Mircha

These are great...will be sure to try them out when I get to Canada for entertainment purposes alone

Ones I've had to explain recently are:

"Doing the leg work"
"Stroppy cow"
"Hard graft"
"And the penny drops"
"It ain't 'alf bad"

Oh the time thing! I continue to say 'half past x' and will be determined to use the 24 hour clock still!

I've been called Aussie before but then that was just after a year of living there, so was bound to have some reference. Still after 6 months of leaving Oz, I still use Aussie words so am prepared for the Canadians Aussie label

edwinslad

I was talking with some friends about a comment one politition made about another and I remarked "that's the pot calling the kettle black". They thought it was racist remark!

bats

I was told that 'hoovering' is slang for a BJ.

shunter1977

Oh oops i'd better stop saying that then

saz1983

It's not so much that I expect Canadians to understand British phrases, it's more the complete inability to work it out. Some phrases or words aren't easy to work it out but some are pretty obvious like queue or whilst or car boot. Some people just refuse to understand what we are saying!

The word "jaxie" came up the other day - many blank looks but most were amused once it was explained.

TheThornes

OOh not heard that one. I obviously lead a far too sheltered life!

flat to the mat

At a bar with friends yesterday , a stranger asks where I'm from so I reply Australia , "thought so" he replied "either there or New Zealand ".This was followed be a ten minute conversation on spiders and snakes . Dumb arse idiots

Geordie Lass

"jigsaw"

I was helping in my son's art class and they were doing home-made jigsaws for fathers day.

I was talking to a few kids about their jigsaw and they were just like "ay?" and I was like you know your "jigsaw" and they were like "ay?" with blank looks.

It's called a puzzle over here...

I had a repair guy out yesterday and when I said a couple of sentences together he just looked utterly baffled... and was very polite and "oh" and "ay" and "I don't understand". It can make you feel a bit like an alien sometimes.

Paul_Shepherd

Yes Ive found you can certainly have some fun with some of them! However we shouldnt be too hard on our Canadian buddies we chose to live in Canada afterall....we are the immigrants!

We all expected immigrants to the UK to learn UK terminology, slang and out customs when we lived there (many didnt, but thats another subject!)

I find many of my Canadian friends and aquaintences actually like the British terms and slang once you explain their meanings, and will actually start using the terms! I even get greeted with "Hey w@anker!!" when I walk into the local pub now! Just like the old days!! LOL!

Hawk13

With Scottish parents from Glasgow - too many to list them all but my fav's

"Hey Jimmy (everyone is called Jimmy ain't they?) spare a fag"
"Git yer wellies on"
"Yer aff yer heid" or "Yer bum's oot the windae"
"Is that yer wee wain"
"Auch yer arse"

Had a friend over once that simply wanted a drink of water and I told him to grab one from the kitchen. He came back empty handed and when I asked why, he replied "asked your mom if I could have a glass of water and she told me - git a tumblr oot the press" - he was dumbfounded.

flat to the mat

Agree with you ,I'm always having the urine extracted from me in the Pub and over the course of 7 years have managed to educate the locals with a few Anglo Saxon phrases.
Had the ultimate insult a couple of weeks back,someone asked me if I was French ?

__TJ__

really! that isnt photoshopped? lordy! havent hey seen that ben stiller movie?

Alberta_Rose

My hubby remarked that his staff were like "chalk and cheese"
"What does that mean?"
"well, you know.... chalk is completely different from cheese.."
"so one of us is like chalk and the other like cheese?"
"erm.. sort of...."
"which am I then? Chalk? or cheese???"
"er...."
"and which is better???"
"neither... I just meant.... oh never mind!"

Largo

Sorry, I guess that I got the 'wrong end of the stick' It seemed to me that by specifically mentioning Canadians as opposed to any other nationality, or area of the UK that there was an expectation that had not been met.

There are expressions that I have not heard before; one was the Martha /Arthur thing, but it was obviously way after I left the UK I did, however, understand Novo's 'tappy-lappy doon the Lonnen,' since it is a regional expression ( by the way Novo was that Two -Ball Lonnen ?)

The problem is that the 'culture' is different. I have not seen the same TV programs etc., for many years'; even expats of a different generation , like me, do not understand the modern expressions, nor would the younger generation understand some of the older ones.

My apologies.


By the way, what does B.J. mean?

Largo

[QUOTE=Paul_lived [COLOR="[COLOR="red"]Red"][U]there (Shepherd;10315451]Yes Ive found you can certainly have some fun with some of them! However we shouldnt be too hard on our Canadian buddies we chose to live in Canada afterall....we are the immigrants!

Ah! yes indeed!!!!! It seems my first assumption was correct