BrE/AmE Differences B

[Lorikeet]

Your three examples with (student) added are okay to me, but I could never say, "He is a first year." I could, however, say "He is a freshman." or "He is in his first year."

Your examples are certainly more suitable for describing an adult at college/university, Lori! I guess the 'broomsticks' got me thinking more of Hogwartian prepubescents...

I always thought that was special for the fiction. I didn't think it was to be used in regular school situations. I thought you said it was used that way in regular (non-fiction ) British English.

[tigertiger]

First year, second year etc.

BrE. In schools they have now gone over to the equivalent nomencalture of US grade system. So first year is 'year 1' for kids of 4-5yrs.
When they go to high (secondary) school the start 'year 11' (I think, but someone will correct me).

In the old days (when I were a lad) it was exactly like Hogwarts. You started secondary school as a first year.

However
In Higher Education (Universtity) you are a 1st year student (BrE), 2nd year student etc.
When you go on after the Bachelors it is not year 4 but you are a 'post-grad' student.
However there is an exeption and I don't know what they call the different years. Some University courses are a 4 yr Maters course, eg MEng is offered as a 4 year course in many UK intitutions.

[fluffyhamster]

I always thought that was special for the fiction. I didn't think it was to be used in regular school situations. I thought you said it was used that way in regular (non-fiction ) British English.

Hogwarty language was what they used to describe us at the school I went to (tigerytiger had a similar experience), so even Hogwart's is based on reality to some extent (I just meant that I wasn't thinking about uni, where more specialized/less "babyish" terms will come into play). Things could've changed in a generation though at UK schools: maybe all the first graders/year 7(s)/K-7(s) (?) are now toting uzis rather than wands and scoring bigtime with the crack deals rather than in Quidditch when they skip I mean cut classes.

[tigertiger]

fluffyhamster has just reminded me of another

Bunking Off

BrE playing truant from school. Bunking off school.
Or absent from work. Bunking off work.

BrE alternative to bunking off work. Throwing a sicky - absent due to fictitious illness, same as 'swinging the lead'.

[Lorikeet]

Thanks, tigertiger. I never heard of any of those.

[Superhal]

Rubber:
BrE: eraser
AmE: condom

Fanny pack:
BrE: tampon
AmE: waist pouch

I am more interested in hearing about some of the grammatical differences:

BrE: at weekend, at weekends
AmE: on the weekend, on the weekends

Recently, this came up in one of my classes. After an informal poll, we found that the BrE version would be marked as an error by AmE's. Also, the conjugation rules are different. For BrE, (s) is optional and means the same thing. For AmE, the "s" indicates habit or non-specific future time, while no-s indicates certainty or suggestion:

AmE:
On the weekends, I usually play soccer.
I will play soccer on the weekend.

[tigertiger]

Superhal

Weekends/weekends
My understanding of the BrE is a little different.

BrE
At weekends (habitual) - "at weekends I play golf"
You will also hear 'most weekends'- "most weekends I play golf"

At the weekend - can be used generally -"at the weekend I play golf" "at the weekend I usually play golf"
Or specifically the coming weekend (future). "What are you doing at the weekend?" "at the weekend I am/will be playing golf"


Just for fun Non standard BrEnglish
"at weekend" is not standard English, although it may be heard colloquially.

Further complications occur.
For example in Yorkshire. "at the" is contracted to - at t' -(pron at).

E.G. "there's trouble at the mill" becomes "there's trouble at'mill"
To make things more interesting, it is common for people to drop their 't' . e.g. "there's trouble a'mill".
The may also drop 'h'. e.g. "there's trouble at the house" becomes "there's trouble a'ouse"

[Itasan]

AHD says:
bang·er ( P ) Pronunciation Key (bngr)
n. Chiefly British
A sausage.
A noisy old car.
A firework that explodes with a sudden loud noise.

The word 'banger' is not used much in North Amrica?
Thank you.

[Lorikeet]

AHD says:
bang·er ( P ) Pronunciation Key (bngr)
n. Chiefly British
A sausage.
A noisy old car.
A firework that explodes with a sudden loud noise.

The word 'banger' is not used much in North Amrica?
Thank you.

No. Only in British restaurants, for bangers and mash.

[Itasan]

bags
Is this BrE meaning 'loose-fitting trousers'?
If so, what is the American equivalent?
Thank you.

[Itasan]

'backhoe'
n : an excavator whose shovel bucket is attached to a hinged boom and is drawn backward to move earth

Is it AmE? If so, what is the British equivalent?
Thank you.

[Lorikeet]

Yes, it is used in American English.

[fluffyhamster]

'backhoe'
n : an excavator whose shovel bucket is attached to a hinged boom and is drawn backward to move earth

Is it AmE? If so, what is the British equivalent?
Thank you.

Could it be an excavator in BrE, do you reckon? ('Digger' is another possibility).

[fluffyhamster]

The as yet unanswered queries from Itasan on this thread:

A) ball park = a place where baseball is played
This seems to be AmE. Is there a British equivalent?
------------------------------------------
B) LDCE ball game
1. AmE a game of baseball, football, or BASKETBALL
2. BrE any game played with a ball
What are the British equivalents for 1 and 2 respectively?
----------------------------------------------
C) balky
Does it mean 'hard to handle' and is it AmE?
If so, what is the British equivalent?
----------------------------
D) 'Back country' is said to be AmE and AusE.
I wonder what is the British equivalent.

Here goes:

A) If someone were to build a 'ball park' in the UK, I suppose it might indeed end up being called a ball park; then again, maybe 'baseball field' or 'baseball ground' would become all the rage (latter perhaps implies more stadium-like place, with stands etc, though).

B) The BrE equivalents are again implicit if not explicit in the definitions; as for 2), we don't usually say 'ball game also played with a racquet...' but the name of the sport concerned e.g. tennis (as we indeed also do for 1), hence the 'baseball, football, or BASKETBALL').

C) Didn't have a clue what this meant until I wondered if it might be related to 'to baulk' (AmE usu. to balk) - but that's probably just folk etymology speaking! As for the adjective, there are many ways we could describe '(of a person or machine) refusing or failing to do what you want them to do' (OALD7 online), not all of them printable ('This *beep* *beep* *beep* machine!').

D) It's hard to tell if it is used pejoratively or not, or the "scale" being envisaged. Try looking in e.g. the Oxford range of thesauri at 'country' or 'wilderness' (I'll install my CD ROM again soon and paste something maybe). Again, there is quite a range of terms (especially the pejorative ones!).

As I keep saying, there is often no 1-to-1 "translation" available, hence the "vague" definitions where no exact single equivalent is given.

[fluffyhamster]

Oops, missed one:

bags
Is this BrE meaning 'loose-fitting trousers'?
If so, what is the American equivalent?

Itasan, it says quite clearly in the online Longman (see below) that this word indeed means 'loose-fitting trousers'. My advice therefore is simply this: trust what you read (and in this kind of instance there really is no need to post the question on a forum to be "double-checked" by native-speaker teachers with less time, and certainly less resources, than Longman has at its disposal); I will however point out this: as the word is old-fashioned in BrE (certainly, I didn't think it meant 'trousers'), it is probably even less likely to be known (and therefore unlikely to have any equivalent) amongst speakers of AmE.

bags [plural] British English old-fashioned loose-fitting trousers:
Oxford bags

Some of your posts could lead to interesting discussion (e.g. 'back country'), but many if not most betray a lack of thinking and basic skills of inference on your part (not that I don't sometimes find it "interesting" or "fun" to answer some of your queries blocks at a time, when I have the time, especially given your new, sensible and convenient approach of posting related ones in the same thread).