tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post3840371773623957322..comments2024-03-16T00:21:43.240+00:00Comments on Separated by a Common Language: snogginglynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comBlogger55125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-7284659559123693092023-07-12T23:41:38.263+01:002023-07-12T23:41:38.263+01:00We Americans get the fact that wanker is graphic. ...We Americans get the fact that wanker is graphic. We use it interchangeably with dick, as in he is such a dick that he made his girlfriend pay for her own cab home. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-86436389996747285282020-08-17T17:12:49.963+01:002020-08-17T17:12:49.963+01:00BrE (Scot, 60+) re pull, pulling. More years ago t...BrE (Scot, 60+) re pull, pulling. More years ago than I like to admit to, we would talk about getting off with someone, or in central and south Scotland, “gettin’ a lumber”.Shy-replyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01891566073375322808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-85106676108458516532016-07-23T08:31:29.474+01:002016-07-23T08:31:29.474+01:00I love you almost more than I can expressI love you almost more than I can expressWhat hohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11510464053711695168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-91031152842102698372013-03-07T11:17:26.632+00:002013-03-07T11:17:26.632+00:00There seems to be a strange disconnect on US TV fo...There seems to be a strange disconnect on US TV for some words I think were picked up from the Brits.<br /><br />I watch NCIS a lot, and I'm frequently amused that while they never come close to dropping f bombs, and I've only ever seen allusions to use of shit (eg a character saids, you piece of... and the scene cuts), they use bastard, bitch and bugger with impunity, and have even used wanker. It's very strange to me what is and is not considered OK, especially regarding bugger. I'd have thought US TV shows would run screaming from a word that stems from anal sex/bestiality.twenty six lettershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12850570191610178146noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-56928687648286901112011-04-15T21:36:10.787+01:002011-04-15T21:36:10.787+01:00OED's definition of snogging is frankly lazy a...<i>OED</i>'s definition of <i>snogging</i> is frankly lazy and useless: "light, amorous play, esp. kissing and cuddling". Well maybe fifty years ago or more but certainly not today. It means full-on sexual kissing. If you're writing a historical dictionary you might as well make some attempt to show how meanings have changed overtime, rather than just writing a definition so broad as to cover everything and tell us almost nothing.Harry Campbellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01675794936870568336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-88736693810670158672011-04-15T21:29:10.662+01:002011-04-15T21:29:10.662+01:00No. I could give my child a smooch. I couldn't...No. I could give my child a smooch. I couldn't give her a snog.lynneguisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-66641007051218696442011-04-15T21:25:17.216+01:002011-04-15T21:25:17.216+01:00I'm surprised no-one seems to have mentioned &...I'm surprised no-one seems to have mentioned "smooch" as a possible translation of "snog", one which also works as a noun unlike "make out". Wouldn't that work pretty well?Harry Campbellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01675794936870568336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-84069754882645964312010-07-02T11:56:28.827+01:002010-07-02T11:56:28.827+01:00Moving back to snogging and making out: 'snogg...Moving back to snogging and making out: 'snogging' a very specific term only used for prolonged and intense kissing (similar: 'French kissing') vs 'making out', a much looser term which might mean almost anything according to context. It's the specificity which gives the bite when a word is misused.crossratnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-26806639581166860162010-06-04T20:21:38.932+01:002010-06-04T20:21:38.932+01:00Well, I amazed my then husband-to-be - English - ...Well, I amazed my then husband-to-be - English - when I referred to my planned evening of babysitting a friend's children as "shagging rug-rats". He explained to me that in his idiom "shagging" was something rude Australians were often accused of doing to sheep, in jocular speech. The imagery seemed to be quite similar - walking very closely behind the individual being shagged...<br />This will have been the Pacific Northwest about thirty years ago.Cataneahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07721005764933680587noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-70814888928262112352010-04-27T11:29:57.608+01:002010-04-27T11:29:57.608+01:00I have recently seen two AmE versions of the name ...I have recently seen two AmE versions of the name of a silly game:<br />kiss-marry-kill or fuck-marry-kill. It appears that there is a BrE version: snog-marry-kill. I have not seen make out-marry-kill.<br /><br />There's also this version: http://marryboffkill.blogspot.com/Marc Naimarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01620977046545564744noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-4351488530498761982010-04-27T04:40:18.517+01:002010-04-27T04:40:18.517+01:00Oh! the horrors of using WordNet as a dictionary. ...Oh! the horrors of using WordNet as a dictionary. When in college I used it for building some NLP engine, and it was alright because I used aggregation.<br /><br />My most awful example is of the word "awful" to which awed, awe-inspiring, awesome are mentioned as synonyms (full of awe).Cine Cynichttp://www.cinecynic.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-11670423933478147052010-04-26T14:29:01.238+01:002010-04-26T14:29:01.238+01:00Amanda - Of course we know what you're thinkin...Amanda - Of course we know what you're thinking. That happens as words change meanings. Most of us also know men nicknamed Dick, though Rich is becoming the more common short form. I know several women named Gay who had been given that name before it's currently more common use became widespread. However, while I know what you're sniggering about, it isn't for me the first thing that springs to mind.PWnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-22190211553387197902010-04-24T12:20:50.537+01:002010-04-24T12:20:50.537+01:00He he Nigel! That's great! Every time I encou...He he Nigel! That's great! Every time I encounter some poor, unfortunate American guy called 'Randy', I snigger. I wonder if they have any idea what the rest of the English-speaking world is laughing about.Amandahttp://desertbookchick.