×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

English: British, Canadian and American

English: British, Canadian and American

English: British, Canadian and American

(OP)
In no other place have I seen captured in such eloquent, practical, written thought that inherently elegant truth: Britain, Canada and America - three uniquely, intimately intertwined nations, consummately and inexorably separated by a commonly-shared language.

RE: English: British, Canadian and American

Even Ireland/England has a huge understanding gap.
I'm Irish but I spent my first year out of college working in England. I found myself facing blank looks of incomprehension half the time.

It's the little everyday sayings that cause the most problems. Like a quick enquiry of "Story boy?" or "How's she cuttin?" Or the way English people think asking "how are you doing?" is a query after their health rather than merely "hello".

New York was the funniest though.
Never tell your New York boss you had good craic in the pub the night before.
New York bosses, never offer your Irish employees a ride.

RE: English: British, Canadian and American

The brotherhood of former British colonies has a pretty distinguished membership - I've seen a political world map of the late 19th century and a good deal of it was shaded pink to denote Brit Empire.  Most of those places have their own version of English that they have adapted as their own.

Here in Australia, you don't keep cold drinks in a pitcher, you hang it on the wall to look at.

Also some advice for Americans - don't tell an Aussie your 'rooting' for them if you want to give them encouragement - they will fall over laughing.

LewTam Inc.
Petrophysicist, Head Stockman, Gun Welder, Gun Shearer, Ski Instructor, Drama Coach.

RE: English: British, Canadian and American

Here is the USA there are all types of English. Depends what area of the country you are in. I know English and American!

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP3.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716

RE: English: British, Canadian and American

In Austrailia once I asked a bartender for a "pitcher of beer".  He wasn't understanding so a helpful patron said "'e wants a bucket of piss mate".  Where I come from that request would be taken very literally and I couldn't bring myself to say that.  For the rest of my stay I fell back to my tried-and-true technique of pointing and smiling.  I expected to have to do that in Thailand, but it suprised me that I couldn't communicate something that basic in an English-speaking country.

David

RE: English: British, Canadian and American

It's even more confusing than that zdas04!  A 285ml (10oz) glass of beer is variously called a 'pot' (Victoria and Queensland), a 'middy' (NSW and WA) , a 'handle' (NT), a 'schooner' (SA) and a 'ten' (Tasmania).  A 'pitcher' is almost universally know in Australia as a 'jug'.

Asking for a 'bucket of piss' is likely to get a few laughs (it made me laugh!) and endear one to the locals...a great icebreaker!

RE: English: British, Canadian and American

Can you guys keep the 'slang'or coloquialisms coming?- my wife and I are relocating to NSW from Canada in two weeks-some other tips on what to expect would be helpful-would be nice to know what some of the 'local' expressions might be

RE: English: British, Canadian and American

A couple of colloquialisms:

'You right?' also 'Yeah?'- Translation: 'Good Morning sir, how may I help you?' (This isn't necessarily the lack of respect or bluntness that some foreigners think it is.  I get it at some McDonalds drive-throughs in rural Australia, it's just that subservience is very hard to beat into us Aussies.)

'Whadayaknow?' - Pronounced as one word, is literally 'What do you know?', a rhetorical question asked in place of a greeting by people who generally don't know much themselves.  Most people don't answer this question but I have started answering with a useless fact such as 'Lisbon is the capital of Portugal.  What else do you want to know?'

And a rare example of rhyming slang that is actually used from time to time:

'Septic Tank' - Rhyming slang for 'Yank'.  Shortened to 'sep' or 'seppo'.  Usage: 'I can't believe the amount of seppo bulls**t there is on TV these days'



 

LewTam Inc.
Petrophysicist, Head Stockman, Gun Welder, Gun Shearer, Ski Instructor, Drama Coach.

RE: English: British, Canadian and American

You're not likely to hear much rhyming slang -- it's not that commonly used.  Perhaps the greatest challenge for visitors to Australia is the shear pace of speech, which results in all the words merging into one, i.e. 'avagoodweekend'.

Also, if you're used to a lot of 'yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir' American-style customer service you may be in for a shock.  Tipping is practically non-existent and the minimum wage is quite good.  Consequently sales people don't exactly put on the charm offensive.  I must say I prefer being able to shop without hearing 'Can I help you?' every five minutes and I have a strong aversion to being called 'sir'.

RE: English: British, Canadian and American

quote:
 I must say I prefer being able to shop without hearing 'Can I help you?'

Nothing annoys me more than being asked Can I help you?
If a shop is properly set up then there should be no need for help.

RE: English: British, Canadian and American

Quote (dbuzz):

and I have a strong aversion to being called 'sir'.
Me too ... being forced (as a pre-teen/young teen) to refer to the Lords, Dukes & other fringes of royalty as "Sir", REALLY went against the grain with me. Most of the ones I had interaction with were morons. The way they spoke about the general population (in front of me) put me off the "Sir" title for life.


Helpful SW websites every user should be aware of FAQ559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions  FAQ559-1091

RE: English: British, Canadian and American

Rhyming slang : Dead Horse - Tomatoe Sauce.
Ketchup is what slow workers have to do.

