The Beeb doesn't show adverts during their programmes, which is really nice =] It's what we pay our TV licence for, which isn't so nice.

Hi!!!

Okay hate to interrupt and jump into the conversation..(well not really) but you guys sounded as though you were enjoying yourselves. I could be wrong, but this is the Americans-explaining-our-bizarre-ways-to-the-British-forum-right? If it's not, I feel dumb, but there are people here so I'm good. I was reading over the stuff on here and I kept being INSANELY happy because people kept using British English. I looooove Great Britain, even if I don't know a whole heck of a lot about it. It's the accents, and the history, and the fact that there's teatime. Incedently, do you guys REALLY have teatime there? Like a time where you drink tea...like lunchtime only for tea....wow I sound dumber the more I talk. Okay, ummmmm.......I love the British and.....yeah. Random question: do you have a slang for the refridgerator? Like we call it the fridge but do you say something different? I'll stop now before I get worse....Bye!!!

PS sorry for the rapidly lowering intelligence....I do that sometimes....*grin*

Yeah, I think the idea of this topic's that we British-folk can ask what American slang means. There's another topic that's about tea, donchaknow! :P But yeah most of these topics are hugely off-topic and rambly anyway, so nevermind.

Umm... In response to your questions, we call a fridge a fridge. And tea-time is an abstract concept, which does exist, but only sometimes. My grandparents will actually do the stereotypical thing of STOPPING EVERYTHING and making tea at 3:00 on the dot, but this is a fairly rare phenomenon. I mean, they also drink Earl Grey. But although there is no unified national tea-time, we tea-drinking people are quite happy to drink tea at any appropriate point in the day, lol. (Note: not every British person drinks tea. This is strange but true.)

So if you're American, does that mean you're not really a ginger british gypsy elf? ;_;

Okay, I thought you guys called it something different. Kind of like how you say telly and we say TV. I think telly sounds cuter but TV is easier. Whatevs though. Good thing this forum is rambly or I'd be out of place. I'm very...rambly.

Gasp! Brits who don't drink tea? *faints* Well no country is perfect. I actually got some British tea (or at least the packsge said it was British.) It was called Ashbys or something, but that's not the point. It had this kind of weird, bitter aftertaste, and I discovered THAT is why people put milk in their tea (I never really saw the need up until then. I mean I tried it, but for no particular reason.) Our tea (or at least some of the flavors I like) doesn't have that aftertaste. Of course I normally add a couple spoons of sugar so.....yeah. But now I'm rambling too. I never tried Earl Grey I don't think. Is it any good? I smelled it once but it didn't smell all that great.

Yes I am sadly not a ginger British gypsy elf. T_T *sob* Those are the things I want to be. I actually desperately want to be ginger. I just love the color. When I graduate high school, I want to go to London for a bit. Except everything there is EXPENSIVE!!!! How do you people cope? I'm obsessed with British accents though, so if in a couple years, you hear of this crazy American tourist who glomps half of the UK because they have accents, *blush* it's probably me.

Ummmmm I think that's all. You're British right? Do you have an accent? Okay...I'm REALLY done now.

LOL! That last post made me laugh. :)

Actualy, to me, telly has less strain on the voice.

Imagine how disappointed some Brits are when they come to America and discover that we aren't all Cowboy-Yanks going round wearing ten-gallon hats and saying, "Howdy, Pardner."

Hate to break it to you, but most Americans I know are like that. A friend went to England and watched as her mother was helped accross the street by a young British gentleman. She nearly fainted when he said (with his accent), "Let me help you on." :))

Oh, and everyone has an accent to someone. :)

Okay, questions:

What do you call the dining rooms in London?

Where exactly is Chiswick?

Are there any good roller coasters in England?

Name some popular clothing stores in England?

What do you call movers?

You know, I think most people I know say both TV and telly, I think...

Haha cowboys who say "pardner". You know, I think I can get over the crushing disappointment of not getting to hear that you guys all talk like that. But then I do actually still think it's funny that you call George Bush Junior "Dubya" for W.

Oh dear, lotsa questions. Clothing stores... most of the new ones are probably the same as you have, but there's French Connection (which uses the shocking acronym: **. lol), and there's Marks and Spencers and BHS are both AFAIK British in origin. But those are kinda moderately unfashionable and shops your mum (or mom) would shop in. M&S is notably where you may go to buy a bra and get it fitted, because their shops tend to be massive and have a whole floor devoted to lingerie. Well, the one where I live in Oxford does.