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-31364281177355494702010-04-18T08:26:12.774+01:002010-04-18T08:26:12.774+01:00This comment has been removed by the author.Juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14376545097377854998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-20440070056888090522010-04-16T17:34:48.103+01:002010-04-16T17:34:48.103+01:00re: "pull" -- my favo(u)rite sign in the...re: "pull" -- my favo(u)rite sign in the US is in the gift shop at the Lincoln Memorial in DC: "No pulling on the shelves."<br /><br />Which as a native Br northerner, I thought was either (a) the result of a bad previous experience; (b) gravitationally improbable; or (c) both.Nigelhttp://nigelteacher.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-77348209941040496752010-04-15T14:10:14.606+01:002010-04-15T14:10:14.606+01:00Charles H - if you told us that you and your frien...Charles H - if you told us that you and your friend Randy were lurking in the outfield, hoping to shag some fly balls, a listening Brit would be presented with a most astonishing image!biochemistnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-31617251513358666262010-04-15T05:22:21.338+01:002010-04-15T05:22:21.338+01:00Regarding shagging balls, it is also commonly used...Regarding shagging balls, it is also commonly used in baseball. When batting practice is going on, you need people in the outfield to shag flies. And given the BrE use of shag, that sentence is suddenly very funny to me...Charles Hnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-20294673541516517032010-04-15T02:35:31.272+01:002010-04-15T02:35:31.272+01:00Reason #38 why I love the Internet: I, a 22-year-o...Reason #38 why I love the Internet: I, a 22-year-old Midwesterner, pick up BrE (and possibly SAE or AuE) without even trying. "Pulling" is probably my most recent acquisition, owing to the sitcom of that name--shame it was canceled! Of course, sites like this fill in the gaps when casual contact doesn't suffice.<br />I wonder if we young'uns are more apt to pick up and reuse words and expressions from "non-native" Englishes, given the importance of keeping up with Internet-grown neologisms. Almost certainly, our vocabularies are becoming more permeable.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14466083112618812798noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-67710351105133137712010-04-14T19:42:02.011+01:002010-04-14T19:42:02.011+01:00Not that I am in any way an expert on this...but I...Not that I am in any way an expert on this...but I know that I have heard a young person use the word Snog fairly recently...<br />About a year ago, "How do you solve a problem like Maria?" finally aired over here on BBC America, and on one episode John Barrowman basically tricked all of the Marias into kissing him...I still remember this because we laughed at how she said it...and one of the girls, the youngest at the time (Siobhan I think...and I am probably butchering that spelling) said "I just snogged John Barrowman"<br /><br />Of course this is probably not new or interesting news to anyone in the UK...<br /><br />(And as an aside, I am fairly certain this particular trick would not have made it into a US version...since too many people would consider that he "forced" himself on them...)billnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-29883634529497802082010-04-13T23:25:30.712+01:002010-04-13T23:25:30.712+01:00I was expressing alarm, rather than disgust.I was expressing alarm, rather than disgust.lynneguisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-28770983857153110902010-04-13T23:11:19.248+01:002010-04-13T23:11:19.248+01:00I was struck by the use of "eek". I woul...I was struck by the use of "eek". I would have expected "ick" or "ew" (the latter has no agreed spelling yet AFAIK). To me "eek" is a squeak of mild cartoonish terror ("eek! there's a live mouse in the corner!") rather than of disgust ("eew! there's a dead mouse in the soup!").mollymoolynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-28443714579390104272010-04-13T19:45:15.759+01:002010-04-13T19:45:15.759+01:00@James: I don't want to get into this in the c...@James: I don't want to get into this in the comments here, really, but 'chuffed' also has a negative meaning, which has been largely overshadowed by the positive meaning (Oxford-published dictionaries probably cover this--the OED does). Perhaps this'll be the next blog post. So--please, let's not get into it here!lynneguisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-66758777508170748422010-04-13T19:38:34.687+01:002010-04-13T19:38:34.687+01:00My mother (as BrE as they come; grew up in Cheshir...My mother (as BrE as they come; grew up in Cheshire, now in Norfolk) uses 'snog' as a term for an affectionate cuddle or time of non-sexual physical closeness, as in 'the cat and I had a lovely snog'. I've found this a bit odd for most of my life. I wonder if anybody else has come across this usage?Dothttp://kenanddot.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-51383091096649907652010-04-13T00:58:07.001+01:002010-04-13T00:58:07.001+01:00@James don't worry, "snog" is still ...@James don't worry, "snog" is still in plenty of use, at least round my neck of the woods! I'm twenty and I use it and I'm pretty sure I've heard my ten-year-old cousin say it too.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-50445493223875022292010-04-12T19:14:58.355+01:002010-04-12T19:14:58.355+01:00(Brit living in the US)
I now realise that the qu...(Brit living in the US)<br /><br />I now realise that the quest to "Shag Dad's Balls" in a Tony Hawk game was not intended to be rude. I guess you live and learn.<br /><br />"Chuffed" seems to be a word that a lot of my American friends get confused with. Chuffed means to A) Pass Gas or B) be very pleased. But for some reason they take it as being a negative and then misuse it until I hear them do so. No idea why, but it's happened a few times.<br /><br />Hearing that "Snog" is a middle-aged word makes me feel extremely old - my Brother was using it in his teens, and he's only just turned 30 :/<br /><br />Also, why can't I just edit my crucial speelong mistook? Curse you Blogger!HarlequiNQBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14628673686836043178noreply@blogger.com