International Words and their Equivalents…

[vanessa]

OK so… being from South Africa and living in America, one word over there, might mean something different over here. So here are some words and there equivalents. Anyone else?

My format is South Africa Word = American Word (explanation)

Here goes:

Sachet = Packet

Biscuit = Cookie

Scone = Biscuit

Jam = Jelly

Jelly = Jello

Mince = Ground Beef

Lipice = Chapstick (Lipice is a brand name)

Chappie = chewing gum (Chappie is a brand name)

Boot = Trunk (of a car)

Bonnet = Hood (of a car)

Motorbike = Motorcycle

Fetch = Get/Bring (not specifically dog-related)

Now-Now = Soon

Duvet = Comforter

Budgie = Parakeet

Nappy = Diaper

Trolley = Shopping Cart

Small Train = Trolley

Bakkie = Pick-up Truck

Lorry = 53-wheeler

Caravan = Trailer

Abseil = Rappel

[Boston's Mama]

My Canadian friends tend to say “come with?” Which for us is like stopping a sentence too short

[vanessa]

Moon bag = fanny pack.

buttocks = fanny  

fanny = #$%^& (you’ll have to google that…)

But needless to say, when I first moved here and was working with my uncle, he suggested that I get a fanny pack for work. I was extremely shocked… I asked my sister who had moved here a year before I did – why he would say such a vulgar thing. She explained that he meant “moon bag”.
  
Colour = color

Behaviour = behavior

Aluminium = aluminum

[jerseygirl]

Interesting! I was talking about this sort of thing with my nieces yesterday. We were discussing the phrase “what the Blazers?!”. One of their teachers who was British had a fondness for saying it.
So then we saying about how “jumpers” here are called “sweaters” in the US.

Vanessa, much of your words are what we use. I guess the influence of British colonialism.

As a kid, i always found “I will write you” in books odd. Here we would say “I will write to you”.

[jerseygirl]

Lollies – Candy

Chips – Crisps (UK)

Ute (short for utility vehicle) – Truck (US)

[vanessa]

Yeah Jerseygirl you’re right. Similar culinary influences too.
Jersey = sweater (here a jersey is specifically a sports related long sleeved top)
I will phone you = I will call you
When I ask at a restaurant for chips – I mean deep fried potato chips. I end up with a bag of potato crisps… not what I had wanted…
Cool-drink / cold-drink = soda
Drink your medicine = swallow your tablets

So on culinary…
South Africa has Marmite and Bovril. Bovril is a meat based product, marmite is vegetarian. Both have strong yeasty/vitamin b content/beefy flavor. Best on a sandwich with butter and cheese! I believe they are both actually British products.
I believe the Australian equivalent is vegemite. I think it has a saltier flavor.

Maizena = corn starch = corn flour
Sugar in South African and Mexican products is pure cane sugar. In America, they use corn syrup. I prefer cane sugar.
South African Biltong is salted, vinegar-ed and spiced dried RAW beef. American Jerkey is smoked, (low temp cooked), salted, sweetened, and just not as good!

[Muchelle]

Oh hey, we call it maizena here too

Well, I’m Italian so I can’t say much about different words… buuuut… never ask for pepperoni on pizza if you ever come here. peperoni is actually bell peppers. No idea why overseas it’s used to address salami slices.

[vanessa]

Posted By Muchelle on 5/24/2017 9:23 PM

never ask for pepperoni on pizza if you ever come here. peperoni is actually bell peppers. No idea why overseas it’s used to address salami slices.

You mean… no idea why overseas it’s used to address bell peppers… 😉 lol

[Muchelle]

xD pfff relativisms always win

[vanessa]

Not a fan of pepperoni salami anyway!

[Boston's Mama]

Fanny pack ??? Bahahahaha!!!
Belt bag of bum bag we call that here

I think you call ice blocks ice pops too don’t you??

And fish n chips, l&p and pineapple lumps aren’t things over there either aye?

[Boston's Mama]

What – peppers is salami? That’s nuts

Here capsicum is bell peppers

[vanessa]

Nope – they are ice cubes. Not a fan of Fish&chips. Havn’t heard of I&P or pineapple lumps… Capsicum is bell pepper?!? It’s the peppery ingredient in black pepper! And it makes a wonderful arthritis cream!
On restaurant tables in south Africa, the common condiments are salt, pepper, worshtershire sauce, malt vinegar. In the USA – people don’t use malt vinegar for their chips. And when you sit down at a café (restaurant), they ask if you want still or sparkling. Her eyou get tap water with loads of icecubes. I always ask for water with a slice of lemon and no ice. I’ll tip 25% if someone can get it right…

[Bam]

This is so complicated =) And madly interesting!

Here Maizena is more a brand name. It can be corn starch but it can also be a powder containing maize starch + emuslifiers and God knows what. The distinction can be important in some recepies.

