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Weird Americanisms (UK vs USA thread)

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Herne said:
Sounds fair. The American pronunciation really is odd, however. Where'd the the u go? Where is the w sound coming from? Weird.
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It's the Portuguese take off the Native American word Yaguára. We say it as the Portuguese would.

Ua typically has a "wah" sound, especially when referring to American things, like in guava or Guam. That's the Portuguese and Spanish influence.
 
lenovox1 said:
It's the Portuguese take off the Native American word Yaguára. We say it as the Portuguese would.

Ua typically has a "wah" sound, especially when referring to American things, like in guava or Guam. That's the Portuguese and Spanish influence.
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Interesting, thanks!
 
ElectricBlue187 said:
South Carolina is the only state where you can get every kind of BBQ

sc-bbq-map.jpg


mustard based is my personal favorite
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What is BBQ sauce in America? All we can get in Australia is this stuff:

bbqsauce.jpg


Which goes on sausages, etc, and is basically tomato sauce with a whole bunch of things like molasses added to it.
 
As a Canadian, this thread is really interesting. Okay, not sure if me being Canadian really matters, but it's interesting nonetheless.
 
strata8 said:
What is BBQ sauce in America? All we can get in Australia is this stuff:

bbqsauce.jpg


Which goes on sausages, etc, and is basically tomato sauce with a whole bunch of things like molasses added to it.
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It's very regional. Everyone has their favorite style they grew up with and all the others are some straight up bullshit. The restaurants will not tell you what's in the sauce for obvious reasons but you can easily tell what it's based on. It's mostly used on pulled pork or ribs or something not usually sausages.
 
IGSaint said:
Are you serious? Of course the US has fudge. Europeans really need to stop creating threads about american culture though, because invariably its based on sterotypes.
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Well, I was quoting a US poster who said that Americans should really try fudge and put the word in inverted commas. Given that Americans call everything sweet "candy" and things that have only been baked once "biscuit" I couldn't really tell if he or she was referring to a proprietary product that had the name or fudge in general.
 
A More Normal Bird said:
Well, I was quoting a US poster who said that Americans should really try fudge and put the word in inverted commas. Given that Americans call everything sweet "candy" and things that have only been baked once "biscuit" I couldn't really tell if he or she was referring to a proprietary product that had the name or fudge in general.
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We don't call everything sweet candy and we definitely don't call everything baked once biscuit.
 
FordGTGuy said:
We don't call everything sweet candy and we definitely don't call everything baked once biscuit.
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The candy thing was a jokey exaggeration since if you call a chocolate bar a candy bar one would have no reason to believe that you wouldn't call chocolate fudge candy as well. As for biscuits, I didn't say everything baked once, but things that have only been baked once. According to wikipedia it's the Dutch that are to blame anyway so don't feel too bad about it, you can only play the hand you're dealt ;)
 
lenovox1 said:
Add baking soda, baking powder (and buttermilk, for a Southern American touch) to the English biscuit, and you have the most basic American biscuit recipe.
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What's an English biscuit? Im sure adding those things to a Bourbon won't result in what you're trying to achieve.

Thug Waffle said:
lol that Brits (is that PC?) still don't understand clapping at the end of a movie. Americans only do it when they really enjoy a film. It's far from standard practice. Why cheer for your favorite football team at a pub if the coaches and players can't hear you? The cast/crew not being able to hear you clap isn't really that great of an argument for NOT applauding.
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I bet you clapped after posting this.

And as for Brit, there is a naming dispute, but even the Brits here refer to themselves as such. It's short and simple.

many places said:
Those would most certainly be cookies here in the US. The vanilla looking ones look very similar to oreos.
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I can assure you they'll taste much better than oreos though. Then again turd served with KFC fries would taste better than an oreo.

lenovox1 said:
Now imagine if someone pumped a whole lot of air into them. Wouldn't that make them fluffy and delicious?
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Sounds like a load of hot of air to me.
 
Curtisaur said:
http://www.snopes.com/science/microwave.asp

28 pages is too much to find if it's been mentioned yet
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I only boil water in the microwave on two occasions.
1. It makes cleaning the microwave really easy.
2. Quick way to make hot dogs.

I've had water pop and splash inside the microwave once, and I've also seen a microwave door blown off from a friend trying to microwave an un-cracked egg. Speaking of eggs, I love making scrambled eggs in the microwave.
 
~Devil Trigger~ said:
Ok so, in the British Parliament (for example)

are they saying "yeaaaaaaaah.." or "ehhhhh" or "meeeeeeeh" or is it just any random noise you can make to sound your disapproval?
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what is this i don't even. this doesn't even seem british compared to the image usually presented.

this is way, way better television than cspan. would watch.
 
