10 Things Americans don't realize are offensive to Brits

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01 Oct 2013, 9:19 pm

Here in the US. Fag refers to a gay person but in Britain,That's what they call cigarettes. luckily someone told me that before I went to London because I had a lot of people their ask me for a fag and if I didn't know what that meant. I would have just flipped.

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01 Oct 2013, 10:41 pm

Tequila wrote:

The term "Brit" itself can be pejorative. I don't care for it.

Meh, it's better than "w*ker" or "twat". Those won't make you many British friends. Also, never use the word "fanny" in the UK, it does not mean the same thing there as in the US!

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01 Oct 2013, 10:42 pm

StarTrekker wrote:

Tequila wrote:

The term "Brit" itself can be pejorative. I don't care for it.

Meh, it's better than "w*ker" or "twat". Those won't make you many British friends. Also, never use the word "fanny" in the UK, it does not mean the same thing there as in the US!

what does fanny mean in England?

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01 Oct 2013, 10:46 pm

auntblabby wrote:

StarTrekker wrote:

Tequila wrote:

The term "Brit" itself can be pejorative. I don't care for it.

Meh, it's better than "w*ker" or "twat". Those won't make you many British friends. Also, never use the word "fanny" in the UK, it does not mean the same thing there as in the US!

what does fanny mean in England?

It's a vulgar term for a female's sex organs.

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01 Oct 2013, 10:47 pm

interesting how the meanings of words diverge with respect to geographic boundaries.

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01 Oct 2013, 10:57 pm

Meistersinger wrote:

Would you'd rather be called a "Limey?" I didn't think so!

No, I'd rather be called a murdering imperialist bastard.

Wouldn't you rather be called descendants of genocidaires? Or a merkin?

A lot of people don't mind being called 'Brit' and think 'limey' is rather dated and pathetic. I don't usually refer to Americans as 'Yanks'.

StarTrekker wrote:

Those won't make you many British friends.

As the articles explain, it's alright to use such words if it's among very close friends who find these terms appropriate (and they are usually much younger people). They usually don't.

auntblabby wrote:

what does fanny mean in England?

A female vulva.

Feast your eyes on this everyone: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_w ... sh_English

LupaLuna wrote:

Fag refers to a gay person but in Britain,That's what they call cigarettes.

We are perfectly aware of the U.S. meaning, but we tend to look on anyone who uses it with more amusement than anything.

Similarly, a ḟȧġġóṫ is a kind of pork meatball.

Mike1 wrote:

My concept of etiquette would probably be considered about equally as valid in China as it is in the US.

You'll run into problems no matter what you do, especially thinking like that.

Each culture has a different way of doing things.

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01 Oct 2013, 11:02 pm

Oh, and if I called you a 'bender', in Britain it means that I am insulting you by implying that you are gay.

A 'bog' is a crude way of referring to a toilet.

A 'chippy' is a chip shop in England, and a chipper in Scotland and in Ireland.

Last edited by Tequila on 01 Oct 2013, 11:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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01 Oct 2013, 11:07 pm

Tequila wrote:

auntblabby wrote:

what does fanny mean in England?

A female vulva.
Feast your eyes on this everyone: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_w ... sh_English

we are separated by a common tongue.

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01 Oct 2013, 11:19 pm

Tequila wrote:

chip shop sells fried potatos - correct?

but what is a chipper?

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01 Oct 2013, 11:37 pm

Tequila wrote:

A 'chippy' is a chip shop in England

In Australia I have always heard "chippy" as a slang term for a carpenter.

In general, Australian customs appear to be a blend of British and American. E.g. I use "quite good" to mean something more definite or stronger than plain "good". But I find tipping weird: pay the waiters etc a decent wage for goodness sake! They're not poor servants, they're people of equal status to the customers. I rarely think of tipping anyone in Australia - it is not part of our everyday customs. And I loathe fake cheerful conversations from sales people - but that might just be an Aspie thing.

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01 Oct 2013, 11:52 pm

In Australia tipping isn't really the norm.

Also some things have different meanings.

thongs are what you wear on your feet, I believe they call them flip flops elsewhere.
An Electrician is often called a "Sparky"
British people are called "Poms" but in a nice way. (I wonder what they call us)
The outside toilet is called a Dunny.

We had an American television host called Don Lane who was often called the Lanky "Yank" because he was tall but it was meant in a nice way everyone liked him.

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02 Oct 2013, 2:03 am

Aprilviolets wrote:

British people are called "Poms" but in a nice way.

we know we are called poms by Australians but no one takes offense. i have always liked the relationship we have with Oz and feel it is the perfect balance of fierce sporting rivalry but after that is over we are mates again. Many people have family on the other side too obviously, due to history etc

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02 Oct 2013, 2:05 am

wavecannon wrote:

"Brit" is generally fine.

If you want to impress a native while in Albion, brush up on your geography and general knowledge of Britain. I think we're easily impressed by U.S. Americans especially who make the effort. But of course, one notable error like thinking Cornwall's a city will mean you're back to square one. Perhaps learn a dozen or more cities in the British Isles if you don't know that many already, and similarly with our counties.

Another source of respect would be correct pronunciation and stressing of place names and I'll throw down some examples because it's 2am and this is what I do:

Birmingham = Burr-ming-UM (not Burr-ming-HAM/-HAYUM)
This same rule applies for most "-ham" towns. Durham = DUH-rum.

Scarborough = SCAR-bur-UH (not Scar-BRO)
This same rule applies for most "-borough" towns, including cases like Middlesbrough and Edinburgh.

Cheshire = CHESH-uh (not Che-SHY-uh)
This same rule applies for most "-shires" despite "Shire" being pronounced "SHY-uh", although examples like CHESH-eer, SHROP-sheer and WUSS-ter-sheer are also used.

Leicester = LESS-ter
This same rule applies for examples like Worcester (WUSS-ter) and Gloucester (GLOSS-ter).

Plymouth = PLIH-muth
This same rule applies for examples like Portsmouth (PORTS-muth) and Cockermouth (Cock-UH-muth).

Then there are other strange variables, eg. Southwark = SUTH-uk, Keswick = KEZ-ick, Norwich = NOH-rich, Salisbury = SOLS-bury.

I've forgotten what I was attempting to achieve with this or why, but that should make anyone well-prepared and leave us natives appreciative. :wink:

once heard an American pronounce Loughborough as 'LOOGA-BAROOGA'

:lol:

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02 Oct 2013, 2:15 am

CuriousMom123 wrote:

Tequila wrote:

The term "Brit" itself can be pejorative. I don't care for it.

It can?? Wow, i am never visiting the UK. I would be cluelessly making all kinds of mistakes.

I was going to suggest 'Brit' as very much a term to avoid. It doesn't offend me in the least or many others I guess, but the word itself strongly suggests a lack of geographical knowledge of the place. To lump together the folk from mid Wales, the highlands, east Londoners and Cornish together just seems weird.

On the flip side, learning where a few of the cities are here would earn you huge kudos. maybe learn 2 or 3 counties (the large ones that people passionately identify themselves with - Yorkshire & Cornwall are the obvious ones - rather than ones that don't matter - like mine!)

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02 Oct 2013, 2:20 am

I'm still trying to figure out, given rules of proper pronunciation relative to spelling, how in blazes a lieutenant in the British army is called a left tenant.

Oh, and never refer to a British woman as a cow. That's really bad!

Same goes for calling a guy a 'cowboy'. Not good! Not good at all!

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02 Oct 2013, 2:25 am

I find it a bit curious that the english people tend to routinely apply the wrong accent to French words such as "garage" ["GAIR-awje" in the british style].

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