7 Harmless American Words Brits Might Find Rude 

We can't talk about British cigarettes here without getting banned.

I'm American. I went to a place in Australia with Australians to watch rugby. I don't know any of teams so I jokingly said, "I'm just gonna root for the team that you guys aren't." That got a bigger laugh than I thought it would. Rooting in Amsrica means cheering. I didn't know that in Australia "having a root" means sex. I basically said that I'm gonna fuck the other team. We all had a laugh. Good times.

To be fair, most Americans are well aware of the double entendre and/or innuendo that a lot of these phrases have, and some might even delight in using them for that reason.

I knew a French woman years ago, and she said that her dinner guests arrived early once, and she told them she was going to take a quick douche. Shower, in French.

You missed spunk and spunky. Telling a British man his daughter is full of spunk is NOT a compliment. 😅

“Bum” also means to borrow-or ask for-something, as in “Hey-can I bum a cigarette off you?”

To blow someone off can also mean to ignore, be dismissive towards, or otherwise being unwilling to engage with someone or their concerns. Like, “I told my boss about the faulty sink, but he blew me off.” I would say that’s more common than being a synonym for ghosting someone.

My grandmother, from Britain (waaay back in the day), told me not to say, "I'm stuffed." Apparently, when she grew up it meant (in an unclassy way) you were pregnant.

I had a "Who's on First" moment in college when the European guy I shared an apartment with came home one night and said, "I'm so pissed". I asked why? He said I was at a party...I said and? He said I was drinking... I said and? He said I'm so pissed…but why? After several minutes of this I figured out that pissed means drunk!(pissed means angry in the states)

In the '70s a friend's British aunt was visiting and while driving her around touring the neighborhood, they passed a beauty parlor with a sign in the window: Shag and blow $15. Shag was the name for a particular longish layered haircut then. Blow meant blow-dry. Friend's British aunt's reaction? "Oh my!".

As an American, I’ve never heard the phrase “double fisting” before, but I can assure you that the word “fisting” alone definitely refers to a sexual act

On a business trip, a British male colleague told an American female colleague he was going to "knock her up in the morning" it still makes me laugh. 😂😄🤣

In Southern California “bummer” is surfer lingo for “that’s too bad” or “no fun”. Example: “You just dropped your ice cream cone? Bummer, dude.”

I was always told that "hump day" was really just in reference to the fact that Monday and Tuesday feel much more like an uphill battle, due to low office morale, and thus the 'hump' was the metaphorical point when you reach even ground, as Thursday and Friday feel as easy as walking down-hill, due to much higher morale since the weekend (the thing we probably hold most sacred), which seemed an eternity away on Monday, is right around the corner.

While it's a phrase, not a word, we have a famous family misunderstanding. Apparently, when my mum first came to the states, she would make plans with friends to "knock her up". As you can imagine, clarity was required!

A family story that my wife and her mother DELIGHT in telling at every major family gathering is her move across country for grad school. Her dad and brother drove the moving truck and she and her mother were in her car. They passed a Come and Go and her mother laughed and said the name out loud, then paused and said, "What if I don't want to come and go? What if I want to come and cuddle?" To this day they both devolve into a fit of giggles at each retelling.

Bum used to mean "can I borrow" as in can I bum a smoke? And, around that same time, bummer meant a drag/downer/negative, as in "you lost your dog? What a bummer"

"Fanny" = same latitude, opposite longitude

An American friend told me that when she went to visit another friend in England back in the early 80's, they were going out and she innocently asked the ( English) friend's boyfriend if he could give them a ride in his car. Her friend got really angry, and she had no idea why. Turned out that giving someone a "ride" was a euphemism for s** , and that in England the proper term would be to give them a " lift".😮

"Blowing off" has other meanings than just standing someone up. It's often used when someone disregards your statement or actions, such as disregarding your opinion, or cutting you off in traffic.

