Dealing with terminology US <> UK

[am99ey]

... english language is different, especially for non native english speakers.
http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/freeads/freeads.htm
On top of oily and greasy hands , *laugh*.

enjoy

 

[Alpine Addict]

As an Englishman in the US, I can relate.


US -> UK translations:

1st gear => Bottom gear
Antenna => Aerial
Axleshaft => Halfshaft
Back-up => Reverse
Barrel => Choke
Barrel => Venturi
Car-top carrier => Roof rack
Coast => Freewheel
Connecting rod => Trackrod (steering)
Convertible => Drop-head coupe
Cotter pin => Split pin
Countershaft => Layshaft (gearbox)
Dome lamp => Interior light
Driveshaft => Propeller shaft
Energiser => Battery
Fender => Wing
Fender => Mudguard
Firewall => Bulkhead
Flashlight => Torch
Float bowl => Float chamber
Freeway => Motorway
Frozen => Seized
Gas pedal => Accelerator
Gas tank => Petrol tank
Gasoline => Petrol
Generator (AC) => Alternator
Generator (DC) => Dynamo
'Gone South' => 'Gone West'
'Gone West' => 'Gone South'
Ground => Earth (electrical)
Hard-top => Fast-back (coupe)
Hard-top => Coupe (Fast-back)
Header => Manifold (exhaust)
Heat riser => Hot spot
High => Top gear
Hood => Bonnet
Kerosene => Paraffin
Lash => Clearance
Lash => Free-play
Latch => Catch
Latches => Locks
License plate => Number plate
Liftgate => Tailgate
Lock (valve spring) => Split cotter
Lug nut => Wheel nut
Muffler => Silencer
Oil pan => Sump
Panel wagon => Van
Parking brake => Handbrake
Parking lights => Side lights
Pinging => Pinking
Piston pin => Gudgeon pin
Pitman arm => Drop-arm
Primary shoe => Leading shoe (brakes)
Prussian blue => Engineer's blue
Quarter window => Quarterlight
Recap => Retread
Recap => Remould
Ring gear => Crown wheel
Rocker panel => Sill
Rotor => Disc (brake)
Secondary shoe => Trailing shoe (brakes)
Sedan => Saloon
Sheet metal => Bodywork
Shift => Gearchange
Side marker lights => Side indicator lights
Snap-ring => Circlip
Soft top => Hood
Stabiliser or Sway => Anti-roll bar
Station wagon => Estate car
Tang, lock => Tab washer
Throw-out bearing => Thrust bearing
Tie-rod => Trackrod (steering)
Tire => Tyre
Torch => Acetylene cutting torch
Transmission => Gearbox
trouble-shooting => Fault finding
trouble-shooting => Faulting
trouble-shooting => Diagnosis
Trunk => Boot
Turn signal => Indicator
Turnpike => Motorway
Valve cover => Rocker cover
Valve lifter => Cam follower
Valve lifter => Tappet
Vise => Vice
Whole drive line => Transmission
Windshield => Windscreen
Wrench => Spanner
Wrist pin => Gudgeon pin

 

[Bill Blue]

I would guess the list was not created by, or proofed, by an American. Some of the US terms are not quite right. But maybe I don't know my UK terms. For instance, a car top carrier is something you place on a roof rack to haul your precious junk. A connecting rod (steering) is usually called a tie rod. Gas pedal is also called an accelerator. And I've never heard of a car battery called an energiser. I could go on, but I think you can get the idea.

But am99ey, take comfort in the fact that after 65 years as an "English only" "Uhmurican", I think English is a nightmarish trap, designed to entrap the knowing, as well as the unknowing.

Bill

 

[Nickodell]

Don't forget, the British drive on the road and walk on the pavement, while Americans drive on the pavement and walk on the sidewalk.

Some words would mark you as an American in Britain, irrespective of your accent. For example, the British never, never, say "in back of." Something in the rear of another thing is "behind" it. Which is illogical, since in Britain you speak of something being "in front of," so why not "in back of?" To be consistent, the British should speak of something being either behind or "before," which is an archaic or poetic construction (e.g. "putting the cart before the horse.")

As long-time forum members know, I have a passion for the English language, and especially semantics. Many English usages that sound strange to Britons were common in Britain a century or two ago, and in many instances it is British English that has changed, as in "in back of."

Interestingly, even the "generic" (i.e. mid-western) American accent is quite similar to the way people spoke in England only a little over a century ago. There are some ancient wax-cylinder recordings of Prime Minister William Gladstone, made around the beginning of the 20th Century, and he sounds very similar to someone from, say, Illinois.

 

[puff4]

I work for a US/UK firm and deal with this every day.

Here's a classic example... if I were to say, here in America, that I wanted to "table a motion", most folks would say I wanted to put the issue to the side and deal with it later. However, in the UK it means exactly the opposite - to say you want to "table the motion" means to bring it to the table and to discuss it *right now*, without delay. Now, if I wanted to put something aside for later, to a UK person I need to say "let's put this in the parking lot".

And let's not even get started on the use of potentially profane words. Here in the US it's perfectly OK to say you "buggered something up", but in the UK, that means something entirely different! And it's certainly not said in polite company.

 

[MikeH]

And we (U.S.) drive on the parkway and park in the driveway.

 

[tony perrett]

I have seen UK and USA defined as two countries separated by a common language.

 

[Alpine 1789]

The first business meeting I attended after I moved to the UK in 1995 was one to address some internal issues between departments that weren't working together as well as they should. The head of one department began the meeting by saying it was time to "draw a line in the sand." Since this is a pretty confrontational statement in the US ("don't cross this line!") I was wondering what kind of a company I had joined. However, no one else seemed to take it that way and I soon realized that the term meant something entirely different in the UK. There it means "let's put the past behind us and move forward".

