Regional variation in words

Discussion in 'General Chatter' started by seebs, May 21, 2015.

  1. TwoBrokenMirrors

    TwoBrokenMirrors onion hydration

    Though 'poncy' pretty much just means 'posh and/or fancy' at this point, I think, or at least that's how I've only ever seen it used/used it

    Also i didn't know the exact meaning of nonce. Good thing I never used it. xP
     
  2. Morven

    Morven In darkness be the sound and light

    Yeah, outside of certain contexts it's pretty archaic in general.
     
  3. EulersBidentity

    EulersBidentity e^i*[bi] + 1

    Huh. In that case, I think I must just consider them BE slang because I can only imagine them said by an adolescent Essex boy with terrible gelled hair.
     
    • Like x 2
  4. jacktrash

    jacktrash spherical sockbox

    well, 'dutch oven' for farting in bed happened indirectly, via one of these

    [​IMG]
    which isn't an insult, they're called 'dutch ovens' because originally they were imported from the netherlands, since their ironworkers were better at making them.

    but when you've cooked something in one of those, and you lift off the lid, a big cloud of hot scent rolls out...
     
  5. Fish butt

    Fish butt Everything is coming together, slowly but surely.

    @jacktrash dutch ovens are amazing! I love cooking in them. But I've never really associated them with the Netherlands. When I first heard Dutch oven, I thought people referred to this:

    [​IMG]

    Which makes more sense to me, because of Delfts blue. Also I know from a guy who imports them, they were something we made for a while since I think the 17th century until the 18th century. Now it's manufactured mainly by Germans. I really don't know if these were originally known as 'Dutch ovens', or if it's just something my brain came up with a while ago... But they are awesome in their own sense - they can keep a room warm for hours after the fire inside died out. We have one in my parents' house and it's fantastic.
     
  6. prismaticvoid

    prismaticvoid Too Too Abstract

    @TwoBrokenMirrors meanwhile, double-dutch in the USA, at least to my knowledge, is just for when you have two people holding two jump ropes between them while someone jumps.
    Speaking of Dutch things, I lived in Amsterdam for a year when I was younger and y'all's pancakes are like twelve times better than ours. Or maybe it's that I was eight and appreciated pancakes the size of my head, I'm not sure.
     
    • Like x 2
  7. Lazarae

    Lazarae The tide pod of art

    Wicked is mostly East Coast, which shares a lot of BE slang (except it's usually used like "wicked good" as opposed to just "wicked." There was a great pizza place my Papa knew that was just called "Wicked Good Pizza" in... NJ I think?)
     
    • Like x 2
  8. asterismThreefold

    asterismThreefold edgewitch

    I was really surprised when I learned that most of the US uses basically the same definition of scone as the one that, as a kid, I'd assumed was British English because I only ever saw it in Redwall books. To me, "scone" refers to what the rest of y'all might call frybread, usually with sweet toppings like honey or cinnamon sugar or syrup. I think the only times I've had them with savory toppings is in Navajo tacos. Wikipedia tells me that this usage is only found in Utah, which is probably mostly true, with some crossover into neighboring states. Half my extended family is from Idaho, and I'm… pretty sure they use it the way I'm used to.

    Ugh, half past midnight is not a good time to start craving complicated/labor intensive foods, brain.
     
  9. jacktrash

    jacktrash spherical sockbox

    omg frybread is so delicious and i happen to have a box of mix in my pantry but it's one in the morning wweh
     
  10. jacktrash

    jacktrash spherical sockbox

    i've heard of those referred to as 'ceramic stoves' i guess, but i'm not sure whether there's a widely accepted term, they're kind of rare over here. we tend to have open hearths instead. but wow, i would really like something of the kind, because they really are excellent at heating, and my house is drafty. :P
     
  11. jpronghorn

    jpronghorn Member

    This thread took me to a strange place:

    "Its all just pants''
    "No, you are just being shirty!"
    "If you tie your tie, why don't you lace your shoe with lace?"
    "Why isn't a sweat shirt a sweater?"
    "If you ask any more questions, I'll sock you out of your socks!"
    " Ahh, you are all hat. no cattle."
     
    • Like x 4
  12. Lissa Lysik'an

    Lissa Lysik'an Dragon-loving Faerie

    I am confused and amused.
     
  13. jpronghorn

    jpronghorn Member

    I just find the regional use of "pants" as a derogatory term rather odd.
    Of course, it could just be an extension of the practice of using slang terms for genitalia as insults: dick, prick, tool, cunt.
    But consider these:

    "This discussion is just panties!"
    "She can be such a thong."
    "They really are acting like a bikini these days."
    "He is a complete Y-front."

    The only one that works does so for the wrong reason:

    "How can anyone be attracted to him, he is so brief?"
     
    • Like x 3
    • Winner x 1
  14. Alexthings

    Alexthings Well-Known Member

    Spook, which just means spy over here apparently has racial connotations in the US.
    Also apparently Australians call flip flops thongs.
     
  15. Lissa Lysik'an

    Lissa Lysik'an Dragon-loving Faerie

    Spook as a racial epithet here is pretty much context dependent since even here in the bigot belt people grasp the "spy" connotation when they can't turn it into an insult. (the fave avocation of rednecks is finding ways to use things to insult people who aren't them).
     
  16. TwoBrokenMirrors

    TwoBrokenMirrors onion hydration

    @jpronghorn
    I may now adopt 'He is a complete Y-front'
    It has such a good ring to it
     
    • Like x 2
  17. jacktrash

    jacktrash spherical sockbox

    it's also kind of dated. i think 1950's, 1960's? i've seen it and 'spade' used in books that old as a not-especially-pejorative term for blacks, along the lines of "she brought two friends, a redhead and a spade; they drank all my good bourbon, but damn that spook could tell a story." in more recent media, and in person, i've never heard them used as racial terms. 'spade' means a card suit or a shovel, 'spook' means a ghost or a spy, and when concern trolls do their "ummm uwu" thing most folks are just super confused. because they didn't read kerouac so this is all new information.

    nobody is as good at keeping racial slurs alive as sjw's. one might almost think they're doing it on purpose.
     
    • Like x 5
    • Informative x 1
  18. Emma

    Emma Your resident resident

    The thing about English being my second language, is that I have no idea about most of these slurs. I knew Spook meant Spy, but I had no idea it also was a slur.
     
  19. Starcrossedsky

    Starcrossedsky Burn and Refine

    See up here in the northwest corner it's used exclusively for ghosts. I wasn't aware of the spy meaning until I was an adult, much less the racial one.
     
    • Like x 1
  20. Deresto

    Deresto Foolish Mortal

    this sounds like a monologue made by america in the anime hetalia

    for a very long while when i was growing up, i saw it used by people to mean the girl pays on a date (obvs assuming hetero couple there)

    same, also calling things spooky referred to a supernatural occurrence. in sort of a lighthearted tone, though, like

    person 1:i was playing bloody mary at a sleepover and she appeared in the mirror!
    person 2: oooh, spooky!

    i realize not everyone can just make biscuits from scratch, but thinking about people just popping them from a tube makes me a bit sad b/c, while those are very delicious, there's not much comparison to the homemade ones. i was spoiled in that regard because i live in texas and went to my great grandma's a lot.
     
    • Agree x 1
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