"separated by a common language"

[WelkinCooper]

Originally Posted by Wab

Apart from making the show sound like it's been dubbed in morse, the baroque swearing is a big part of Tucker's character.

This description, "baroque swearing", almost makes me want to start watching television again.

I suppose I must be wrong in assuming that the UK is even more puritanical about swearing on the airwaves than the U.S.A. is. Nobody is more self-righteously puritanical about cursing than we are, I am sad to conclude.

[Pox Voldius]

Originally Posted by WelkinCooper

Nobody is more self-righteously puritanical about cursing than we are, I am sad to conclude.

Indeed. The town I'm in right now has a radio station that plays misogynistic songs by Nickelback without any censorship, but at the same time edits out profanities in classic songs by the Eagles.

I think it may be more of a culture-fail, though, than a language thing.

[Overdose]

Originally Posted by WelkinCooper

I suppose I must be wrong in assuming that the UK is even more puritanical about swearing on the airwaves than the U.S.A. is. Nobody is more self-righteously puritanical about cursing than we are, I am sad to conclude.

For us, if it's after 9pm (supposedly the time kids will be in bed) then pretty much anything goes.

Being a fan of stand-up for example, I've always found it odd that clips of late night stand-up comedy on NBC are censored.

EDIT: Oh also, we're a pretty foul-mouthed people in general these days, though not a scratch on the masterwork of cursing that is Australia.

[MC2456]

Originally Posted by Melaszka

I'm told that a British "scone" is similar in texture to a US "biscuit", but I don't know if that's true, never having had the latter)

Sorry to bring up an old topic, just weighing on this a bit. I've had both, and they do taste similar. But American biscuits are usually savoury, and are eaten with their main meals like bread is.

Something weird though- I tried my hand making a savoury scone, and it turned out tasting EXACTLY like an American biscuit! Weird...

[horcrux4]

Originally Posted by Melaszka

These are probably what we would call "knickerbockers" (also briefly fashionable for women in the early 80s).

I think the explanation for the varying meanings of "knickers" is that both branches of English started using it as an abbreviation of "knickerbockers", but in the UK it became applied to women's undergarments at a time when they were voluminous, knee-length things, of approximately the same size and shape as those golfers' trousers, and continued to be associated with women's underwear, even when they shrunk to the current size.

When I was young we usually called our nether undergarment "knickers" but this has largely been replaced now by "pants". Knickers in those days (1950s) were bigger than current pants and often had elastic at the bottom of the legs. The phrase "Don't get your knickers in a twist" is still in current usage though.

To add to the knickerbocker/pantaloon discussion though I have a pair of nether undergarments which belonged to my great grandmother and they are referred to as "Granny's bloomers" in the family!

ETA: Re "knickerbocker glory", I also found this discussion of the term, which suggests that "knickerbocker" was sometimes used as a synonym for "New Yorker" and thus the dessert may have been so-named to convey the metropolitan sophistication of New York.

I was eating knickerbocker glories in British seaside resorts in the 1950s so if that item is correct they made it across the Atlantic fairly quickly! I always assumed it was because the glasses they were served in were shaped rather like the leg of an oldfashioned pair of knickerbockers.

[ginger1]

Oh Horcrux, those knickers - how well I remember them! Did you have to wear ones almost the same for indoor P.E. or "gym"?

Right - a question for the US - what do you spread on two slices of bread before adding the filling? Here when making a sandwich (sarnie, butty etc) we would use butter, margarine, any number of low-fat spreads on each slice of bread and then add the ham, cheese, chips or whatever. I believe you may use mayo instead?

And, come to think of it why is a sandwich called a butty?

[Wab]

According to Dictionary.com it's a northern dialect term deriving from buttered bread.

On this side of the Pacific we spread butter or margarine but we usually refer to margarine as butter.

[Melaszka]

Originally Posted by horcrux4

When I was young we usually called our nether undergarment "knickers" but this has largely been replaced now by "pants".

I think of "pants" as being for blokes and "knickers" for the ladies, but I'm hardly a spring chicken myself, so I may just be behind the times.

