Have you ever been surprised or embarrassed by English words used only in foreign countries?

9 comments

1. I am shocked and appalled how Australians use the c-word in normal conversations. It’s such a vile, disparaging, offensive word.

   I will use taboo words given the context is appropriate, but I will not even go near that.

2. Idk how common it is but it was a bit of a shock what British ppl call cigarettes

3. Why would *I* be embarrassed by words or phrases used in other English-speaking countries…?

   I was a bit surprised when I first was exposed to phrases common in Indian English. But it’s more just… a novel curiosity to me.

4. No one’s embarrassed by it but Indians saying ‘prepone’ is absurd.

5. This also applies to different regions of the US. There are regional differences in terminology. I’m not sure why exactly I would feel embarrassed though. Would it be because I didn’t understand or just embarrassed because it was the language I used

6. No more than by the regional/national differences of words in Spanish, e.g., the verb “coger”.

7. do you mean like how British people say “stroke the dog”

   personally, I would never do that to a dog, but maybe I’m a prudish American

8. surprised, yeah. embarrassed not so much. But German has a bunch of English words that have been adopted that are used slightly differently in German than in English. And also a bunch of neologisms that sound English but aren’t actually english words at least for that thing.

   For example:

   work from home, or remote work in English = “home office” (the word for an office in your home is “heimbüro”

   photoshoot = “shooting” (shooting with a gun would be Schießerei or Amoklauf depending on the specifics)

   “ein Dribbling” in soccer is like a run with the ball, but they use it as a noun, not a verb like it is in English.

   the word “safe” to mean being sure of something.

   a classic car is an “Oldtimer”

   a dinner jacket is a “Smoking” (comes from smoking jacket, but they dropped the jacket part)

   a speaker is a “Box”.

   soccer hooligans (or people misbehaving in public in general) are sometimes referred to as “Rowdys”, as a noun, not an adjective.

   Teenagers are sometimes referred to as “Teenies”

   or examples of neologisms that sound like they’re from english but aren’t are “beamer” (projector) and “handy” (cellphone)

9. As a longtime K-Pop fan, a lot of jargon used by the industry and fans use English terms whose meanings somewhat diverge from their “real” English meanings, though one can tell how they got there. “Comeback.” “Bias.” “Stage.” “PC.” “CD-R.” Nothing particularly shocking or embarrassing, just warranting additional explanation.