Of course, that wasn't nearly as bad as the time I addressed a company meeting and mentioned the fact that I had only been "on the job" since summer. I'll let one of our UK members explain that one.

 

[puff4]

Of course, that wasn't nearly as bad as the time I addressed a company meeting and mentioned the fact that I had only been "on the job" since summer. I'll let one of our UK members explain that one.

Ouch! I'll bet some heads turned on that one.

I was travelling with a friend and his dad in the UK many years ago and we were touring an old cathedral with a crowd of blue-haired ladies and English tourists. Now, this guy's dad was a master carpenter by trade and a bit deaf too, so he tended to speak loudly. Anyway, as he looked up at the vaulted wooden ceiling in the church he said "Hey, son, look at that join up there - ha - they really buggered that up!". Needless to say, a quiet pall immediately followed, with all eyes on this rude American. I was mortified.

 

[Nickodell]

One of the most amusing things about immigrating in 1969 was discovering the often hilarious - and occasionally embarrassing - different meanings of some words and phrases. My wife initially worked in a realtor's office, and one of her first gaffes was loudly asking "does anyone have a rubber" (meaning, in Brit., an eraser). Some time later she was asked by a female coworker if she would like to go out with some of the girls that evening, and said "why not give me a tinkle after six?" (Brit: phone call.)

But her best/worst was when one of the guys in the office who lived near us asked if she wanted to join a car pool, and if so they would pick her up the next morning. Her answer: "Maybe you'd like to knock me up around 7.30." (In Britain, to "knock someone up means to wake them by knocking on the door. It goes back to the days when factory workers would each chip in a few pennies to buy an alarm clock, and it would be kept by one person each week in rotation. The one who had it that week would be called the "knocker-up," whose job was to go from door to door knocking loudly to wake everyone up to go to work. So she meant for him to knock on the door or ring the bell when the car pool vehicle arrived.)

My wife's (female) manager at GE was sent to their London office to arrange a seminar for GE managers in Europe. At a dinner with the top London management she jokingly quipped that she hoped the reputation the Italians had for "patting women on the fanny" was untrue. She was surprised by the stunned silence, with the managers' wives looking down a their shoes and a few throat clearings before the conversation went on. Later, one of the wives took her on one side in the ladies' room and explained that, in Britain, "fanny" is not another name for tush, but actually the most intimate part of the female anatomy.

 

[JonPiz]

Well you usually say "awesome", we just say "the dogs b#ll#cks". You also say "have a nice day", we say, well nothing really!!!

 

[Lee DeRamus saoca0404]

My faux pas was not really that bad, but nevertheless embarissing. We went to the 2006 Alpine National in Bath, UK. The itinerary listed a FREE BARBECUE
on Friday and Saturday night. We showed up and found out that it meant the
fire in the pit was the free part. Thanks to other very nice Alpine owners, we were treated to an assortment of things to eat. Saturday night we knew what to expect.
Lee

 

[lgurley]

and you don't have to cross the border

I found it interesting when I first moved to New Orleans to hear the grassy area between the divided streets referred to as "the neutral ground". I had heard it called the parkway, the boulevard etc. but neutral ground very aptly described the area where the French from the French Quarter and pirates from anywhere traded goods with the citizens of "The Irish Channel" and the other ethnicities of the city.
The best of all though was when a truck driver told me he needed me to send him some money to replace a tire he had blown out when he ran over a comedian.

 

[Alpine 1789]

I had to have a suit altered shortly after I moved to the UK. The tailor I went to was a young woman and I told her I needed my "pants" taken in. After her face turned red I remembered that "pants" were underwear; I wanted my "trousers" taken it.

I figure I had to be the first man in recorded history who ever said to a woman: "I've got way too much room down there."

 

[Sownman]

One of my favorite is

sun visors=anti dazzle flaps

 

[puff4]

Musn't forget 'nave plates', 'gudgeon pins' & 'grub screws'!

(hubcaps, piston/wrist pins & set screws).

 

[tony perrett]

If a person in UK says "I fancy a fag", they mean that they would like a cigarette. I understand that in US the term has a somewhat different meaning.

 

[Nickodell]

Musn't forget 'nave plates', 'gudgeon pins' & 'grub screws'!

I thought a grub screw was the British name for a "nooner."

 

[lgurley]

I don't know the part number, but if you search ebay for borg warner 35 then you can probably get one out of a scrapper.
(In the UK at least) they go pretty cheap and you might be able to sell of other parts.
This example from our forum. I believe that in the U.S. this would be called a junker

 

[puff4]

And let's not forget the food, shall we?

Bubble & Squeak - http://www.britishfooddirect.com/images/404-423-bubbleSqueak.jpg

Spotted Dick - http://www.snarkhunting.com/images/Spotted_Dick475.jpg

Toad in the Hole - http://www.taste.com.au/images/recipes/sfi/2004/07/7861.jpg

Faggots in Rich Sauce - http://www.theseize.com/wp-content/themes/moo/brits/porkfag.jpg

Mushy Peas - http://www.asaltandbattery.com/assets/images/products/copies/lg_mushy-peas-big.jpg

Bangers and Mash - http://www.taste.com.au/images/recipes/sfi/2004/05/7543.jpg

Gypsy Tarts - http://farm1.static.flickr.com/26/59999773_89479e1afa.jpg?v=0

Black Pudding - http://www.donowdo.com/images/Activities/World-Black-Pudding-Throwing-Championships-149928-1130.jpg