Cat tails Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 This opened my eyes! Wait... No... Not yet done... The one about the differences between American and British is very funny too! That lady is hilarious! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 That's really funny Not least because those are all expressions I use fairly regularly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lavenders_Blue Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 Wow, Americans don't know what the dawn chorus is? Really?! That's a great video - I also enjoyed the insults one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 Awwwww I wanted her to say G'day mates! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted October 12, 2014 Author Share Posted October 12, 2014 Hadn't heard of half of the expressions I think, but at least could sort of guess. Only "the monkey" was rather baffling... Seriously? Cold? That's what you say when it's cold? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lavenders_Blue Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 I only heard of that phrase as "brass monkeys" which she explained, but I never heard of it just as "monkeys". Yes people really do say, "It's brass monkeys out there" on a really freezing cold day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted October 12, 2014 Author Share Posted October 12, 2014 And there was me thinking I had quite a good understanding of the English language! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lavenders_Blue Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 In fairness, English (proper British English, not the watered down American version ) is full of weird and wonderful colloquialisms that it would be unusual for the average non-Brit to understand. Heck, sometimes people from one part of Britain don't understand words and phrases used regionally in other parts of the country Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beantree Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 The phrase 'brass monkey weather' was explained to me once and it wasn't anything to do with the nautical origin in the clip. Whilst the explanation given does make a lot of sense though. The three brass monkeys were once a common mantlepiece ornament, cast in one piece, depicting "see no evil, speak no evil and hear no evil", but not necessarily in that order. I remember my grandmother had one. "Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey" now has a different interpretation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patsylabrador Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 I love these! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majorbloodnock Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 The phrase 'brass monkey weather' was explained to me once and it wasn't anything to do with the nautical origin in the clip. Whilst the explanation given does make a lot of sense though. The three brass monkeys were once a common mantlepiece ornament, cast in one piece, depicting "see no evil, speak no evil and hear no evil", but not necessarily in that order. I remember my grandmother had one. "Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey" now has a different interpretation. Well, whether or not the mantelpiece explanation has any truth in it, the nautical one is an urban myth. A brass ring is nowhere near enough to keep a pyramid of cannonballs in one place once the seas get rough, and that's when loose, heavy, uncontrolled metalwork in motion is at its most dangerous - something no captain with any sense would ever risk. Moreover, it's been proven that the amount of contraction a brass ring would go through in polar conditions is still nowhere near enough to dislodge a stack of cannonballs. A great story, but false. In fact, I like the mantelpiece ornament suggestion. What many people don't remember (or didn't know in the first place) is that there are supposed to be four wise monkeys; see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil and do no evil. Ornamental depictions of this cast the fourth wise monkey covering his groin, so the jump to the colloquialism becomes pretty straightforward at that point. **Edit** I've just looked at Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brass_monkey_(colloquialism)) and to pile irony onto all this, the earliest examples of colloquialisms involving brass monkeys all seem to be by American authors in American publications. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted October 13, 2014 Author Share Posted October 13, 2014 Wahahaha! Those Yanks are messing with your British minds! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickencam Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 We have four brass monkeys and I have never seen then anywhere else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majorbloodnock Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 We have four brass monkeys and I have never seen then anywhere else. Is one of them too cold? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted October 13, 2014 Author Share Posted October 13, 2014 We have four brass monkeys and I have never seen then anywhere else. Is one of them too cold? I think you need to be checking for dropping balls!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 Just a polite reminder that this is a family forum! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majorbloodnock Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 Thanks, Egluntyne. Back on topic, it wasn't until I regularly talked with European colleagues that I got a proper feel for just how colloquial English is. I find I have to examine every sentence as I'm saying it to see if it's likely to be understandable. Many of the examples I've found aren't even slang; just try, for instance, explaining to a non-native English speaker what you meant when you used the word "leeway". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted October 13, 2014 Author Share Posted October 13, 2014 Just a polite reminder that this is a family forum! note taken! Leeway... Can you use it in a sentence? Btw: a British colleague of mine once used the word moreish. I said: I can't stop eating these nuts! Apparently I had to say "moreish". Never heard of it before. And he couldn't tell me how to spell it either! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lavenders_Blue Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 Leeway... Can you use it in a sentence? CLICKY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted October 13, 2014 Author Share Posted October 13, 2014 I knew that! Sort of... I absolutely love Terry Pratchett and in one of his last books, he used a lot of unfamiliar words. Really interesting! Even my native speaking colleagues didn't know half of them! (And they teach English!) Don't give any definitions away! Just tell me (honestly! ) how many of these you know! Manumission Acerbic Bucolic Supplicant Tutelage Maquis Panache Ubiquitous Insalubrious Truculent Alacrity Mellifluous Anathema Egregious Entente cordiale Simulacrum Remuneration Ps: my absolute favorite is egregious! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 I use three of these quite frequently Two I've not heard of. The rest I know but would be cautious in using in case I err in their meaning I failed English. But I do like words like alacrity. That's one I remember by dad using, and I still hear his voice when I say it. Last week I ask an undergraduate not to 'write reams' and had to explain the term. He had had an American Education education I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 Fascinating! I recognise all of those although there's one that I'd have to look up the meaning of. I think there are seven there that I use, although not daily. And I feel obliged to point out that a couple of them are actually French, not English! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickencam Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 There were three that I had not come across before, but the rest are relatively standard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lavenders_Blue Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 Yes, some of those are actually French but have been adopted as English words. But then that's how English has always changed and evolved. I doubt there are many words in our language that are from Celtic rather than rooted in French, Anglo-Saxon, Latin etc. I love the word mellifluous! I learnt that fairly recently and think it's such a lovely word that I try to find all sorts of opportunities to use it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted October 14, 2014 Author Share Posted October 14, 2014 There were three that I had not come across before, but the rest are relatively standard. I beg to differ! Most of these, I had never come across before and I (almost) only read English books, I watch my BBC and have many native speaking colleagues (although some are American). I like a challenge though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
