Go get The Office DVD series, not only is it funny, but the booklet inside has all sorts of English words and slang translated into their American counterparts.
After that you should be able to make statements like “Bugger off you wanker” or “We went out last night and got really pissed” just avoid saying “you were puffing a fag” unless you are actually in England.
Ryan
While we’re on the topic of yhr differences between Wales, Scotland and England(all as parts of the UK),why do you insist on each having your own national football clubs? To me, it’s akin to Texas, Ohio and California all having their own teams. Seriously, until you merge together, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have no shot unless you become like the French and start poaching Africans.
DB
C’mon WG…what’s the reason? (as if we don’t all already know it’s to try and get chicks).
[quote]dollarbill44 wrote:
While we’re on the topic of yhr differences between Wales, Scotland and England(all as parts of the UK),why do you insist on each having your own national football clubs? To me, it’s akin to Texas, Ohio and California all having their own teams. Seriously, until you merge together, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have no shot unless you become like the French and start poaching Africans.
DB[/quote]
significant cultural differences. Wales has its own language and National Assembly. Learning the Welsh language is also compulsory in schools.
Even as we have separate teams, Welsh Rugby team has won the 6 nations, and the English Rugby team is current world champion.
England has a strong football team whereas Scotland and Wales really sucks.
Hope this helps,
Fahd
some of these replies are funny. no i dont wanna become British. no i dont wanna impress the ladies by making them think im British (kiwi would be the better choice anyway). i wanna learn rudimentary, stereotypical British because i find it utterly hilarious.
remember the part in Layer Cake when the guy’s got the shotgun and he’s gonna kill Crazy Larry and Jimmy’s in the background whispering, “Do it! Kill him! Kill him!” then the guy kills himself and Jimmy shouts, “Bollocks!”? i was laughing my ass off. bollocks is the funniest fucking word ive ever heard. besides i like using accents for social comedic purposes, and i wanna get the British stuff down.
supermick, good stuff.
P.S. remember the part in Austin Powers: Goldmember when Nigel and Austin speak “real” English, and there’re subtitles cuz you cant understand a lick of what they say. anybody know if they just made that up or is it actually archaic or “real” English way of speaking?
Your national football champions could never beat the Indianapolis Colts!!! WOOO GO AMERICA!!! WOOO GO COLTS!!! WOOO WOOO WOOO WOOO…
I’m a wanker
[quote]dollarbill44 wrote:
While we’re on the topic of yhr differences between Wales, Scotland and England(all as parts of the UK),why do you insist on each having your own national football clubs? To me, it’s akin to Texas, Ohio and California all having their own teams. Seriously, until you merge together, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have no shot unless you become like the French and start poaching Africans.
DB[/quote]
Because we are different countries you tit.
i could have used pillock, knob-head…many many more.
swiss tony - my favourite middle aged English lothario…
see his wisdom…
Very good point. You could end up sounding like a tit (idiot). This would not be cool. Im a bit pissed off actually as many american phrases are defficating our great language. Im pissed off with “bling”, “aiiiiight” and others. “its all gravy” isnt bad. Maybe jerry springer had polluted my mind.
I have a couple of questions for you guys too…
Why the hell was benny hill so popular in the US?
is it true you think we Brits all have bad teeth?
Supermick,
Agreed, the American pop culture shits on our shared language. I blame hip-hop, and laziness. It seems most words and phrases are shortened, abbrieviated or just misused. Ignorance here often seems chic.
Benny Hill was never popular in my book.
Sorry to say, it is a stereotype that Brits have bad teeth. No fluoride in the water?
Sorry about Springer (and Anna Nicole Smith while I am on apologies).
[quote]wufwugy wrote:
P.S. remember the part in Austin Powers: Goldmember when Nigel and Austin speak “real” English, and there’re subtitles cuz you cant understand a lick of what they say. anybody know if they just made that up or is it actually archaic or “real” English way of speaking?[/quote]
English English? Wasnt that a secret rogue dialect` that crooks used to fool the cops?
