Differences in culture
-
It's also strange that AUS is so big that cultural terms vary in different areas like in America. I remember in the 1990's in Victoria someone saying "Your runners are grouse." Grouse to me means a small bird of the prairie to be hunted. Yet if you go to South Australia they were like, "What?"
Holidays! (June 13th) http://craptasticnation.blogspot.com/[^]
Heh, yeah - there's certainly enough of that just going from state to state here... i'll not forget the look of disappointment on my wife's face the first time i told her i was making "barbecues"... and then proceeded to fill rolls with a ground hamburger mixture. :-\ BTW - i haven't encountered the non-fowl "grouse"; what's that then?
Citizen 20.1.01
'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master - that's all.'
-
So over the last few days/nights, I have been talking to a few Americans and some poms. I didnt realise just how different the phrases and sayings we all have are. For instance, one of the people I was talking to had said he had tried to call me but I didnt answer. I told him that "I was on the road at the time" as in I was driving at the time. In the most puzzled voice, he asked me why I was on the road. I thought in this age of world wide communications this would not be as big an issue
"There are three sides to every story. Yours, mine and the truth" ~ unknown "All things good to know are difficult to learn" ~ Greek Proverb "The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary" ~ Vidal Sassoon
Thunderbox666 wrote:
I didnt realise just how different the phrases and sayings we all have are.
Which is something I really find fascinating. Those sayings and ways of expressing things are developed through people's history, and somehow expresses people's thoughts. A phrase that usually means something in (say) English, Spanish, German or Italian, when taking the translation literally, it might mean something entirely different, if only because of the used words and the grammatical/syntactical structure. An example that comes to my mind: English: it doesn't matter Spanish: no importa German: mache nichts Italian: non preoccuparti Semantically, they all mean the same. Literally (I think): English: it has no issue, substance Spanish: it has no importance German: I do nothing Italian: Do not worry I find it really interesting that, even when meaning the same, the use of the words differ. Even when English has roots in the German, and both Spanish and Italian have roots in the Latin, they differ. There was a philosopher, whose name I can't remember (but I'm pretty sure he was part of the Vienna Circle), that stated that thought/intelligence/reasoning equals language (as in matter equals energy), for you can't have one without the other (that is, you cannot think without using words in your mind, and you cannot have a language/speak without thought). If he's correct, then it is just a prove on how different can we be, even when two guys shared a common culture, "only" two centuries ago, as stated by your post. And which means that somehow, learning another language (or even a different "dialect" of the same language) implies learning how to think like the native speaker. Well, that's it. After all, it seems that I have no point. I just wanted to take this thing out of my chest. Or as my old Geometry teacher used to say: "interesting, perhaps, but irrelevant". :-O In the end, it doesn't matter since the world will end in 2012... ;P
Stupidity is an International Association - Enrique Jardiel Poncela Die deutsche Sprache sollte sanft und ehrfurchtsvoll zu den toten Sprachen abgelegt werden, denn nur die Toten haben die Zeit, diese Sprache zu lernen. - Mark Twain
-
So over the last few days/nights, I have been talking to a few Americans and some poms. I didnt realise just how different the phrases and sayings we all have are. For instance, one of the people I was talking to had said he had tried to call me but I didnt answer. I told him that "I was on the road at the time" as in I was driving at the time. In the most puzzled voice, he asked me why I was on the road. I thought in this age of world wide communications this would not be as big an issue
"There are three sides to every story. Yours, mine and the truth" ~ unknown "All things good to know are difficult to learn" ~ Greek Proverb "The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary" ~ Vidal Sassoon
Thunderbox666 wrote:
I didnt realise just how different the phrases and sayings we all have are.
Speak the British English version of this sentence in the US and you're likely to get a raised eyebrow, or worse, a smack in the mouth: "Care to grab a smoke? Oh by the way, do you have an eraser I could borrow?". :) My classmates at university got a huge kick out of the British/Indian version I spoke, soon after moving to the US in 1980. Not to mention the Indian version of "studying" (as in cramming). /ravi
My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com
-
Heh, yeah - there's certainly enough of that just going from state to state here... i'll not forget the look of disappointment on my wife's face the first time i told her i was making "barbecues"... and then proceeded to fill rolls with a ground hamburger mixture. :-\ BTW - i haven't encountered the non-fowl "grouse"; what's that then?
Citizen 20.1.01
'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master - that's all.'
