Nicola wanted to know the meaning of an Americanism and I am sure she and Terry sometimes mention words others might be curious about (and the other way), so maybe this might be a fun or useful thread.

To start with, I was wondering earlier if any Yanks were curious about what it was she cuts the slugs in half with - secateurs. Was anyone wondering what she was on about?

I've actually seen those for sale in one of the unique American catalogues I get so I have an idea they are like scissors/Felco pruners.

Yeh. I learned that word watching Martha Stewart.

I've also figured out that scones are biscuits and biscuits are cookies, and that there is no such "food" word as "cookie" in the Queen's English.

The one that really got our friends is that we say torch for what you call a flashlight.

Yep, a torch here would have live flames shooting out!

A lot of folks tell me they would enjoy watching more Brit productions if they could understand the dialogue better. It's more the accent than the words that make films difficult for them. But I have seen Brit movies shown over here with subtitles - really!

One useful Brit word that we don't seem to have a match for is 'punters'. I know it vaguely means 'customer', but more specific and less respectful than that. How would you define it Nicola? Also, I have a theory as to its origins, but do you know where it came from?

In Dick Francis' novels he frequently refers to people who place bets on horses as "punters," and I've wondered where that came from.

An expression that sounds strange to me is an "underdone steak," where we'd say a "rare steak." The first time I read that phrase I thought the author was implying that the chef had made a mistake.

I was immersed in British dialogue the other day while ironing. Had a huge bunch of the stuff, and put on "Notting Hill" to watch while I labored. The movie ended before the laundry did, so switched to BBC America and watched 3 episodes of Changing Rooms. That was actually pretty funny. Most of the people hated the way their rooms had been redecorated, and one woman even started crying.

That must of been Sunday when BBCAm did a Changing Rooms marathon. Alex and I recorded a lot of it for eldest girl Callie and we challenged each other as to who could stay up till the end at 4am. Be both conceded at 3:30am -wimps.

Hope you've seen more than just those 3 Caro, as most like the re-dos. But I have never seen anyone *not* be happy with their Ground Force re-do. Has anyone else? Course they are probably too much in a state of shock at the whole thing to realize if they like it or not until the next day, when the cameras are gone!

Ground Force is good too. I never know when anything is on. Since we got Direct TV we've never gotten a guide, so its always a suprise. I've often wondered how long it takes the weeds to come up in those fast new beds though.

I watched a lot of the changing rooms Monday and Handy Andy!!! It was really good when Ground Force swapped out with Changing Rooms...One went inside and the other outside.....It was funny....It was my first time to see the redhead!!

I'm glad Terry's away or we'd have to start a Charlie Dimble thread!

Punt has a few different meanings, I’m sure that you know it is a flat bottomed boat with square ends. It also means to bet on a horse. So a punter can be one who punts on the river or someone who backs horses. Therefore the use of the word punter to describe a customer simply means to indicate that he/she is someone who would probably be easy to sell to as they may not take much thought over the purchase and be willing to take a gamble on something.
Changing Rooms has started a new series this week. There have been people unhappy with the work done. One set of neighbours famously fell out and one of the pair moved house. One lady hated her dining room so much she burst into tears of despair and another man described the lounge that had been done out in animal prints as looking like a brothel – how did he know what one looks like I wonder?
Ground Force is good fun, it makes great television but I am often peeking at the screen through my fingers to see the absolute dogs dinner (do you have that expression?) that they make of some of the gardens.
Did any of you guys see The Full Monty? If you did how on earth did you manage to understand the accents and dialect?

My husband and I saw The Full Monty. We didn't have trouble understanding the dialog, as I recall. There were unfamiliar expressions, but the context of the action and the actors' facial expressions and intonation helped fill in any blank spots.

Here's another amusing expression I read in a detective story set in London, a "panda car." This must be a black & white police car.

Hey Maggie, you leave Charlies Dimmocks alone.

Nicola, I had no trouble with the accent on The Full Monty, did get a bit nervous about the end scene though....

Who is that pompous liberal maroon (as Bugs Bunny says) host on Hardtalk? We were watching today, and I felt like gettin' out the shotgun!

Larry and I saw that too Caro. He is not the reg host of Hard Talk, but we were so impressed with the interview-ee. Shame he is too intelligent and honest to have a chance at the white house. Let's talk more about the show at next lunching.

There is so much I want to reply to all those notes above... so I'll be back when I'm more awake, but just can't bear not to mention that I wish Charlie would strap up her dimbles and contain her dimmocks, Terry. Gee, even lovely Lawrence tied his lovely locks back to muck around in the garden in the duo-show David mentioned!

wus - baby; whiney baby; lacking in courage

I rather doubted that term was used in the UK so thought I'd post the definition.

We are starting to use that term, Carolyn, but thanks for the explanation.

Aghhhh no.... can't be...no discussions have new messages.....how will I sleep?
Interesting to note that you don't use the term secateurs over there in the States. I am now wondering if you use dibber, trowel, rake and hoe?

Hi, Terry, What is a dibber? Garden books refer to secateurs, but in our area we call then pruning shears or pruners. We do use trowels, rakes, and hoes. Pleasant dreams.