I was eating knickerbocker glories in British seaside resorts in the 1950s so if that item is correct they made it across the Atlantic fairly quickly! I always assumed it was because the glasses they were served in were shaped rather like the leg of an oldfashioned pair of knickerbockers.

20 years isn't that long to cross the Atlantic. But your theory about the glass shape does sound quite plausible. It's probable we'll never know, as most dictionaries seem to say "origin unknown".

[horcrux4]

Originally Posted by ginger1

Oh Horcrux, those knickers - how well I remember them! Did you have to wear ones almost the same for indoor P.E. or "gym"?

My school uniform required dark green knickers for school (I can't imagine why they bothered about them as our tunics were so long you would never have seen them!) and the same in navy blue for PE. The most sexless garments known to man!(or woman rather)

[Pox Voldius]

Originally Posted by ginger1

Right - a question for the US - what do you spread on two slices of bread before adding the filling?

I would think it would depend on what's going into the sandwich as the "filling"...and the individual preferences of the person eating the sandwich. Mayo goes with tuna or chicken. Hamburger & other beef products tend to get ketchup and/or mustard. Fish would likely get tartar sauce. Peanut butter & jelly (jam) sandwiches usually only get the said peanut butter & jelly (at least in my family).

Personally, I usually just put the filling (or spreads meant to act as fillings: peanut butter, jam, nutella) without first spreading anything extra on my bread. Or if I'm making a fried egg sandwich, I'll just toast the bread (usually in the same frying pan that I've just finished frying the egg in). My dad likes to pair chicken with mustard. And my brother is liable to put hot sauce on anything and everything.

(I've also never heard anyone on this side of the Pond call a sandwich a "butty".)

[Temery]

WOW now I understand where butty derives from (bread w/butter/marg) and here I thought this was my little secret for making the best butty's in my family - not sure of the whole USA but here in So Cal there normally is not butter/marg on a sandwich but I've been making mine that way for many years now (putting butter/marg first then whatever) and I won't tell my fam - they always want me to make the sandwiches bc their the "best in our family" and all along I thought it was my own little secret -had no idea I had stolen it from "over there" =) but it really does add a delicious deminsion to any butty/sandwich.

[WelkinCooper]

What do I spread on two slices of bread before making a sandwich? It depends, but in general, any kind of mayo is a favorite.

I also like spicy hot mustards, or sometimes horse radish. I never eat ketchup on anything, even with french fries. If I'm feeling a little exotic, I'll spread something like hummus on the bread. Sometimes I go without any kind of spread and just melt some cheese on the bread first. I love garlic bread, so a nice garlic spread is good too sometimes.

[Schlubalybub]

Melazska- I'm the same with knickers and pants, but that's only a recent acquisition- when I lived in Scotland, in my family they were all called knickers. My dad still calls his undies knickers, and I remember not long after we moved to Wales, my six-year-old brother was getting ready for us to go away, and he came out into the garden and said "mum, I can't find my knickers"

My next door neighbour was horrified- she said "he's a boy, he doesn't wear knickers!" but my mum explained our upbringing in Scotland and how everyone where we lived called all of such undergarments knickers- but he never, ever called them knickers again...

[horcrux4]

Do they still call them knickers in Scotland? I go there quite often but I've never discussed my underwear with a Scot as it happens!

[ginger1]

OK - general question for as many different parts of the UK and the US (and anywhere else ) as we can manage - what do our males call their - er - coverings for the nether regions - (and an approximate age might be enlightening). Let's see how many we can collect.

I'll start with my husband - Southern England - 60-ish - knickers.

[Overdose]

UK- Pants or boxers.

[ccollinsmith]

US - underwear/undies, briefs, boxers

[Pox Voldius]

In addition to the above terms (which are more common), there's also...

US (men in the 45+ age range living in the neighborhood of Wisconsin & Iowa) - shorts, drawers, [pants - but only in connection to non-"family friendly" things and/or not making it to the toilet in time]

[horcrux4]

UK - underpants or boxers (sometimes boxer shorts)

[Schlubalybub]

Originally Posted by horcrux4

Do they still call them knickers in Scotland? I go there quite often but I've never discussed my underwear with a Scot as it happens!

I'm not so sure about general trends, but as I said, my Scottish father calls them knickers. But I've never really discussed it in recent years either