-
Just don't ask to "borrow a rubber" to a US person versus a limey! I remember when my friends from AUS visited and they were trying to call my cat with "PUSS PUSS PUSS PUSS!"
Holidays! (June 13th) http://craptasticnation.blogspot.com/[^]
And just imagine the hilarity when a Pom goes into an Aussie shop to buy some Durex!
==================================== Transvestites - Roberts in Disguise! ====================================
-
Thunderbox666 wrote:
I didnt realise just how different the phrases and sayings we all have are.
In southern Indian states, the word rubber means eraser. This provides for some hilarious and awkward moments for many first generation Indian Americans.
Regards, Nish
Nish’s thoughts on MFC, C++/CLI and .NET (my blog)
My latest book : C++/CLI in Action / Amazon.com linkRubber - if not eraser, it should be something you buy for your car, is it not? Do they have more meanings in US? But then... I asked my wife after her trip to Canada, if they have many cars coverted to gas (LPG - liquid petrolium gas), and she said they all were converted - all petrol stations there sell only gas. No petrol at all.
-
Try telling a Pom that you are wearing a pair of thongs. First they will say "Too much information", then they will ask "Why two"? :)
:laugh::laugh::laugh:
Anna :rose: Having a bad bug day? Anna's Place | Tears and Laughter "If mushy peas are the food of the devil, the stotty cake is the frisbee of God"
-
And just imagine the hilarity when a Pom goes into an Aussie shop to buy some Durex!
==================================== Transvestites - Roberts in Disguise! ====================================
Old Joke Warning! (Jasper Carrot did that one to death during the 80s) :rolleyes: As a result of his acts the British public now know what "zits" are, so see? We do have things to be thankfull for in this bleak brown times of Gordon....
Anna :rose: Having a bad bug day? Anna's Place | Tears and Laughter "If mushy peas are the food of the devil, the stotty cake is the frisbee of God"
-
Old Joke Warning! (Jasper Carrot did that one to death during the 80s) :rolleyes: As a result of his acts the British public now know what "zits" are, so see? We do have things to be thankfull for in this bleak brown times of Gordon....
Anna :rose: Having a bad bug day? Anna's Place | Tears and Laughter "If mushy peas are the food of the devil, the stotty cake is the frisbee of God"
I first "came across it" on a Mike Harding album called "Rooted" based on his Australian tour - I could never take to Jasper's Brummie accent!
==================================== Transvestites - Roberts in Disguise! ====================================
-
Thunderbox666 wrote:
I didnt realise just how different the phrases and sayings we all have are.
In southern Indian states, the word rubber means eraser. This provides for some hilarious and awkward moments for many first generation Indian Americans.
Regards, Nish
Nish’s thoughts on MFC, C++/CLI and .NET (my blog)
My latest book : C++/CLI in Action / Amazon.com linkIt also has that meaning in the UK. I once got a laugh for describing a friend who had just announced that his wife was pregnant again as having "too much lead in his pencil, but not having a rubber on the end"
==================================== Transvestites - Roberts in Disguise! ====================================
-
Just don't ask to "borrow a rubber" to a US person versus a limey! I remember when my friends from AUS visited and they were trying to call my cat with "PUSS PUSS PUSS PUSS!"
Holidays! (June 13th) http://craptasticnation.blogspot.com/[^]
leckey wrote:
they were trying to call my cat with "PUSS PUSS PUSS PUSS!"
Why is that strange? We say that in South Africa. Pussy cat, pussy, puss. My friends cat was named Puss Puss.
regards, Paul Watson Ireland & South Africa
Fernando A. Gomez F. wrote:
At least he achieved immortality for a few years.
-
So over the last few days/nights, I have been talking to a few Americans and some poms. I didnt realise just how different the phrases and sayings we all have are. For instance, one of the people I was talking to had said he had tried to call me but I didnt answer. I told him that "I was on the road at the time" as in I was driving at the time. In the most puzzled voice, he asked me why I was on the road. I thought in this age of world wide communications this would not be as big an issue
"There are three sides to every story. Yours, mine and the truth" ~ unknown "All things good to know are difficult to learn" ~ Greek Proverb "The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary" ~ Vidal Sassoon
Don't even get started on South Africans, who call traffic lights "robots", and to whom "just now" means "in a while".
-
I first "came across it" on a Mike Harding album called "Rooted" based on his Australian tour - I could never take to Jasper's Brummie accent!
