The Gunton & I were watching the TV show Dexter and in the second season there is an episode when the British character, Lila, says she has to go to the loo. For the few of you who live under a rock, the loo is a British expression for the bathroom. In fact, the British seem to have many expressions and euphemisms for the porcelain throne. And yet I hear none of them.
In the States we frequently say restroom, bathroom, the ladies', the gents' and on occasion we might even use the expression the facilities. And we might even adopt a few British terms such as the loo. I know that my mother uses the term the loo frequently. One thing we don't say however, is the toilet. The toilet is the thing upon which we do our business (see what I did there?). When in a restaurant one never sees a sign pointing out the toilets. We don't ask our children if they have to go to the toilet.
And yet, for the six months I've been in the UK I have not once heard anyone here refer to the bathroom as the loo, the bathroom, the restroom the ladies' the gents' the anything other than the toilet. Mark's told me that the loo is something that people use to say to children but it has, in recent years, fallen into disuse.
In the States referring to the bog as the toilet is crass and undignified to our ears. We don't like the sound of it and we definitely would not have a sign in our restaurant that reads 'toilet'. When I asked The Gunton about it not being crass to their ears he replied, "We're English, that's what we do."
So the next time you hear someone who is supposed to be British use the term Loo on TV or whatnot you can suspect that the writer might not be all too hip on current expressions for the crapper.
This then led me to think about other things that are typically British and it brings me to the word Cheers. I can already hear you groaning and begging me to please not ruin another assumption about the British. No, I'm not. When we use Cheers, it's usually only when we're lifting a pint and raising a toast to someone or something. The Irish say Slianté, the Germas have Prost and we share Cheers with the British. But they use it far more than something to say when drinking a pint of Pimms.
Cheers means 'Thanks' or 'Thank you'. When getting off the bus it is perfectly acceptable to say cheers to the bus driver as you get off. If someone hands you a cup of tea a simple cheers is all that's required. In fact, I hear cheers far more than I hear thank you. I think the only people who say thank you are non-natives such as myself. Of course, you have to say it with the dropped R that is so much a part of the various British accents or else it doesn't sound right. You can't say it like an American with those hard Rs or else it sounds really, really bad. As you can imagine I always say thank you.
Mate is an interesting one. When we think of using the word mate we usually think of Australia. Every American born tries to do his best Mick Dundee with a 'good'ay mate' and we fail usually. Mate is a very common term used here as well, which might not surprise some of you. I am still thrown off when people refer to their friends as mates because my mind goes to a different meaning automatically. In Hull people will use mate when speaking to anyone. Where we would say, 'thanks man', the Hullians will say 'cheers mate'.
An interesting thing about 'mate' though is that its use is cultural. As I said, in Hull, it isn't uncommon to hear someone call anyone mate as would say 'man' to a stranger. Mark's paternal family, however, comes from an area in London where ones uses it only to close friends and family. While he will call his father, cousins, uncle, and son mate, he calls the stranger on the street buddy or pal.
So there you have it, a few interesting tidbits about typical British expressions that you might or might not have known or cared.
Until next time-
EHM
In the States we frequently say restroom, bathroom, the ladies', the gents' and on occasion we might even use the expression the facilities. And we might even adopt a few British terms such as the loo. I know that my mother uses the term the loo frequently. One thing we don't say however, is the toilet. The toilet is the thing upon which we do our business (see what I did there?). When in a restaurant one never sees a sign pointing out the toilets. We don't ask our children if they have to go to the toilet.
And yet, for the six months I've been in the UK I have not once heard anyone here refer to the bathroom as the loo, the bathroom, the restroom the ladies' the gents' the anything other than the toilet. Mark's told me that the loo is something that people use to say to children but it has, in recent years, fallen into disuse.
In the States referring to the bog as the toilet is crass and undignified to our ears. We don't like the sound of it and we definitely would not have a sign in our restaurant that reads 'toilet'. When I asked The Gunton about it not being crass to their ears he replied, "We're English, that's what we do."
So the next time you hear someone who is supposed to be British use the term Loo on TV or whatnot you can suspect that the writer might not be all too hip on current expressions for the crapper.
This then led me to think about other things that are typically British and it brings me to the word Cheers. I can already hear you groaning and begging me to please not ruin another assumption about the British. No, I'm not. When we use Cheers, it's usually only when we're lifting a pint and raising a toast to someone or something. The Irish say Slianté, the Germas have Prost and we share Cheers with the British. But they use it far more than something to say when drinking a pint of Pimms.
Cheers means 'Thanks' or 'Thank you'. When getting off the bus it is perfectly acceptable to say cheers to the bus driver as you get off. If someone hands you a cup of tea a simple cheers is all that's required. In fact, I hear cheers far more than I hear thank you. I think the only people who say thank you are non-natives such as myself. Of course, you have to say it with the dropped R that is so much a part of the various British accents or else it doesn't sound right. You can't say it like an American with those hard Rs or else it sounds really, really bad. As you can imagine I always say thank you.
Mate is an interesting one. When we think of using the word mate we usually think of Australia. Every American born tries to do his best Mick Dundee with a 'good'ay mate' and we fail usually. Mate is a very common term used here as well, which might not surprise some of you. I am still thrown off when people refer to their friends as mates because my mind goes to a different meaning automatically. In Hull people will use mate when speaking to anyone. Where we would say, 'thanks man', the Hullians will say 'cheers mate'.
An interesting thing about 'mate' though is that its use is cultural. As I said, in Hull, it isn't uncommon to hear someone call anyone mate as would say 'man' to a stranger. Mark's paternal family, however, comes from an area in London where ones uses it only to close friends and family. While he will call his father, cousins, uncle, and son mate, he calls the stranger on the street buddy or pal.
So there you have it, a few interesting tidbits about typical British expressions that you might or might not have known or cared.
Until next time-
EHM
