Lost In Translation (and lost somewhere else)



  • Just had a conversation with a friend on Windows Messenger...

    • Friend: hey, you remember john my old flatmate
    • Me: ex uni flatmate?
    • Friend: yeah, hes in the US just now - just read the best story
    • Friend: he said a gay bloke in san fran winked at him, so he told him that he was a fanny man and that he was barking up the wrong tree
    • Friend: but fanny in the US means your arse
    • Friend: lol
    • Me: rofl!
    • Friend: poor bloke mustve been really confused



  • What does it mean where you come from?



  •  http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fanny

    I don't get it. Making up meanings to words and then expecting everyone else to know them is the WTF?



  •  Ah yes the gay San Francisco joke ... am I supposed to laugh now?



  • o_O

    http://xkcd.com/169/ 



  • @MasterPlanSoftware said:

    I don't get it. Making up meanings to words and then expecting everyone else to know them is the WTF?

    My sentiments as well. I can't see "fanny" meaning a female in any English-variant language.

    EDIT: I looked at the dictionary entry again. Only WordNet had the definition that would apply here:

    2. external female sex organs; "in England 'fanny' is vulgar slang for female genitals"

    So.. the WTF is the friend using a regional "vulgar slang" in an entirely different country and expecting it to work to his advantage, whereas every other entry in the dictionary refers to ass. That was smart.. or should I say.. Brillant!



  • jeez guys, give him a break mug



  • I have a similar story.

    I am American, and I was travelling with a fellow American on business.  We worked for a company in Troy, NY.  We were installing a server for which our company made the specialized application, and the installation was in Basingstoke, England. 

    Rob, the guy I was travelling with, had no exposure to British culture.  I had some, enough that I got the basic slang from the south, anyway.  Rob was a smoker, as was Paul, who worked for our customer and was working with us in the data centre, was also a smoker.One day we were having a very bad start. 

    The server had just crashed -- hard -- for the fifth time that morning, and it was only 9:00.  Paul was attempting to propose that it was time to take a smoke break and re-think our situation.  The exact phrase he used was, "Right! (pause) Well. (pause) Want to step out and have a fag, then?"

    I really wish I had a camera on me at that moment, because the look on  Rob's face was pure gold.

    (For our cousins across the pond, "fag" in the US = "poove" in the UK.) 



  •  Sorry my bad, I should have mentioned that in the UK fanny means a woman's vagina.



  • My excuse, I was at work and was rushing to get this post out before my boss caught me not working. 



  • Your friend must be putting out the vibe, btw, I've been living here since 1991 and not once has a "gay bloke" winked at me. 



  • @medialint said:

    Your friend must be putting out the vibe, btw, I've been living here since 1991 and not once has a "gay bloke" winked at me. 

     

    Maybe you are ugly.

     



  • @MasterPlanSoftware said:

     http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fanny

    I don't get it. Making up meanings to words and then expecting everyone else to know them is the WTF?

    Ermm - the statement "from earlier British meaning 'vulva' (1879), and then later "2. external female sex organs; in England 'fanny' is vulgar slang for female genitals" may have given you a clue...



  • @Benn said:

    @MasterPlanSoftware said:

     http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fanny

    I don't get it. Making up meanings to words and then expecting everyone else to know them is the WTF?

    Ermm - the statement "from earlier British meaning 'vulva' (1879), and then later "2. external female sex organs; in England 'fanny' is vulgar slang for female genitals" may have given you a clue...

     

    The reference to vulva reads:

    [Origin: 1925–30; of obscure orig; relation, if any, to Brit. fanny “vulva” (vulgar) is unclear

    That doesn't clear anything up for me. Sorry.



  • @AbbydonKrafts said:

    So.. the WTF is the friend using a regional "vulgar slang" in an entirely different country and expecting it to work to his advantage, whereas every other entry in the dictionary refers to ass

    Oh, see when [b]OP[/b] said "he told him he was a fanny man", I thought he meant that the friend accused the gay guy of being a "fanny man", which probably wouldn't really offend him.... Too many pronouns in that post.

    Also, typical American stereotypes being what they are, declaring yourself a "fanny man" probably doesn't make you look gay any more than your British accent does.



  • While the dictionaries don't agree if British fanny is related to American fanny, most of them agree that the British meaning exists. So nobody is making up meanings to words.



  • @Jonathan Holland said:

    Maybe you are ugly.

