So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[Touchofevil]

People/Neighbors who enjoy singing loud enough (and equally poorly) to invade my world. I am pretty sure that she believes that she sings like a nightingale, but she’s closer to a nightmare.

 

[GHT]

I've never been more conscious of my own accent than when I was in England many years ago. Talk about standing out like a sore thumb. haha

No one said anything to me about it, but I was aware of it.

Can't you speak The Queen's English Scotty? Only kidding, times I've heard the expression, "Come again," accompanied with a bemused smile when in a public place, like a restaurant, in The US that is. It's been said that we are two nations divided by language and to that end, I would never asked where the loo is. But I'm sure it doesn't take much to figure out that it means the toilet. Was your visit a planned vacation?

 

[scottyrocks]

Can't you speak The Queen's English Scotty? Only kidding, times I've heard the expression, "Come again," accompanied with a bemused smile when in a public place, like a restaurant, in The US that is. It's been said that we are two nations divided by language and to that end, I would never asked where the loo is. But I'm sure it doesn't take much to figure out that it means the toilet. Was your visit a planned vacation?

Yes, it was a planned vacation. We stayed in Manchester with some friends. My daughter, 5 at the time, felt compelled to tell the airport agent that asked for the reason for our trip while searching my bag, that we were going to ride motorcycles and drink beer.

 

[LizzieMaine]

"The Loo" is actually quite common in my town these days among a certain type of bourgie middle-aged women who want to sound more cosmopolitan than they really are. They are almost always accompanied by husbands in popped-collar polo shirts and new-looking Sperry Topsiders, who always ask where to find "the Head."

I always pretend to be baffled and then say "Oh, yeah, the can is downstairs."

 

[GHT]

There's many a colloquial expression that's crossed the pond. There's a book called, The Laughing GI, it's semi auto biographical, written by a WW2 veteran. In the early chapters he recalls some of the British expressions that he learned whilst over here. Later in the book he tells of the amusement as the returning soldiers use their new expressions on the folks back home.

First television and later the internet have brought expressions across the pond. We use trash regularly, but not to define rubbish, it gets used when some minor celebrity goes on the rampage and trashes their hotel room. Dumpster has yet to make it into the Brits dictionary, although taking a dump was practically seized upon. Our dumpsters are still called skips.

One word that never seems to travel is thong. We refer to thongs as those cheese cutter bikini bottoms that cover nothing, whilst The Aussies call a thong a Jesus type of sandal. It gets confusing.

 

[crawlinkingsnake]

Stopped into a really fine restaurant Saturday evening after college football game. (we won!) Had no reservation and place was totally booked. But that was okay since we got seats at the bar. Had a less than amazing vodka (Belvedere) martini. Okay so I was able to live with that. But when I ask for my grilled yellow fin tuna to be slightly seared aka warmed up aka rare.... it came overly done. A real pisser!

 

[Zombie_61]

People/Neighbors who enjoy singing loud enough (and equally poorly) to invade my world. I am pretty sure that she believes that she sings like a nightingale, but she’s closer to a nightmare.

Along similar lines, the neighbors who live across the street from us like to throw parties on occasion, complete with a live band that must surely be comprised of family members and/or friends. The band isn't particularly good when they start, and as the day/night wears on (and presumably as the alcohol flows) they get progressively worse. Our city does not have a "noise curfew", but instead enforces California Penal Code 415 which states, in part, that noise is illegal when "any person maliciously and willfully disturbs another person by loud and unreasonable noise." Now, we know they didn't ask the band to play at their party/parties to "willfully" disturb everyone in the neighborhood; they just wanted some music to accompany their fun. But when they're still going strong at 2:00 a.m., even I know they should have pulled the plug three to four hours earlier as a courtesy to...well, everyone within earshot.

 

[Fading Fast]

"The Loo" is actually quite common in my town these days among a certain type of bourgie middle-aged women who want to sound more cosmopolitan than they really are. They are almost always accompanied by husbands in popped-collar polo shirts and new-looking Sperry Topsiders, who always ask where to find "the Head."

I always pretend to be baffled and then say "Oh, yeah, the can is downstairs."