Haha I once worked in a tourist town with lots of older tourists. One sweet little old lady tried to call Fuddrucker's ",Fuckin" Burgers" 😅

Another meaning for “bum’s rush” is to do something quickly or suddenly to get rid of a person who is persona non grata. So, for example, if you went to a job interview and it seemed rather hurried or more superficial than expected, you were in and done in record time, you got the bum’s rush. (More than likely the boss’ son already had the job but they had to make a show of interviewing to keep up the pretense of being an equal opportunity employer.

a British friend taught drawing and painting here in the US and on his materials list for class was 'rubbers,' (erasers) which caused big snickers in class

I feel like we could use "Booty Bag" instead of "Fanny Pack" and it would still fit for its purpose. Booty being both pirate slang for treasure and casual slang for butt. The latter being the American version of Bum. It also stores your "booty" (treasures) so you don't drop them.

I can't stop thinking about my English friend talking about "Knocking up the neighbor."

Bummer is also a term of being depressed by something or bummed out by something or someone. "Having to work all weekend really bums me out"; "Losing to the Bears soccer team is a bummer (depressing)!"; "Being sad all the time is a real bummer"

We still use “bummer”, as in, “That’s a bummer” or “Bummer, man.” In context it’s like saying, “that sucks, I feel sorry for you.”

I would submit that Fuddruckers sounded just as bad in America when it first came out. Now that it's been around for awhile though, we've become used to it. Still makes me giggle when I hear it though.

I was surprised not to see sod on the list. In the U.S. sod is new grass that you can unroll or place down in rectangles. I worked with a guy who's sister was in England for a while and he went to visit her. They were having new grass put in and he asked the crew how the sodding in the back yard was going. Let's just say he didn't get the reaction he was expecting.

The weird thing isn't that fanny means something different across the pond, what's weird is that we think of 'fanny (as in butt)' as a very fussy, proper britishy type word.

My Australian friend and colleague, a brilliant guy, was leading a training class of business people and used an unfortunate example, where someone was trying to purchase "rubbers" he kept saying it over and over, I didn't want to interrupt and embarrass his pencil eraser example, but by the 4th time I started laughing 😊😂.

One of the more amusing misunderstandings around "bum" happened on the TV game show Password, back in the 1970s. One of the celebrity contestants was the British actress Lynn Redgrave, and the group of words she was trying to get her partner to say were related to comic strips. She got totally flustered when Dagwood's last name came up, and passed on it, but the moment the round was over, she turned to Allen Ludden and demanded, in a very cross tone, "WHAT is a BUMSTEAD???!!" 😀

Surely you can remember the commercial with the camel talking about Hump day?

the half-second cut to a flower gave me a solid chuckle. Great as always.

Im an American but the phrase, " screw the pooch 🐕 " for make a mistake, shocked me the first time I heard it. It still makes me laugh.

I attended an international conference in Australia, but I was with my dear friend at a place called the Three Sisters up in the mountains, and needed a smaller pack to lessen my stuff. While in one of the various stores, I asked a female clerk if they sold any Fanny Packs. The woman blanched and gasped, and my friend then informed the poor woman that I meant a Bum Pack. Needless, to say I apologized profusely, claiming my American ignorance.

I've always thought that they named that restaurant "Fuddrucker's" just to screw with their customers. It's very easy to accidentally swap the F and the middle R. Your explanation about the founder makes me think I might be right. Whenever I hear "Come and Go" I immediately imagine a long row of port-a-pottys.

I was in England with my friend Randy. Some locals were too embarrassed to say his name.

The expression "hump day" was current in the USA at least as far back as 1976. It had been made popular by a song called "Friday" released by Oklahoma-born singer J.J. Cale in 1975.

There was a song popular during the Great Depression called "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum," written and recorded by Harry McClintock. He also recorded "The Big Rock Candy Mountain."

Honestly, double-fisting sounded rude to me too, and I'm American.

When I first heard of knockers-up or knocker-ups (ie a person whose job it was to go around the neighborhood in the early morning and tap on people’s windows to wake them up in pre-alarm clock days), I think my eyebrows and hairline temporarily merged.

Spunk or spunky has a completely different meaning over here in the UK as compared to the US. To describe a girl as being 'full of spunk' would NOT mean she is fiercely independent & bursting with self-confidence.