==================================== Transvestites - Roberts in Disguise! ====================================
Wow, that takes me back. I used to have a copy of the "Red Specs" album. Great stuff from a simpler time. :laugh:
Anna :rose: Having a bad bug day? Anna's Place | Tears and Laughter "If mushy peas are the food of the devil, the stotty cake is the frisbee of God"
-
Wow, that takes me back. I used to have a copy of the "Red Specs" album. Great stuff from a simpler time. :laugh:
Anna :rose: Having a bad bug day? Anna's Place | Tears and Laughter "If mushy peas are the food of the devil, the stotty cake is the frisbee of God"
I still have all his albums - just nothing to play them on!
==================================== Transvestites - Roberts in Disguise! ====================================
-
:laugh::laugh::laugh:
Anna :rose: Having a bad bug day? Anna's Place | Tears and Laughter "If mushy peas are the food of the devil, the stotty cake is the frisbee of God"
It's the differences that make us interesting. I'm amazed we have so much of the language in common anyway. When I talk to people from the north of England there seem to be a lot more differences than someone from the other side of the globe!
The tragedy of your times is that you may get exactly what you want!
-
It's the differences that make us interesting. I'm amazed we have so much of the language in common anyway. When I talk to people from the north of England there seem to be a lot more differences than someone from the other side of the globe!
The tragedy of your times is that you may get exactly what you want!
It's is - and I'm from the North East, where we know a thing or two about wacky vernicular. Have ya fixed that kludgie yet?? ;)
Anna :rose: Having a bad bug day? Anna's Place | Tears and Laughter "If mushy peas are the food of the devil, the stotty cake is the frisbee of God"
-
So over the last few days/nights, I have been talking to a few Americans and some poms. I didnt realise just how different the phrases and sayings we all have are. For instance, one of the people I was talking to had said he had tried to call me but I didnt answer. I told him that "I was on the road at the time" as in I was driving at the time. In the most puzzled voice, he asked me why I was on the road. I thought in this age of world wide communications this would not be as big an issue
"There are three sides to every story. Yours, mine and the truth" ~ unknown "All things good to know are difficult to learn" ~ Greek Proverb "The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary" ~ Vidal Sassoon
One that bugs me is the US's "I could care less", which makes no sense against the UK's "I couldn't care less". The UK one means that you already care so little that you couldn't care any less, whereas the US one...doesn't (taken literally anyway).
-
It's the differences that make us interesting. I'm amazed we have so much of the language in common anyway. When I talk to people from the north of England there seem to be a lot more differences than someone from the other side of the globe!
The tragedy of your times is that you may get exactly what you want!
-
Heh, yeah - there's certainly enough of that just going from state to state here... i'll not forget the look of disappointment on my wife's face the first time i told her i was making "barbecues"... and then proceeded to fill rolls with a ground hamburger mixture. :-\ BTW - i haven't encountered the non-fowl "grouse"; what's that then?
Citizen 20.1.01
'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master - that's all.'
A famous grouse[^] is a decent Scotch Whiskey
"Every time Lotus Notes starts up, somewhere a puppy, a kitten, a lamb, and a baby seal are killed. Lotus Notes is a conspiracy by the forces of Satan to drive us over the brink into madness. The CRC-32 for each file in the installation includes the numbers 666." Gary Wheeler "You're an idiot." John Simmons, THE Outlaw programmer "I realised that all of my best anecdotes started with "So there we were, pissed". Pete O'Hanlon
-
There's a huge list of words these yanks don't know. chook ute tip lolly you name it. The other day my business partner was incredulous when I said something was 'just like a bought one'
Christian Graus Please read this if you don't understand the answer I've given you "also I don't think "TranslateOneToTwoBillion OneHundredAndFortySevenMillion FourHundredAndEightyThreeThousand SixHundredAndFortySeven()" is a very good choice for a function name" - SpacixOne ( offering help to someone who really needed it ) ( spaces added for the benefit of people running at < 1280x1024 )
That reminds me of when I was traveling through Yellowstone National Park on a photographic expedition and I met a nice older American couple. I was explaining to them that I had to "get up at a sparrows fart" to get the dawn shots that I wanted. All of a sudden their eyes glazed over (as if staring off into the distance), eyebrows furrowed in and a general blankness crept across their face, as if all the colour had been drained. Needless to say it killed the conversation, and when I left a few minutes later they were still standing there trying to figure out if I had said something meaningful, insightful or insulting.