A handy guide to what a Briton is actually saying, and how non-Brits may easily find themselves confused.
This document currently doing the rounds in NATO :)
Translating British into "English"
A handy guide to what a Briton is actually saying, and how non-Brits may easily find themselves confused.
This document currently doing the rounds in NATO :)
Yes, that about sums up my interaction with you Brits as well! lol
... and also in the civil aviation environment I work in. Genuinely one of the most useful documents ever to come out of Europe !Originally Posted by David Manley
Mark
...and that's why the Colonials booted them out in 1783 -- too much double-speak. >;)
Leaving the language safe in the hands of people like Al Haig, Donald Rumsfeld and George W Bush ....
Maybe we got the better part of the deal :)
Mark
But Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher sure did speak the same language......and people listened!
They did. Downhill from there I'm afraid :(
Not always - when he was POTUS, Reagan and Thatcher were paraded through the streets of London in a horse-drawn carriage. The parade was going well until the carriage reached the Mall, at which point the horse, shall we say, "Backfired". Both kept straight faces throughout; however, as the carriage pulled up before 10 Downing Street, Thatcher said to Reagan, "Mr. President, I'm dreadfully sorry for that terrible incident back at the Mall. Reagan replied, "That's OK -- I thought it was the horse."
>;)
Very interesting, but with the greatest respect, getting the detail correct is the essence of getting a joke like this right. If it was a horse drawn carrige it would be a parade hosted by the Queen rather than the PM.Reagan and Thatcher were paraded through the streets of London in a horse-drawn carriage
For more in-depth analysis try here: :)
http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_gw_queen.htm
Last edited by David Manley; 01-30-2012 at 22:53.
I know -- but for this application, I had to use Thatcher. :)
[QUOTE=David Manley;2992]If it was a horse drawn carrige it would be a parade hosted by the Queen rather than the PM. QUOTE]
Easy mistake to make as Mrs Thatch sometimes seemed to confuse herself with the Queen !
(Little bit of politics, there - my name's Ben Elton, Goodnight !)
Mark
(Explanation for non-UK friends - Ben Elton was one of the first in a wave of satirical comedian in the 1980s, sort of a cuddlier version of Lenny Bruce. Let's just say you would not want to take your granny to one of his gigs.
Yes, this is the same Ben Elton that later wrote musicals like "We will Rock you" - don't get me started...
M.)
In another guise the joke was told about Queen Victoria who broke wind loudly at a banquet. Turning to the Footman behind her she said " Would you stop that my man" With great presence of mind the footman replied, "Certainly Maam. Which way did it go?"
Bligh.
Hey Dave, is there perchance an expanded version of that? I write a character on a fiction board who uses a LOT of Brit idioms (he's an amnesiac and a perfect mimic, and in putting himself back together chose to model his voice and speech patterns after Edward Woodward as "The Equalizer"), and even just what's there is going to be a BIG help. :)
This can backfire on you. I believe that there was an incident in the Korean War when a British commander described his position as 'a bit sticky' and the local American commander thought that it meant the British could cope, when in fact he was requesting heavy assistance.
LOL True... then again, my character is an arrogant SOB who's always been able to take anything thrown at him (including putting together the op that killed Osama from an ICU bed and then going straight from hospital discharge to leading the raid)... coming from him, anything less than "under control, I can handle this" means BIG problem. He's also lucky enough to be dealing with people who've known him for years and gotten used to his strange habits...
Very funny stuff...
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