You left one out, at least in Australia it is dirty and got Crocodile Dundee a R rating. I was there on business for a month and went to a upscale dinner with a bunch of couples including older women. about half way through the meal they asked me if I wanted more to eat and I said "NO I AM STUFFED" The women all gasped so I repeated what is the problem I am really stuffed! After the meal one of the people let me know that stuffed in Australia is the F word... LOL

Bummer is also a commiseration, such as, “she blew me off.” “Bummer!”

Funny thing about Fuddruckers. I work in greenhouses and have for 3 decades. Many years ago at a regional Christmas party I won a gift certificate to eat there. But I had never heard of it before. So when they said I had a $10 gift certificate my 1st thought was is this a fertilizer company?? Someone had to tell me it was a restaurant.

In Massachusetts a store that sells alcohol is sometimes referred to as a “Package Store.” This is usually shortened to “The Packy.” So when somebody casually states that they are going to “hit the packy” they are simply planning to buy some alcohol and (probably) not planning a hate crime.

Relating to "bum," in American English there is the expression "to bum (someone) out," meaning to make someone feel disappointed. Is this present in British English as well?

Hayyyy…a shag in the 70’s was a wonderfully popular and becoming haircut, as well as a trendy style of residential wall-to-wall carpeting (typically in fun bright colors such as orange or green)!

"I took a deep dive into bum" was NOT a sentence I expected to hear today!

I hope you read this one because it is a goodie. 30 years ago, a co-worker transferred to one of our American offices from the UK. There was a software program that was referred to by an acronym. It was called SLAG (it was used to generate license keys for the software we sold). My UK buddy found that pretty funny since it is a word used to describe a loose woman in Britain.

Marge Simpson: "I keep feeling like I'm going to get the bum's rush!" Hank Scorpio: "We don't have bums in our town, Marge. And even if we did, they wouldn't rush, they'd be allowed to go at their own pace!"* Been a while since i watched the episode, so I might not have gotten the dialogue perfect.

Lawrence, I’m glad you didn’t get lost in the pond ! We’re better for having you here . 🇺🇸🇬🇧

A pastor friend told of a colleague guest preaching in England having to stop mid sermon because some children in the front row aere so rowdy. He chuckled and said, (probably ironically), cute little buggers. Collective gasp.

Don't worry, lifelong American and 9 year-old me was also horrified when first encountering a Fuddrucker's; I was completely convinced that the rest of my Girl Scout troop was saying something horrible and the adults just up and decided they didn't care for some reason. As for hump day, surely I can't be the only person here who had never heard anyone use that term before that commercial with the talking camel? Somebody back me up, here.

In 1988 I met up with a guy from New Zealand who was now working in New England, and looking for local knowledge about hiking and climbing in the White Mountains. We did a lot of ice and rock climbing, on which trips I not only heard the term “bum bag,” and also just said “what?” a lot because of his New Zealand accent.

Mike Mike Mike Mike Mike Mike, HUMP DAY!!

So, my dad’s first name is Rand, and my grandmother and Aunt always called him “Randy.” (Which in England calling someone Randy is the same as calling them Horny in the United states.) He was at a party as a young man and introduced himself to a young British woman as Randy, and she responded with “I don’t know why you’re so proud of it.” Needless to say that is when he stopped going by that nickname.

During my high school days, I became friends with a Swedish exchange student. My friends and I took her to her first American high school football game. Out of the blue, she began laughing hysterically, covering her mouth in utter shock. I asked her what she was laughing about. She pointed to some guy's jacket that had the word "Pitt" on the back, (short for University of Pittsburg). She whispered to me, "That word means [a man's personal part] in Swedish". I had to explain to her that it was an American University. 😂

Canadian here. Mother Tucker's was a buffet style chain that was fun to say but sadly they changed the name to a safer Tucker's Marketplace. Then the pandemic put them out of business.

The new phrase for "they blew me off," is "they ghosted me."

I think the first time I heard the term “hump day” it’s was on that old Geico commercial where there was a camel in an office announcing it was “hump day”.