A dibber, Susan, is a pointed object, usually wood used to form drills for planting seeds and also pockets for planting out seedling. I have no idea why it's called a dibber, does anyone else know?

You know, Terry, we don't really use dibbers much over here, but I've always thought they were excellent ideas. I've used sticks from time to time to poke holes in the ground for large seeds, so suppose I've used "natural" dibbers. Are they also used for bulb planting?

No we have a bulb planter for that Carolyn, sort of like a round pastry cutter fixed to a handle, takes out a round section of ground, you drop in the bulb and replace the circular piece of soil, except my ground has too many stones to be able to use one. I tend to use a trowell for everything.

We have bulb planters too. I just don't use one. Like you, I mostly use the trowell. It was lovely today. Temps ranged from 63 to 89; clear skies; light wind. I worked outside from about daylight until 1:30 or so. Quite enjoyable for a change.

Looking out my window, my donkeys are all grazing on a distant hill. The geese, ducks, turkeys and piggies are all at their respective fences looking towards the house. Funny how they know when its getting close to feeding time. In fact, the cows are also making their way across the dam towards the house as well.

We almost lost a turkey or chicken today. A hawk swooped down (I heard the swooshing noise from the wings), and apparently a guinea freaked out and started squawking, startling the hawk and causing the rest of the poultry to scatter and let out a ruckus. Then, a mockingbird went after the hawk, and chased it away. In case you didn't know this, the little mockingbirds routinely chase, dive bomb, and generally torment the much larger predatory birds like hawks, owls, and buzzards.

Another Sparrow Hawk was hurling itself at the aviary wire trying gto get my canaries. I think it thought it had stumbled on the bird version of McDonalds. The birds were safe as the aviary is double wired, but they certainly were frightened.
You paint a good picture Carolyn. Could you explain dam? I seem to think it is used to describe something other than a barrier holding back water.
See I got it back onto Anglo-American, that should keep Maggie happy J

You've got it right, Terry. We have a lake, and there is a dam at one end. Its quite large. We drive trucks, tractors, combines over the top of it to get from one side of the lake to the other, and the cows normally spend the day on the opposite side, and cross the dam at feeding time.

So glad you got us back on the tread.

I bet the Sparrow Hawk was very disappointed.

Not as disappointed as me Carolyn, I never have the camera with me when these things happen.

Terry, Nicola or anyone out there, do you know how many 'Ground Force' seasons or series have been made? I think we got only two over here - maybe 3 and it was hard to tell where they started and stopped. I sure am hoping there are more and that we will get them eventually. Even when the designs aren't so great,, its great fun to watch them work and play together.

There are at least three, Maggie, and it's possible that we are now watching the forth, but same here, it's hard to tell when one finishes and another starts.
I too like watching em play, and Alan and Tommy are OK as well. J

I should have of expected that ;-) Anyway, recently saw what must have been one from the first series. Alan's hair was longer, Jiggle's was tied back and she was for once, hiked-up otherwise and they didn't joke around as much. So it was neat to see how the ambiance has just evolved from their own personalities (as opposed to scripted and contrived), which is what makes it so good. Yes?

You would have been disappointed if I hadn't responded...Alan and Tommy have a big arguement in tonights episode...all good for upping the viewing figures. Does hiked up mean fitted with a bra? My goodness where is this leading....and all in the name of gardening.

Yep, she was actually wearing a boulder holder for a change. Just realized I'm starting to sound like those catty ol village ladies who would criticize young girls for wearing too much makeup by saying "their eyes looked like two cigarette burns in a sheet". :-0

I re-opened this to translate Ter's attempt at a wordplay on Susan's 'ladder' post,, which, sorry Terry, it doesn't work here cause a 'ladder in yer stockings' is called a 'run in yer hose' over here. What DO you get up to late at night?!

Oh, and I noticed Charlie has her own army nowadays.

I must admit that back in October, when you guys were going on about Charlie, I had never noticed anything unusual about her. Until I recently saw a couple of episodes of Charlie's Army, that is. I couldn't believe that T&A were always going in opposite directions, even when she was standing still!

That girl can get T & T going in opposite directions Carolyn.
Thanks for translating for me Maggie, knew I could count on you.

I might as well add that over there, pantyhose are called 'tights', so as to cover the entire category! Now let's see, tights over here refer to ballet-like leg wear, were ballet tights are called leotards there, then leotards here mean the swimsuit-like torso bit over here.

And to continue with the women's clothing dept (and Charlie's jiggles),,, Now I feel bad about being so catty about it all now! I shouldn't have criticized her for that - cause no gal can bear to wear those torture traps either - esp those who work as hard as she. I guess that public TV seems to be one of the places we expect... wellll, what was it that Oprah W said .. "If you don't dress up to be on TV , what DO you dress up for?" In light of my reconsidered opinion, ;-) I guess my answer to that would be - 'If you garden hard, you gotta dress hardy!' I can't stand strappy restraints either - come on you other Gardengals, time to fess up - don't we all belong to the Charlie no-bra army when the tough gets going!?!

The mind boggles

Every chance I get, the holster is not worn! Especially in my own garden! My property, my jiggling...too bad it's jiggling in other places too!

You two - I've been loling all day about those posts!!!