Copiapó has 5 other native English speakers that we know of. So naturally, we found each other pretty early on, four of us are American, and the other two are British and Scottish. Gringos tearing up this town…but that’s another story. Anyhoo, whenever there is a “language barrier” between the two, a long standing joke between fellow volunteers is “We invented it!” (the Brits) “Well we perfected it!” (Americans).
I don’t know, I choose to stay out of this argument, because each has slight nuances that seem to be equally as effective. I look at it like adding new words to my vocab, if you will. I’ve compiled a list so in case you ever come across some British lads you’ll know what they are talking about…
Here are some of my favorites (favourites):
Wee: (adj.) a tiny amount. Example: “wee bit.” “Wee bear” refers to one’s self and “wee brother” refers to a little brother.
Lad: one of the guys, can be classified as “good lad” or “shit lad” see “truelad.com” for further information
Predrinking: Pregaming
Lash: to drink copious amounts
Chat: as in “What’s the Chat?” which means what’s the plan, or what have you been talking about doing. Another use could be “Sorry for the bad chat ” or sorry about the drunken blubbering.
X: kiss. Every text must be signed with an “x” or two just to be nice. I’m not sure, but I think guys even sign off with “x” when sending each other text messages. Hahah, well…I wouldn’t be surprised if this were true, differences in sexuality don’t seem to matter as much, or seem to be as big of a deal. x x x
Petal: the equivalent to “you poor thing!” or “pobrecito/a.” May have sarcastic undertones or may be a term of endearment.
Boot: trunk
Rubber: eraser
Fancy dress: costume
Pants: underwear
Slip: underwear
Zed: the letter Z
Crisps: chips
Chips: fries
Ok, that’s all I can think of for now, hopefully this will bridge some of the “communication gap” between the two “dialects” x x x
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