True English

Gérard ! i read everything on that forum. I don't remember reading about musical notes in English but I can have a failing memory.

Something about Australia.

In Australia, when they don't know a name, they just say "Wheelbarrow".
Same thing when a name is difficult to pronounce.

Don't think it's colloquial English or you don't know Australia well.
When a name is difficult to pronounce, this "Wheelbarrow" is said at the mike, in public

For example, around me is a person named SZCZOT, how do you pronounce this (I know how the Poles say and how we say in France)?

Hi everyone,

I never had this in mind long enough till my connecting to Café polyglotte sur le Net...

A false cognate, not well known, which is common in English: do you know what a "patron" is in a pub, for example when you can read on a poster "Patrons only"?

http://www.eslcafe.com/slang/list.html

airhead: stupid person.
"Believe it or not, Dave can sometimes act like an airhead!"

amigo: friend (from Spanish).
"I met many amigos at Dave's ESL Cafe."

ammunition: toilet paper.
"Help! We're completely out of ammunition!"
And many more.....

Howdy,

Here's what my nephew posted 30 minutes ago on Facebook.




UoN Freshers 2015 | Welcome to Nottingham


After his siblings, Adam is preparing the uni year to come.
A "fresher" (used in UK) is a student in first year. Synonyms are newbie, rookie, freshman/freshwoman, sometimes greenhorn, beginner.

In the article, you can read about all of the events that ae going to be organized.

Here you can read about the Student's Union https://www.facebook.com/UofNSU

Hi everyone,

I learned something new tonight!

I have, it's the email part that isn't working.  Hang loose that needs
to be fixed

I'm intending to write articles for an American blog site and I needed to get the administrator to create a web space for me.

Things didn't work, I didn't receive the necessary password and I never received any email from their server.
After an exchange of a dozen emails, I suggested the admin to check if my email address had been correctly written...

The message above is what she told me today but I didn't understand!

What the hell did "Hang loose" meant?

The response is that I put the finger on the point and I needed to be patient before it's fixed.

~~ edit

That "to hang" is rather weird with all the meanings, all the expressions it is included in.

Hi everyone,

Another thing I learned!

Greenpeace International


We are blowing through our natural resources at a rate that would suggest they are never ending. But it doesn't have to be this way, we can do better! 

Such as in French with "épuisé/épuiser", English language uses the past participle exhausted to say someone is very tired and also the verb "exhaust" to say there's nothing left regarding money, energy, resources...

~~

In the caption of the picture above, they use the word "budget" usually dealing with accounting and money.

That reminds me of what Denis told me at our last roundtable (our polyglotte meeting):
We were speaking about the weather and Denis used the word "budget" where I expected something like "balance" to speak about the 2 sides of a comparison - what was affecting the weather in plus or minus (Denis is a specialist of weather and he told me "budget" was well the word they were using in international meetings for that kind of energy balance.

Howdy.

New Zealand is about to change its flag and abandon the mark of the Commonwealth.

Hi everyone,

I copy here something I wrote in another thread as I intend to write a bit more.

Hi Muriel,

MurielB a écrit:

my relationship status? books, coffee and sweatpants

What are sweatpants ?...

Well "sweatpants" are the bottom part of a "tracksuit" (Fr pantalon de survêtement), also named "trackyduckies" in Australian
In Australian, "ducks" means pants... ah there're weird words about clothes: as you know normally (I mean at least in the past) US pants are trousers while UK pants are undies. In modern language and especially in Australian it's now a mess and "pants" can mean trousers as well as undies, similar for knickers -this is due to the influence of American films- so that people understand with the context... or not.

Oodles of funny things regarding clothes and pants.

Hi everyone,

I guess French language uses more qualifiers than English.
I mean that there are more words in English than in French (do you agree?) and where French says "pantalon de survêt", English uses a specific(*) word: "sweatpants" (as well as lots of similar funny words).

English speaking people like puns, jokes and smiles in their language (rather Australians, New-Zealanders or Americans than Brits) and they make up oodles of funny new words.

