Culture: Two nations divided...

[Hilly]

I made a blue there! Sars and lemonade is a "Square and Lemon"

Tony.

A "blue"? I thought you just buggered up. Sorry I blew up!

[Johanna]

My first husband, Little Jon was from Massachusetts. I grew up in New Hampshire, so I understood him pretty well. I remember his frustration when he needed to exchange 2 dimes and nickel for a "kwahtah fuh the pahkin' meet-tuh" in Macon, Georgia. Because I'd lived in the south before, I stepped up and said "We need a case quarter, please." and she reached in her till.

I have to confess I worked in a convenience store in SC for 3 months before I figured out what "nabs" were, and I thought it was pretty stupid to ask for a Coke if you wanted a Mt Dew, but hey, the gracious people of the south didn't (often) force me to drink their sweet tea. Ugh. The Yankee in me wants coffee morning noon and night. I never knew until I worked on the beach that people drank "tonic" "soda" or "pop" -the Ohio term- for breakfast.

Johanna

[barra]

A "blue"? I thought you just buggered up. Sorry I blew up!

Hilly. Tony made a blue. In this context a mistake. This is as opposed to had/having a blue = fight or argument.

On my first trip to the states I needed an interpreter in my first IHOP. Funniest thing is on my last trip in May we were in another IHOP and the waitress could not understand my friend (original interpreter). I was able to jump in and say oh she means XYZ. The waitress understood me perfectly. We have a little chuckle over that.

[Hilly]

Hilly. Tony made a blue. In this context a mistake. This is as opposed to had/having a blue = fight or argument.

On my first trip to the states I needed an interpreter in my first IHOP. Funniest thing is on my last trip in May we were in another IHOP and the waitress could not understand my friend (original interpreter). I was able to jump in and say oh she means XYZ. The waitress understood me perfectly. We have a little chuckle over that.

Yup, I got that. And "Sorry I blew up" is a way of saying "Oops, I made a mistake". But you guys DO talk funny

I have a couple of wonderful friends from across the ditch from you in Rangiora, New Zealand. They talk funny, too, but stil not as funny as you Aussies. They use words like "chilly bins", "jandles", "trolleys", and others I can't think of right off the bat. When they come here, I feel as if I'm on an alien planet

[rdb]

This is a fun topic, so I have to jump in one more time. I don't know for sure, but it may be the most commented on Topic Evah!

JohnD..You are absolutely correct...Man do I miss Bill and Bob's Roast beef!!!

I have a poor substitute for it down here in NC. I buy very thin rare roast beef ( Boar's Head, of course), and I bought some James River Sauce from Smithfield (That's what B&B uses, although I think they water theirs down a bit) A little cheese, sauce, mayo later, and VOYLAA!. A little slice of home.

Johanna, stop making fun of my accent!! LOL. I have to repeat everything I say twice down here (or hehah as the case may be), even after 12 years. But these people don't pronounce anything the way it's spelled. Kerr Lake is pronounced "cur", but they say "carrr lake...go figure.

Even in England people have a hard time understanding the spoken word from region to region, so the King's English is getting to be a relic of the past too.

I came across this site, which is fascinating. Many words can be found out, so youse guys from America, may find this helpful in deciphering just what the hell UKRAY is talking sometimes...lol.

http://www.translatebritish.com/dictionary.php

[barra]

Yup, I got that. And "Sorry I blew up" is a way of saying "Oops, I made a mistake". But you guys DO talk funny

I have a couple of wonderful friends from across the ditch from you in Rangiora, New Zealand. They talk funny, too, but stil not as funny as you Aussies. They use words like "chilly bins", "jandles", "trolleys", and others I can't think of right off the bat. When they come here, I feel as if I'm on an alien planet

Ah the old Kiwi ch'lly b'n. They also count to 10 kinda funny (somewhere between 5 and 7). In Aus we refer to what in the US gets called a shopping cart as a shopping trolley. We have this wierd thing going where, when I'm in the States I call them carts and my partner in crime now without thinking calls them trollies. I have her trained to the point where she calls the hood of the car, a bonnet, the trunk a boot and the windshield a windscreen. But the peace of resistance is she eats Vegemite and loves it.

Barra

[Johanna]

Barra, don't be silly. Those aren't "carts", they are "buggies". Ask anyone south of the Mason Dixon line.

~J

[tonyc1]

A "blue"? I thought you just buggered up. Sorry I blew up!

I just wanted to be polite!

