Quirky languages

[Father Kit Cool Gun Garth]

Have been streaming a lot of British Crime/Thriller series and other than trying to understand what they are saying, as they seem to mumble and slur their speech alot, getting use to the lingo is, at most, entertaining.
For example, the bad guys will hide their victim in the "boot" of the vehicle.
Detectives searching for the bad guy in the dark will use their "torch".
My favorite is they will "post" a letter while we will "mail" a letter. Odd since we call that place a "Post Office", and not a " Mail Office". We do call them mailboxes though.
The latest example has been when the detectives are warning suspects that not telling the truth will result in them "perverting the course of justice." We use "Obstruction of justice is a crime and can lead to charges." 
Perverting the course of justice refers to actions taken to obstruct, prevent, or interfere with the fair administration of justice. 
Interesting that the noun refers to something entirely different.

 

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

I think it was Sir Winston Churchill who said something about the English and Americans being separated by the same language.

[Dr. Zook]

somebody be mother and pass the biscuits, please...  😆

Edited June 1 by Dr. Zook

[Alpo]

There was this book - this shows you how long ago it was, I got it from The Weekly Reader Book Club - and they were in England. They have snuck out of the house for a little adventure one night and they brought food with them. The girl brought a package of biscuits.

 

Biscuits come in a package???

 

And one boy had brought a tin of something. That was going to be a problem, but fortunately the other boy had a tin opener on his pocket knife.

 

And poor little 9-year-old me trying to make sense out of that.

 

I finally figured out the biscuits, because Nabisco - the cookie company - stands for National Ciscuit Company. So I decided a biscuit was a cookie. And I knew what tin was. I just had no idea what A tin was. Or how or why you would open it.

[Subdeacon Joe]

The first time I read "1984" I was in 6th grade.  In the scene where Winston Smith is talking with an old guy in a pub the old guy is complaining about the metric system,  and how it ruined drinking in the pub. Something like,  "A half litre isn't enough,  and a litre is too much.  Now a pint is just right."   Wait....a half litre is MORE than a pint!  So how could it be not enough.  Pulled out my big red Websters Dictionary and looked up weights and measures.   AH!  The English use bigger pints and quarts than we do!

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

2 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

The first time I read "1984" I was in 6th grade.  In the scene where Winston Smith is talking with an old guy in a pub the old guy is complaining about the metric system,  and how it ruined drinking in the pub. Something like,  "A half litre isn't enough,  and a litre is too much.  Now a pint is just right."   Wait....a half litre is MORE than a pint!  So how could it be not enough.  Pulled out my big red Websters Dictionary and looked up weights and measures.   AH!  The English use bigger pints and quarts than we do!

But not 25% bigger as many would have you believe, more like 19%.

[watab kid]

ive been a commonwealth collector of small arms for nearly three decades i know ofd which you speak , often the terminology creeps into my daily speek and confuses those im speaking to , ive found the english interesting not so much the other languages ofd the world , 

 

we have a lot of imagrants here that speak their own or broken and it has a way of waring on ones sense of concentration when dealing with the public .....

 

i started my later life as an architect , i spent a bunch of years as a general contractor , i did a couple stints with subcontractors after i retired , but now im a dealer with the general public at the counter of our local gun club - i love the time i spend there but man almighty the vocabulary has changed over the years - im not complaining mind you , but at 75 im learning a few new things and reliving some really old childhood things , 

 

oh , and yes i read 1984 more than once as well , but i too did not realize then that the liter and pint system is not quite like ours - i always heard that stupid metric system would be adopted and we all would be on it , it hasnt happened in my life , i was forced to use t in preparation 55 years ago - anybody want a set of metric scales for drafting ? imight be antique collectibles soon .............had to buy them for one class back in 73 , but they look brand new .................

Edited June 2 by watab kid

[watab kid]

10 minutes ago, watab kid said:

ive been a commonwealth collector of small arms for nearly three decades i know ofd which you speak , often the terminology creeps into my daily speek and confuses those im speaking to , ive found the english interesting not so much the other languages ofd the world , 

 

we have a lot of imagrants here that speak their own or broken and it has a way of waring on ones sense of concentration when dealing with the public .....

 

i started my later life as an architect , i spent a bunch of years as a general contractor , i did a couple stints with subcontractors after i retired , but now im a dealer with the general public at the counter of our local gun club - i love the time i spend there but man almighty the vocabulary has changed over the years - im not complaining mind you , but at 75 im learning a few new things and reliving some really old childhood things , 

 

oh , and yes i read 1984 more than once as well , but i too did not realize then that the liter and pint system is not quite like ours - i always heard that stupid metric system would be adopted and we all would be on it , it hasnt happened in my life , i was forced to use t in preparation 55 years ago - anybody want a set of metric scales for drafting ? imight be antique collectibles soon .............had to buy them for one class back in 73 , but they look brand new .................

had to come back - i did use them once in the 90s when i was converting a building to a foundry , i was working with a german company on the mold machine , they used metric , so i guess i got my investment back , 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

I don’t 5hink the noun vs verb definitions of pervert are completely different.