[Tainari88]

Well folks, this is my attempt to understand the cultural divide between WASP type Americans and British English, Welsh, Scottish and N. Irish folk over there in the Union Jack reality across the Atlantic.

Remember I am in Mexico, but am not a native Mexican person. I am Puerto Rican.

I got to thinking that I have come across a lot of British slang words lately or unfamiliar words in general, that I am highly unfamiliar with such as:

Chavs, and scuppered, and slag, and orcs and I always had some doubts about some names in the UK that are never used in the American US system for Anglo types. Such as I never hear the names of Elspeth or Nigel, Hyacinth or Gwendolyn. It is all British to me.

What exactly is a toe rag and these words I find strange?

https://www.tandem.net/blog/british-slang-words

Dodgy?

And this one too?

19. Chuffed

If someone is "chuffed," they are very happy or delighted.

Never heard of that in my life either.

I can barely understand these people talking in this video. Which accent or register are they speaking?

Help me out folks...

[Tainari88]

Got through this one. Interesting.

[noemon]

Chav:

Sacha Baron Cohen's first persona Ali G was a chav.

And one of his recent movies Brother Grimsby is about chav culture:

Hilarious must watch movie. I've watched it many a time.

Dodgy is when someone is being tricky, dangerous, etcetera.

Chuffed is when someone is happily excited.

Orc, come on, no excuse for that as there were central in Lord of the Rings and Warcraft!!!

[noemon]

TV license is the BBC tax.

We have to pay something like £50-60 per year to watch BBC. If you don't watch it, you still have to pay for it.

If you don't they chase you with credit control agencies, warrants and stuff.

Lots of people ignore it, I sometimes ignore it too.

[Tainari88]

TV license is the BBC tax.

We have to pay something like £50-60 per year to watch BBC. If you don't watch it, you still have to pay for it.

If you don't they chase you with credit control agencies, warrants and stuff.

Lots of people ignore it, I sometimes ignore it too.

Don't you have free television though? As an option? I mean here in Mexico you got Azteca TV and others that transmit free programming for everyone. A lot of people can't afford to pay for cable or private television. So? They get about ten channels with free transmission. The majority of Mexicans watch telenovelas or soaps and news, and movies. Now they have tubi and plutotv and a bunch of free apps where you can watch for free without commercial interruptions. You also can use the USB and get free movies to watch. They don't have that in the UK?

[noemon]

We do have that here indeed.

People use all kings of free and paid streaming.

The BBC tax is quite ridiculous but most people pay it anyway.

[Tainari88]

Chav:

Sacha Baron Cohen's first persona Ali G was a chav.

And one of his recent movies Brother Grimsby is about chav culture:

Hilarious must watch movie. I've watched it many a time.

Dodgy is when someone is being tricky, dangerous, etcetera.

Chuffed is when someone is happily excited.

Orc, come on, no excuse for that as there were central in Lord of the Rings and Warcraft!!!

I am smiling a lot. This is true culture shock for me. I am not kidding.

Burberry? Never heard of that brand before.

Or maybe I never paid attention eh?

Chavs are council house and violent?

In Puerto Rico we have a word for the people who grew up in government sponsored housing on low incomes. The council houses are called caserío you know Noemon as in the Spanish word for casa. House. Caserio means a series of houses. That is what we called the Council Houses equivalent. El Caserío.

Another word that describes that tacky stuff or bad dressing or low income or low status class categories is actually a word from Spanish that is racist. You see, there was an African tribe called Kafre and they were considered the opposite of classy or elegant. If you were told..you look cafre it meant you were garish, bad taste, cheap looking, not attractive and did not have good social skills. All around bad assessment. All kinds of words sprouted from this word in Puerto Rico such as cafrerería, which means whatever you either bought, said or did it was not classy or elegant and was instead cheap and tawdry. Lol.

Notice the word is an insult. Rude, uncultured and a person with terrible social skills.

Puerto Rican slang video of the word:

Boricua dictionary. Cafre. Lol. It is basically Chavs. In slang. She covers a bunch of slang there. Lol.

You see this word she puts there 'maceta'? It means a person who is stingy and does not share. It is really a clue to the values of that culture. People who don't share money, food or time with their friends and family are called {maceta} and it is a really bad thing to be.

I can't stop laughing with that last video of yours Noemon.

[noemon]

We use kafre as well in Greece. Loud-mouthed, obnoxious, aggressive, etcetera, and have turned into a noun and use it a lot in Greek slang.

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=kafrila

[Tainari88]

We use kafre as well in Greece. Loud-mouthed, obnoxious, aggressive, etcetera, and have turned into a noun and use it a lot in Greek slang.

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=kafrila

Interesting.

Another slang word is chavos which sounds like the British Chavs you use. But in PR it means MONEY. Tienes chavos means do you have any money? While chavos in Mexico means young male kids. So do not use it the same in Mexico. It means something totally different Noemon.

Mexicans use the word bicho to mean an insect. Some kind of bug. In Puerto Rico it is used exclusively for the word penis. Many Mexicans get in trouble with that volatile word.

There is a tribe in Africa called the Fulani the Spanish found them to be very much social and talkative and so when they can not remember the name of a person and need an anonymous name like saying a John Smith etc, they say, el fulanito or el fulano. Using that tribal name. It is interesting.

[Tainari88]

We do have that here indeed.

People use all kings of free and paid streaming.

The BBC tax is quite ridiculous but most people pay it anyway.

You see there? That is an insight into British behavior. It is a ridiculous thing but people pay it anyway.

That is definitely different.

Mexicans never pay taxes if they can help it and much less will they pay some arbitrary TV tax. The majority of Mexicans live day to day and can barely cover their bills. No way they would pay that bill about TV from the BBC.

El jefe del Servicio de Administración Tributaria señaló que 54.7 por ciento de la población económicamente activa, unos 29 millones de mexicanos, no contribuye al fisco; cada año se pierden 485 mil millones de pesos por esta situación.Jul 15, 2014

The majority of Mexicans don't pay even the tax office here.

[Potemkin]

You see there? That is an insight into British behavior. It is a ridiculous thing but people pay it anyway.

That is definitely different.

Mexicans never pay taxes if they can help it and much less will they pay some arbitrary TV tax. The majority of Mexicans live day to day and can barely cover their bills. No way they would pay that bill about TV from the BBC.



The majority of Mexicans don't pay even the tax office here.

The British tend to be very obedient and very conventional in their thinking and their behaviour, querida. It is unusual for them to question anything. And even if they do question something, they just gripe about it a bit but then obey it anyway.

You can learn a lot about a society by observing how they drive, @Tainari88. The British tend to scrupulously obey the traffic laws. Other societies… don’t. Lol.

[Tainari88]

The British tend to be very obedient and very conventional in their thinking and their behaviour, querida. It is unusual for them to question anything. And even if they do question something, they just gripe about it a bit but then obey it anyway.

You can learn a lot about a society by observing how they drive, @Tainari88. The British tend to scrupulously obey the traffic laws. Other societies… don’t. Lol.

These videos that Noemon put up there? It is funny. I laughed. Because it was culture shock for me.

People tend to be very routine oriented over there. There are routines everywhere in all societies, but don't they like talking to each other?

What other fake bills do they do over there?

I need to learn some more British slang words....hmmm.

https://www.highlandtitles.com/blog/scottish-slang/

‘Awright ya wee bawbag?’

‘Lang mae yer lum reek‘

And if you are looking for an unpleasant name to call someone, how about one of these Scottish Insults:

Eejit – Idiot

Feartie – Cow

Gommy – Simple-looking, idiot

Gowk – fool, simpleton

Lavvy heid – toilet head

Nyaff – Irrirating person

Roaster/Rocket – Idiot

Tube – Idiot


See? I need to memorize these insulting words eh? Verdad que sí?

[Potemkin]

These videos that Noemon put up there? It is funny. I laughed. Because it was culture shock for me.

People tend to be very routine oriented over there. There are routines everywhere in all societies, but don't they like talking to each other?

What other fake bills do they do over there?

I need to learn some more British slang words....hmmm.

https://www.highlandtitles.com/blog/scottish-slang/

‘Awright ya wee bawbag?’

‘Lang mae yer lum reek‘

And if you are looking for an unpleasant name to call someone, how about one of these Scottish Insults:

Eejit – Idiot

Feartie – Cow

Gommy – Simple-looking, idiot

Gowk – fool, simpleton

Lavvy heid – toilet head

Nyaff – Irrirating person

Roaster/Rocket – Idiot

Tube – Idiot


See? I need to memorize these insulting words eh? Verdad que sí?

Indeed querida. You’ll have lots of vocabulary lists to learn. Now repeat after me… “Yer girnin face looks like a skelpt backside, ye wee gowkit bastid!” This means, “Good morning my dear fellow, how are you today?”

[Tainari88]

Indeed querida. You’ll have lots of vocabulary lists to learn. Now repeat after me… “Yer girnin face looks like a skelpt backside, ye wee gowkit bastid!” This means, “Good morning my dear fellow, how are you today?”

How are you doing with your Spanish language practice eh you wee stotter? LOL.

Some common Puerto Rican vs Mexican cultural differences as seen by people who know both nations well:

[Potemkin]

How are you doing with your Spanish language practice eh you wee stotter? LOL.

It would come on a lot faster if I had someone to practice my Spanish with querida.

Some common Puerto Rican vs Mexican cultural differences as seen by people who know both nations well:

Most outsiders don't know the difference between English and Scottish cultures either. England... Scotland... same place, right? Lol.

[Tainari88]

It would come on a lot faster if I had someone to practice my Spanish with querida.


Most outsiders don't know the difference between English and Scottish cultures either. England... Scotland... same place, right? Lol.

Come on now Pote, you know there is all kinds of apps you can download on your laptop and learn some words. Learn 10 words before bed and try to use it in a logical Spanish sentence. Let it sink into your subconscious mind eh?

As for no one knows the difference? The Mexicans trust the QE pounds sterling and not the Bank of Scotland stuff. Lol.

Scotland is not the big image of bullshit of the Queen. It is Buckingham Palace. How rich are they eh? I see big diamonds and so on....

But British upper class women have terrible fashion taste. I think the Latin American rich women and the Italian and Spanish and so on on Latina women in Europe have far better fashion tastes. Hee hee.

https://blog.worthy.com/blog/knowledge- ... n-diamond/

I tell you Puerto Rican designers are the best in fashion. Lol. The British women dress horrible. They need to go somewhere else to get pretty clothes. Here gorgeous and inexpensive too. All done by hand. I love done by hand inexpensive beautiful things. Mexican design is lovely too.

I will never be unhappy with art in our Latin American nations.

[Tainari88]

Who is this guy Hugh Laurie? He was in the Edinburgh Festival. Is he Scottish? Or English?

The guy says that Americans work very hard. It is true. You can die working hard there. No real down time.

[Potemkin]

Who is this guy Hugh Laurie? He was in the Edinburgh Festival. Is he Scottish? Or English?

The guy says that Americans work very hard. It is true. You can die working hard there. No real down time.

Hugh Laurie is an English actor. He was in the Blackadder comedy series on British television, and then he moved to the USA and starred in the series ‘House’ about a sardonic American medic. He’s a great actor.