Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Britain (and thus the adjective British) refers geographically to the whole of the island on which England, Wales, and Scotland lie. By extension, when the United Kingdom held onto the northern part of Ireland, they too were subjects of the British Empire. (It was a British empire, where the English were the dominant partners of the United ...
According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, it comes from "fag", meaning a loose piece of cloth:. fag (n.1) Look up fag at Dictionary.com British slang for "cigarette" (originally, especially, the butt of a smoked cigarette), 1888, probably from fag "loose piece, last remnant of cloth" (late 14c., as in fag-end "extreme end, loose piece," 1610s), which perhaps is related to fag (v.), which ...
how about 'Standard-bearer'? A standard-bearer is a person (soldier or civilian) who bears an emblem called an ensign or standard, i.e. either a type of flag or an inflexible but mobile image, which is used (and often honoured) as a formal, visual symbol of a state, prince, military unit, etc. ()
One more colorful slang term I gleaned from the British movie I recently watched is slag. In the movie, it was used in curses like, "Fuck-ing dogs! Slags." "Right slag, that one." Now I know via dictionaries that slag means "a loose, promiscuous woman." But there are multiple slang terms for such a woman in American English that have varying ...
So, it is not exactly BE versus AE (though the division is broadly accurate). – Daniel Harbour. Sep 4, 2012 at 15:11. That isn't even slightly related, because BE came first. British spelling comes from wherever it came from, and 's'/'z' accordingly; American spelling changes many of those to the more phonetic 'z'. – OJFord.
Flat is used in British English, and apartment is used in North American English. The exact meaning of the word apartment depends on where you live. In large parts of Canada and in or near New York City, it is used for a residence in a multi-unit building; this meaning is the one given by OALD, and is a synonym of the British word flat.
The usage of the “F”word as well as other swear words appears to be exaggerated and not historically correct, but effective from a fictional point of view as noted in the following extract by American lexical semantician and author Geoffrey Nunberg:
And whatever the original was, it is no longer contemporary. Both American and British English have been deviating from their common ancestor — in different directions but by the same degree. And in many respects, contemporary American English is in fact much closer to the original than contemporary British English. –
In British use the jack has been since the 17th c. (except under the Commonwealth) a small sized ‘Union Flag’ of the period (Union Jack), which has also been, since 1707, inserted in the upper canton of the ensign; hence, the name ‘union jack’ is often improperly applied to the union flag itself, when this is not carried or used as a jack.
Best of my knowledge, the "wot wot" verbal tic is specifically British, Georgian and definitely an upper-class marker. Indeed, one of the most famous adept of this "wot wot" verbal tic, was George III (the one of the American Independence), as seen in the film "The Madness of King George" (recommended).