     

    Hmmm ... yeah that could be it. Ask your boyfriend what he thinks and let me know. ;-)



  • @medialint said:

    @Jonathan Holland said:

    Maybe you are ugly.

     

    Hmmm ... yeah that could be it. Ask your boyfriend what he thinks and let me know. ;-)

     

    Wow. Holland definitely just got burned. Holy shit!



  • @MasterPlanSoftware said:

    @medialint said:

    @Jonathan Holland said:

    Maybe you are ugly.

     

    Hmmm ... yeah that could be it. Ask your boyfriend what he thinks and let me know. ;-)

     

    Wow. Holland definitely just got burned. Holy shit!

     

    He certainly did.  Assuming he's in third grade.



  • @medialint said:

    @Jonathan Holland said:

    Maybe you are ugly.

     

    Hmmm ... yeah that could be it. Ask your boyfriend what he thinks and let me know. ;-)

     

     I wouldn't know what a gay guy finds attractive, however I do know that most people don't hit on ugly people regardless of sex. So I think my argument stands :)



  • @MasterPlanSoftware said:

    The reference to vulva reads ... That doesn't clear anything up for me. Sorry.

    I think you need to look down the page a little, rather than relying on Random House's rather limited description. Of course, a decent dictionary would have told you straightaway :)



  • @Benn said:

    @MasterPlanSoftware said:
    The reference to vulva reads ... That doesn't clear anything up for me. Sorry.
    I think you need to look down the page a little, rather than relying on Random House's rather limited description. Of course, a decent dictionary would have told you straightaway :)
     

    Riiiight. I should do all my searching in a UK dictionary...



  • @MasterPlanSoftware said:

    Riiiight. I should do all my searching in a UK dictionary...

    Indeed - that's why they call it "English" :)



  • @Benn said:

    @MasterPlanSoftware said:
    Riiiight. I should do all my searching in a UK dictionary...
    Indeed - that's why they call it "English" :)

    Right, it is clear that English == United Kingdom.



  • @MasterPlanSoftware said:

    Right, it is clear that English == United Kingdom.


    Oh please don't get me started on the Act Of Union darling - 'specially as the OP's Scottish :)



  • @MasterPlanSoftware said:

    I should do all my searching in a UK dictionary...

    In a thread about differences between English and American? Of course. Rather stupid not to... 



  • @Benn said:

    @MasterPlanSoftware said:

    Right, it is clear that English == United Kingdom.

    Oh please don't get me started on the Act Of Union darling - 'specially as the OP's Scottish :)
     

    Nobody else cares about the UK as much you want them to.



  •  @asuffield said:

    @MasterPlanSoftware said:

    I should do all my searching in a UK dictionary...

    In a thread about differences between English and American? Of course. Rather stupid not to... 

    And actually, I don't see anywhere in the OP where it actually says UK English. I am sure we could all infer, but the OP didn't even go through the trouble of provided any kind of detail...



  • @MasterPlanSoftware said:



    The reference to vulva reads:

    [Origin: 1925–30; of obscure orig; relation, if any, to Brit. fanny “vulva” (vulgar) is unclear]

    That doesn't clear anything up for me. Sorry.


    So if it's not a vulva, what's it called in American?  Or did you just miss that particular health class?

    As a kid in New Zealand, I always found the American "fanny pack" absolutely hilarious - and a little confusing til I found out the meaning is different there.  Here (and I suspect Australisa, don't know for sure) it's the same as England.  And the puch you strap round your waist is a bum bag, or just ridiculous :)

    @Sunday Ironfoot said:

    Sorry my bad, I should have mentioned that in the UK fanny means a woman's vagina.

    As opposed to a man's vagina?  Which makes me think - do American men have fannys? 



  • @MasterPlanSoftware said:

    @Benn said:

    @MasterPlanSoftware said:

    Right, it is clear that English == United Kingdom.


    Oh please don't get me started on the Act Of Union darling - 'specially as the OP's Scottish :)
     

    Nobody else cares about the UK as much you want them to.

    If that is so I suggest using the Collins dictionary as the standard for English.



  • @Mel said:

    So if it's not a vulva, what's it called in American?  Or did you just miss that particular health class?
     

    I was referring to the 'obscure orig; relation, if any... unclear' portion.

     


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @Mel said:

    @Sunday Ironfoot said:

    Sorry my bad, I should have mentioned that in the UK fanny means a woman's vagina.

    As opposed to a man's vagina? 

    That would be a mangina.

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