Subtle differences between the US and the UK that baffle me/you/us. - by SubJeff
Vivian on 20/12/2012 at 16:41
Awww is a certain postgrad angry at all the young, free undergrads running around with all their free time and stupid clothes and non-retarded workloads and stuff?
june gloom on 20/12/2012 at 21:55
"Onesies" are baby clothes, what the hell.
Chimpy Chompy on 20/12/2012 at 23:47
handsy sounds like something the Pagans say in Thief.
ZylonBane on 22/12/2012 at 20:13
Quote Posted by faetal
Just randomly thought of something, regarding the "infantilising" of words raised by ZB - I've noticed a lot of annoying US phrases being used by undergrads in the University I work at, such as "handsy" describing someone who touches other people excessively...
That's hardly the same thing. In this case it's following the common English formation of adding "y" to a noun to turn it into an adjective, eg-- "ballsy", "nosey", "sleepy", "frothy", etc.
Ulukai on 23/12/2012 at 10:25
"wanky" is a UK favourite.
Scots Taffer on 23/12/2012 at 12:51
The most subtle difference that doesn't so much baffle me, but does continually surprise me, is how batshit fucking insane Americans are.
faetal on 23/12/2012 at 17:11
Quote Posted by ZylonBane
That's hardly the same thing. In this case it's following the common English formation of adding "y" to a noun to turn it into an adjective, eg-- "ballsy", "nosey", "sleepy", "frothy", etc.
How is doing the same thing "hardly the same thing"?
(referring more to "onesie", though handsy still sounds infantile)
Trance on 23/12/2012 at 17:35
ZB's reply was specifically to "handsy", which really isn't the same as "onesie" in this context. ZB's examples bring out the difference. It involves turning a noun into an adjective to describe some personal quality.
"Onesie" is a noun by itself (as is "footy" or "Ninty"), so it is most likely the product of that infantilization you're talking about.
SubJeff on 23/12/2012 at 18:32
I'm a Brit and I agree with ZylonBane, we do corrupt some words in an infantile manner. It is a specific set of people that do it though.
nicked on 24/12/2012 at 08:55
One thing I never understood is, who the fuck is Waldo? It's "Where's Wally?". What a weird thing to change.
