Stinkypup

Back in the dark ages it was either that, cupping or leaches

Or trepanning!

Novocastrian

My wife has to do the equivalent of leaches, she has haemochromatosis. Phlobotomy was mentioned in another thread, but in the UK it goes by the attractive name of "venesection".

BEVS

Tragedy.

I always swap the d and g around.

mikelincs

It's phlebotomy. plobotomy sounds like an odd type of brain surgery.

scrubbedexpat091

Vacuum

Stinkypup

How else would you spell it??

scrubbedexpat091

I always manage to add an extra C and 1 U. It's a word I just never spell correctly.

Vaccum

BristolUK

Vack-yoom.

BristolUK

I'm actually surprised you're saying vacuum anyway. That's what Brits say - mind you, you're kind of honorary Brit anyway - whereas North Americans tend to call a vacuum cleaner a Hoover, even though it's not....just like they say Scott towel and Kleenex rather than kitchen roll and tissue even if different brands.

Pulaski

Your head is on upside down - it is the British that call a vacuum "a Hoover". Americans, I can assure you have no idea what the verb "to Hoover" means. I am not aware of any American euphemism for vacuum or vacuuming.

You are right about "Kleenex" though, and I don't know about "Scott" for paper towel, I have never heard it used.

BristolUK

I'm wondering if I was brought up in an American family . We always talked about doing the vacuuming. A Hoover was an American produced vacuum cleaner and we would no more talk about Hoovering than going out for a drive in the Cadillac before getting in the Austin or Cortina.

However, it does appear I'm in the minority from the googling I just did.

Pulaski

No, that was the same as for me, British born and bred, with little contact with things American until long after I had left home, and it was strictly a vacuum cleaner used for vacuuming, though we knew that Hoover and Hoovering were commonly used euphemisms.

So, in short, "vacuum" and "vacuuming" are used in both the UK and North America, a subset of people in the UK use Hoover/Hoovering as alternatives.

caretaker

Yes, "Hoover" is British, though if it's used in the states as a verb I have no idea, "Kleenex" is generic for tissue and paper towels are just paper towels, (though I refer to them as the guest linen sometimes).
http://www.ecenglish.com/learnenglish/do-you-speak-british-english-10-new-vocab-words
Make sure to take the quiz at the end.

mikelincs

sesquipedalian, always loved using long words..

caretaker