RE: English: British, Canadian and American

A 'thong' is something your wear on your foot
'Pissed' is being drunk, not angry

RE: English: British, Canadian and American

ruble3

Where in Canada are you moving? (In proper Canuck: "Where-boot are ya movin' to, eh?"  hehe)

Here's a pretty comprehensive guide to Canadian Slang from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_slang .

Heed the notice at the top of the article. A lot of these words are regional (I eat doughnuts, not jam-busters..)

Your best bet is to speak english as you do, and pick things up as you go along. I personally like accents on English, be they from the UK, Australia, Asia, Latin America, the Carribean or otherwise. It reminds me that I live in a city of diverse culture and ethnic background. Life would be boring if everyone sounded the same.


a big welcome from the big smoke!

RE: English: British, Canadian and American

that's of course if your not "pissed -off" then it's angry

Naresuan University
Phitsanulok
Thailand

RE: English: British, Canadian and American

justkeepgiviner:

moving from NW Ontario to New South Wales (on the 17th of Sept)
Heard through the grapevine that one saying they use frequently is
'Howyagoing' instead of 'Howya doin?'It's little sayings like this that will help me 'fit in' !

RE: English: British, Canadian and American

ruble3,
It's been my experience that "little sayings like this" make you look like a poser and no one responds well to that.  

In London once, a fool I was traveling with asked everyone he met "what is the proper pub ettiquete for ...".  Everyone thought he was an idiot so they gave him some "tips" on how to act in a pub.  Some of them were really funny (i.e., "ALWAYS tip 100% or more, otherwise the waitstaff won't serve you next time").  Others were kind of dangerous (i.e., "you have to find the biggest person in the pub and ask his permission to take a seat").

The fool survived, but never did understand why his "pub experience" was not as good as he had expected.  Don't try to affect local customs until the locals have had a chance to find out if they care how you act.

David

RE: English: British, Canadian and American

zdas04: you're probably right- best just be myself & let the chips fall where they may!

RE: English: British, Canadian and American

Yeah, the only thing to worry about is what to make sure NOT to say.  Everything else will sink in on its own in due time.

Hg

Eng-Tips guidelines:  FAQ731-376

RE: English: British, Canadian and American

You should also remember that the spelling is a little different. Words like organisation and neutralisation are spelt using s, not z. z is pronounced zed not zee as well.

I mention this because some people can get a little upset if you use the wrong spelling.

RE: English: British, Canadian and American

and there's a u in colour
and it's centre, litre, metre not center, liter, meter.

RE: English: British, Canadian and American

A good way to endear yourself might be to get your new Australian colleagues to explain the rules of cricket.  They'll be happy to oblige, especially if you mention that you've heard that they're the newly crowned second best team... (Health warning: This is about as wise as asking the big man for his chair !).

RE: English: British, Canadian and American

Steady on there TrevorP!  The Poms may have won The Ashes, and deservedly so, but Australia is still ranked number one...for now.

A great Test series though, the best I've seen.

Cheers

dbuzz

RE: English: British, Canadian and American

My suggestion is to get a good book on awestraaaalyun  slang (there are a couple of good ones available) and study it before you arrive. But remember, we don't all speak and sound like Cocodile Dundee - but most of us can if the need arises.

Naresuan University
Phitsanulok
Thailand

RE: English: British, Canadian and American

I've lived in Oz for nearly 20 years now, and loving it (tribute to the late, great Don Adams!)
The variation of the vocabulary never ceases to amaze. My favourite is: "No worries, mate". This, in Australia's own inimitable style, has become "No f*****g worries", then Spoonerised to: "No Wucking Furries" and contracted to: "No Wuckers".

People with red hair are called "Bluey" and they really do say "Fair Dinkum?".

Why would you live anywhere else?

RE: English: British, Canadian and American

No matter where you  end up - Always remember "A good Canadian loves his beer and Hockey night"   Don Cherry; love the man.   You'll do just fine so "belly up" and have one for me, I'll have one for you.   Like home "the pub" is our central meeting point.   Blue collar or white collar doesn't matter.   Order a pint or four tip well and introduce yourself with a firm handshake, like home the handshake is key when meeting a stranger, eh.

Laters,   

RE: English: British, Canadian and American

I finally made it to Oz and am again on the net- didn't realize how much I used to log on to this site - been here 5 weeks and it didn't take long to find out the difference between a 'middie' and 'schooner' - miss the hockey but got the World Series- still learning lots of terms & sayings -the mining ones are very different- all the advice was helpful
Cheers

RE: English: British, Canadian and American

ruble3, When you arrive in Sydney, don't forget to pick up your "port" from the conveyor belt.

(Hint) In Sydney they call a suitcase a port for some strange reason. Nowhere else in Australia, just in NSW. If you say "suitcase", the taxi driver will smile a knowing smile and ask where you are from.

RE: English: British, Canadian and American

The term "port" is an abreviation of "porte-manteaux" (or more commonly "portmanteau", which is French for a type of suitcase or travelling bag.

RE: English: British, Canadian and American

Actually, "port" is more of a Queensland thing.

Jeff

RE: English: British, Canadian and American

I'm a Mexican, never heard of it.

Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources