Divided by a common language.....or do Americans know how to give someone the hairy eyeball?

Dev, I roosted in Northern Indiana for a while, and my adjustment from Kansas to Chicago was an evolution, with the Indiana craziness on top...



(I was not allowed to call a shopping cart a buggy)

Having spent time in Chicago you might know what a gangway is.

Knew an Ozzie in California who always said, "You strappin'?" when someone might be thinking about rolling a joint. Only it sounded like, "You streeippin'?"

A buggy? tee-hee!

Gangways vary by hood, my friend...

(Nary a Gary)

Roselle was a breath of fresh Illinois air.

Guess you weren't here long enough

A gangway is the walkway between apartment buildings or houses, a term most commonly used in Chicago. It was originally a walkway between the quarterdeck and the forecastle on a sailing ship

Walk one in Gary, and get back to me...

Rather enjoyed the BBq's we had on Bloomingdale gangways, lotsa interesting interaction. I do know the term, and the 'burbs, good and bad...

(I'm real NW Indiana familiar)

Learned to love Polish food there...

I've never heard "strapping"...but I note that bogarting seems universal....

Misunderstood your meaning, love the gangway grill thats where half my friends keep em.

Since military slang is readily shared between nations...

...does Strine include SNAFU, FUBAR, and FUBB?

Now you've hurt my feelings and stuff?

Hey D - cobbers and diggers are the equivalents of mates, but are getting a little archaic now (cobber is English I think, and digger is an army term).

Sneakers are usually called runners or joggers
Lollipops is more common but you rarely see them (except for Chupa-Chups)

A girlfriend can be a squeeze, better half, gelf, snail, she who must be obeyed, old lady, but in polite company we usually just say partner (no indication of marriage or not).

We don't have sidewalks, we have paths or footpaths.

We have 'the bush' which means coutnry side.

And car hoods are called bonnets (but that slowly changing). And the cars don't have trunks, they have boots.

Swimming costumes are cozzies, swimmers, trunks or budgie smugglers.

We don't have homecomings or thanksgiving but halloween is spreading like mould.

We don't have candy, we have lollies (or sweets).

You talk about the American dream in much the same way we talk about 'a fair go'.

We don't curse, we swear. A lot.

No worries morphed into 'no wuckers' a coupla decades ago. (As in no wucking furries (spoonerism).

Bugger.


Oh...and if you don't stop ending sentences with a rising inflection, I'm likely to hurt more than your feelings.

Oooh. We call them shopping trolleys. (and transport for drunks).

Ummm....I know what the first two mean, and I might use SNAFU, I think. I don't know what FUBB means. I can't speak for other Australians.

I have no idea what he was talking about PD.

Unless it was his own version of 'R U roit?' (are you right?)

SNAFU and TARFU are known by some. FUBAR is mostly a computer geek term (archaic). Don't know FUBB.

I was a civvy dixie basher (civillian kitchen had) at Duntroon (Royal Military College) and thats where I learnt WAFTAM (waste of ******* time and money).

In my first IT job I learnt DILLIGAS (Do I Look Like I Give A ****?)

Do merkins have POETS day?

Or FIG JAM? Or CRAFT disease? OAPs? We don't have JDs. But we do have JCs.