I just love how the brits speak.

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02 Jun 2010, 4:15 am

i like how they have this quasi-hostility thing going on with their french neighboUrs across the channel. like how they will say "GEH-rawj" [garage] instead of "gah-RAWJ." i like their cute penis-euphenism "john-thomas" - it sounds so buttoned-down and proper, like it always wears a mac in the rain.

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02 Jun 2010, 4:21 am

MissConstrue wrote:

They have a such a cute way in speaking so nausty to eachother. :lol:

You know, I thought you were British.

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02 Jun 2010, 4:33 am

auntblabby wrote:

i am intrigued by the often profane rhyming slang thing they have going on. a long time ago, i was watching some [can't remember which one] english movie when one of the cockney characters says to the other, "BERK!" [if it weren't for the subtitles i would have thought "BUK!" was the uttered word - anyways, i did some research and found that phrase is short for "berkeley hunt" which is rhyming slang for "bloody [female body part]." the term "bloody" is in itself a mystery for me, i wonder if it is referring to a feminine bodily function or if it is a sacriligious term, or both?

Bloody is both sacrilegious and scatalogical. Centuries ago England was still a Catholic country, and therefore they would often say "By our lady." This got squashed to "bloody", which has the connotations you were talking about.

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02 Jun 2010, 4:50 am

mgran wrote:

ok- this explains why i heard a british boy use the term bloody and his mother cautioned him to be more polite.

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02 Jun 2010, 4:55 am

mgran wrote:

"By our lady."

That's a folk etymology, I'm afraid. The origin of "bloody" is uncertain.

Send for the QI elves!

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02 Jun 2010, 8:13 pm

I absolutely adore the British accent. I find it soo cool.

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02 Jun 2010, 9:14 pm

decoder wrote:

I absolutely adore the British accent. I find it soo cool.

Thank you, I'm pretty sure you would adore me... I'm british. :king:

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03 Jun 2010, 4:12 am

auntblabby wrote:

i like how they have this quasi-hostility thing going on with their french neighboUrs across the channel.

True! I saw this awesome book ones in the bookshop at Heathrow : "A 1000 years of annoying the French." I almost doubled over from laughter right there in the bookshop.

I also think the British accent is just cool, it can sound so much more engaged or distinguished.

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03 Jun 2010, 4:23 am

I like the many types of British accents, that there are.

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03 Jun 2010, 5:53 am

CockneyRebel wrote:

I like the many types of British accents, that there are.

Mine in particular is the posh and the cockney.... But the posh personality I don't seem to like very much as they seem pretty cocky attitude, well not all of them, but you do get them, especially when I went to a school trip to the gallery once.
All that woman would sneakily do is say racist comments behind my back. Truly was offended by her attitude, but I couldn't just take it out on her, because I would just be scooping to her level, so I tried my hardest to ignore it.

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04 Jun 2010, 2:50 am

Swordfish210 wrote:

I saw this awesome book ones in the bookshop at Heathrow : "A 1000 years of annoying the French." I almost doubled over from laughter right there in the bookshop.

i have got to find that book!

Swordfish210 wrote:

I also think the British accent is just cool, it can sound so much more engaged or distinguished.

i think the cornwall accent is the most interesting, it seems equivalent to an american southern accent. correct me if i'm wrong here.

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04 Jun 2010, 2:10 pm

Todesking wrote:

I love the more vulgar British tv shows like.

Bottom
Young Ones
Gimme Gimme Gimme
Red Dwarf
Monty Python
Cat Trap (I forgot the rest)

Don't forget Benny Hill.

I was so confused the first time I heard someone from the UK tell me I should que up.

I had no idea what they were talking about.

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04 Jun 2010, 2:16 pm

KittenWithAWhip wrote:

I was so confused the first time I heard someone from the UK tell me I should que up.

I had no idea what they were talking about.

It's their national sport

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04 Jun 2010, 2:21 pm

My 7 year old and I were talking about how people have accents and use different words in parts of the US and how the English have accents and different words for things. I have a friend who is English. I told him that instead of saying she had to go to the toilet, bathroom ect...she says she has to go to the "loo". He thinks this is hilarious and now he uses this word in his extensive vocabulary!

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04 Jun 2010, 2:40 pm

Todesking - the comedy to which you refer was Filthy Rich and Catflap, if I recall rightly.

The Young Ones is classic...the 'Bambi' episode...

'I've got a Porsche!'
'Yes, well that's not exactly what I've got written on the card, but I knew your father...'

Note to non-Brits; to sound truly authentic, you must master the use of the words 'wanker' and 'tosser'. They both mean more or less the same as 'jerk' (complete with the masturbatory overtones of same).

You must also beware of the fact that to us, 'rubber' means what Americans call an eraser. (The commonest brand name for what you call rubbers is Durex. Which in turn, I'm told, used to be the trade name of a common brand of sticky tape in Australia. Isn't language great?)

Also, watch out for 'fanny'. It doesn't mean what you may think it does.

And unfortunately, it's impossible for an American to use the word 'bloody' in a sentence without sounding totally freaking hilarious.

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04 Jun 2010, 2:46 pm

I feel honoured to have a Cockney accent.

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