[UKRay]

I came across this site, which is fascinating. Many words can be found out, so youse guys from America, may find this helpful in deciphering just what the hell UKRAY is talking sometimes...lol.

http://www.translatebritish.com/dictionary.php

I'm not sure about the provenance for some of the words on that website, RDB. There were some there I had never heard of. Anyway, it would take more than a website to unravel the nonsense I talk!

Just so you know - I have one last jar of Marmite plus some delicious UK candy left... Any takers?

[ferret]

Lastly, when I think of cockney, I think of "Lock, Stock and two smoking barrels" (One of my favorite movies) how close is that to the "real" thing?

It's a movie so it's slightly exagerrated, but they did use a few local villains so the accents are genuine, although it sounds more south London than cockney (east London). You'd have to live in London for years to notice the subtle differences.

[Leerwerker]

One South African delicacy I have not seen in the USA is jam / preserves made from watermelon peel - is it made anywhere here?

[tonyc1]

After listening to the radio yesterday I've arrived at the idea that US people have a lot easier way to vote than we do here in Australia. Is it true that you will be able to do "Drive Thru Voting" and not even have to get out of your car, and will you be able to vote at supermarkets?

Here, we have to go to designated polling booths ( Usually community halls and schools ) that are open for 12 hours and voting is compulsory and all on one day!

Is voting similar in UK, Ray?

Tony.

[UKRay]

After listening to the radio yesterday I've arrived at the idea that US people have a lot easier way to vote than we do here in Australia. Is it true that you will be able to do "Drive Thru Voting" and not even have to get out of your car, and will you be able to vote at supermarkets?

Here, we have to go to designated polling booths ( Usually community halls and schools ) that are open for 12 hours and voting is compulsory and all on one day!

Is voting similar in UK, Ray?

Tony.

It sounds very similar, Tony. Here in Ludlow, we do our voting in the public library - very handy if you want to do a little reference work whilst you are waiting. Other places use the village hall, local school or any other similar publicly owned building.

We generally have a bunch of official looking people standing by to make sure the voting is all fair and above board but, to be honest, it is rare that anything untoward happens round here. The biggest excitement we have had in the past 12 months was when a recently refurbished Victorian public lavatory (I think that is a restroom?) got washed away in a flood - fortunately nobody was inside... There was the incident when a horse stamped through the bottom of its horsebox whilst parked in the market square - that made the front page of the local paper and another time a local council meeting turned into a fight - but as I say, nothing much of note happens round here since the 'youth problem' was locked up - he was a nice enough lad really... Sorry, I digressed horribly...

IMHO, voting is not something that looms large here on the Welsh Borders. Not unless it is to appoint local councillors, in which case a short flurry of activity punctuates the general apathy. I live in a particularly poor area where jobs are scarce and wages are well below the national average. It is quite common for people only to have part time work. In general, I think local people are far too busy trying to scrape a living to get too involved in politics. Obviously we have our political zealots and professional local politicians but events in London are seen as happening a long way away and don't seem to involve us much. We are pretty remote here! Perhaps the other Brits can help out?

All Marmite is now posted and gone!

[tonyc1]

It sounds very similar, Tony. Here in Ludlow, we do our voting in the public library - very handy if you want to do a little reference work whilst you are waiting. Other places use the village hall, local school or any other similar publicly owned building.

We generally have a bunch of official looking people standing by to make sure the voting is all fair and above board but, to be honest, it is rare that anything untoward happens round here. The biggest excitement we have had in the past 12 months was when a recently refurbished Victorian public lavatory (I think that is a restroom?) got washed away in a flood - fortunately nobody was inside... There was the incident when a horse stamped through the bottom of its horsebox whilst parked in the market square - that made the front page of the local paper and another time a local council meeting turned into a fight - but as I say, nothing much of note happens round here since the 'youth problem' was locked up - he was a nice enough lad really... Sorry, I digressed horribly...

IMHO, voting is not something that looms large here on the Welsh Borders. Not unless it is to appoint local councillors, in which case a short flurry of activity punctuates the general apathy. I live in a particularly poor area where jobs are scarce and wages are well below the national average. It is quite common for people only to have part time work. In general, I think local people are far too busy trying to scrape a living to get too involved in politics. Obviously we have our political zealots and professional local politicians but events in London are seen as happening a long way away and don't seem to involve us much. We are pretty remote here! Perhaps the other Brits can help out?

All Marmite is now posted and gone!

Pretty much the same here, except Council Elections carry very little interest here in Tasmania, unless it is something very radical.

