"Right then: After dinner, it's butt shaking time."
or click here"Trousers. Trooooouuuuuusers. From my hips to my ankles, they're trousers. Oh, your fucking stupid cunty pants! Pants are small, under trousers. Get it right arsehoooooooles! Trousers."
or click here__________
Karen's notes: Here in the UK "pants" equals "underwear". Those long things that you wear on top are "trousers".
Of all the words I needed to alter in my vocabulary when I immigrated, this one gave me the most trouble. It was not unusual, in my first few months, for me to call to Adam across a crowded store, "See if there are any pants for you!"
Having step-children is very useful for curing one of such a error.
After dinner?? So there we have it, I've found my problem...I'm always shakin my butt before dinner!
ReplyDeleteThanks STM you've changed my life! :)
Can't help but sing the 'trousers' one to the tune of 'Friday' by Rebecca Black!
ReplyDeleteI call them pants too. Sorry, STM.
ReplyDeleteI see I'm not the only one who thought he had 'Friday' in his head when talking about his trousers...
ReplyDeleteFor someone who hasn't grown up in an English speaking culture, learning to use these different versions of English words is quite challenging. In school we were always taught to emulate the British accent because it is considered the "proper" one. And I think I do this fairly well.
ReplyDeleteBut the vocabulary is a different matter. In the case of trousers versus pants I do use the American word. On the other hand I do use the British lift instead of elevator. And sometimes I mix British and American words liberally, even in the same sentence, as in the case of boot and trunk.
My favourite example of the language divide: an American girl who had come to the UK barely two weeks earlier to study here. She arrives at a meeting late and slightly flustered and announces to the room, "I'm sorry I'm late. I had to get changed because I soiled my pants." There is a horrible hush. Horrible. Horrible.
ReplyDeleteHah, kids are great at laughing at you for getting a word wrong. Adults usually politely ignore it but kids know what they know and they'll tell you when you say otherwise.
ReplyDeleteSuch as the kids I nannied all throughout last summer. They were slightly more upper class then me, and apparently didn't use the word supper. The first time I said it they had no idea what I was talking about.
After the first time they were quick to laugh at me and correct me ("you mean dinner!") every time I said it. When I was growing up, the words were interchangeable, but these kids had only ever known dinner.
lol first one is the new slogan for a weight loss campain!!! I'm thinking Richard Simmons or ooooooo Biggest loser!!!! yeah... Imagine Jillian saying that! lol
ReplyDeletepoor karen.... just be glad you don't have my sister's step son. They both went into a department store (Target) many years back and he started off by himself. He got so far away and then turned back and yelled, "Hey MOM!!! Were did you say those condoms were located at?" she almost left him there after that.
The second one sounds like something STM would be singing while shaking his butt after dinner.
ReplyDeleteKay
Hey, see if you can get STM to talk about the difference between American fanny and UK fanny.
ReplyDeleteIt's sad that so many of us sang the second one to the tune of 'Friday'. I don't know whether to be scared that it is consuming our lives or embarrassed that I remembered the song...
ReplyDeletesee, I'm british and I use the word pants instead of trousers. My rationale is that 'Underpants' go under 'Pants' therefore we cannot have one without the other. If we did... I would not like to live in that world.
ReplyDeleteNuts, the International Society of Pantless Apartment Dwellers never took this into account when we formed, largely because we're all American raised. For the record, we go home and take off our trousers, not our undergarments. Well, some people might remove their undergarments but I'm expecting them to put on a skirt if they do that.
ReplyDelete@JamiSings Why not talk about it now?
ReplyDeleteMove over Zumba, after dinner butt shaking is the new work out craze!
We all know the Master of all Masters story, right? If not, you can find it here. http://www.authorama.com/english-fairy-tales-45.html
^Neither would I, Liz.
ReplyDeleteMarilyn B, THANK YOU! I loved that story as a kid, and now I've bookmarked the whole site!
ReplyDeleteWaitwaitwait, if (UK)pants=(NA)underwear, what does (UK)drawers = in (NA)?
ReplyDeletewait wait wait wait - What does commando translate to in the UK? Sans (UK) pants, Sans (USA) underwear. Another USA term is freebirding :o)
ReplyDeleteAh, NOW I understand what Coleridge meant in that line from 'Kubla Hhan':
ReplyDelete"As though the earth in fast, thick pants were breathing...."
I was always thinking of heavy woolen TROUSERS......... 7@=Q
(sorry - 'Khan'.....KHAAAAAAAAAAAN! ) 7X=Q
ReplyDeleteI have a friend that insists it is 'pant' or 'trouser' - not the plural pantS or trouserS as there is only one item of clothing.
ReplyDeleteDiscuss
such AN error.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I had to, on a post about corrections. ;)
He sure can get crotchedy when the mood strikes him - would love to be a fly on the wall during this dream episode...forget "Inception"! This guy's dreamscapes must be truly EPIC!
ReplyDeleteBritish to American English mishaps can be hilarious. I had a good friend my senior year in High School who was a foreign exchange student from Germany. She'd learned "British English" rather than "American English" ... There were quite a few funny incidents, but my favorite had to be when she made a mistake in her English course and needed to erase it ... She stood up and loudly asked if anyone had a "rubber" she could borrow. ;o) TOTALLY different meaning in the UK and US! She was mortified when she found out the difference.
ReplyDeleteThe pants/trousers thing isn't as simple as US/UK - many regions in the north of England use 'pants' to mean trousers too.
ReplyDeleteI saw this post a few days ago and was like, "Oh..my..God. I've been talking about my underwear all this time to my friend in the U.K." So I asked him about it and luckily he said that he understood what I meant from watching American movies. I say trousers now...and sometimes still pants just to mess with his head.
ReplyDeleteAs andy said, pants/trousers thing varies across the UK also. Here in Liverpool pants/trousers are the same thing.
ReplyDeleteI feel that merchandise should be created from the second one: underwear with "pants" or "these go under trousers".
ReplyDeleteI love this blog.
ReplyDelete