[quote]Gregatron wrote:
Why learn English/British anyway?
If it’s to impress the ladies by appearing ‘foreign’ then you can’t go past a kiwi (New Zealand) accent. Works like a charm in pretty much all the world as there are still some people who don’t even know where we are.
[/quote]
From what I’ve heard from the Brits and Aussies I’ve talked to, NZ holds a place in the hierarchy equivalent to that held by West Virginia in the US. Of course I could be totally off base on this…
[quote]CoolCat wrote:
wufwugy wrote:
P.S. remember the part in Austin Powers: Goldmember when Nigel and Austin speak “real” English, and there’re subtitles cuz you cant understand a lick of what they say. anybody know if they just made that up or is it actually archaic or “real” English way of speaking?
English English? Wasnt that a secret rogue dialect` that crooks used to fool the cops?[/quote]
could be that too. IIRC, Austin said, “Dad, as long as we’re gonna speak English, we might as well speak ‘English’ English.”
Re: the Austin Powers thingie - I’d call that “TV Cockney” - really just a scripted effort to use as much slang as possible in a dialogue. Check out “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels”. Done much better.
[quote]supermick wrote:
dollarbill44 wrote:
While we’re on the topic of yhr differences between Wales, Scotland and England(all as parts of the UK),why do you insist on each having your own national football clubs? To me, it’s akin to Texas, Ohio and California all having their own teams. Seriously, until you merge together, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have no shot unless you become like the French and start poaching Africans.
DB
Because we are different countries you tit.
i could have used pillock, knob-head…many many more.
[/quote]
Technically, you’re not. England and Wales formally united in 1536 and Scotland was officially united in 1707. The current name of your country, The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was officially adopted in 1927. So, in effect, Scotland and Wales are very similar in status to any of the individual states in the United States (i.e. the Republic of Texas, the Commonwealth of VA, the Great State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation, etc.)Maybe you should take a British history class at your uni.
Furthermore, your cultural differences don’t stop you from competing under the same Olympic banner (Great Britain). And as for the namecalling, I’ve been called much, much worse in several languages, so it has no effect on me.
DB
[quote]etaco wrote:
From what I’ve heard from the Brits and Aussies I’ve talked to, NZ holds a place in the hierarchy equivalent to that held by West Virginia in the US. Of course I could be totally off base on this…[/quote]
I have heard they are similar in their treatment of sheep.
[quote]dollarbill44 wrote:
supermick wrote:
dollarbill44 wrote:
While we’re on the topic of yhr differences between Wales, Scotland and England(all as parts of the UK),why do you insist on each having your own national football clubs? To me, it’s akin to Texas, Ohio and California all having their own teams. Seriously, until you merge together, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have no shot unless you become like the French and start poaching Africans.
DB
Because we are different countries you tit.
i could have used pillock, knob-head…many many more.
Technically, you’re not. England and Wales formally united in 1536 and Scotland was officially united in 1707. The current name of your country, The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was officially adopted in 1927. So, in effect, Scotland and Wales are very similar in status to any of the individual states in the United States (i.e. the Republic of Texas, the Commonwealth of VA, the Great State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation, etc.)Maybe you should take a British history class at your uni.
Furthermore, your cultural differences don’t stop you from competing under the same Olympic banner (Great Britain). And as for the namecalling, I’ve been called much, much worse in several languages, so it has no effect on me.
DB
[/quote]
Who knows, who cares. Wales is a principality.