I think chips are fries in the USA and crisps are chips in the US, here crisps are called chips and fries are called pommes (from pommes frites).

Other examples I can think of are cilantro/coriander. Swiss chard has another name as well. And isn’t there another name for Romaine lettuce in Aussie?

[Vienna Blue in France]

US : fanny pack
UK : bumbag
France : banana

(buttocks = fanny?? seriously???? I never knew that…. so blokes have a fanny (too) or two??)

Kyra was called Fanny before i obviously and without doubt had to change her name !!!!!!!!!!

[Blue Moon]

Kyra is a pretty name

[kirstyol]

Being in the UK I remember hearing kid rock sing ‘she’s got hair down to her fanny’ and being so super offended by the fact that they would let him sing that but bleep out other words from my favourite artists (I was into rap metal) its a word for a totally different body part here!

I’m Scottish so the way we speak sounds pretty foreign even to people from other parts of the UK, although for the record I have never in my life actually heard anyone say ‘och aye the noo’ which seems to be what everyone thinks we say

[Vienna Blue in France]

Kirstyol. Rofl…… och aye the noo back to ya !!!!! You dont say that? Really? I thought thats what every Scotsman and woman says in bed each morning when stretching after waking up !!!! Hahahaha

I wonder where it comes from ? Surely not just from Russ Abbott (comedian who played a scottish character)

[Muchelle]

((On a side note, when I first became fluent in english I had a beautiful yorkshire accent T_T then it went down the drain))

[kirstyol]

Posted By Vienna Blue in France on 6/01/2017 1:33 AM

Kirstyol. Rofl…… och aye the noo back to ya !!!!! You dont say that? Really? I thought thats what every Scotsman and woman says in bed each morning when stretching after waking up !!!! Hahahaha

I wonder where it comes from ? Surely not just from Russ Abbott (comedian who played a scottish character)

I have no idea where it came from, but its super annoying when all non-Scottish people ever ask you to do is say that because they think its hilarious! I don’t help myself much by having a Glaswegian accent and playing the bagpipes – how typically Scottish!

[Theodorusrex]

Being northern irish we have lots of phrases that noone anywhere else in the world, except maybe scotland understand! Here’s a few of the most popular words. Enjoy
My brother lives in London and whenever I come to visit he slips back into Irish mode and none of his friends can understand us – very funny!

wee = little (used in front of almost everything, even things that have no size e.g. what wee flavour of ice-cream would you like?
short walk/stroll = dander
young lady = wee cutty
very = quer e.g. that’s a quer sunny day
wee’uns pronounced ‘wains’ = children
over there = thonder e.g. there’s a cute bunny over thonder
brat = skitter e.g. come back here you wee skitter
shout = gulder
cry = gurn e.g. I couldn’t stop gurning at that sad movie
tip over = coup e.g. watch you don’t coup that cup of tea
endure = thole e.g. I could barely thole work today
opposite = fernenst e.g. the school was fernenst the supermarket
underarms = oxter
good fun = craic and/or banter
idiot = eejit

[vanessa]

Good gosh I’d need a translater talking with you!

In South Africa we are typically multilingual – Everyone speaks English and Afrikaans, and many speak one or more of the various African languages. I speak English and Afrikaans, and at a time, I could also speak Latin, German, Northern Sotho, and Zulu. When speaking English, we often throw in a few Afrikaans words just because there isn’t a better English word for that thought/feeling.
“That was such a lekker braai” = That was such a nice barbecue.
Ja Nee = translates to “yes no”, and indicates either uncertainty, or certainty – depending on the rest of the sentence.
“Mos” is used as an exclamation mark before a verb to express the inevitability of the verb that follows.

[Bam]

Theodorus, “thole” could perhaps be a Viking word? Because it’s the same in Swedish and Norwegian only spelled differently.

[Theodorusrex]

@vanessa there is just the odd ‘ulster-scots’ word, as they’re called, that slip into conversation, otherwise we speak English like everyone else! Can be confusing when you’re talking to someone who’s not from here though. It’s a bit of a divisive issue in Northern Ireland as some believe Ulster Scots is a language and that government issued resources etc should have ulster scots as a language option, while other’s believe it is simply a dialect and not a language (myself included). We also have gaelic (or Irish) spoken here, but more so in the Republic of Ireland, where everything including road signs etc are in both English and Gaelic. I feel like the Irish have a lot of sayings that other English speaking countries don’t use as well, for example ‘Catch yourself on’ which means ‘don’t be so silly’ 

This is a fun webpage detailing a lot of Northern Irish-isms: https://www.inyourpocket.com/belfast/How-till-spake-Norn-Iron-A-guide-to-local-phrases_70619f?&page=2 (apologies if theres any bad language I’ve missed, I did have a scan through to make sure there wasn’t any.. we love to swear in Northern Ireland too )

@bam that could well be the case! seeing as the word originates from Ulster (provence of Ireland) and Scotland both of which had Viking Colonies. That’s very interesting!! How is it spelled in Norwegian/Swedish?