[JohnD]

Tony,

I haven't heard about the drive thru voting. Here in the town I live in NH, It's basically the same as you described for yourself. A local hotel would give up their function room for the day, before the Community center was built, But, we head in there anytime between 7am and 7pm, check in with your ID, head to the booth, vote, and put your ballot in the electronic paper shredder looking thing and, TA DA, you've just excercised! your right to vote.

John

[UKRay]

Tony,

I haven't heard about the drive thru voting. Here in the town I live in NH, It's basically the same as you described for yourself. A local hotel would give up their function room for the day, before the Community center was built, But, we head in there anytime between 7am and 7pm, check in with your ID, head to the booth, vote, and put your ballot in the electronic paper shredder looking thing and, TA DA, you've just excercised! your right to vote.

John

It may seem a silly thing to people who live in the US and deal with this all the time, but I have identified yet another whooper of a cultural difference. You guys refer to the place in which you live with just two letters - John, sorry matie but I had no idea where NH might be... I could say the same about a dozen other pairs of letters! I only know TN because I'd rather like to live there! Fortunately, I have found this site that sorts it out: http://www.usps.com/ncsc/lookups/usps_abbreviations.html - I guess I'll learn 'em all one day!

All that remains is to link all the town, city and state names to places on the map...

[tashabear]

It may seem a silly thing to people who live in the US and deal with this all the time, but I have identified yet another whooper of a cultural difference. You guys refer to the place in which you live with just two letters - John, sorry matie but I had no idea where NH might be... I could say the same about a dozen other pairs of letters! I only know TN because I'd rather like to live there! Fortunately, I have found this site that sorts it out: http://www.usps.com/ncsc/lookups/usps_abbreviations.html - I guess I'll learn 'em all one day!

All that remains is to link all the town, city and state names to places on the map...

Well, that's the state, and we have 50 of them, most with decently long names. And yet people still get confused by the postal abbreviations, and use MI for Mississippi when it actually stands for Michigan (Mississippi is MS), or MA for Maine (ME), which actually stands for Massachusetts... etc etc etc ad nauseam.

Google ought to help you locate places on the map; this is Lawrence, MA, where I live. Or you could start a Frappr map for LW.

[Johanna]

We have a Frappr map!

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?s...5&hl=frappr

~J

[Washroad]

I didn't find this thread until it had gone to the 7th page! Wow!!

Food, well, since I'm in the southwest (I'm in southern California) we have some absolutely incredible MEXICAN food! Why hasn't anyone mentioned it before???

Tacos, enchiladas, empanadas, chipoltle sauce, habanero sauce, deep pit barbequed goat cooked with cactus leaves!

Mexican isn't as hot as Thai, but it's not for wimps.

Roads, here in the left coast, a freeway is either state or federal, has limited ingress/egress and can have as many as 6-7 lanes each way. A highway is usually a numbered state road and can be as few as 2 lanes (1 each way).

We drive on parkways, park in driveways.

We have no accent here, all the rest of you do but we don't!

Since my first wife was from the Oklahoma/Texas border area, I tend to sound a bit like that at times. I have a problem with my second wife....she's from Toronto and says things like "rad e ator" and "bat tree" and "a boot" when she really means radiator, battery and about.

Funny and fun thread and I hope it goes on!

[tonyc1]

There was a US female musician touring Aust. on a variety show on the tv today and she remarked about a special Texas food delight called a "Turduken" ( I hope I've spelled it correctly) which is a duck stuffed into a chicken which is then stuffed inside a turkey. Is this just for the big eater or only for parties and is it true?

Tony.

[celticleather]

Seems to be true . . . see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turducken

but if you think that's a mouthful, try this http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-50...mas-dinner.html

Enough there to feed a small army - if you can find an oven big enough!

[tonyc1]

So, everything isn't bigger in Texas!

[Jordan]

Just for Tom Madden and the thanksgiving football games I think. Maybe the Superbowl too.

[Art]

HI Tony,

We do that here, called Turducken; First you bone (debone actually) all three then stuff the Chicken in to the Duck and then stuff that into the Turkey. The boning is the hard part.

Art

There was a US female musician touring Aust. on a variety show on the tv today and she remarked about a special Texas food delight called a "Turduken" ( I hope I've spelled it correctly) which is a duck stuffed into a chicken which is then stuffed inside a turkey. Is this just for the big eater or only for parties and is it true?

Tony.

[tonyc1]

HI Tony,

We do that here, called Turducken; First you bone (debone actually) all three then stuff the Chicken in to the Duck and then stuff that into the Turkey. The boning is the hard part.

Art

What does it taste like, Art?