[quote]fahd wrote:
3. English are Anglo Saxon whereas Welsh, Scottish and Irish are Celtic.
[/quote]
I found the above statement very strange, so I asked one of my many Scottish colleagues (Scots, for some reason, have one of the best education systems in the World and make for great professors – American students just love their accents!) and in between the swearing of the others, one of them sent me this:
Although the people that were called the “Scots” were Celtic settlers that invaded the southern region of Scotland, in the 5th century, the people of the northern region of Scotland – and a lot of the genetic material still there – are NOT Celtic, but Norse (from Norwegian and Danish Vikings):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/bloodofthevikings/british_isles_03.shtml
http://netmedia.co.uk/history/week-8/
The Norwegians came back later again in the 13th century:
http://www.teije.nl/frameset-en.htm?/schotland/sch_gesch_en.htm&2
There is also a lot Norse influence in Ireland, by the way:
Don’t tell me you never wondered why the Scots and some of the Irish are so much taller than the Welsh… 
If that doesn’t confuse things, the Scottish language (Scots), is actually not of Celtic origin (like Welsh and Irish, which are Celtic) but rather of Germanic origin:
Clearly the divide in the UK is so great you guys don’t know about each other’s History – even though your kindgom as a whole is smaller than our State of Oregon…
As a wannabe Anglophile here are my ignorant suggestions (never having been to the motherland).
I agree with DR about “The Office”, and RG’s new series “Extras” isn’t bad either.
Ali G is the archetypical Londoner, although his dialect is infectious (fo’ real).
Movies: anything by Guy Ritchie, “Football Factory”, “Hooligans” (what’s with the Millwall FC obsession?).
Watch BBC Newsworld which is the greatest news station ever (WARNING: it covers countries you will likely have never heard of).
Watch Premier League.
Don’t forget: we pronounce the last letter of the alphabet as “zed”, not “zee”. In English, we also have all kinds of extraneous “u’s” when spelling words (like “colour” or “puppy”).
I should warn you that if you pick it up, you will annoy people with terms like: well-cleva, mad, cheers, well done(!) etc.
Always look on the bright side of life.
[quote]dollarbill44 wrote:
supermick wrote:
dollarbill44 wrote:
While we’re on the topic of yhr differences between Wales, Scotland and England(all as parts of the UK),why do you insist on each having your own national football clubs? To me, it’s akin to Texas, Ohio and California all having their own teams. Seriously, until you merge together, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have no shot unless you become like the French and start poaching Africans.
DB
Because we are different countries you tit.
i could have used pillock, knob-head…many many more.
Technically, you’re not. England and Wales formally united in 1536 and Scotland was officially united in 1707. The current name of your country, The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was officially adopted in 1927. So, in effect, Scotland and Wales are very similar in status to any of the individual states in the United States (i.e. the Republic of Texas, the Commonwealth of VA, the Great State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation, etc.)Maybe you should take a British history class at your uni.
Furthermore, your cultural differences don’t stop you from competing under the same Olympic banner (Great Britain). And as for the namecalling, I’ve been called much, much worse in several languages, so it has no effect on me.
DB
[/quote]
Technically we are different countries although in certain areas (Political, some sporting) we are recognised as one nation.
This is not up for discussion despite what your readers digest atlas of the world tells you.
“The current name of your country, The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was officially adopted in 1927.”
NO - My county is ENGLAND - i am British as i live in GREAT BRITIAN - which in turn is part of the UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITIAN AND NORTERN IRELAND.
your history is impressive. Your geography is shite (Scottish for shit).
“Maybe you should take a British history class at your uni.”
who said i went to uni?
here ends the lesson in sarcasm - a great british (English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish) tradition.
[quote]etaco wrote:
Gregatron wrote:
Why learn English/British anyway?
If it’s to impress the ladies by appearing ‘foreign’ then you can’t go past a kiwi (New Zealand) accent. Works like a charm in pretty much all the world as there are still some people who don’t even know where we are.
From what I’ve heard from the Brits and Aussies I’ve talked to, NZ holds a place in the hierarchy equivalent to that held by West Virginia in the US. Of course I could be totally off base on this…[/quote]
Thats all based on jealousy mate… I think the problem stems from when the ‘kiwi’ male enters any nightclub/bar in England or Australia and then proceeds to walk out with the hottest ladies in the establishment.