In the domain of clothes for example:
- "Fr survêt" is the official "tracksuit" but it's too long for Australians and they say "trackies" and as they don't like this word much (they love rhymes) they rather say "trackyduckies" (or "trackyduck") at least for the pants
- Americans and Australians like to use a descriptive words; they find the "trackyducks" too serious, that's why they also have "sweatpants".

"Ducks" means pants - initially it was a specific material used for casual pants (Fr pantalon de coutil - une étoffe qui est une sorte de coton épais, utilisée par exemple pour les matelas et sommiers).

(*)
> English uses a specific(*) word: "sweatpants"
I wrote that "sweatpants" was a specific word - it's open to debate as English grammar permits to merge "sweat" & "pants". Of course it is shorter and simpler than the French "pantalon de survêt". I wrote "specific word" because most English dictionaries will have a specific entry for "sweatpants" while good/thick French dictionaries will -maybe- display it as an example attached to "pantalon" or "survêtement"... I'm not that sure that we'll have the example in French dictionaries.

Hi everyone,

I wrote hereabove that things were complicated for clothes...

First of all, please note that when there are 2 parts in clothes for each leg or for each arm, the English word needs the plural (in French, in the past we said "des pantalons, des jeans" or "une paire de pantalons, une paire de jeans" but nowadays, we often say "un pantalon, un jean". Okay this said, don't forget the plural in English

There are differences between American and British English as for example with the word "pants" - usual trousers in American En but undies in British En.
There are differences between French and English that mess up things!!  

Another example is "knickers".
- a dictionary will teach you that knickers are undies (underpants or panties as the Am say)  (the Collins for BE)
- knickers is a short for "knickerbockers" (Wiktionary)
- the French Wiktionary says differently: Fr Wiktionary

(Habillement) Sorte de bermuda descendant en-dessous du genou et s’attachant par une boutonnière

~~

Now,
Things get complicated as long ago, knickerbockers were going down to the knees LOL as you'll read in the article below.
In addition, knickerbockers are wide -> Wikipedia

A funny word: "Plus-Fours".

Plus-fours are breeches or trousers that extend 4 inches (10 cm) below the knee (and thus four inches longer than traditional knickerbockers, hence the name). As they allow more freedom of movement than knickerbockers, they have been traditionally associated with sporting attire from the 1860s and onward, and are also particularly associated with golf.

(Wikipedia)
Isn't the word funny?

Tintin, the fictional comic book character from The Adventures of Tintin, famously wears them.

More:

Less known are plus-twos, plus-sixes, and plus-eights, of similar definitions.

A funny word: "Plus-Fours".

I am pleased to know that word thanks

Hi Muriel,

Plus-fours is the usual name for "pantalon de golf", it's not a funny made up word.

Hi everyone,

I wrote that English words were ambiguous (several different meanings).
It's similar in French.

The French "culotte" can mean undies (GB pants, GB knickers, US panties) but also some clothes down to the knees such as breeches, trousers or US pants.
The French expression "en culotte courte" shows that "culotte" is used for long clothes: "Fr pantalons".

Fr "culotte bouffante" = En bloomers
Fr "culotte de cheval" = En riding breeches.

A few words about "breeches".
I find this word interesting as it makes me think of French words.
In the language used by the Gauls, pants were called "braies"... close to breeches, no?
In Provence, in the south of France, a common casual word for pants is "brailles", close to breeches, no? Do you know the French past participle "débraillé"? in Provence, we use the verb "s'embrailler" meaning "s'habiller" or more specifically "passer des pantalons", "rentrer la chemise dans les pantalons" or "mettre de l'ordre dans ses vêtements".
As far as I remember, in Provence, the shorts used in soccer are named "la braillette" (or "brayette", nor sure about spelling).

Hi everyone,

Given the low number in France, speaking about girls with red hair is often considered discrimination (of course we're not obliged to say nasty words)...
In France still, I guess that in the Middle Ages (and later), these persons were supposed to have a link with the devil...

