Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic FDK - Awaken My Heart (17/?)

Vicki,

My understanding is that our British and Australian cousins use 'pudding' the same way we use 'dessert.' That's why Pink Floyd says "If you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding. How can you have pudding if you don't eat your meat?" Which makes some sense in American English, but even more so if pudding means dessert in general.

Maybe...?!!! You know I completely adore everything about this fic anyway. The main reason I'm hanging out for an nfic snippet is because there are some things that can't quite be touched-on (for want of a better phrase!) in PG fic that I would like to see discussed/explored in a little (or maybe a lot ) more detail. I am a fan of nfic, but for those who aren't really, I'm sure you could write a wonderfully sweet nfic section, Corrina, that would be in-keeping with the tone of the fic as a whole.

Vicki said:

I think it's fun that the FDK for a fic that has language barriers etc as a strong theme is creating a discussion about the subtle differences in lauguage from one English-speaking country to another and how some words can have entirely different meanings to the point where we can misunderstand each other!

I think British-English and Australian-English is very similar, so I did take pudding as a generic term. It hadn't really occured to me it could be taken otherwise. Equally though, dessert means pretty much exactly the same thing over here, so that would in the circumstances work well. For me, I would find pudding a little more appropriate if thinking of a cake-type dessert like a muffin, as traditional 'puddings' over here are often sponge-based. A dessert can be anything from a gateau to a trifle/ mousse etc. I guess if we're talking about Lois' translation she would think 'dessert' in her mind so that would be right.

It's funny how we can have the same words and yet they have evolved into different meanings. Then you get the scenario where we just have a totally different word, for example, what Americans call a 'faucet', we call a 'tap.' I'm pretty sure the Aussies are the same.

Em

We use 'tap' too, but mostly in very specific contexts. Tapwater is water from the faucet, as opposed to bottled water. And beer can come bottled or on tap, as in "Do you have Miller Light on tap?" I have also heard tap used to mean faucet in general, but 'faucet' is definitely more common.

However, it is true that no one in America says 'lift' or 'petrol.'

It's funny how subtle these cultural differences can be, and how something very commonplace can ring just a little bit false when a British writer is using American characters. For instance, there is one fic in which someone plugs in the kettle to boil. Americans don't use electric tea kettles; ours sit on top of the stove burner. But how on earth would one know that? The trouble goes the other way when American kids write Harry Potter fanfic.

My grandmother lived in India for years and there was a very confusing evening when she insisted that the maid should put napkins on the dinner table. The poor maid thought her misstress had gone bonkers, but she complied. (In India 'napkins' means diapers, whereas in America it means serviettes.)

I've heard of 'tap', and 'bonnet', and 'petrol', and 'lift', and quite a few others. But I did not know about 'pudding'. It never even occurred to me that pudding means different things to different people right here on Earth. I just assumed those Kryptonians had a very strange and foreign concept of pudding!

I'm glad you pointed that out, because now that I know that pudding is meant as a generic, the scene makes much more sense.

Hi everyone

Just wanted to make a quick comment regarding the use of the word pudding.

Iolanthe alerted me to the fact that pudding means something different to Americans than Australians - so given that the translator has adjusted specifically to Lois, maybe I should have changed the word.

However, I realise it is a stretch to have an alien piece of technology that can deal with *any* Earth language, so felt that a couple of 'glitches' made it a bit more believable.

I certainly didn't mean to confuse the American readers.

However, between you, you sorted it out really well ... thanks.

Pudding. Mmmmmmmm.

Ann

MMMmmmmmm. Ann, now *that's* pudding!

This conversation of English around the world reminds me of the time I was asked if I had a biro. I had no idea what they wanted. Did I have a barrow? Like a wheelbarrow? A buy-row? What could that be? Did I want to borrow something? After much repeating, they finally had to spell it for me, and I *still* didn't have a clue what it was!

On the off chance there is even one person out there as clueless as me, a biro is a ballpoint pen. Am I the only one who didn't know that?

No, I didn't know either, so I'm glad you enlightened us.

Re biro. It seems to me that often the English use brand names for items. Biro is a brand of ballpoint pen, I believe. It is similar to "Hoovering your floor" from the brand of vacuum cleaner. We say vacuuming your floor. I don't know if they now "Dyson their floor"
Re pudding. I know figgy pudding, and that Corinna is Australian, so I just assumed it was a cake like thing for dessert.

Artemis

Do they even sell Biro pens here?

Maybe if they'd asked for a 'Bic', I'd have known what they meant.

Probably not. I think I'd have given them a lighter. A Sharpie? Nah, that's a marker. A Paper Mate! I'd have known to give them a pen if they'd asked for a Paper Mate.

