American muffins are usually a breakfast item, and are often in such flavors as blueberry, banana nut, bran or raisin bran, as well as chocolate, chocolate chip and pumpkin. While they may look like large unfrosted cupcakes, you are correct in that they are not as sweet as a cake and are not frosted/iced. They are typically eaten as is or with a spread, such as butter or cream cheese.
Hockey played on grass in the US and Canada is called field hockey. Hockey on concrete or pavement is called street hockey and ice hockey is on ice. By the way, field hockey is a female sport in the US and Canada.
In field hockey, you use sticks to hit a ball along the ground toward the gosl. In lacrosse, the sticks have little nets on the ends, and the ball is thrown from, and caught in, these nets as it's maneuvered toward the goal.
Kabir, you would absolutely love biscuits & gravy! But that definitely comes with a caveat, the gravy has to be made what's referred to here in America as "southern" made gravy & sometimes has crumbled up sausage (cooked breakfast style). Southerners have it for breakfast or brunch, served with over easy eggs, hashbrowns or home fries & either bacon or sausage if the gravy doesn't have sausage in it, if it does then either bacon or no meat. It's milk based & is made by starting with a roux, typically made from the drippings from the bacon or sausage. NO PACKAGE OR JAR gravy is EVER acceptable in a truly southern home!!
@LT Kell - I'm US, but not Southern ( Ex was), I'm upper mid West.. BUT have had the great pleasure of dining among the pine trees and humidity in the cold upper US months on a screened in side porch in Mississippi and can Testify a properly peppered, homemade sausage gravy w handmade biscuits... well... I miss that more than my Ex. Lost that breakfast in the divorce. 🤣 Done right, it is Heaven. This from a guy who likes good sushi, some vegetarian dishes, and eats the florets off broccoli (the in laws judged me a yankee Fidiot when they used the stalks for a salad and I took the florets and steamed 'em). They still let me sleep in their RV on the back 40.
As an American I have never understand the “zed” and “haych” stuff. I can’t wrap my mind around adding extra letters to make a pronunciation when the letter’s standalone pronunciation can just be the letter itself. It’s a pronunciation not a definition lol.
In the U.S., we usually refer to a banged-up vehicle as a "beater". Also, "banger" can refer to the number of cylinders in an engine (as in 'He only has a six-banger in his S197 Mustang'). . .
If I see one of those cars in the winter especially In states like montana, Wyoming, Minnesota I think of it as a winter beater a cheap car that you don’t mind it getting beat up
Being in my mid 60s (and knowing that language evolves), we used to sometimes call an older raggedy car a jalopy. Also maybe a junker, hooptie or beater.
I’m 31 and love/loved playing The Sims growing up, and never knew why the cheapest car was called a “sloppy jalopy”! I work in linguistics and translation so this just made my day! 😂💜
Haha I randomly say jalopy quite a bit just because our teacher read out loud I think "grapes of wrath " which used it alot and just stuck in my Rolodex
Muffins in America are more breakfast foods. Think poppy seed muffins or blueberry. Basically another form of breakfast pastry like a croissant. It's different from cupcakes where cupcakes are there /as a desert/, purposefully sugary, where as muffins tend to be more on the 'buttery' side of things than sweet. In fact, they can even be savory such as cornbread muffins (cornbread baked in a muffin pan).
No one in America has ever referred to the airline as "AA", even though that is their initials. "Buzz off" refers to a house fly. It's noisy and annoying. When a person is annoying, you tell them to buzz off". I've heard "carry on" being used both ways before, but the "relationship" version was only used by my grandparents. "Did you hear about Sarah from down the road? They say she's been carrying on with the mail man." Things like that. "Carry on" used to refer to luggage is hypenated as "carry-on". Homely probably stems from someone who is so unattractive that they never leave the house for dates or social situations. I believe "fairy cakes" refers to what we call cupcakes. Or a small version of a cake like birthday cakes. Our muffins are like cornbread muffins, banana nut muffins, or blueberry muffins. Not as sweet as a cake normally would be.
Thank you. And buzzard is pronounced buzzerd. Don’t know why Kabir persists with the wrong pronunciation of a word he’s never known after hearing the correct one repeatedly.
@@JustMe-dc6ks A lot of Brits do that. Listen to them pronounce the word taco. Most Brits will say Tacko instead of Tah-co. Even when they hear the correct pronunciation. One of my pet peeves!
Great reactions on this one, Kabir! Lawrence never disappoints, does he?! "Homely" is definitely a word I wouldn't use here in the U.S. to avoid offending anyone, especially if they're making you biscuits or muffins of any variety. haha!
I think "banger" arose as a slang term for a great song first in the US maybe 10-15 years ago and then when it crossed the pond it became a word for not just a great song but for a generally cool event or thing. In the US we would call an old, falling-apart car a "beater" btw
Yes homely here means not very pretty or very plain. I knew almost all of these words and meaning on each side of the pond. Heard the English words in my American home because of my English Mom and Irish Dad. I’m Bi-lingual. 😊
To help understand a muffin, think of it like this. Cupcakes are mini cakes, just as muffins are mini flavored quick breads. You can make banana nut bread, or make banana nut muffins. Cinnamon swirl bread, cinnamon swirl muffins. Muffins can be very sweet, or you can make them savory.
I noticed the British use the preposition "to" as the comparison word. Conversely, Americans use the preposition "from." e.g. "This sandwich is different to/from that sandwich."
Buzzard is like a vulture. I worked in a legal department years ago. We were on the sixth floor and they used to like to perch on the ledge from our windows. We used to joke about how fitting it was that we had buzzards on our floor.
