Foreign words and phrases

I've used Google News as my homepage for years. Recently, after realizing how much joy I take in reading articles that use the word 'boffin', I created a section just for headlines containing that word.

The brits seem to take more care in crafting their headlines than folks here in the States. Today there is a story with a headline using the alliteration "Bespectacled Boffin". I love it and it brings a bit of happiness to my day just thinking about a bespectacled boffin.

Any words or phrases from other places that entertain you?

Back when I had to deal with Indian contractors on a regular basis, they used to always prattle on with requests for people to "do the needful".

I'm not sure if they wanted to bend over homeless people or if there was some weird dance craze going on in Bangalore...

Yeah, I worked in conjunction with an IT helpdesk service that had been outsourced to inda. "Please to do the needful with your urgent importance" was a common phrase in emails we got from them. I think it was just a poor attempt to say "Im not sure whats involved, but please do what you can to take care of the matter right away."

I used to also work in an office with a Peruvian woman...nice as could be, but had all the mastery of the English language of a tennis shoe. She would constantly ask "Would you please borrow me the stapler?". She was really asking if she could borrow my stapler. I would ask her whose stapler she wanted me to get for her. She was actually the proponent of this little jab, as she asked us to make a joke out of her English errors so she could learn from them, but it was always a bit of good office humor...

A certain user on this site has had a Jamaican curse word as his username the whole time

Shrimp on the barbie always brings a smile to my face.

And that Jamaican curse word is the WORST word you can use there.

Flip side: I will never forget the look on my British flatmate's face when I told her I was fixing biscuits and gravy.

Never talk to a british woman about Fanny Packs...

You see, over there a fanny is a womans private bits. So a fanny pack involves something best left to prisons and drug smugglers.

My wife is from Korea. She's been in the states over 32 years now. I can always tell when she's spent the day with her Korean friends, her English grammar is backwards then. She often only says part of the word or leaves a word out then gets upset when I don't understand and she has to repeat it which usually will come out complete. I used to understand more Korean than I do now, don't really use it much anymore and have lost it.

I've always enjoyed the phrase "lusty wench".

Canadians say "University" and 'muricans say "College".

Canadians say "Sorry" and 'muricans say "berkeley you! This is 'murica!".

Classic Clarkson: "If you don't mend it, I'm going to bone your dog".

The currently fashionable word for a serious dust storm is "haboob" (Arabic). I think the reporters just like saying it.

My favorite newspaper headline of all time was when Timothy McVeigh was executed the same day as China eliminated a bunch of common criminals. The National post headline was:

"Timothy McVeigh executed...

meanwhile in China, they are killing them in bunches"......

In reply to RossD:

Soorry aboot that eh?

GameboyRMH wrote: A certain user on this site has had a Jamaican curse word as his username the whole time

I didn't realize I had type a curse word out of all consonants. My apologies.

Nope ,not you.

GameboyRMH wrote: A certain user on this site has had a Jamaican curse word as his username the whole time

cwh wrote: And that Jamaican curse word is the WORST word you can use there.

Kiss mi neck back! Hi guys! Don't forget bloodclot, rassclot, Bob Costasclot, bumborass, sicclot, Bob Costashole and a long list of others. My favorite Jamaican phrase is "suck yuh madda/mumma".

cwh wrote: Nope ,not you.

Yeah... I know. I thought I had a funny on my hands.

RossD wrote: Canadians say "University" and 'muricans say "College".

English, too. It's stupid, because all universities are colleges, but not all colleges are universities.

[edit] Actually, the English do a lot of that. For instance, the generic word for "yarn" is "wool". That's also stupid, because yarn comes in many different materials - cotton, acrylic, silk, angora, wool, etc. all of which get called "wool". Makes no sense.

While at the University of Wisconsin, I attended the College of Engineering. Which is why I no good at english.

In reply to RossD:

I are good en-gin-eer.

RossD wrote: Canadians say "University" and 'muricans say "College".

Not so. We have both.

Zomby Woof wrote:

RossD wrote: Canadians say "University" and 'muricans say "College".

Not so. We have both.

Like the University of Maryland University College. http://www.umuc.edu/