Hmm, it gets more confusing...

I always thought it was the other way round, that Americans use the brand names for things such as using 'band-aid' which I would think of as a type of plaster. A bic is a brand of biro as far as I know, just like Papermate etc, so we just use the term biro as a generic, but it is just a ball-point pen, the most basic kind.

Having said that, we do tend to 'hoover' not vacuum, so that is us using a brand when there are really lots of types sold over here. If we use a Dyson most people would still say they were 'hoovering' I guess it has just stuck over the years.

I think what's interesting about this (though I know it's now way off topic!) is that there are so many things we know are used differently from country-to-country, but there are others that still come as a complete surprise and can cause abolute confusion. You were probably just as confused, Vicki, as if someone had asked you for a pen in French - probably more so!

The kettle thing struck me. I've seen on L&C and other shows plenty of times people putting kettles on the hob, but it never occured to me you don't have electric kettles at all! To be more confusing, my kettle (I live in a little cottage) is made to look like the type you put on a stove but it still plugs in!

Em

A "plaster"? OK, there's yet *another* word I wouldn't use to mean what you use it to mean. Plaster to me is a white powder that you mix with water to make a paste. You might use the resulting paste to fix a hole in a wall, but you wouldn't put it on a cut.

To me, the generic for band-aid is bandage.

Edited to add: But you are right. I call bandages "band-aids", regardless of the brand.

Re: electric teapots. We do have them, but usually they are used by students in dorm rooms, or in hotel rooms, or other places where there is no stove. Most people use the stove-top kind in their homes.

Sorry. Me again. (I should plan everything I have to say *before* hitting the "post" button!)

I just noticed "hob"! LOL. I guess there are more words separating us than I realized! If you'd asked me, before reading your post, what a "hob" was, I wouldn't have a clue. I know now, of course, because of context.

This is crazy! Just in trying to explain things I'm using words with different meanings, or that just have no meaning at all!! When I put 'hob' I wasn't too sure, but I couldn't think of a better word, I could have used stove.

And plaster is the stuff you put on walls over here too! I think of a bandage as material that you wrap tightly around, say an arm, when there's a fairly severe wound. A 'plaster' is what you'd put on a minor cut.

I think it's just never ending!! It's a wonder we ever understand each other.

Em

PS We could start a whole new thread for this!

Yeah, hob = burner on the stove. Actually, I do have an electric tea pot because it seems more economical than heating up the burner. It's really a coffee pot without the guts for perking.
We were staying at a self-catering (=timeshare) in Cornwall and I was trying to read the directions for the stove so I wouldn't burn the place down and was totally clueless as to what the "hob" was. I just used the microwave, because I understood that. Later on back home we were watching a cooking show about English cooking the old-fashioned way and I saw a hob from a wood-burning stove and finally got the idea.
Also, Bic makes lighters as well as pens, like Vic said, so it would be risky to ask for a bic.
Another thing is the US is 110v., Australia and England, Ireland and Europe are all 220v.
In the US, 220 is only used for heavy duty appliances like dryers and stoves, not for anything most people would plug into.
The other thing about Ireland I found interesting in my travels there is that it is illegal to have the hair dryer in the bathroom. They are stored in the bedroom and supposed to be used there and are 220v, natch.
We are bonded by our differences.

Artemis

So would you be shocked at the idea of a woman going to the store in only tennis shoes, a t-shirt, and a jumper? Depends on which side of the Pond you're from.

Just because I love these kinds of discussions ...

Electric tea kettles are finally getting more popular in the US. I had never even heard of one a few years ago, and had a similar conversation to this one with some UK friends, who educated me as to what they were. But I then visited a friend who lives in Washington DC and she had one. I found hers so convenient during the visit that I decided I wanted one, too, and I absolutely love it. The two Targets I've checked (one in DC, one in IN) offered 4-5 different models, starting at just $20 for the most basic. I haven't looked at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, but I'd be very surprised if they didn't carry them, too. (Our local WalMart didn't carry them at all, though.) So if you're a tea drinker, you should definitely check them out ... I bet you'll love it, too.

I would!!! I can't imagine even a porn star doing that!

So what a jumper on the left side of the Atlantic from here?

Okay, I googled it. Could this be a jumper? Really?



To me, this would be a jumper! (And it looks like size XL or XXL to me. The way I think of a jumper, it most definitely wouldn't cover the essentials! Where is the smelling salt?)



Ann

You know what? Speaking English is a piece of cake.



Except for all the pesky little everyday things that you need to put a name on!!!




Ann