Cultural Differences And Idiom

Cultural Differences and idiom - a sort of journal entry from June last year.

While driving back from Kroger, my boss said that there were hardly any sidewalks in the 'hood where I live. In England it's very rare not to have a pavement (or sidewalk).

Idiom: he uses this expression "let me give you some cool" when he means help me out by showing me himself how to do something.

I had never come across the expression "call you out" before tonight either.

Some more idioms:

American

"I have to call you out on what you said"

English

"Why are you saying that? Justify yourself."

American

"We like to hang out"

English

"We enjoy each other's company"

American

"It's a mighty fine day"

English

"The sun is shining"

**

The English will always state the obvious. For example, they will say "it's raining" when it is raining and both of them can see it's raining. The English tend to state the obvious as a conversation gambit. In restaurants or in stores, Americans will usually refer to a woman as ma'am and a man as sir, whereas the English rarely use honorifics like that. They may say "Give us a cup of tea, love" to a woman, and "Thanks mate for helping me" to men for example. The class distinction can also be a factor, if the person they are talking to is considered their peer or below them they will talk familiarly to them, if the person addressed is considered above them in social ranking, they will use polite forms. If the man is clearly high above them they would automatically use the term :"sir" whereas Americans use this term regardless of a person's social standing. I think this is because the English, particularly older generations, are more class conscious.

I found a link to a whole list of American idioms and their meanings here:

http://www.paulnoll.com/China/Teach/English-idioms-01.html

there are twenty four pages of idioms, a lot of which have crossed the Atlantic and made it into the English language.

I used to work for an American and I found that they tended to use long words (or a more correct word) in place of a simpler equivalent. They also used idiom more often than I did. A favorite expression they used was "we're on the tiger's back, we can't get off" to mean "we are committed to our decision now and can't back out". Another key difference is that English people will use a series of somewhat annoying catch phrases all the time, even without thinking:

"You have to appreciate that" -- "My view on this is"

"In the fullness of time" -- "Eventually"

"The thing is" -- "Consider this"

"The weird thing is" -- "Consider this point specifically"

"All being well" -- "Provided nothing screws up"

The English are renowned for understatement as well. For instance it is pissing down with rain, a force nine gale is blowing outside, they say "It's a bit wet and windy outside, I'd take your umbrella"; or, the current temperature is below freezing point, there is three feet of snow outside and they say "it's a bit chilly out, you'll need your scarf" and the best one, the house looks like it has been expertly trashed by around a dozen people : "it's bit messy in here".

The English are not known for their assertiveness either, they will use the words "maybe", "perhaps", "I think that", "a bit " or even "I guess" which is American idiom but has crossed the Atlantic. For instance: "I think she is quite beautiful" when referring to someone who is absolutely stunningly attractive, or "it's a bit smelly in here" when they enter a room that hasn't been lived in in three years. "A spot of lunch" -- "a three or four course meal taken between 12.30 and 2.30". "Tea" instead of "dinner". Or "dinnertime" to mean "lunchtime".

Time periods are expressed differently: English people would use "a fortnight" when they mean "two weeks", or when stating the time: "It's twenty past four" instead of "it's twenty after four" or even "4.20"

Lastly, non-verbal expressions such as "well", "er", are used to allow time for the speaker to think about what to say next; one expression I have noticed in use a lot is "uhuh" which is not even vocalised but almost a sound, English people would say "mm-mm" or use words like "excellent", "splendid", or "OK".