Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The British use the term "vexed" a lot, which is rarely used in the US. We would just say "angry."
I grew up in Britain... and generally use the word vexed in the context of being troubled and concerned rather than being angry. For example I would be vexed if my daughter was late for her curfew - a mixture of worried and irritated. The anger would come after she returned home - especially if she didn't understand my vexation.
Sometimes I'm vexed by a problem I can't find a resolution for. It's troublesome and annoying, but it's not anger. Is there a word Americans use to describe that state of mind?
I grew up in Britain... and generally use the word vexed in the context of being troubled and concerned rather than being angry. For example I would be vexed if my daughter was late for her curfew - a mixture of worried and irritated. The anger would come after she returned home - especially if she didn't understand my vexation.
Sometimes I'm vexed by a problem I can't find a resolution for. It's troublesome and annoying, but it's not anger. Is there a word Americans use to describe that state of mind?
Another thing to consider is that even in the United States we speak differantly depending on where in the nation you live. for example only in my native Sounthern California would we include the word "the" when talking about a freeway or highway. To explain; If you want to get to San Diego from Oxnard you will need to take the 101 to the 405 and drive untill you get to the 5. Other locals within the nation would not think to include the word "the" before the name of a roadway. For most it is take 101 to 405 to I5.
I have also noticed many people use an interesting form of the language when describing a conversation that they may have had. For example "I saw suzy at the store today and I asked about her boyfriend. And then she went, oh yea he is hot, and then I went, OMG you better believe it, and then she went and on and on ect. It kinds of gets to me when people talk like that and for some reason it seems to be the norm among the younger set.
Location: Back in Melbourne.....home of road rage and aggression
402 posts, read 1,161,407 times
Reputation: 526
Quote:
Originally Posted by ben86
I noticed Americans say 'I could care less' when logically they mean 'I couldn't care less', which is what we say. By the way, number/decimal usage in the UK is the same as the US. A million is a thousand thousand, a billion a thousand million etc. In continental Europe they would write eg 5 1/2 as 5,5 instead of 5.5, but not us.
That always got to me, even when I still lived back home in the US. To say "I could care less." literally means that you care a great deal. I have ALWAYS said "I couldn't care less." if I'm saying that I do not care at all.
Once I moved to Australia, I noticed there were many things that differed in the way the English language is spoken here and in the US. The whole hospital and church thing is a curious one for me.
American say, I was in the hospital. Aussies (and Brits too) say, I was in hospital. To me it sounds like something is missing, in this case 'the'. So the Aussie/Brit way still annoys me a bit (after 8 years, you'd think I'd have gotten over it already!)
However, I've never known anyone to say, I went to the church. It's always, I went to church. Regardless of which side of the pond you're from.
It took me a while to get the hang of speaking "Aussie", as in the different slang and words (not the accent--I can't carry it off to anyone but my family in KY!). I have adopted quite a few words and phrases that I forget my family doesn't know or understand; subsequently I do a lot of translating during phone calls. lol
At the moment, I have some favourites I throw around a bit:
As reliable as a 2 bob watch. (Not reliable at all.)
Went off like a frog in a sock. (Went completely bezerk.)
It's not all beer and skittles. (It's not all it's cracked up to be.)
Cheeky little bugger. (Cleverly smartypants.)
Heaps of rhyming slang, and everyone is "mate", regardless of gender.
One thing I am emphatically endlessly undeniably annoyed with is the pronunciation of the word 'schedule'. I can not stand it when people use the soft sch- sound. it sounds so pretentious. I'd expect QEII or some other such person to use it, but with everyone else it's just.....pretentious. And an ounce of pretention is worth a pound of manure.
I mean, what about all the other sch- words? School--nobody goes around saying "shool", unless you're Jewish and saying shul. Nobody runs around saying sholarship (scholarship). Certainly nobody prances about saying sheem (scheme). Or how about $hitzophrenic (schizophrenic)? I mean seriously, what exactly would $hitzphrenia be? Paranoid delusions whilst on the toilet??
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,112,318 times
Reputation: 11862
Quote:
Originally Posted by tigerlillydownunder
That always got to me, even when I still lived back home in the US. To say "I could care less." literally means that you care a great deal. I have ALWAYS said "I couldn't care less." if I'm saying that I do not care at all.