I dunno either where Chiswick is (try google maps, maybe?) or what dining rooms in London are called. Do you mean the room in your house or the restaurant-thing? Roller coasters is debatable, there's several theme parks but none, (at least according to my well-travelled friend), as good as Disneyworld. The ones I know of are Thorpe Park, Alton Towers and Drayton Manor; Drayton Manor and Thorpe Park I've been to, and Drayton Manor has an awesome rollercoaster that you ride standing up (called, Shockwave or something? I dunno those names always all sound the same). Thorpe Park did also have some very cool rollercoasters. There was one with like ten corkscrew turns in a row, that was pretty amazing. I don't have much of a critical opinion, but I remember those two theme parks as being better than Eurodisney in Paris. That might have been cause like half the rides were shut when I went to Eurodisney, but still; I like the theme parks I've been to in Britain.

I don't know what I call movers, on account of not know what the things you call movers are. Sorry ;P

Ooh, I have a question for you (since this is the ask-american-people-questions thread): could you name any types of curry? I remember a year or two ago my dad had some Americans visit for a conference, and my family ate out at an Indian place with them, and when we'd ordered just about everything, one of them asked if we could maybe also get at least one curry, since we were at a curry-house? So: do you have Indian restaurants where you live, and what do they serve there if so?

Movers..like, the people who you pay to move your furniture and things into a new house or flat. Would moving-men work?

If you mean dining room as in the room in your house where you eat then we just call them dining rooms.

Chiswick is a place in West London.

Thorpe Park probably has the best ones (although I've never been to Drayton Manor so can't comment on theirs). "Stealth" at Thorpe Park (if you google it you'll probably find pictures, if you're that interested) is pretty good, and probably the best one in England. At least, it is in my opinion. It's probably not comparable to ones in the US, though.

As for clothing stores... Hmm, it depends what sort of people you're looking at. Pretty fashionable shops that you tend to get everywhere are Topshop, H&M, Miss Selfridge, Next, River Island. H&M, Next and River Island also sell men's clothes, and there's the male version of Topshop, Topman. Shops your mum might shop at are Marks and Spencers and BHS (as already mentioned) as well as places like Evans, Dorothy Perkins and probably many more that I can't think of right now. Primark is a very cheap shop that sells clothes and accessories for women, men and children. There are also department stores like Debenhams, John Lewis and House of Fraser that sell designer clothes and also more formal outfits for both sexes and children.

I actually don't know anyone who calls Bush (current Bush) 'Dubya in all seriousness. I think my dad's said it a few times, but always as a joke, 'cause he's met the president before.

Actually, it's pretty neat 'cause this guy I know used to work for the president. Bush still remembers him too! HIs daughters (my friends) have pictures with him and I was always bugging him about telling me some national secrets. (He never did in case you're wondering...there goes my plan for world domination, lol) I never went to the White House, but my parents and brother went. I'm STILL waiting to take a tour of the place, it's so FULL of history.

Do American accents sound funny to you guys? I mean, what do they sound like, because you never notice your own accent. These guys that were working on our house said I had an 'American accent'. I don't think I have one, 'cause I'm an army brat and we move too much for me to have a steady accent. (I don't have a southern accent thank goodness. They kind of annoy me.) It sounds so...uneducated. Man if a British guy offered to help me across the street I think I'd faint too! I dunno if you guys are the same about American accents, but guys with british accents sound hot!

Also, no I don't know much of anything about curry. I think there's chicken curry, but I dunno 'cause I don't like really spicy food. And in a question, are there any stereotypes for Americans over there? Supposedly people think the British all have one accent that's the same, but I know better tha that thanks to Doctor Who, youtube with Catherine Tate, and a bit of british music....okay done now.

Dubya is an endearment, more than anything. Like you'd call a little girl named Tootsie Toots, not as a regular thing, but as a nickname.

Coolio! Let's not start on the "who-do-you-think-should-be-the-next-American-president" debate, I'm begging! I get it all over now...

Gingerbritishgypsyelf, if someone is from somewhere you aren't, then they have an accent to you. Not that they're always swooning when you say "semis" instead of "lorries", but you do have an accent. And, even if you are an army kid, you're an American army kid, which makes your accent American. :)

Yeah. That's just like saying the whole nation has a Bronx accent, LOL! That'd be funny to hear...and fun to do! I think I'll try it out...

Alright, some daft-ish questions, but I need the answers.

1) Do bus stops in London have covered benches? And/or are there covered benches (with streetlamps nearby) that are just scattered randomly, not for a bus? May seem random, but I don't want to write up a scene in this story I'm doing with a covered bench if England hasn't got them.

