American abbreviations and slang...for the rest of the world.

[fredk]

Almost all those abbreviations are standard fare in the UK, mainly due to t'internetty

Not all British slang comes from Cockney!* TTFN was a popular phrase coined by a favourite radio presenter called Jimmy Young

* in fact most British slang has nowt to do with them sort of Londoners

IMHO = here, mostly is In My Humble Opinion

we separate ATM from atm. But it is extremely rare for anyone here to ask for an ATM; they usually call it a 'hole in the wall' or 'cash point'

Old one which still causes confusion; LOL - to some = Laughs Out Loud, to some = Lots Of Love

afair, it was Lots Of Love originally to the British, but the US and international Laugh.... took over; thus older users use it for Love

WTF; has a clean form,  = Why The Face?

Edited September 4, 2018 by fredk

[Sheilajeanne]

fredk, my mom used to listen to a radio progam called "Calling All Britons'. Its host was a Cockney broadcaster named Ray Sonin, and he'd always sign off with "Until next time, this is your old China, Ray Sonin, saying TTFN - Ta-ta for now!"

That's why I thought the expression might be of Cockney origin!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Sonin

He was the first North American broadcaster to play the Beatles' songs on N. America radio. My friends laughed at me when I told them I'd heard the songs before they did. Guess they thought I was making it up!  

Glad to have that memory justified after all these years!

 

We now return you to our regular programming... 

Edited September 4, 2018 by Sheilajeanne

[chrisash]

In the royal Navy we had ROMFT = Roll on my F***** time you can fill inj the F

[fredk]

In RAF we had one very important one; WOP....... Warrant-Officer on Prowl

Its not so much the abbreviations, which are now quite common, but the names of everyday things that can cause confusion

eg;  US truck = UK pick-up. in UK a truck is a heavy goods vehicle weighing 3 tons or more or a small light weight wheeled vehicle for handling very large goods

US, bill-fold, UK - wallet.

[Rockoboy]

2 hours ago, fredk said:

eg;  US truck = UK pick-up. in UK a truck is a heavy goods vehicle weighing 3 tons or more or a small light weight wheeled vehicle for handling very large goods

Australian = ute (short for 'utility vehicle')

 

2 hours ago, fredk said:

US, bill-fold, UK - wallet.

Australia = wallet

[alpha2]

4 hours ago, fredk said:

In RAF we had one very important one; WOP....... Warrant-Officer on Prowl

Its not so much the abbreviations, which are now quite common, but the names of everyday things that can cause confusion

eg;  US truck = UK pick-up. in UK a truck is a heavy goods vehicle weighing 3 tons or more or a small light weight wheeled vehicle for handling very large goods

US, bill-fold, UK - wallet.

I've heard bill-fold, but I've never used it. It's been a wallet all my 65 years. The bill-fold may be a hold over from the 20's, 30's, 40's? When bill were referred to as "folding money"

And truck/pick-up are interchangeable when referring to a pick-up, something bigger would be a truck. And, whatever happened to "lorry"? US peeps have been told for a long time that a truck was called a lorry in UK.

Don't even get me started on military and aviation abbreviations. Here's a meteorological for you all...LTGICCCCG. 

 

Lightening in cloud, cloud to cloud, and cloud to ground. Yeah, ground school was a challenge.

Jeff 

[Northmount]

1 hour ago, alpha2 said:

I've heard bill-fold, but I've never used it. It's been a wallet all my 65 years.

Billfold here used to be just for a few bills, paper money.  Wallet added a coin pocket and photo sleeves which have been taken over by credit cards.

Tom

[ScoobyNewbie]

FUBAR! 

LOL!

[Sheilajeanne]

LOL! I think that's pretty universal for English speakers everywhere!

[TxLeather]

19 hours ago, Sheilajeanne said:

 

WTF?? = well, I don't think I need to explain that one! :D Describes a lot of things going on in politics south of the border ATM!

 

 

 

or NORTH of the border...

Just saying