Don't you try and
confuse us with your heathen merkin language.

A jumper is what your gran knits you for christmas. And that's the end of it.
(Bazongaloid, Tue 21 Oct 2008, 18:40, 1 reply)

I'd look it up in the OED
but the bastards charge you for it.

According to dictionary.com:

–noun
1. a one-piece, sleeveless dress, or a skirt with straps and a complete or partial bodice, usually worn over a blouse by women and children.
2. a loose outer jacket worn esp. by workers and sailors.
3. British. a pullover sweater.

Note that it's only a sweater in Britain. Everywhere else it's the I-hate-sex dress.

You invented the fucking language- why can't you use it?!?

...aaaand, breathe...

EDIT: Seriously, it's like some twisted national pastime over there to come up with weird slang and corruptions of the language. How the hell do you understand each other?
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Tue 21 Oct 2008, 19:12, closed)

We only
do it to upset American tourists.

Most of the time we speak just like you.
(Bazongaloid, Tue 21 Oct 2008, 20:02, closed)

It's funny
because you really don't. It's taken me years to get a good handle on British English. I've literally had to learn a second language on this site. Ever wonder why I always joke that "Google is your friend"? If it weren't for Google I would have had one hell of a time trying to understand what goes on in here. It's not just the cultural references to British celebrities who haven't become famous over here, but the strange terminology for things.

When I was getting ready to come over there this fall, BGB told me I should pack a jumper and I was thoroughly confused. Trainers are usually people who work at a health club to help you with the weight machines and to keep you on a schedule of exercises. Pants are outer clothing that you wear over your underwear.

And I won't even bother with terms like voddies or telly or brelly or brekker or Crimbo. Frankly, I'm always astonished that any man would use these terms- over here it would be taken as a sign of being more camp than a row of pink tents.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Tue 21 Oct 2008, 20:16, closed)

Pfft
That's rich considering you've taken what was English, and had it boiled down to a simpler version by Webster's dictionary, while evolving your own terms and pronunciation. Horses for courses really, but I do suspect that if you'd stayed under Colonial rule there would be less difference between the languages as they stand now.

Now, American Football...a game where kicking isn't the main concept, unlike Football (or Soccer over the pond) which has a name actually telling you what it's about (granted, pretty much none of our other sports do that, but that's beside the point).

Pants = underpants = underwear. I never quite understand how a shortened version of the word has morphed into a completely different meaning.

I can't even give credit for the invention of the pretzels I'm munching now as they're German, but I can give credit for making them popular. Om nom nom.

Now stop fannying around, get a pint and rellllaaaaxxxxx.
(buzzmong procrastinating since 1987, Tue 21 Oct 2008, 20:36, closed)

Wish I could get a pint, but I still work for another hour.
I don't even pretend to like football, for what that's worth.

Had George not been treating us like serfs we probably wouldn't have broken away from you lot. Blame him for it, the greedy swine.

Things like Cockney rhyming slang give me the squitters. I finally had to ask why Americans are called septics. Should've known. It's the British weakness for obfuscation for its own sake.

I prefer the KISS principle in all things- especially language!
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Tue 21 Oct 2008, 21:16, closed)

Septics
In all fairness, septics isn't used in normal speech unless you're talking to military (or ex) types, it's a very common term in the forces only.
I didn't put two and two together myself until fairly recently.

If you don't like rhyming slang I can tell you probably wouldn't get along with certain regional dialects, like Welsh or Yorkshirian :P
(buzzmong procrastinating since 1987, Tue 21 Oct 2008, 21:30, closed)

It's not a dislike
of the rhyming slang itself so much as not being used to it and having a lot of trouble decyphering it. As an engineer I have to puzzle out a lot of things as it stands- having to puzzle out slang is just another layer on the manure pile.

I've only met one Welsh so far, and she's lovely.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Tue 21 Oct 2008, 21:36, closed)

Yeah
but she's not really very welsh at all, until she's had a couple.

The septics thing is generally only used by antipodeans rather than brits.

And I love the KISS principle too. I always choose to rock and roll all night and party every day.

Also, there are quite a few american terms that come up in TV programmes that don't make sense to us either, but I guess we see more of your telly than you see of ours so we get a lot more cultural references than you do.
(Bazongaloid, Tue 21 Oct 2008, 21:55, closed)

Really?
Like what? I thought that most American slang was pretty well known and self-explanatory...
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Wed 22 Oct 2008, 13:57, closed)

Woah
weird slang? We didn't try and pretend that winningest is a word, or that "medal" is a verb.
(LickOutTheJamsMotherfuckers!, Tue 21 Oct 2008, 20:23, closed)