2) Does London get bad lightning storms? You don't really think of England as being a lightning-y place, but it's something that I'd like to put in a story.

3) Is London's (yeah, bet you can't guess where this story's based, LOL) local TV station BBC? Who are some anchors?

4) Is the British Airways London Eye the largest observation Ferris Wheel in the world, or the largest all-round?

5) Is it true (and you Brits should get a kick out of this one, true or otherwise) that the English population as a whole is generally so polite that, if you accidentally step on one of their feet, they will (after getting over the initial outrage) actually apologise for it?

6) Bloody hell. No, that's not the question. The question is, would a mum shush a child who said it? Such as, "No, Timmy. You can't say that, it's not polite."

7) I don't actually have a seventh question, but I can't stand ending it on six. It's such a...such a...six-ish number. Gives me the willies. Erm...God bless the Queen?

And oodles of thanks to everyone who answered my questions before!

I know to other people I would have an American accent, but I keep listening to myself talk, and I'm trying to figure out where the accent is. (Don't laugh at me, I know it's dumb. I just say things differently than the Brits.) And question, what's a semi? and what's a lorrie? I know they're the same thing, but I don't think I've heard of either.

I was wondering if Brits have the same "OMG AMERICAN ACCENT!!" thing like Americans have the "OMG BRITISH ACCENT!!", just because. I don't think I've ever heard a Bronx accent. Huh. I think if the whole country had Boston accents or Minnesota accents, it'd be REALLY funny. Just because.

I was bored one afternoon so my friend and I walked around downtown using British accents (I think I was attempting a London accent at the time.) It was really fun, because after an hour or so, it was hard to go back to how I normally talked. Yet another reason to go to the UK!!!! (To gain the powers of accent-y-ness!!!)

Eh, sorry for completely failing to respond to you all. I was away, on holiday (in Yorkshire, where my accent was kinda out of place XD... ).

Covered bus stops in London... I don't really know about bus stops having shelters. I know some of them don't, though. I also know that when you get a bus in London pretty much everyone has a pre-paid travel card and the drivers don't expect to have to wait while you fumble for change, not having one. In general, though, the London Underground is what most people use to get around in the city if they're not going to take a taxi. It's not like in California or wherever where people think of the metro/tube/whatever as being populated by drunks and druggies; it's the route most commuters take to work.

Lightening storms are possible all over England. Lol. Not necessarily all that common, but torrential rain and thunderstorms do happen here.

We don't have much in the way of regional variation on British TV, mostly because the various regions of our country are waaaay smaller than the various states of America. BBC 1 and 2 are available all over the country, and BBC's news likewise. (You get local news after the national news, though. Generally it's like "HAY NOTHING HAPPENED IN EAST ANGLIA TODAY.")

4) Is the British Airways London Eye the largest observation Ferris Wheel in the world, or the largest all-round?

No idea. I know Germany's building a bigger one.

5) Is it true (and you Brits should get a kick out of this one, true or otherwise) that the English population as a whole is generally so polite that, if you accidentally step on one of their feet, they will (after getting over the initial outrage) actually apologise for it?

Is that a bad joke or what? 'Cause, nope.

6) Bloody hell. No, that's not the question. The question is, would a mum shush a child who said it? Such as, "No, Timmy. You can't say that, it's not polite."

Yeah she probably would if you mean a younger child, at least if they're out and about in public.

As to adoring people's accents, I don't really think there's a "OMG AMERICAN ACCENT!" thing over here. At least there isn't in Oxford: we get too many tourists from the US admiring stuff loudly to find it all that amazing.

Semis and lorries (in the singular: lorry) are both words for trucks. Large vehicles carrying freight. As to accents, you don't really notice unless you're out of place. Unless you're attempting to speak another language, when it'll be clear from the way people look at you and say "you're doing it wrong".

Here's a very interesting site everyone might find helpful :)

http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/index.htm

I know this is supposed to be the British asking the Americans questions, but as I'm here and no one seems to mind, do you guys have Wal-Mart, K-Mart, or Target stores in the UK? And if not, what is the equivilant?

Um, we have different shops - ASDA (I think it's an acronym) is owned by Wal-Mart, and it, Tesco, Waitrose and Sainsburys are the main supermarkets.

And nah I don't mind. But I think there are other threads you can ask questions in.

Thanks! I needed somewhere British to buy things at in a in-progress oneshot so thankyou!!!!

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