Pre said:
what is this i don't even. this doesn't even seem british compared to the image usually presented.

this is way, way better television than cspan. would watch.
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And Americans in this thread whine about being stereotyped...

As for PMQ's, it's pretty funny at times, imagine the President having to take unplanned questions once a week and think on his feet, Obama could probably do it but Bush would have been hilarious.
 
I will check that posh accent.

I have to agree that american mid-west accent is easier to undestand for foreigners. And there was another one in the first half of the 20 century in America that was great, i dont know if it was some upper class accent or maybe some kind of movies accent (except fucked up examples like Humphrey Bogart).

Between fast speaking, contractions and accents, it's a hell of a job to understand some people in some places :(
 
Boiling water in the microwave? Driving on the left?

Both Americans and British are weird. On the other hand, we, continental Europeans, are awesome.
 
After going to the US frequently for over a decade now, the only Americanism that still irks be is calling burgers "sandwiches". Cannot bring myself to do it.
 
Mario said:
After going to the US frequently for over a decade now, the only Americanism that still irks be is calling burgers "sandwiches". Cannot bring myself to do it.
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I've never heard anyone call a burger a sandwich here. Unless I'm reading it the wrong way and you find calling sandwiches burgers weird.
 
ricochetguro said:
I've never heard anyone call a burger a sandwich here. Unless I'm reading it the wrong way and you find calling sandwiches burgers weird.
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Maybe just a West Coast thing? That's where I go 90% of the time.

I usually just order fries, so when ordering a burger always get asked "Do you just want the sandwich?".
 
Mario said:
Maybe just a West Coast thing? That's where I go 90% of the time.

I usually just order fries, so when ordering a burger always get asked "Do you just want the sandwich?".
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Potentially I've lived in the South and Alaska, never the west coast. That's the thing about the US, from region to region, and state to state things can be incredibly different in pretty much every way.
 
What's the deal with calling salad, vegetables? Like, on sandwiches/burgers I often hear Americans say with/no vegetables.

You get salad on sandwiches/burgers, not vegetables - unless you are having broccoli in your burger.
 
Gawge said:
What's the deal with calling salad, vegetables? Like, on sandwiches/burgers I often hear Americans say with/no vegetables.

You get salad on sandwiches/burgers, not vegetables - unless you are having broccoli in your burger.
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People refer to salad(lettuce I presume) as a vegetable here. I thought it was? Also would likely refer to onions and tomatoes, although the latter is a fruit.
 
shadyspace said:
yeah as a guy who really digs savory food vegemite sound amazing

edit: wait vegemite's Australian right? Shouldn't you Brits be talking up marmite?
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They're pretty much the same thing and they're both available in the UK. But yeah, Marmite's much more popular. Marmite has a cooler jar :)

guinness-marmite.jpg
 
My Step Dad(dad really) is British and gets Marmite amongst other things from the local English import store. I should finally try Marmite, I've always been too scared to. Lol
 
Gawge said:
What's the deal with calling salad, vegetables? Like, on sandwiches/burgers I often hear Americans say with/no vegetables.

You get salad on sandwiches/burgers, not vegetables - unless you are having broccoli in your burger.
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Salad is a dish all its own, principally comprised of vegetables.

I don't know why the UK would call the toppings on a hamburger salad, since that term has a distinct meaning going all the way back to the Romans.
 
Colin. said:
I've always found the way Americans say "Craig" is strange. It sounds like they're saying Greg but with a C. The cornbread being mistook for sponge cake made me think of custard. Do Americans really get that anywhere? I've never been to the states, but I remember in Canada I didn't see it anywhere in supermarkets, or as any kind of dessert option in restaurants.
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You can get custard at some restaurants.

edit: why is marmite being advertised as being alcohol free? lol
 
So

How many of you guys bought kettles in the past couple days? Perhaps you went to the store, saw one, and gazed at it as though it were some alien artifact, suddenly intrigued.

Admit it to yourselves, your god, your country, and the forum.
 
Zeliard said:
So

How many of you guys bought kettles in the past couple days? Perhaps you went to the store, saw one, and gazed at it as though it were some alien artifact, suddenly intrigued.

Admit it to yourselves, your god, your country, and the forum.
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I was pretty shocked to hear that there are people who don't own a kettle.

Seriously, I'm moving flats next week and my list for packing literally starts:

  1. Kettle
  2. The rest of my stuff
 
Zeliard said:
So

How many of you guys bought kettles in the past couple days? Perhaps you went to the store, saw one, and gazed at it as though it were some alien artifact, suddenly intrigued.

Admit it to yourselves, your god, your country, and the forum.
Click to expand...

A tea kettle? There was always one at my house growing up. Now I use a bitching electronic kettle.
 
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