In other countries, these persons are far more common.
- Russia, Prussia, Byelorussia takes their names from red haired peoples
- very numerous in Ireland, and even England, New Zealand, etc.

I never had to speak about them in English; I read the word a couple days ago, I checked and I can confirm the word is "redhead" (the adjective is "red-haired") and there's nothing nasty in this word.

Hi everyone,

I heard today something funny.
In the stands of the Rugby stadium, we could see players who were not on the official document displaying the names on the field: they were wearing suits and ties... they didn't play the match of the day but they do belong to the team and will probably play other matches.
I heard the words of the sports commentator:
- the players on the field were the "test players"
- the players in the stands were the "toast players" (they were invited for celebrations)

NB: "test" doesn't have the same meaning in English and in French: in En, it's serious and a "test-match" is very important and not a match in which players have fun.

Hi everyone,

English speaking people are weird (and proud to be so ):
- they hate long words and shorten them such as bra instead of brassière (including the grave accent), app instead of application, ad or advert instead of advertisement
- to provide an informal tone, they add -y or -ie as a suffix such as brolly instead of umbrella
- however they love to lengthen their expressions with rhymes such as lucky duck, Okey-doke(y).

Do you know what this is?

A friend of mine was especially scanned at the customs of Heathrow.

... coming from the same country.

A few words about Kiwis...

My niece is a Kiwi.
New Zealand is a tiny country re its population.
Their team for the Rugby World Cup is favorite.
Look how humble Kiwis are, or at least my niece.

Alison
Too many nerves - I've cooked a salmon mornay, lasagna, chili con carne, and spag-bol. Still four hours to go till kick-off! Time to clean a few bathrooms!
Liam No need to worry. It's going to be a walkover I reckon
Alison I'm mildly confident but I would be less nervous if I was playing Hope you're wearing black?
Liam You're going to hate me so much for this but I may be wearing a kangaroo onesie tonight...
Alison I have no words
Karen We'll be cheering with you Alison!
Alison Feeling the love heart
Karen All Blacks to win for sure!
Samantha where you watching it?
Alison At the Club House - come on over if you're wearing black!
India Yum love a Mélone lasagne
Sally We've got it in the bag  I hope! Go The All Blacks!
Matthew Mum! Relax! The game hasn't even started and you're already stressing out! (Maybe crack open the champagne a little early would take the edge off...).
Alison I like your thinking Matt but will keep the champers for full-time. May start with a Steinlarger 
Nik I'm coming to your place! I'm wide awake with nerves and excitement to 
Jane I have a house that needs attention !!!
Jane I am watching rugby !!! A FIRST !! Steep learning curve. No idea what's going on! HUGE people

Hi everyone,

What to add.

My niece is used to competitions as she was a tennis champion (for UNited Arab Emirates during more than a decade), now a golf champion for the UAE.

Last year she went to NZ for her mother's birthday. She posted a photo of herself with a man... I frowned and was a bit shocked wondering who this guy might be.
The response is that she met an All Black player on teh street.

I confirm that NZ is a very nice country with very nice people: All Black players are easy to meet, they visit schools to speak about their sport, etc.

Howdy.

Something that must not be forgotten: the fair play - thinking of rugby, England, New Zealand, Australia, etc. never forget to have kind words, and kind gestures, and respect for the opponents that lost.

Here're the words my niece Alison posted after the ABs' victory:

This team! So incredibly proud of you all. What an amazing group of men. I'm going to be a lot more relaxed watching the replay! Fair play to the Wallabies - they put up a good fight.

Ali had to stay awake all night to watch... and drink Champers

Hi everyone,

If we ask a French person what English words are for our "sous, dessous, en-dessous, ci-dessous", chances are that the responses will be "under", maybe "hereunder" and that's all.

I would just like to speak about the very common "beneath" and "underneath": I hear them very often (more than "under") from native mouths but quite never from French mouths.
NB: beneath can be a preposition or an adverB
Underneath can be an adjective, a preposition, an adverb, or a noun.