List of British terms

[Last updated 10 October 2010.]

One of the biggest things that messed me up upon my arrival in Britain was when people asked me, “Are you all right?” out of the blue, when I was just standing there.
Um… yeah. I’m fine. I’m just looking. >_>

I kept wondering if I looked lost or confused or injured or something. o_o;;
Later I realized that this was just their way of asking, “How are you doing?”
And that’s just being polite. 🙂

So, for the sake of both my and your amusement, here’s a list of some of the interesting British terms and phrases that you might encounter if you ever visit the British Isles, along with “translations” that we speakers of Canadian English might be a bit more familiar with. 🙂

[Note: Short explanations are available on some of these. See footnotes.]

Are you a-right? = How are you doing?
plaster (noun) = Band-Aid
pants¹ = underwear
trousers = pants
quorn² = mushrooms
pudding = cake/dessert
coach³ = bus
mobile = cell phone
ASDA = Wal-Mart

________________________________
1. pants: Watch out for this one! I put on a skirt and said, “I’m not going to wear pants today.” I meant that I wouldn’t wear jeans, but it was taken as “I’m going commando.” Oops?
2. quorn (pronounced “korn”): Often used as a meat substitute, these just look like small mushrooms. They’re used in the same way as we’d use soy in Canada.
3. coach: This specifically refers to larger hired buses, such as school buses or Greyhound-ish buses. A public transport service is still called a “bus”.

[more will be added as I encounter/remember them]