9/8/08

Brit' Word of the Day....

Today's BWOTD was suggested by the hubster after I used it:

"It looks like someone had a shunt here, look at that glass "

'Shunt' = Fender Bender

This also leads me into another difference to do with car incidents. In the USA you say that somebody had a 'wreck', but in the UK we say they had an 'accident'. When I got here I soon learned to change to 'wreck' or nobody had a clue what I was on about!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

If people didn't have a clue what you were talking about when you said "accident", that makes me more concerned that the people who you said it to quite simply don't have a clue altogether!

Around here, "accident" is used as often, if not more often, than "wreck." In fact, I find that people around here typically refer to incidents they or people they know are involved in as "accidents" and sometimes refer to incidents they come across as "wrecks" — i.e. "I was involved in an accident this morning" ... "there was a wreck on I-40 this morning"...

Unknown said...

Very intersting Brad, maybe it's just a 'country' thing around here, because all they use is 'wreck'?

Thinking about it I believe they do use accident on the OKC news channels too.

Shunt however, I have only heard in relation to medical matters

Pam said...

Hey! Guess what I saw this morning after dropping off the rental chairs in downtown OKC!

I was right behind an Edmond police car (why in OKC, I don't know), but he bumped the car in front of him at a stop light and they all jumped out of their cars to look at the fender. Imagine getting hit by a cop!!!!

Agree with Brad on the other wording -- I'm still hopping mad about the bum that rear-ended me and cost me $490. GRrrrrrr

Pam said...

OMG! what do you think about Lewis being stripped of his win? John says he won't get it back despite the appeal, it is all designed for Ferrari to win

Unknown said...

Yep outrageous decision and John is spot on - FIA = Ferrari International Assistance!

Ronnie said...

You'll find a lot of differences between Eastern US and Western US vocabulary.

One thing that's a mark of different regions is the word for a fizzy drink. In my area, that's a "soda" in others, it's "pop" or even a "coke" regardless of whether the liquid in question is Pepsi, or even a lemon-lime carbonated drink.

Very strange, considering how unified our media is.

Heather said...

Yup, Eastern US would understand you. However, just think of the fun I had (Septic in the UK) talking about getting rear-ended whilst waiting in a queue.

Or what happened when my American Mother asked my UK MIL "Do these pants make my fanny look big?"

*wince*

Nice blog, figure I'll pop back now and then!