LondonSquirrel

DH told me Americans don't say take the piss or take the Mickey or pulling your leg.

jambey2510

That is true!

My OH did something, I said are you taking the Mickey, and she asked me who the heck Mickey was?!

Anian

An American friend thought that they word "whinge" was just a misspelled "whine", but really likes the way the word sounds now.

steveq

"Bollocks."
"Out by a gnats cock."
"Within a midges dick."
"By rack o'th' 'ee"
"Rare as hen's teeth"
"Fscking close."

Philk

"pants" - as in something being crap

"tosser" - as in "Farage is a tosser"

and weirdly enough "car park" seems to amuse a lot of my US friends

jambey2510

My OH is obsessed with our obscene words, she's taken on board and uses phrases such as bellend and wanker to name a few.

Hiro11

I enjoy James May's "crikey, it's the rozzers!"

LondonSquirrel

I like plank, but I'm also keen on one the Americans use too, tool.

yellowroom

The use of "trolley" when I meant "cart" caused great hilarity once. As well as the perennial aluminium vs aluminum. Mind you, this was in Missouri, I don't think they got many foreigners in that office and they thought it was ok to outright mock my British pronunciations.

LondonSquirrel

We in the UK moan about Americreep like a lot of people seem to write airplane now instead of aeroplane, and I have seen kerb written as curb, but DH's bugbear is the creep of general Amerispeak into his region , New England. For example, there they say carriage instead of cart, but some supermarkets in the Boston area have started putting 'carts' on their signs. It annoys the hell out of him because he thinks it could end their special variation of American English. They also for example say tonic instead of soda (pop or soft drink in British English). I think he has a very valid point. I hate to see regional language die out. Whereas I don't mind new words coming in, like American words appearing here as long as they are additions not replacements. I understand wanker and queue are becoming mainstream in the US but I'm sure Americans wouldn't want them to be instead of jerk/line rather than as well as.

username.exe

Phrases I have dropped liberally around the office since I got here:

"Who took the jam out of her donut?"
"He's going to have a kitten when..." (This one was a big hit for some reason).
"Colder than a witch's tit."
"Do bears go toilet in the woods?"
"I'll be there in two shakes of a lamb's tail."
"More waffle the Captain Birdseye." (This one doesn't translate).

markonline1

I'm proud to say the use of the word wanker increased by 1,000,000% at both my previous jobs. Not so sure I'll be as successful in the job I'm currently in. I left my previous job last week. I was presented with a card, and just about every person inside had made a comment on how I say things. The first time I had to call out over the radio that the aircraft that had just taxied in was a Premier, guys were scratching their heads wondering what the hell I was talking about. Apparently, Premeeer is the correct way to say it. Apparently, when erasing something from a white board, rubbing it off isn't the correct term as that can mean something completely NSFW different.

steveq

And god help you if you used a rubber to erase it.

Rete

These are sayings that Americans have been using for decades. Nothing new or British about them.

dj6372

So today I found Americans/Mexicans don't use or understand the term 'fortnight'