What we British say and what we mean.

[InsaneApache]

http://www.oxfamblogs.org/fp2p/?p=5672

My own personal favourite.

He said, "That is a very brave proposal".

What he meant. You are insane.

What johnny foreigner thought he meant.

He thinks I have courage.

:laugh4:

[Louis VI the Fat]

Bugger. Looks like I've been had. :embarassed:


Curse the perfidious language of Albion! Been leading me on all along. :wall:

[Tellos Athenaios]

Well I'm sure that the French have some of those of their own. Obligatory example: “You are the only one”.

[Beskar]

That is accurate.

[xploring]

:laugh4: This is funny. Thanks for making me laugh. :D

[Hosakawa Tito]

Very interesting.

[Moros]

Quite interesting indeed.

[Fragony]

You might want to reconsider that

edit, amusing writedowns of the English+world in the Netherlands you will like ir http://forum.expatica.com/lofiversion/index.php/t85620.html

[Tellos Athenaios]

@Fragony, Moros: that idiom is also very like Dutch.

[Fragony]

@Fragony, Moros: that idiom is also very like Dutch.

Can be but the sarcasm would be obvious because of how it's said, the English don't do that. Can't find it but I read a hilarious writedown of a Dutch expat in the UK, he had to get used to a thing or two to say the least. We are used to taking things literary because that is how WE interact, 'that is a very brave proposal' is an excellent example of where things can go wrong, I would see it as a 'go ahead work it out' if I didn't know any better. Knowing the words isn't the same thing as speaking the language

[InsaneApache]

It's not just johnny foreigners who can get it wrong. Even native English speakers can misinterpret subtle nuances, sometime to tragic effect.


On Tuesday afternoon, an American, Maj-Gen Robert H Soule, asked the British brigadier, Thomas Brodie: "How are the Glosters doing?" The brigadier, schooled in British understatement, replied: "A bit sticky, things are pretty sticky down there." To American ears, this did not sound too desperate.

Gen Soule ordered the Glosters to hold fast and await relief the following morning. With that their fate was sealed. On Wednesday morning, 25th, the young Capt Farrar-Hockley heard the news. "You know that relief force?" his colonel told him. "Well, they're not coming."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1316777/The-day-650-Glosters-faced-10000-Chinese.html

[Fragony]

Americans are more like the Dutch in communicating, straight to the point. People should realise they are really in a different country, the Flemish speak Dutch but regard us to be incredibly vulgar, seeing how they do things I understand them as they are much more formal. Epic misunderstanding: we had an Canadian expat, really nice guy everybody liked him. After a year he completely lost it and left, nobody understood why. As it turned out he thought he was being bullied (he was gay), and he was too polite to say our jokes weren't apreciated, and we never noticed that it really hurted him. Was quite the wake-up call for me

In retrospect I can understand why he thought we were jerks, but we didn't mean it like that it's just how we do things

[gaelic cowboy]

What about Ireland for confusing the tourist, purely because we do not have a word for yes or no in Gaelic so it has imprinted our speaking of English.

In school most people use the words ta and nil which basically mean it is and it is not as a close approximation in Gaelic to yes and no so someone may ask then in English.

"Is it seven o'clock"

"It is"


Also people will say something along the lines of

"Ok so well go now so then"

"Right so"

Then they might say

"You wouldn't have change for the toll road would you"

"I would"



Basically lack of a definite and indefinte in gaelic created the rhythm the tv and movies love to exagerate.

[Louis VI the Fat]

Fragony, it is not the language. The Dutch simply are the rudest people in the civilised world. :shrug:

In France, Belgium, Britain, people understand the concept of 'queues'. Get three Dutchies together and they push and shove each other like little piglets around a through.
Nice and kind people all the same, mind. Also lots of tall blondes, all with those phenomenally massive...erm...massive...eyelashes, yeah, 'you've got real pretty eyelashes, anybody ever tell you that'? Yeah.




What about Ireland for confusing the tourist, purely because we do not have a word for yes or no in Gaelic so it has imprinted our speaking of English.

In school most people use the words ta and nil which basically mean it is and it is not as a close approximation in Gaelic to yes and no so someone may ask then in English.

"Is it seven o'clock"

"It is"


Also people will say something along the lines of

"Ok so well go now so then"

"Right so"

Then they might say

"You wouldn't have change for the toll road would you"

"I would"



Basically lack of a definite and indefinte in gaelic created the rhythm the tv and movies love to exagerate.Ah! That explains so much! Thanks for that, I never knew that.


I did notice the Irish seem to have 27 different words for 'yes' when offering to buy them a round in a pub...

[Fragony]

Fragony, it is not the language. The Dutch simply are the rudest people in the civilised world. :shrug:

In France, Belgium, Britain, people understand the concept of 'queues'.

We just don't stand in queues, in a shop for example the shopkeeper will ask who's turn it is, and everybody will wait for his turn.

[InsaneApache]

I did notice the Irish seem to have 27 different words for 'yes' when offering to buy them a round in a pub...

Never got into conversation in a pub with an Irishman who didn't offer to buy me a drink. I like the girls as well. I wonder what Miss McCabe is doing these days? :book:

[Louis VI the Fat]

Never got into conversation in a pub with an Irishman who didn't offer to buy me a drink.Ta.

It is so. You can never get a round in, some Irishman will always have you beaten to it. Great folk, no wonder their pub culture is exported all over the world.


I do think I have never seen an Irish woman. They all seem to be males coming from that island, don't know why. The other demographic wizardry is that those four million Irishmen can split themselves and magically become forty million outside of their green isle. That's why there are always several around wherever you are. Not that I would mind there being even more of them, can never be enough of them.

[gaelic cowboy]

All the women are either nurses or studying to be teachers Louis check any UK hospital or Irish postgrad school.

[Louis VI the Fat]

Louis check any UK hospital or Irish postgrad school.Sure will do as it happens I tend to hang out a lot at UK hospitals and Irish postgrad schools.

[Vladimir]

All the women are either nurses or studying to be teachers Louis check any UK hospital or Irish postgrad school.

Must...visit...Ireland...