7:33 To blow someone off can also mean to be completely dismissive of them or to disregard everything they say. Like if you go to your boss and make a well-reasoned argument about the risks of a serious incident and the steps that can be taken to prevent it, and they say "I'm not worried about that happening and we're not gonna take any of those steps", you might go home and say "My boss totally blew me off today". That's probably the only way I use the phrase "blew them off". Standing someone up might be a way to blow them off, but if a meeting is missed I will pretty much always use the phrase "stood them up" because I think it is less ambiguous.

It's not just distance, it's time as well, even within the same land. "Cornhole" today is the innocent name for a beanbag game played in family-friendly environments. But fifty years ago, it was among the vilest of verbs, the equivalent of what you took "double fisting" to mean. It disappeared for a time; evidently a generation or two of Americans grew up never hearing it.

The funniest thing I ever read was a Sherlock Holmes book where Sherlock knocked on Watson door early in the morning and apologized for "knocking you up". 😂😂

The "hump day" expose reminded me of an American phrase which was common in the 1970s which I almost never hear anymore. To "get over the hump" means to get past the hardest part or halfway point of a task. Looking up its etymology, it originated from WWII when the Himalayas were referred to as "the hump". And planes carrying cargo there announced they were over the hump once they'd crossed the mountains.

As a pure-bred American I have to say I’ve never heard the term “bum rush” and the sentence “they bum rushed him from behind.” made me think the exact same thing you were thinking😂

The name Randy is another good example. Normal in the US, a little odd to call someone in the UK.

In railroad parlance, to "hump" a freight car means to send it over an artificial hill into a yard until it collides with and connects to other cars already sitting on the track. So cars with sensitive cargo say "DO NOT HUMP" in huge letters on their sides to keep their contents from getting damaged. But then of course somebody made a shirt out of it, and then all sorts of fun ensued! 😉

My mom's favorite example of this comes from when, back in the '60s, she spent the evening with a visiting English couple. They made plans for the next day. At the end of the evening the man said to my mom, "I'll knock you up in the morning." My mom: 'Uh, excuse me?" Apparently "Knock you up," meant "I'll call you on the phone."

While the explanation for "Hump Day" is ok in tying it to a midpoint of a training period, the actual metaphor is used in the saying, "Thank goodness. We're over the hump," is more akin to the idea of climbing a hill, or mountain, on one side, passing it's peak, and descending the other side. In other words, "It's all downhill from here."

We've adopted 'hump day' in Australia in the last 20s years or so. I don't remember it being used in the 90s when I started work. Fanny packs are called bum bags here. Fanny means the same thing as it does in Britain, although it's pretty old-fashioned. In Australia we don't say bum rush. We say bum's rush. If you give someone the bum's rush, you're palming them off/standing them up.

Your style of humor has always been great! Always excellent to see an upload from you, Lawrence.

HAHAHA! Thanks, now I will no longer think these normal phrases to be not dirty.

As an american, that is an incorrect description of the bum rush or bum's rush. It's a specific maneuver for removing a person from an establishment, usually a bar, not just the removal itself. when the person is standing you go behind them and put hands on them in 2 specific places. 1, you grip the middle of their waistband or belt and lift (not to cause a wedgie, but to physically lift, tilt the hips forward, and put them off-balance), while at the same time grabbing the back of the collar of their shirt and lift up and then push forward and down. you do this while you step beside them keeping their head and torso further forward and lifting their behind. The result is that they stumble and stagger forward, but you have the control of the direction and speed, though you do have to continue pushing and lifting and move with them or they can regain control and stop. a brisk walking pace when holding them while you're upright feels like running and being dragged for the person being bumrushed. For some particularly large people this is a 2-person maneuver rather than a single person, but this allows you to quite literally *throw* a person from the front doors of an establishment, usually flat on their face. someone who can stay standing after a correctly executed bumrush has had practice at it. when you watch american movies or TV where someone gets literally thrown out of a bar and land on their face, it's often this maneuver. Easiest way to see it happened a few times on some older seasons of the simpsons, with moe throwing barney out of his tavern. Calling it the bum's rush works both with the american and brit version of bum. both removing a bum / cheapskate from the establishment, and Lifting them by the bum to rush them out.

actually, the fanny pack was used in the 1970s by ski patrol, who would carry first aid kits around the back side of the body. Hence, "fanny pack". It was not intended at first to be used in front. I'm pretty sure the front usage was pioneered by Asian tourists who showed up at Disneyland in a large bus and wanted something to carry their important items, such as spare rolls of film and maps.

