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scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

Stoth and other USAnians should know that the rest of the world does not talk funny like what they do. And the rest of the world does not watch USAnian TV !

'Diapers' ? Not where I come from, Sir ! They are NAPPIES !

I will refrain from following the trail laid by Mr Jones.

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

I never thought of you as a coward Scot. Cool

You know what always struck me in the difference between names of many things between the US and the British Isles... you take these:

diaper - nappie
pacifier - binkie

To my ear... lowly American that it is... the BrEng terms sound very childish... words that one would say to a young child, but not to another adult. It always made me laugh to hear an adult say to another adult, "where is little Rupert's binkie?"

Another one that always sounded funny to me was: telly for TV. Isn't the nicknaming of so many things with the -y or -ie rather twee. Laughing

Don't you watch satellite TV? All the serials and sitcoms and films that I got over there in English seemed to be American reruns. You could only avoid watching American TV by not turning it on. Do you only watch sports, Bollywood stuff and the BBC? I have never been much of a TV or movie watcher myself other than news, but I never saw anything else to choose over there on satellite.

VS

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

Bah ! Television, like the internal combustion engine, is much over-rated. It will never catch on !

As for 'binkie' I have never come across that expression. Probably used by the effete English upper-middle classes.

sheikh radlinrol · Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 1222 Location: Spain

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

A biscuit is a type of bread one eats warm with butter for breakfast or dinner which would never contain sugar. I had also never heard 'binkie' until I worked with all the Brits at SQU. I never heard a UKian use any other term. Do you have one?

(you're right, of course, about cookie... I was just picking on Scot. Laughing

)

VS

jwbhomer · Joined: 14 Dec 2003 Posts: 876 Location: CANADA

I also never heard the term "binkie" anywhere. In Canada many people say "dummy".
As for what's on TV (or telly??? Canadians say "TV"), American sitcoms are all over the international TV channels, but for some reason the Brits seems to be taking over American TV, especially PBS. (Yeah, yeah, I know; PBS is not exactly a major network.) Sometimes the shows are adapted and Americanized (e.g. "The Office") but sometimes they're the real thing, complete with all the "funny" British terms.
Speaking of which, and getting back to the original post, do most Americans understand the term "wee", as in "just wee in your nappy"? Laughing

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

Well if it is in that context, I would. But if it is Scot47, he might mean tiny. Perhaps Scot is right and the term binkie is used by the folks who would name their child Rupert. Isn't dummy just as bad? "Harriet darling... where's the dummy?" Laughing

You are right about PBS being taken over by old BBC re-runs. But there are only about a half dozen of us who actually watch that channel. At least many of the PBS channels have the BBCWorld news once a day.

Now... what was the topic of this thread again?

VS

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

VS

We were talking about the clever things that witty Scotsmen of mature years say.

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

I think it's American TV depicting twee, upper-class Brits where the term 'binkie' started...

Oh, sorry, back to the mature Scots wisdom Embarassed

007 · Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 7:34 pm Post subject: