Americanisms which confuse the British - bill, goss, pants, start over, yard

For months I have been ignoring the message on the Daily Mail news pages 'Send us the goss'. I did not know what goss meant. Today I looked it up. The answer is below.

I still find that in Singapore, people think they are speaking British English, but talk about going out in the rain and having wet pants.

This makes me raise my eyebrowns, frown, wince. To the British, pants are what Americans call underpants. Make sure that  you are understood by all the audience members, including judges in an international speech contest. 

You have plenty of opportunity to create a humorous speech from words you have misunderstood at home, online, or when travelling. Just make sure that you do not unintentionally create a humorous speech.

Americanism - British English

billboard - poster / poster site

elementary school - primary school

Check - bill

goss - gossip

high school - secondary school

Pants - trousers

private school - public school

public school / state school - council school

some time back - some time ago

start over - begin again

underpants - pants

yard - garden

British English - Americanisms

begin again - start over

bill - check

garden - yard

gossip - goss

secondary school - high school

pants - underpants

public school - private school 

secondary school - high school

some time ago - some time back

trousers - pants

Useful Websites

BBC on Americanisms

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-14201796

Wiki Americanisms

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_New_International_Encyclop%C3%A6dia/Americanisms

Angela Lansbury's posts

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2020/11/americanisms-and-british-english.html

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2016/05/todays-americanism-candy-and-cookie-in.html

About the Author of this blog, Author Angela Lansbury

BIOGRAPHY

Angela Lansbury B A Hons ACG ALB PM5 EH5 DL5 VC5 
The Author of several books, including: Etiquette For Every Occasion. Wedding Speeches & Toasts. How to be the Best Man. Quick Quotations. Who Said What When.

Blogs travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Club Vice President Public Relations (VPPR), Previous President

Join BHA 1st Wednesday 7pm and 3rd Saturday 2 pm Singapore time 

Vice President Public Relations (VP PR) of Tampines Changkat Advanced;

Secretary of weekly online Singapore International Dynamic Toastmasters Speakers’ Club;

Member and past president of Harrovians toastmasters club, UK; Past member of HOD Toastmasters, London. Past member in Singapore of: Toastmasters Club of Singapore (TCS); Tiarel; and Senja Cashew.

More details from Toastmasters International find a club.

Regular attendee at annual Swanwick Writers’ School, England.

Regular attendee at annual Writers’ Holiday, Wales.

Contributor to poetry readings, and after tea courses on: Speaking On Radio To Promote Books; and Plots And Character.

Winner of many club and area speaking contests in the UK and Singapore.

Language advisor to Empire Toastmasters club in Indonesia.

Language and speech workshops in Singapore.

Speaker on radio and TV in England, Scotland, the USA, and Australia.

Compiler of a school course on public speaking for teachers to prepare pupils for school open days with attending ceremonies before government ministers, Singapore.

Former member of Harrow Writers’ Circle, London, and two writing groups in Singapore.

Angela is on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter. She would be delighted to link up with new friends.

I  also have a blog on comic poems.

 Please share links to your favourite posts. 

Time Zone Converter

Time Zone USA from Wikipedia. 

Problem
The emails scream at me, the seminar is starting now. They mean now where they are. But when is now, where I am? Does it mean an hour or two's time? Or have ai missed it already?

This time the reminder carries a handy link to the time zone converter. It's not that I could not have hunted on Google myself. Whatever I am searching for, I will get half a dozen answers. I open the first three to check, and choose one of them as my favourite. But next time I need to know, I go through the whole check every website process again.

The secret of success and speed is to have just one favourite website marked, whether it is for converted currency, dress sizes or time zones. Where do I list them?

1 It could be in bookmarks.
2 It could be inside the front or back cover of my diary.
3 I could have a Useful Websites page, constantly updated, printed and stuck on the wall's pinboard each weekend. (I use recycled paper, printed on the back of something else no longer needed, of course.)

Here's the handy timezone website:

http://www.thetimezoneconverter.com/

http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/what-time-is-it-in-la-chicago-new-york.html

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See my other posts on time in the USA and worldwide. Please bookmark and share links to your favourite posts.

Tips on translating with Google and other sites

Problem
You copy from Google translate and the text breaks into half lines or disappears and floats. What did you do wrong? How can you stop this happening?

Answers

You can copy the translations from google. The text comes out large. So you have to make each word smaller. It would be faster to copy several as a list, then make them all smaller.

If you copy the text which runs over two lines, the text you copy has embedded the same line break. So you have to type out the words and copy only any letter with an accent.

Translation Checks
Google offers you alternative translations for words which can be translated several ways according to context.

If you print out several phrases from your automatic translator, you can show them to somebody who is bilingual on the plane to your destination and ask them if the translation is correct. If you have a long list and they are busy, get them to check just one sentence. If you ask the same person a couple of times, and find two or three people, you can work your way down your page without causing too much trouble nor getting told they don't have time. If you are lucky, they will come back to you later when they have time.

I have several more posts on learning languages. Please bookmark and share links to your favourite posts.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author, teacher of English and other languages. I can teach in person and on Skype.

Photographing and videoing yourself, friends and family

When you plan a wedding or funeral and know the photo of the central  characters will be recorded on photographs which will be on record, you take great care that the clothes are elegant or attractive, the hair is adjusted and the women's make-up is neat and any blemishes are covered. The same applies to the model in a promotional video for a business.

At a formal occasion you have many photos of the chief personalities and the professional photographer edits out, or the paying customer rejects, any photos in which the bride, groom, or main speaker has their eyes shut or stands awkwardly.

Now that so many of us are being photographed in public places and events, and taking photos at public places and events, we are increasingly finding it important to look our best at all times in photos.

The Problem and Solution
Here are some problems I have noticed:
1 Lopsided Clothes - tie or scarf of boy or man
a)  A barmitzvah boy's tallis* (scarf) hangs lopsided. Children in photos have skew-whiff ties.
b)  Ask person being photographed or parent or pairs of children to check each other

2 Lopsided Clothes - scarf of man or woman
b)  Speaker at Toastmasters' meeting has scarf hanging longer on one side.
 Photographer asks people posing to check

3 People in back row are hidden
Ask small people to come to the front. (You might ask taller people to stand at back but its friendlier to ask small people to come forward rather than pushing people to the back.) If time, arrange taller people or VIP or visually appealing costume such as mayor in regalia in centre. Arrange heights in an arch from the centre. Alternatively a line.

4 Brighten dull line-up of known or known people
 In a wedding photo create movement or action or links. For example, everybody facing the right, everybody looking at the bride int he centre,  everybody raising a glass, linking arms on New Year's Eve, ballet dancers with right toe forward and hands together overhead, heads turned left.

5 Two people standing apart, but camera will focus on distant wall behind in centre
Ask people to stand together, or overlap. Alternatively, have one sitting, the other standing behind. Stand them back against the wall of the room so camera is not focussed on the wall in the distance. Get the club banner or vase of flowers in the centre so something in focus in the centre is of interest.

3 One shoulder higher
Very common, as any tailor can tell you. Can be made worse by carrying a bag on the right hand side which makes the right shoulder either droop or such up, or by sitting at a desk with right arm raised writing or by a car accident injuring collar bone or arm.

4 Standing Lop-sided
Standing with one leg forward or back. a) Get people to stand up straight.
b) Alternatively make a joking feature of it.  A comedian or kid or masked character or person pulling a face can make it look like the lopsided stance is deliberate and increases the funny effect.

5 Toes pointing in
Makes a shoe model, or any model, or any adult woman look like a gormless five year old. Ask the model person to keep feet parallel. I've seen this in Hotter shoe catalogue. I love the shoes but hate the pictures which do not draw attention to the shoes but distract me. I feel like throwing a catalogue in the bin when the photographer has an adult model or even a child with toes painting in. Anybody into chiropody or the Alexander technique would tell you that you are inviting foot and spine trouble to stand with toes pointing in - or you are giving the world the news that you already have a problem.

6 Knees apart when sitting
Makes a fat person look larger and aggressive. On a woman with a short skirt gives an ungainly view up legs of underwear or worse and distracts from face.

7 Folded arms in audience
Makes the member of the audience look bored and disrespectful and half awake.
Suggests the speaker is boring and the event is a waste of time.

8 Bags on floor
Trip hazard. Flusters members of audience leaving chairs to go on stage. Looks untidy in photos. Obscures full view of person being photographed.

9 Lopsided banners
Straighten the banner. It's an advertisement for the club - and the photographer. Don't look sloppy. Look smart. Nobody will know that you took the trouble to get the banner straight. But you will know. Yes, I got that right. Without my going to extra trouble. they would not have been looking as good as they do.

10 Lopsided badges, lanyards or necklaces
People were badges upside down, or the badges droop. Get them horizontal.

11 Untidy hair
At a recent meeting I watched a video of somebody else who had an uneven hair cut. I felt like going up and offering to cut the person's hair for free. It's hard to cut your own hair.  Imagine my horror when I then saw a video of myself at the same event, with my hair not combed, untidy at the back. I often arrive at meeting in a hat or hood which I remove. I go to the Ladies and comb my hair. On this occasion I was waylaid by organisers wanting help. I suggest that at meetings people get into pairs in advance and do a mutual check, whether for photos or just general appearance.

12 Create Interest For Singles and Pairs
Singles in photos and paintings can have an item in their hand such as a tennis racket or a pen or a book. Add a nearby decoration such as a vase of flowers, trophy, or something on the wall behind, such as the name of the venue, the restaurant menu showing the location name, or stand them beside the signpost of the city, the name of the museum, (providing this is not a security risk), or a uniformed person nearby such as the concierge of the hotel, the pilot of the plane, a person of a different height or race, a Masai warrior, a scuba diver, a shopkeeper with a bucket and spade, a waiter with a bottle or cake, a sign saying Best ...., a poster or advertisement, a calendar showing the date, the hotel flower display in the lobby, the flowers in the garden, the shops' s or neighbour's cat or dog or bird, a show room bicycle or car, a pretty or funny coffee cup or mug.  Take serious and smiling photos. Then they can be used for both happy occasions such as weddings and serious ones such as funerals.

Footnote
*(For anybody who doesn't know but wants to know, the tallis/tallit or fringed scarf, worn by Liberal Jews on special occasions as well as the Orthodox Jews at all times - follows the instructions in Leviticus or laws in the Jewish Hebrew Bible / English Christian Old Testament which is a translation.)

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.