Showing posts with label language. Show all posts
Showing posts with label language. Show all posts

Gassy or Fart? Bathroom or Toilet?

When I open my mouth to speak, it's obvious I wasn't born in Canada; same with my dh and my dad.  When the kids start talking they are Canadian through and through.  The only way you would know they were British is by some of the words they use.  However there are certain Canadian expressions I prefer to use though rather than the British versions; and one of them is "gas or gassy."  I personally find the word "FART" not a pleasant word.  No idea why, just don't like using that word

Being gassy sounds more ladylike than saying farting in my books.  Breaking wind isn't an expression used over here, pumping is I think more of a British word, I will say trumpeting now and then, but "gassy" is my all time favourite word.

However for me being gassy can also mean I will burp as well.  I am especially gassy after I have had a carbonated drink like Cola.  Carbonated drinks make me burp something rotten, so I rarely drink them.  Again it's not ladylike to be able to burp the full alphabet after drinking a can of pop, now is it!!

I also like to say I am going to the bathroom rather than going to the toilet.  I think if you say bathroom, it sorts of give's the whole situation an air of mystery as to what you are exactly going to do.  Whereas if you're going to the toilet, well you're using the toilet...

Finally one other Canadian custom we have embraced is taking your shoes off when you go into a house.  It always horrifies me now when people walk into a house with their dirty great shoes on and walk all over your clean carpet?  Now in our case it doesn't matter as we have wood floors which are generally freezing cold.  However any house we visit that has a carpet on the floor, we immediately take off our shoes, unless the place looks dirty..........

(Mental note to oneself, if I visit a house of someone who reads this blog and don't take my shoes off, they will think I think their house is dirty now, so must remember to take off my shoes!!)

Finally, something I find funny.  Dd works for an international company and often they have conference calls with people around the world.  For some reason whomever they deal with in Britain must have a stronger accent that all dd co-workers have trouble understanding.  Meanwhile dd is chit chatting away to him no problem, while the other's sit there with a puzzled expression!!  She translates as the meeting progresses!!

A man was driving along the highway, and saw a rabbit hoping across the middle of the road. He swerved to avoid hitting the rabbit, but unfortunately the rabbit jumped in front of the car and was hit. The driver, being a sensitive man as well as an animal lover, pulled over to the side of the road and got out to see what had become of the rabbit.



Much to his dismay, the rabbit was dead. The driver felt so awful be began to cry.


A woman driving down the highway saw the man crying on the side of the road and pulled over. She stepped out of her car and asked the man what was wrong.


"I feel terrible," he explained. "I accidentally hit this rabbit and killed it."


The woman told the man not to worry. She knew what to do. She went to her car trunk and pulled out a spray can. She walked over to the limp, dead rabbit, and sprayed the contents of the can onto the rabbit.


Miraculously, the rabbit came to life, jumped up, waved its paw at the two humans and hopped down the road. Fifty feet away the rabbit stopped, turned around, waved at the two again, hopped down the road another 50 feet, turned, waved, and hoped another 50 feet.


The man was astonished. He couldn't figure out what substance could be in the woman's spray can! He ran over to the woman and demanded, "What was your spray can? What did you spray onto that rabbit?"


The woman turned the can around so that the man could read the label. It said: "Hare Spray Restores Life to Dead Hare. Adds Permanent Wave."

I groaned at that last line!!

Did you remember to put your money in your Daily Savings Pot today?

Today's Money Saving Tip:

Give up expensive habits, like cigarettes, alcohol, and drugs. Those habits cause money to flow away from you with nothing in return. Call up your fortitude and work hard to kick the habits and you’ll find that money staying in your pocket instead of burning up and floating away.

I don't do any of those things, she says as she shines her halo!!

A dutiful post

There are some words that I’ve never quite got to grips with, in an American accent. 'Dennist' is one of them. I need to have my teeth looked after by a fully T-ed dentist. I can’t be doing with dennal issues. Dennist sounds far too much like Dennis the Menace. Then there’s the word 'and'. I’m sorry, but I just can’t love it when it’s pronounced 'ee-und'. Sorry. I’m not too good with words that
There are some words that I’ve never quite got to grips with, in an American accent. 'Dennist' is one of them. I need to have my teeth looked after by a fully T-ed dentist. I can’t be doing with dennal issues. Dennist sounds far too much like Dennis the Menace. Then there’s the word 'and'. I’m sorry, but I just can’t love it when it’s pronounced 'ee-und'. Sorry. I’m not too good with words that
There are some words that I’ve never quite got to grips with, in an American accent. 'Dennist' is one of them. I need to have my teeth looked after by a fully T-ed dentist. I can’t be doing with dennal issues. Dennist sounds far too much like Dennis the Menace. Then there’s the word 'and'. I’m sorry, but I just can’t love it when it’s pronounced 'ee-und'. Sorry. I’m not too good with words that

