51–60 of 177 posts
I'd love to see one of these for Australian English, although I don't think it would be possible. Aussies have a love of metaphor a simile that's unmatched in any other dialect of English, especially if you hang out with bogans (basically Australian Rednecks, for lack of a better description). It's basically the opposite of America, where instead of trying to be excessively polite, we try to be excessively offensive.…
This is a fun list! Let me add two of my personal favorites: "Literally", which means "figuratively". "I could care less", which literally means "I couldn't care less". https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/misuse-of-lite... https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/01/i-could-care-less... Edit: I feel like a party pooper saying this, but I see a few comments where people may be taking this phrasebook seriously…
Also, "officially" which means "non-officially".
I'd love to see one of these for Australian English, although I don't think it would be possible. Aussies have a love of metaphor a simile that's unmatched in any other dialect of English, especially if you hang out with bogans (basically Australian Rednecks, for lack of a better description). It's basically the opposite of America, where instead of trying to be excessively polite, we try to be excessively offensive.…
"Built like a brick shithouse" Interestingly this has a different meaning in the US, and explains the Commodores 'Brick House'[1] "Busier than a one armed brickie in Baghdad" At the risk of over analysing, I wouldn't employ a one armed brickie, unless he were cheap ofcourse. [1] https://www.idioms.online/built-like-a-brick-shithouse
I'd love to see one of these for Australian English, although I don't think it would be possible. Aussies have a love of metaphor a simile that's unmatched in any other dialect of English, especially if you hang out with bogans (basically Australian Rednecks, for lack of a better description). It's basically the opposite of America, where instead of trying to be excessively polite, we try to be excessively offensive.…
Seems related to the cockney rhyming slang:
Septic tank = Yank
Some are too cynical but pretty funny. As a recent inductee to silicon-valley-ese I found it odd and funny how often people were "excited" about something.
As a Brit some of these seem fairly universal, "no offense" for example. Although my Grandparents don't say it before announcing something outrageously offensive, I just put that down to mental filters breaking down due to old age. There also needs to be a section on Americans aversion to discussing bodily functions. "restroom", "powder my nose"?
"restroom" Is "loo" any less ambiguous? Speaking of Brits, they did point out the perils of faulty phrase books many years ago: https://youtu.be/bNP7uQQT-oo
I understood it to be a shortened corruption of lavatory and it's worth noting that the English definition of that gives toilet, and the American definition gives the sink in the toilet, which kind of reinforces my point.
At the same time something like "not the best programmer" is a minimizing statement which is less mean than something like "bad programmer".
I'd love to see one of these for Australian English, although I don't think it would be possible. Aussies have a love of metaphor a simile that's unmatched in any other dialect of English, especially if you hang out with bogans (basically Australian Rednecks, for lack of a better description). It's basically the opposite of America, where instead of trying to be excessively polite, we try to be excessively offensive.…
I'd love to see one of these for Australian English, although I don't think it would be possible. Aussies have a love of metaphor a simile that's unmatched in any other dialect of English, especially if you hang out with bogans (basically Australian Rednecks, for lack of a better description). It's basically the opposite of America, where instead of trying to be excessively polite, we try to be excessively offensive.…
For full context of "Smoko" see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j58V2vC9EPc