I laughed when last I visited friends in Chicago. Signs in their neighborhood say "speed hump" instead of "bump". Now those signs are appearing here in RI, too

Bummer is also used to mean "unfortunate occurrence", or mildly bad news. Flat tire = bummer. Bad car wreck = worse than bummer..... It's possible it's out-dated, but so am I, & I feel it conveys what I want to say, so I still use it...😅

When my colleagues and I were working in the US, we'd occasionally go to Jimmy John's for lunch. The sign on the bin caused no end of amusement...."Toss Here'

I don’t know about my fellow Americans, but I use “bum” as a synonym for “butt” all the time as a joke.

As time progressed I had to drop the aquired expression "mucking about" because that wasn't what my students heard any longer.

I get bummed when I can't partake in word play.

We don't use 'Off' as a suffix quite the same way, at least not always. If someone "Blew you off," it means you got ignored. If someone "Blew you," you owe them breakfast.

It’s been explained to me that “Over the hump” is a thing because it’s referencing a camel’s hump, famously in the middle of a camel’s back, much the same way Wednesday is in the middle of the week.

"How's your father" 😂 Where does THAT come from?

I'm still having issues with cornhole without breaking out in laughter. Every time I hear someone uses the word, I remember when it wasn't a game.

I had a similar situation where an American phase didn't translate well...I took our German exchange student grocery shopping and the first department we hit when we entered the store was Produce. I started to choose fruit from the number of bins that were part of the display when she tentatively asked if she could get anything. I said, "Knock yourself out!" She had a very confused look on her face! I quickly explained that that means she could go ahead and pick out whichever ones she wanted 😊. Also assured her that we would return within about a week, so we didn't have to buy very many at that time. She was a delight to sponsor for time we had her!

I knew of a guy when we were stationed in England who walked up to a girl and said "hi, I'm Randy, would you like to dance?" and promptly got slapped in the face for his trouble.

7:35 - another meaning of "blowing (someone) off" is to maliciously or appear to maliciously ignore someone. For example, if you go somewhere and wave to someone that you know (or to a store clerk, clearly asking for help as another example), and they turn around and avoid you, that can also be described as them blowing you off.

I love the way you dance around the naughty stuff. Funny and tactful.

Even as fellow midwest American, I had to do a double take when I first seen a Kum 'N Go service station (Iowa) and even more suprised to find out there was a competeing one with a different spelling of the name, Come and Go. My inner teenager was giggling like crazy over those.

6:35 Kum & Go... First time I encountered it was in college, and I had a good infantile giggle at the name. At one point they released a cup you could buy to get cheap refills on fountain sodas, coffee, and such, called "The Go Cup", which infers a certain name that may have been suggested initially...

Maybe it's my gaming background but I never used double fisting. I always used 'duel wielding'.

I find it amusing that our term of fanny pack is more applicable in the UK, becaue most people wear them in front.

The funniest thing about fanny pack/bum bags is that you are basically guaranteed to never get lucky while wearing one. They’re a universal coitus deterrent.

I thought "bum's rush" was grabbing someone by the collar and seat of his pants and hauling him to the door with his feet hardly touching the floor. That's my story....

I think perhaps one of my favorite words it sounds like a swear but isn't would be: Flocculent A substance which causes particulates suspended in water to fall to the bottom

Double fisting? Never, *ever* heard it phrased quite like that. Two fisted drinker, like your hands make fists around the handles of beer mugs. But not ever double fisting. That's something I'd raise an eyebrow at if I heard someone say it.

The word "bummer" was really common at least from the late '60's in to the mid 80's. A bummer is a disappointing experience; pretty much anything that didn't turn out well could be called a bummer. And certainly "blew him off" has a specifically sexual meaning in American slang.

This reminds me of how British slang forced Hasbro to rename a Dinobot. That Dinobot was named Slag, because in American English, it just refers to a byproduct of smelting ore.