Obama and Santa

Did you all catch President Obama's speech on accepting the Nobel Peace Prize? I like the man. I'd love to invite him round for dinner, him and his good lady wife. They could bring the kids too. I expect he's too busy though.One of the exciting things in his speech was a very fine example of what I was talking about here. Don't bother to click. I'll remind you. I was talking about how in England
Did you all catch President Obama's speech on accepting the Nobel Peace Prize? I like the man. I'd love to invite him round for dinner, him and his good lady wife. They could bring the kids too. I expect he's too busy though.One of the exciting things in his speech was a very fine example of what I was talking about here. Don't bother to click. I'll remind you. I was talking about how in England
Did you all catch President Obama's speech on accepting the Nobel Peace Prize? I like the man. I'd love to invite him round for dinner, him and his good lady wife. They could bring the kids too. I expect he's too busy though.One of the exciting things in his speech was a very fine example of what I was talking about here. Don't bother to click. I'll remind you. I was talking about how in England

The real Magic Roundabout

Lynneguist posted about Sesame Street and other kids' TV shows this week and started me thinking. She commented that "From the Flower Pot Men to Clangers to the Teletubbies, there are many British children's television characters who don't speak in discernible language." Hmm - I'd not really thought of that as a cultural difference before, but I suppose perhaps it is. I'm sure American kids like Trixie's "Aggle flaggle" in the book Knuffle Bunny though*, and incomprehensible language does provide parents with the opportunity to discuss the philosophy of language with their children. Yeah, right! [sarcasm] Of course I used Teletubbies as an opportunity to introduce my kids to the philosophy of language! [/sarcasm]

One of the things about living other than where I grew up is not being able to use catch phrases from TV shows or share memories of the strange shows I grew up with. I remember Listen With Mother ("Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin!") on the radio in the afternoons, and Watch With Mother which was a time slot rather than a specific show on TV.

The Magic Roundabout
was on right before the 6 o'clock news. In our house (when I was little at least) as soon as it ended, it was time to go and get ready for bed.

This appears to be an entire episode, except where's Zebedee saying "Goodnight! Time for bed!" Was that not in every show after all? And what is with that awful music?


I can't imagine why as a kid I thought this was interesting. Looking through the videos on YouTube, I'm amazed how bad so many of the the kids' TV shows were! I remember bits and pieces of a few of them.

Can you name the shows that go with these memories?
  1. "Little weeeeed!"
  2. Spotty Dog (who walked in a really weird way).
  3. "Anything can happen in the next half hour!"
  4. "Hugh, Pugh, Barney, McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble, Grub!"
  5. "A house. With a door. One. Two. Three. Four."
  6. The soup dragon
  7. "Making good use of the things that we find, things that the everyday folks leave behind."
I think I've arranged them in roughly chronological order, though my memory may very well be faulty. 1 & 2 are the definitely the oldest - I think they debuted even before my time, in the 1950's. (Answers in a couple of days.)

*My favorite phrase from Mo Willems' Knuffle Bunny is not "aggle flaggle" but "going boneless" to describe a toddler who does not want to be picked up!
Lynneguist posted about Sesame Street and other kids' TV shows this week and started me thinking. She commented that "From the Flower Pot Men to Clangers to the Teletubbies, there are many British children's television characters who don't speak in discernible language." Hmm - I'd not really thought of that as a cultural difference before, but I suppose perhaps it is. I'm sure American kids like Trixie's "Aggle flaggle" in the book Knuffle Bunny though*, and incomprehensible language does provide parents with the opportunity to discuss the philosophy of language with their children. Yeah, right! [sarcasm] Of course I used Teletubbies as an opportunity to introduce my kids to the philosophy of language! [/sarcasm]

One of the things about living other than where I grew up is not being able to use catch phrases from TV shows or share memories of the strange shows I grew up with. I remember Listen With Mother ("Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin!") on the radio in the afternoons, and Watch With Mother which was a time slot rather than a specific show on TV.

The Magic Roundabout
was on right before the 6 o'clock news. In our house (when I was little at least) as soon as it ended, it was time to go and get ready for bed.

This appears to be an entire episode, except where's Zebedee saying "Goodnight! Time for bed!" Was that not in every show after all? And what is with that awful music?


I can't imagine why as a kid I thought this was interesting. Looking through the videos on YouTube, I'm amazed how bad so many of the the kids' TV shows were! I remember bits and pieces of a few of them.

Can you name the shows that go with these memories?
  1. "Little weeeeed!"
  2. Spotty Dog (who walked in a really weird way).
  3. "Anything can happen in the next half hour!"
  4. "Hugh, Pugh, Barney, McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble, Grub!"
  5. "A house. With a door. One. Two. Three. Four."
  6. The soup dragon
  7. "Making good use of the things that we find, things that the everyday folks leave behind."
I think I've arranged them in roughly chronological order, though my memory may very well be faulty. 1 & 2 are the definitely the oldest - I think they debuted even before my time, in the 1950's. (Answers in a couple of days.)

*My favorite phrase from Mo Willems' Knuffle Bunny is not "aggle flaggle" but "going boneless" to describe a toddler who does not want to be picked up!
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