Well, I had quite a shock the other day. I commented on how sparkling Sophie's pants were only to be laughed and, and informed "pants" means "knickers" here, and pants are INFACT trousers.
So I was telling my mate who is also living here about it, and she was telling me how she went out in London one night wearing a skirt. After a while she realised how cold she was and commented to a table of guys about how "she wished she wore pants tonight" and everyone had the table almost wet themselves laughing!
So, do you have any social faux pas? I would love to hear about them :D
In the scary north (well, West Yorkshire mainly), people do call their Trousers 'Pants'. That confused me greatly when I first started talking with my housemates.
It's not only the other side of the world where there is confusion; there've been quite a few times where I've mentioned something, and my friends at uni had not a clue what I was talking about, because I was talking about something that was quite contained in Oxfordshire/the south.
In the scary north (well, West Yorkshire mainly), people do call their Trousers 'Pants'. That confused me greatly when I first started talking with my housemates.
:/ I've never heard that... and I grew up (mainly) in yorkshire...
only one I can think of offhand is when I first moved to aberdeen and people were saying "Wifey" to women... at first I assumed that everyone seemed to be married, even almost got convinced that polygamy was being practiced... until it was explained to me that "Wifey" was an informal term for a woman
oh, thought of another... "fuairy boots toon"... or that's how it sounds... it means "where are you from?" - or something to that effect... but I thought they were talking about fairy's or drugs at first
In the scary north (well, West Yorkshire mainly), people do call their Trousers 'Pants'. That confused me greatly when I first started talking with my housemates.
would that explain why my girlfriend, who lives in West Yorkshire, calls her trousers 'pants'? although she is half american...
Oh, pretty much everything I say at the pub seems to be a social faux pas, or that might just be cos the guy I drink with takes everything in a different context to what I mean when I say it. Damn double entrendres
"Has anyone seen my contact lens? It may be stuckto a tree or a rock or something. Oh boy, I am so grounded" Family Guy
if everyone cared and nobody cried, if everyone loved and nobody lied, if everyone shared and swallowed their pride, we'd see the day that nobody died
only one I can think of offhand is when I first moved to aberdeen and people were saying "Wifey" to women... at first I assumed that everyone seemed to be married, even almost got convinced that polygamy was being practiced... until it was explained to me that "Wifey" was an informal term for a woman
Hey, I learnt this from my geordie housemate. Didn't realise it was used outside the north east and our house :)
Don't americans also use "thongs" for flip-flops. I'm sure my mates used to when I lived over there.
"Everything is possible through Christ, who gives me strength". Phillipians 4:13
"what's the crack?" used to confuse me too... for the first few months of uni I'd just pretend that i hadn't heard the person speak so I didn't have to answer or admit that I didn't understand lol
Thong: usually a thicker in the rear version of the G-string shown by Jess
Flip-flop: Jess's thong
Sandals: an open shoe that has more straps than flip-flops and tend to be a bit more durable
=]
Since I haven't really left my little corner of the US I don't have really any faux pas stories to share but my friends like to translate anything I say in to something dirty. =p
only one I can think of offhand is when I first moved to aberdeen and people were saying "Wifey" to women... at first I assumed that everyone seemed to be married, even almost got convinced that polygamy was being practiced... until it was explained to me that "Wifey" was an informal term for a woman
oh, thought of another... "fuairy boots toon"... or that's how it sounds... it means "where are you from?" - or something to that effect... but I thought they were talking about fairy's or drugs at first
OMG! This whole time on RYL I thought people meant it as "wife"!! Like as in play pretend wife...not as in "Erin is my woman".
Well it breaks my heart to see you this way,
The beauty in life, where's it gone?
And somebody told me you were doing okay,
Somehow I guess they were wrong.
I've just had a lot of things that I've said misunderstood before so I'd say on thing and they'd think I meant something else entirely. That's because I come from an area which has a strong accent/ dialect associated with it and I'm studying half way across the country with people that have weird accents! The other week I said I wanted to get something out of the oven and they couldn't understand me. It took me a few attempts at talking slowly for them to get what I meant. Took it out. He stood back infront of the oven. It needed to go back in so I said to him I needed to put it back in (after they'd already took the piss out of my accent!) and he was looking in the opposite direction so he thought I was just demonstrating my accent once more until was like erm can I put it in the over please, it really needs to go back in and you're in the way (tried so hard to type that not in my accent because I'm thinking about the event!)
I also read into what people say a lot so often decipher what some people say as having dirty conotations and that hasgot me in trouble before (though the people that have said it did it on purpose coz they'll know how I react! Comes with growing up with someone 16yrs older than you kind of being almost like your mother figure as well as a close friend...).
but when the irish people at uni started using it I was lost
