• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Lost in translation (US to UK)

#61
electracoyote said:
"Shag" My all-time favorite.

I'll never forget when those Austin Powers movies came out, especially The Spy Who Shagged Me.

My wife's boss, who is from the UK, was absolutely stunned that we Americans could put that title up on billboards and marquee lights. I can still hear him saying, in wide-eyed whispered amazement, "Do you know what that means?!?!?! It means F***!!!"

So funny.
Click to expand...

Of course there was the time I was working a ship out of Miami and a guy came up to the bandstand and said:

"Can I have a shag?".

I'll leave it to someone from the Carolinas to explain about "Beach music".

Around that time I do recall hearing a record played in a nightclub I used to go to that went:

"There ain't nothing like Shagging, Shagging with the one you love..."

Can't agree more ...

In the UK these days, Shag is a slightly naughty word which you can use in polite company - after all the film was called that in the UK as well!.
 
#63
PJSShearer said:
In the UK these days, Shag is a slightly naughty word which you can use in polite company - after all the film was called that in the UK as well!.
Click to expand...

This may be only rumor, but I heard that when the film first came out, the word "shag" was often censored in the UK.

How about "bloody?" My British friends tell me it's considered a very offensive curse, comparable to dropping the F-bomb.

"Bloody hell!" If a little kid blurted that out in public, would it get his mouth washed out with soap in the UK?

Come to think of it, Harry Potter and his young friends have been using that one for the last couple of movies.
 
#64
PJSShearer said:
Of course there was the time I was working a ship out of Miami and a guy came up to the bandstand and said:

"Can I have a shag?".

I'll leave it to someone from the Carolinas to explain about "Beach music".

Around that time I do recall hearing a record played in a nightclub I used to go to that went:

"There ain't nothing like Shagging, Shagging with the one you love..."

Can't agree more ...

In the UK these days, Shag is a slightly naughty word which you can use in polite company - after all the film was called that in the UK as well!.
Click to expand...


Shag in Dutch (well mainly in the Netherlands at least) means a roll up cigarette. The funny thing is that it is printed on the roll-up tobacco packages. When I went to London back in 1985 we bought a lot of those packages in the taxfree shop during the boat crossover and sold them with little extra in London. Needless to say we got into hilarious situations....
 
#65
electracoyote said:
This may be only rumor, but I heard that when the film first came out, the word "shag" was often censored in the UK.

How about "bloody?" My British friends tell me it's considered a very offensive curse, comparable to dropping the F-bomb.

"Bloody hell!" If a little kid blurted that out in public, would it get his mouth washed out with soap in the UK?

Come to think of it, Harry Potter and his young friends have been using that one for the last couple of movies.
Click to expand...

Nah bloody hell is the same as saying arse!! Not very offensive, cock however is slightly more offensive. Depends on the company you keep!!
 
#66
electracoyote said:
This may be only rumor, but I heard that when the film first came out, the word "shag" was often censored in the UK.

How about "bloody?" My British friends tell me it's considered a very offensive curse, comparable to dropping the F-bomb.

"Bloody hell!" If a little kid blurted that out in public, would it get his mouth washed out with soap in the UK?

Come to think of it, Harry Potter and his young friends have been using that one for the last couple of movies.
Click to expand...

Bloody lost a lot of it's power to offend in the '70s when it was used all the time in the TV sitcom "''till death do us part" - which was remade in the US as "All in the Family" (anyone remember Archie Bunker?). It's a safe expression to use these days - better than F***king Hell! anyway - which is what a kid would say :-).

In fact if there's no children present, the "F" bomb as you call it is nothing special anymore in the UK - my wife says it all the time, although I'd hestiate to use it in front of my 85 year old mother.
 
#67
PJSShearer said:
In fact if there's no children present, the "F" bomb as you call it is nothing special anymore in the UK - my wife says it all the time, although I'd hestiate to use it in front of my 85 year old mother.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm sad to report that my frequent use of the F-bomb has pretty much de-sensitized my teenage children to it as well.

How about "stuffed?"

Here in the States, we say we're stuffed if we overeat.

One of my British friends sniggered once when I said I was stuffed, and informed me that "stuffed" means "pregnant" in the UK.
 
#68
secretface said:
This guy I know who played in England a few times told me a couple funny stories about his time overseas. While out shopping with some locals he proclaimed loudy, "I didnt know it was gonna be this cold over here, I only brought one pair of pants!" They all looked at him strangely. He later found out that over there pants is a term for underwear while in america, it means trousers, britches, pantaloons, etc. The other funny thing he mentioned was he had to bring some of his pen-pals a box of chocolates from america made by a company named Fanny Farmer. The joke being that in England the term 'fanny' is used when referring to a womans private parts. I wonder what other terms have seperate meanings across the pond?
Click to expand...


I can't remember who it was, but during the Open Championship at St. Andrews some years ago an Amercian golfer was being interviewed after his round and put his good score down to the fact he was "wearing his Knickers" - ie. Knickerbockers - or Plus twos, Plus Fours or Plus however may inches below the knee they came - as we call them in Britain.

Knickers are ladies panties ....
 
#69
electracoyote said:
Yeah, I'm sad to report that my frequent use of the F-bomb has pretty much de-sensitized my teenage children to it as well.

How about "stuffed?"

Here in the States, we say we're stuffed if we overeat.

One of my British friends sniggered once when I said I was stuffed, and informed me that "stuffed" means "pregnant" in the UK.
Click to expand...

Depends where you come from in the UK I suppose - I've never known it to mean being pregnant - I've said "I'm stuffed" meaning I'm full-up.

However, to tell someone to "Get Stuffed" is a polite way of saying "F***K Off!".
 
#70
PJSShearer said:
I can't remember who it was, but during the Open Championship at St. Andrews some years ago an Amercian golfer was being interviewed after his round and put his good score down to the fact he was "wearing his Knickers" - ie. Knickerbockers - or Plus twos, Plus Fours or Plus however may inches below the knee they came - as we call them in Britain.

Knickers are ladies panties ....
Click to expand...


yo__where_my_knickers_at.jpg
 
#80
For a VERY entertaining discussion of this topic, get a copy of Bill Bryson's "I'm a Stranger Here Myself" . He writes in an incredibly humorous and insightful way about returning to the USA after living in UK for many years. This is very educational and laugh out loud funny, as are all of his great books on travel and on the English language. Just get it!
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back