Other than the rare, what's the term, obvious douchebag, I haven't seen the popped-collar regularly since the '80s when that affectation, sadly, had its moment. And can't say I've heard anyone say "the loo," but "the head" is used all the time in NYC to the point that I don't really even think about its nautical connect anymore when I hear it.

 

[scottyrocks]

I just say, 'I have to go potty.'

 

[LizzieMaine]

One of the neighborhood kids when I was growing up used to call it "doing a jobby." Which now, as a worn-down adult, seems to me to be a particularly prescient commentary on the treadmill of employment.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Loo attendant ="Klofrau".

 

[GHT]

I just say, 'I have to go potty.'

There was a time, back in the 70's or 80's when we picked up on Doo-doo's. It seemed to be a sort of buzz word. A comment by some journalist brought a smile. Out walking, he trod in some offensive mess and said: "Sh*t! I just trod in some doo-doo's."

Around that time the actor, Noel Coward, made a non-sensible expression about going to the toilet. He would say: "I must telephone The Vatican." That spawned many a copycat expression from powdering your nose to turning your bike around.

 

[tonyb]

...

We used to have a company around here that proudly declared that it pioneered the "affinity credit card" racket -- wooo, look, your credit card has the logo of your favorite sports team or college. Aren't you just the most special thing.

It’s understandable to me how a kid might make heroes of pro athletes and adorn his bedroom walls and bookcovers and whatnot with his favorite teams’ logos and all of that. I can see how he might want nothing more for his birthday than an “official” team jacket, just like the pros wear.

It’s fine by me that some people never outgrow that. Ain’t hurtin’ me none. Still, I find it more than a little silly to see an automobile with a Broncos license plate frame and a Broncos flag (or two) flying from a door window mounted plastic staff and a Broncos logo decal spanning most the width of the back window. (And it’s not a particularly attractive logo anyway.)

It’s quite the hustle, that getting the audience to advertise your product for you, and to actually pay for the privilege.

 

[GHT]

It’s quite the hustle, that getting the audience to advertise your product for you, and to actually pay for the privilege.

Well perceived, until you pointed it out I didn't realise just how subliminal that kind of advertising can be. Many cars these days are of a hatchback design that have an up and over type of tailgate. There's a shelf that hides the luggage carrying area. Many a sports fan will lay their team scarf across the shelf so that they display their team colours when the tailgate is closed.

Given the tribal nature of football, (soccer) nailing your colours to the mast seems to be a dead cert to get a bill for a new tailgate, at least in some areas of our country.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The ultimate:

If they had had these thirty-eight years ago, my grandmother would have wanted to be buried in one.

 

[scottyrocks]

There was a time, back in the 70's or 80's when we picked up on Doo-doo's. It seemed to be a sort of buzz word. A comment by some journalist brought a smile. Out walking, he trod in some offensive mess and said: "Sh*t! I just trod in some doo-doo's."

Around that time the actor, Noel Coward, made a non-sensible expression about going to the toilet. He would say: "I must telephone The Vatican." That spawned many a copycat expression from powdering your nose to turning your bike around.

We have an iconic American TV show called M*A*S*H. Basically, it's about the goings-on of a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War. It ran for 11 seasons.

During one single episode, Harry Morgan, who would later play Col. Sherman Potter, guest-starred as a crazy General. At one point in the show, he said he had to go to the 'little generals' room.'

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

There was a time, back in the 70's or 80's when we picked up on Doo-doo's. It seemed to be a sort of buzz word. A comment by some journalist brought a smile. Out walking, he trod in some offensive mess and said: "Sh*t! I just trod in some doo-doo's."

Around that time the actor, Noel Coward, made a non-sensible expression about going to the toilet. He would say: "I must telephone The Vatican." That spawned many a copycat expression from powdering your nose to turning your bike around.

An Aussie expression for going to the men's room is, "I need to go shake hands with the unemployed."

 

[AbbaDatDeHat]

^^^this could a...get outta hand real quick!!

 

[MisterCairo]

Spend a penny.
Go see a man about a horse.

Tons of them, many unfit to print here.

Have to say, telephone call to the Vatican probably takes it...

Thanks Noel!

 

[ChiTownScion]

In one employment assignment, we used a line used (in another context) by W.C. Fields in "The Fatal Glass of Beer:"

"I need to go milk the elk..."