I say

Now, a number of you listening to this broadcast regularly will have come across some odd phrases in popular parlance, and you would rightly suspect these to be Americanisms. With his broad experience of world cultures and pluck in the face of linguistic adversity, your correspondent has elected to proffer a brief guide for the perplexed. Simply find the egregious word on the left, and a translation will duly present itself alongside:

Doh – Bother! (vulg, Blast!)
Duh – I say, you must be two pinches short of a snuffbox
Feh – What an absolute shower
Fnord – I think you’d better ask the Ministry about that
Hurr – Tick tock! Ding dong! I say!
LOL – I say, that is a hoot (compare ROTFL – Really, Simkins, you are the limit!)
Meh – If you say so, old chap
OMG – Good Lord!
Squee – I say!
Woot – Rather!

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11 thoughts on “I say”

  1. This made me laugh! Mind if I link / copy? Some of my f’list will definitely appreciate it, too…

  2. A couple of emendations, if I may:
    LOL – How droll.
    Meh – Pah

    Though of course I’m only a passive speaker of Livejournalese and may misunderstand the nuances of current idiom. Is “woot”, for example, not aphetic for IWOOT, “I want one of those”? That has been my interpretation in such typical exclamations as “OMG! 1T iPod! Woot!”

    I find it hard to believe that anyone, cis- or trans-Atlantic, can actually utter “squee”; it is quite revolting enough to type.

    HTFB

  4. Ah yes, ‘Pah’ is good. There are lots of interpretations of ‘woot’ – see Wikipedia if you can be bothered.

    I made you type ‘Squee’! I say!

  8. Good lord, a tong! Hello. Yes, please do, if you don’t mind a small credit. OncoMouse sends his best

  9. People don’t really *say* “squee” do they? Oh good lord I hope not.

    Can you please translate OMGWTFBBQ so I can communicate with my coworkers more effectively? I find myself needing to use that phrase quite frequently in the office.

  10. !!! – Quite!

    By the way, old man, have you thought about providing a translation for those emoticon thingies?

  11. I think The Chap magazine did that rather adequately with its ‘trouser semaphore’ article!

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