Once I moved to Australia, I noticed there were many things that differed in the way the English language is spoken here and in the US. The whole hospital and church thing is a curious one for me.
American say, I was in the hospital. Aussies (and Brits too) say, I was in hospital. To me it sounds like something is missing, in this case 'the'. So the Aussie/Brit way still annoys me a bit (after 8 years, you'd think I'd have gotten over it already!)
However, I've never known anyone to say, I went to the church. It's always, I went to church. Regardless of which side of the pond you're from.
It took me a while to get the hang of speaking "Aussie", as in the different slang and words (not the accent--I can't carry it off to anyone but my family in KY!). I have adopted quite a few words and phrases that I forget my family doesn't know or understand; subsequently I do a lot of translating during phone calls. lol
At the moment, I have some favourites I throw around a bit:
As reliable as a 2 bob watch. (Not reliable at all.)
Went off like a frog in a sock. (Went completely bezerk.)
It's not all beer and skittles. (It's not all it's cracked up to be.)
Cheeky little bugger. (Cleverly smartypants.)
Heaps of rhyming slang, and everyone is "mate", regardless of gender.
One thing I am emphatically endlessly undeniably annoyed with is the pronunciation of the word 'schedule'. I can not stand it when people use the soft sch- sound. it sounds so pretentious. I'd expect QEII or some other such person to use it, but with everyone else it's just.....pretentious. And an ounce of pretention is worth a pound of manure.
I mean, what about all the other sch- words? School--nobody goes around saying "shool", unless you're Jewish and saying shul. Nobody runs around saying sholarship (scholarship). Certainly nobody prances about saying sheem (scheme). Or how about $hitzophrenic (schizophrenic)? I mean seriously, what exactly would $hitzphrenia be? Paranoid delusions whilst on the toilet??
Enough with the ssshhhhedule, already!
Glad you're having fun with our 'language' TigerLil!
'Hospital', 'Church', 'School' are also institutions as well as buildings, so I think you have to make that distinction. Americans don't say 'I go to the school' do they, unless they are referring to a SPECIFIC school, like 'I go to the school on Jackson Avenue' although even 'I go to school on Jackson Avenue' would be acceptable. Likewise, it makes sense for us to say 'I went to hospital' the same way you say 'I went to church, I went to school' etc.
'Schedule' does seem to be a more 'posh' way of saying it here, although it's not something I really notice/care about much.
Location: Back in Melbourne.....home of road rage and aggression
402 posts, read 1,161,407 times
Reputation: 526
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trimac20
Glad you're having fun with our 'language' TigerLil!
'Hospital', 'Church', 'School' are also institutions as well as buildings, so I think you have to make that distinction. Americans don't say 'I go to the school' do they, unless they are referring to a SPECIFIC school, like 'I go to the school on Jackson Avenue' although even 'I go to school on Jackson Avenue' would be acceptable. Likewise, it makes sense for us to say 'I went to hospital' the same way you say 'I went to church, I went to school' etc.
'Schedule' does seem to be a more 'posh' way of saying it here, although it's not something I really notice/care about much.
Ta! Yes, I am still trying to bring myself to say went to hospital, or was in hospital. After all the Aussie-isms I've taken on board (even now call a tomatoe, a to-mah-toe, instead of tuh-may-toe....my family makes fun of me endlessly over that ) I don't know why that one just won't "take".
Oh another Aussie-ism I use a lot is "don't know if I'm Arthur or Martha". The first time I said that to my best friend of 31 years, she looked at me quizically and asked, "Are you....um......coming out of the closet, or......something?" LOL So I had to explain that I really meant I didn't know if I was coming or going. We laughed about that for a long time. and still do whenever I bring it up.
Imagine my surprise to learn that 'built like a brick $hithouse' didn't carry quite the same meaing in Oz as it does back home! Back home, it's a compliment, as in:
WOW!--what a figure!! **cat calls** **cartoon eyes bugging and tongue hanging out** 'schwing!!'
Here, it's a derogatory remark made about people are, well, I guess, you know, built like a Sherman tank, with cellulite...?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