[vanessa]

@Theodorusrex talk about swear words – Afrikaans has some swear words that just can’t be matched or beat, in English. It is a very descriptive language 🙂

[Theodorusrex]

I felt the need to google Afrikaans swear words after your post vanessa – got a good laugh! some very descriptive ones indeed

[Boston's Mama]

You would never see Worcester sauce on tables here when out – shame as I love it!
Salt n pepper is all you would see – and water with lemon.
Tomato sauce is everywhere.

Fish n chip shops are only 5mins away from the next fish n chip shop. We are bombarded with them.

Vaccumn is another weird one – don’t they get called hoovers in Australia?? That is weird.
And icepops isn’t it you call iceblocks?

[Boston's Mama]

We say mailbox not pillar box
We say soccer not football
Gumboots not wellingtons
Chips are usually hot chips as well as crisps – we just call them both the same

[Boston's Mama]

And we have Boston buns ( which Boston is named after ) had to chuck that in :p

[Bam]

Theidorus, thole for endure is spelled with an a with a circle over it, tala or in Norweigian, tale. Plus the circle over the first a. This letter is prononced like the the o in forage or fork.

Australian English seems very descriptive too. Like banana hammock

[jerseygirl]

Lol bam!

@OBM, I think using the word Hoover instead of vacuum or vacuuming is a British thing. I say vacuum. ; ) 

 
I thought of a couple terms today

Americans say bangs for hair in front of face. We call that a fringe.

US term drugstore is chemist or pharmacy here.

A grill is a barbeque here. So we put steak on the barbeque (BBQ, barbie)
And shrimp is prawns.
So the phrase “throw another shrimp on the barbie” should really be “throw another prawn on the barbie”. It became a catchphrase from tourism ad so the word shrimp was used as more recognisable, I suppose.

Soda or Pop is known as Soft Drink here. At least where I live. As kids, we called it Fizzy drink.

Also, Bolgna (Baloney?) is called Fritz here. But in some other states I think it is referred to as Devon or Luncheon.

[Azerane]

Except hubby swears by the fact that Fritz doesn’t taste like Baloney. I also don’t say hoover. I think that’s an American brand?

Ice blocks/pops etc we called Icey poles.
Letterbox, not mailbox.
Gumboots is the same
Chips, is hot chips and potato chips/crisps also. I love having lots of different options for fish and chip shops, not all chips are equal, and not all burgers are equal either. It’s good to have options

US says = Australia says
Saran wrap = Glad wrap. That’s branding for you.
Parking lot = car park
(Shopping) mall = Shopping Centre
Cooler = Esky. Again, brand name
(Play) Hooky (meaning to skip school) = Wag or skip.
Coupon = Voucher 

Trolley = Tram (Australian trolley is a USA shopping cart as mentioned previously).

That’s all I can think of right now

[jerseygirl]

I think it might be an American brand. But its only British that Ive seen use it like a noun and verb. “I ran the hoover over the carpet” or “I was hoovering the floors”.

Saran wrap = Glad wrap. That’s branding for you.

Yes, lol. Though I say cling wrap occasionally.

(Play) Hooky (meaning to skip school) = Wag or skip.

And Bludge. “Are you bludging school again?”

What about milk in tea or coffee? Is it known as Creamer in the US and Cream in the UK when added to either drink?

[vanessa]

Standing in Queue = standing in a line.

[Vienna Blue in France]

Hoover is of course a brand, and nearly everyone uses it in the uk to mean “to vacuum something”.

Henry the Hoover is a famous little red wheelie vacuum. Easy to ask where “Henry” is…….

Mr Dyson, when interviewed once, said his dream was that people would one day say “I’ll just go and Dyson those crumbs up”…
I’m not sure, but certainly whereas people would say “pass me the Hoover”, regardless of which brand it actually is, people DO say “pass me the Dyson”…. so he’s halfway there.

In France, people don’t really say paper tissue, they will ask “Do you have a Kleenex?”….. again, a brandname.

[Bam]

I’ve read it’s something every name brand dreads, for their name brand producera to become the word for any similsr produkt. Like Jacuzzi for a bubble pool. Because that cancels out the exclusivity of the brand, and the product becomes exchangeable for other similar products. It almost happened with “Levi’s” for jeans and I know there are other examples but I can’t think of any right now

[Theodorusrex]

In the UK we say adding milk to tea/coffee, although in some posh places they may offer to add cream to your coffee but this will be actually cream, rather than milk. I have to say I was in the US for a few weeks last year and I can’t stand creamer.. so sweet. And the tea is so different there too, was dying to get home for a normal cuppa with milk!!

[Author]

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