnt necks of farmers working in the fields under the hot sun.

Hillbilly ( or hillbillie)  Someone who lives in mountains.

Tar Heal  Someone from the State of North Carolina , has a historical link to the sap of pine trees.

Yankee  Someone who is born and raised north of the Mason Dixion line ( survey of the border separating 2 states ) in the eastern United States. 

 

 

[elcamino/wheelhorse 9,299]

@squonk You need to answer the question from my first post. !

[squonk 41,118]

2 hours ago, Mickwhitt said:

Squonk, could you possible be talking about Fred Dibnah? He's a Lancashire lad and a back yard mechanic. I could listen to him describe machining projects or building work all day. He was a steeplejack so climbed chimneys and church spires to repair them. I'll dig out a clip or two. He passed a few years ago from Cancer, when asked if the doctors could do anything he simply said " No they can't mend it" 

No I'm talkin about John. goes by "Doubleboost" on YT

[squonk 41,118]

15 minutes ago, elcamino/wheelhorse said:

@squonk You need to answer the question from my first post. !

I'll take the Bint. You can have the moggie! 

[elcamino/wheelhorse 9,299]

You can google words . Already have a moggie.

[elcamino/wheelhorse 9,299]

I pulled a squonk and looked up nettles . nasty plant , glad they don't grow around here. Have enough problems with poison oak and poison ivy.

[Mickwhitt 4,624]

Nettles we make tea or stew out of. There are stinging nettles and also dead nettles that look identical but don't have stinging cells, you can impress the kids by rubbing your hands in dead nettles and telling them your immune. 

[ri702bill 8,322]

2 hours ago, elcamino/wheelhorse said:

Posh      Rich or could be a member of the titled population

I respectfully wish to differ........... "POSH" is an anacroynm related to the Upper Crust crossing the Atlantic to Europe and back in the early 1900's. Seems they alway desired to be amongst the first to sight land. Sooooooooo, leaving New York bound for Europe, their stateroom would be on the Port (left) side... On the return voyage, their belonings were transferred to a different stateroom on the Starboard (right) side.

Hence, POSH - Port Outbound, Starboard Home.........  Methinks my prior relatives NEVER had to worry about that.........

[elcamino/wheelhorse 9,299]

I am in the learning process as a lot of members . Some of my translations are just guesses based on books I have read and shows on the Telly ( television , T.V. ) . My prior relatives had family oral histories that were WRONG thanks to research on Ancestry. Grew up learning from the grandparents that we were of German descent. After a back injury in 2006 got retired from my job at age 59 and could not do anything much and Mrs. El suggested I research my family history. Found out that the family on both sides were English dating back to 1650 where I hit a wall.  Also spit in a tube and results came back without any German ancestors.  Like you some of my relatives did have 2 nickels to rub together. 

[formariz 11,987]

On a more serious note a little input and perspective from someone that had to learn the language from the two sides if I may. My last two years of school overseas before coming over, English was a requirement. I remember the first thing the teacher said “ we are going to learn English not American “. He was adamant about it and virtually reminded us everyday. Really did not mean anything to us since we had never met an English person much less an American. Needless to say I failed miserably those two years and hated not only the class but also the language. Little did I know that very soon it would become a necessity.

 Incredibly once here I found the language to actually be easy to learn. There was a whole different “liberty” as to things were pronounced and I guess the myriad of different accents around me made me not to feel so self conscious wether I was pronouncing it correctly or not. With all due respect to our friends across the pond even though yes the language was seriously altered here i and others that had to learn it , do feel that the American English is easier and more comfortable to learn. 
  Last but not least why is it that with very few exceptions when singing , English artists sing with an American accent?

[elcamino/wheelhorse 9,299]

Today's question is about MOT . I think it means Ministry of Transportation.  I have watched some car shows on the Telley about getting a MOT inspection . Based on what I saw if a vehicle cannot pass the inspection it cannot be driven . Is the MOT inspection based on regulations that are the same in all of the UK? Here in the US the states regulate the inspection of personal vehicles . I was surprised to learn from pullstart that Michigan does not have a state inspection. 

If a vehicle cannot pass the inspection even after repairs are made, can you sell it for parts, or do you have to haul it to a scrapper?

I think @Stormin commented that he had to purchase a new trailer since his new vehicle was not rated for his old trailer.  Does the government regulate the size (capacity) of a trailer to a tow vehicle?

[Handy Don 12,232]

10 hours ago, formariz said:

Last but not least why is it that with very few exceptions when singing , English artists sing with an American accent?

To sound “American”, of course, and appeal to folks unaware of the singer’s background.

[Mickwhitt 4,624]

The MOT test is now called a DOT test. But we all still call it an MOT.

it stands for Ministry of Transport (transportation is an American thang lol) or Department of Transport. 

It is a nationwide standard and a yearly inspection to ensure a vehicle is roadworthy.  New vehicles do not need one for the first three years. Taxis however have to have a separate test from new to ensure they are safe. 

Heavy goods vehicles and passenger vehicles also have similar tests every year. 

Mainly covers lights, seat belts, washers wipers, tyres, brake function, chassis body work and engine emissions.

It's a pain in the neck and a bit of a waste of time, as a vehicle is only up to standard when it's at the test station; you could drive out of the station, hit a pot hole and damage a tyre and commit a traffic offence.

We used to get motorists to produce their documents at a police station ( weirdly its not an offence to fail to carry your documents but it is an offence to fail to produce them to an officer, the defence is to produce them within 7 days at a cop shop).

But these days it's all on the compooter  so cars rarely get stopped and checked, so a lot of criminality is missed. 

An active IRA terror unit was stopped by a beat cop checking documents, they shot both cops killing one.

I'm an ex cop so know this stuff pretty well.

Mick