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Sunday, November 09, 2014

Musings... British and American Words

A large quantity of television programs that I consume comes from American channels and studios. Programming from Britain is a treat but relatively hard to find despite being much more commonplace in recent years.

When I first started watching British television, I was lost because of the words and expressions used. The accents didn't really trip me up, surprisingly. I had no idea what a Shilling or "p" was, the shows that didn't last a "regular" 20-ish episode American season, and shows kept coming back after series finales. Thanks to Google and years of watching television, things started to clear up a bit.

Word Switcheroo
I decided to put together a small list of dumbed down word translations/definitions I think I picked up over the years. Keywords are "dumbed down" because there is a lot of history behind some of the words, especially those concerning money, that can affect their meaning. They kind of make sense to me, but not being British, I can still be wrong, so watch out!


United Kingdom  =  United States
1.  Lift   =  Elevator
2.  Series Finale  =  Season Finale
3.  Trousers  =  Pants
4.  "p" for Penny or Pence  = 1/100 or 1/240 of a Dollar, NOT respectively (~Cent)
5.  Shilling  = 1/20 of a Dollar (~Nickel)
6.  Quid (Pound) = Buck (Dollar)
7.  Nickers  =  Underwear
8.  Motor  =  Car
9.  DCI (Detective Chief Inspector)  =  Police Rank
10.  DSI (Detective Superintendent)  =  Police Rank
11.  Pissed  =  Drunk
12.  Fancy  =  Like

...And a bunch relating to genitalia.

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