Americanisms that will never, ever cross over into the UK

So Ireland just got a free pass not to be? Because they're the only conquered people ever? I mean, not that I disagree but it seems a relatively arbitrary distinction.

Not to be what?

Not to be part of Great Britain.

Or the United Kingdom, for that matter?

wikipedia: Politically, "Great Britain" describes the combination of England, Scotland, and Wales. It also includes the former Celtic nation of Cornwall, and a number of outlying islands such as the Isle of Wight, Anglesey, the Isles of Scilly, the Hebrides, and the island groups of Orkney and Shetland, but does not include the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands.

Great Britain is an island (Scotland/ England etc). Ireland is another island!

GB (geographical) = teh one big island, GB (political) = that and all the other little islands. Says wikipedia.

"British Isles" is an Americanism that will never, ever cross over into the UK

right, xp

Can anyone suggest who to refer to the archipelago just above France without using the term British isles?

how even.

Ahahahh THEY ARE ALL ISLANDS WTF.

I always thought it was a geographical term , Great Britain is the greatest (in size) of the British Isles, which is why it's irritating when right wing twats go on about "Making Britain Great again!"... you mean it's shrunk or something?

Goddamnit L'il Canada! is the answer, I am telling y'all.

ireland is not part of anything with britain or kingdom in it.
i can understand it might not be part of anything with british in it.
but it has to be part of something with isles in it. "these isles" sounds crap. "the isles" is better, but still a bit rub.

So Ireland just got a free pass not to be? Because they're the only conquered people ever? I mean, not that I disagree but it seems a relatively arbitrary distinction.

-- Laurel, Friday, June 29, 2007 10:54 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

waaaaaaaaay more complex than that. but yeah basically there was a strong movement for irish independence ('home rule') and it was backed by the liberals in england from about the mid-19th century. but this process foundered when the irish vote became decisive in parliament in about 1910 and, well, we almost had a big ol' civil war over it because large parts of northern ireland were protestant and did not want to be ruled by dublin and they were backed by the tories. and then the actual world war intervened. and then there was a civil war in ireland. and then you had the irish state and northern ireland and and and

No, The Isles doesn't work 'cos that makes me think of the Western Isles

Geog term would make far more sense, but if all the West. Isl. and etc are included it just becomes some kind of polite fiction, I think...? Because why NOT include the Isle of Man when it's far closer in size to, say, Arran (which DOES get included) than it is to Ireland.

Or is Isl of Man another national identity thing? I KNOW: PLACES WITH THEIR OWN BREED OF CATS GET TO BE SOVERIGN, PROBLEM SOLVED.

let's call them "Iceland, Jr."

"you want that i" vs "do you want me to"

i love this construction, fav: "you want i should" but i wasn't sure if it was just old NY gangster movie talk. out of bounds for a californian in any case. Has "twat" crossed over into the US?

The Isle of Man has its own legislature that's why it's not included politically

The Leprechauckney Islands

Ditto the Channel Islands (xp)

I always thought it was a geographical term , Great Britain is the greatest (in size) of the British Isles, which is why it's irritating when right wing twats go on about "Making Britain Great again!"... you mean it's shrunk or something?

-- Tom D., Friday, June 29, 2007 10:59 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Link

i thought: britain is wales, england, scotland; and 'great britain' was that plus all the other bollocks. but that's probably wrong.

isle of man is a crown dependency, not part of the union.

IoM legislature older than poxy anglos'.

Up the "Celts"

yeaaaaaah bwoyeeee (that's what we say in douglas)

IoM has best flag

They've got Norman Wisdom too

I think "you want I should" is at base a Yiddish thing that crossed over into "tough" talk at some probably gang-related point. Or maybe it was part of the old old Brooklyn or Bronx dialect and was rolled up with a "partly geographic, partly class" distinction.

"Twat" has SORT OF crossed over but you know that Americans rhyme it with "hot" instead of with "fat".

Also apparently I cannot square-bracket the uppercase T up there so bear with me.

we got it all

xpost

"Twat" has SORT OF crossed over but you know that Americans rhyme it with "hot" instead of with "fat".

they quite often say 'twot' in 'the sopranos'.

I think "twot" is an old pronunciation of it anyway

So typical of Americans to be talking like geezers from the 17th century

do you guys ever use "fellow" or "fella" anymore?

You hear it every now and again

You even hear "chap" occasionally!

Hey, buddy, we're keeping the 17th century alive for you; when you run out of useful words you'll thank us later.

hey, i thought of a few canadianisms that will never make it to the uk, do those count?

double-double (a coffee w/ 2 creams, 2 sugars)
bunny hug (a hoodie)
buddy (means "that guy" ie. Hey, did you see buddy's hat? Lame)

bunny hug (a hoodie)

????

xxxxxxxposts.. but isn't the england/wales/scotland landmass called Albion?

Saskatchewan, don't ask me.

I'm from "midwestern Ontario," where we drop the letter T from a lot of things. I lived in Tiverton (Tiver'n) in Bruce County (Cowny) for eight years. We have no fun words. Although I do remember the word "kife" meaning steal, but this may have been more than a regional thing?

holy shit, that was a UK thing?! why the fuck did we use it in the Bruce?

I had no idea "twat" could rhyme with "fat," I've actually corrected someone who said it that way

To be fair the Brit vowel is a sort of in-between sound that I don't know the official marks for, but it's not the midwestern twangy "feeyat" either.

I had no idea "twat" could rhyme with "fat," I've actually corrected someone who said it that way

man alive!

a few people in the US use it that way, but no one in the US pronounces it that way

to be fair I checked this before correcting them

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/twat