[NFHale]

Words MEAN things!!! Hahah!!!

I had a buddy I worked with years ago - he was Scotland. I use to mess with him a lot because of his accent.

One day being the wise0ass I am, I said to him “Scotland... that’s like a COUNTY in England, right??”

His eyes got REAL wide, His eyebrows all a-twitchy, he says “GOOD HEAVENS MAN!!! DON”T EVEN MENTION THOSE TWO WORDS IN THE SAME BREATH!!!”

Hahaha!!

Another word difference: He told me being “pissed’ means being drunk; I explained being “pissed” over here means being angry. He just didn’t get it...

[hiredhand]

Oh my... yeah... that's a good way to get a Scot riled up! ...and yes, getting "pissed" does mean to get drunk. To say, "You're taking the mick." means "You're kidding me." To "Knock somebody up" means to wake them up early. A buddy of mine told me he'd "Knock me up in the morning" once, and by the look on my face he knew I didn't perceive exactly what he had told me correctly. :-) He had to explain it to me.

Also... there's a very common saying that you and I would use. It is "What have you been up to?" Every Briton I ever ran into to whom I said that thought it was mildly offensive. A good friend of mine told me that it was an "intrusive" question... a bit too personal. Instead, they would say, "How have you been?" Or in passing, it's just a single word, "Alright?!"... meaning "Are you alright?"

They thought it was funny that we called the bathroom a "bathroom". They commonly call that room "The toilet", or the toilet is simply "The loo", or "The bog". :-)