Never heard of homely. Learned something new :) I don't know why but the children's book "If You Give A Moose A Muffin' popped in my head. Cupcakes are on the sweeter side, I tend to view them as more of a dessert. Muffins you can eat anytime of day or more or less breakfast. Blueberry muffin, chocolate chip muffins, banana nut muffins, pistachio muffins, apple, lemon poppyseed...it's pretty versatile...and now I want a muffin lol.
@@anndeecosita3586 Same, homely is a word I've known all my life. I don't hear it on a regular basis, but I do hear it or use it myself from time to time lol.
My "head canon" as a citizen of the US is that we combine "at home" and "lonely" to come up with homely, with the unfortunate fact that often people that are physically unattractive tend to stay at home while being lonely.
We call everything a city. I have never heard a debate over a particular city being actually a town. We don't use village at all, unless we are talking about a historic period.
yeah, village is something Americans would use in historical context and cities are typically a population over 100,000 I believe and anything less is a town.
Homely is more of an archaic word in the US. I've heard my grandma use it years ago but nobody else used it. The way she used it it didn't mean all out ugly but someone with more plain features who wasn't particularly pretty. It would still be very rude to use this word in the US.
Banger used in Britain referring to an old car in rough shape was interesting. In the states (or at least the Midwest), we call those a beater, because they are beat up, and you can use and abuse them because they’re value is pretty much gone. Additionally, in the upper-Midwest where I live, some people drive winter beaters. Many people park their good cars in their garage or storage space during the winter months, and drive an older beat up car during the winter to avoid winter hazards like road salt, sliding into ditches or other cars, etc. It is better to go into a ditch with a cheap car, than your expensive new car. Also, if your winter beater already has rust, then a little more corrosive salt won’t make a difference on your paint.
Finally I know what the heck a fairy cake is! Thank you, Kabir! I've heard British RUclipsrs use that phrase before but never knew what they were referring to. They just meant a muffin. Lol. :) And I'm not surprised you didn't know what "homely" means to Americans because no one would call you that, Kabir! They might call you a stud muffin, though. :)
Well, a fairy cake is a cupcake really. I don't think he quite gets what a muffin really is, if you see the confused look on his face when Lawrence was describing it.
Language can very tricky in the States even amongst ourselves. What you call a trolley we call a cart in the north, and a buggy in the south. What you call trousers, we usually call pants, and what you call pants we call panties.(women's underwear) Men's underwear is just that, but also has different slang terms. (Boxers, britches, skivies etc.) Anyway, you may want to check out Conan Learns Australian Slang and see how that compares to the U.K. It's also hilarious.
A lot of Americans I know call underwear as drawers/draws. It’s less common nowadays but some say bloomers for panties. I don’t call pants as trousers but I do say trouser socks for the kind of socks worn with dress pants/slacks.
The history guy in me would posit a few reasons. First, some American English terms that have the same word are based on 18th Century definitions about the time that we cut ties to put it very PC. Secondly is our experiences with Creole, Dutch ("cookie" is Dutch BTW), French, German, Spanish, Native American and African-slave cultures; and their words, phrases and of course cuisines influenced American English.
Love your reactions and this is meant to be helpful, not nit picky, so hopefully you take it that way. I feel like I need to do a Hermione voice here lol - It's Buzz-urd or buzz-errd, not buzz-ard, even though it's written with an A.
Growing up we NEVER said 'no worries', or 'spot on'. I always though the first one to be Australian and the other British. Now I hear then all the time. Growing up we would say 'forget about it's or 'don't worry about it' for the first and for the second 'you hit the nail on the head' (now just 'nail it') or 'got it in one'. We always called a person with orange hair a 'red head', never a 'ginger', but now I hear it all the time. Modern media spreads these expressions like very before.
In Texas we have what we call cornbread muffins. They are made from cornmeal and they are not sweet. They are served with jelly, jam or either margarine or butter. I like to eat them plain with spaghetti.Yummy!
People I know use it to mean either Plane Jane or slightly ugly. But mostly slightly ugly. The word homely makes me think back to reading Anne of Green Gables as a child.
I've recently read in comments sections three funny stories concerning our different idioms. In the first, an American woman living in the UK was at a pub with a group of people. One of her party was carrying an alcoholic beverage in each hand. She jokingly accused this person of "double fisting." (This might be said in the U.S. to tease someone that it appears they are planning to get drunk rapidly.) There was an awkward silence. Her British acquaintances were not familiar with this expression, but assumed it was vulgar. Do the British have their own version? The other two involved an idiom used in both countries but with different meanings. In one story, a British woman had travelled to America for the first time to visit a male cousin who had moved here. She decided to "have a kip" after her long fight, and in front of her cousin's male American friends asked him to "knock her up" at a certain time. After everyone finished laughing, she learned to her embarrassment that rather than asking to be awakened, she had asked to be impregnated. (There is the 2007 American movie "Knocked Up.") Similarly, an American woman was staying at a small hotel in the UK. While checking-in, she asked for a wake-up call for the following morning. Perhaps they did not have an automated system like many large hotels, so the man working at the desk in what we Americans would call the hotel lobby told her that he would be "happy to knock her up."
Waiting for this one 😂😂 I think because of tv and movies, millennials and gen z have done a bit of mashing ourselves.. Lawrence left 14 years ago and language changes in that time.. the only thing on this list I’m put off by is buzzard, by all rights vultures are the waste management and very necessary, but to call a hawk or falcon a buzzard seems kinda rude.. lol.. and yes buzzard is like buzz off u scavenger, but they do need to clean up waste. Good thing they can digest bone and rotting meat doesn’t make them sick..
One of my favorite stories to tell from my time cashiering at a grocery store was a guy walking in at about 2-3 a.m. He asked where the rubbers were. Luckily for him, I knew the English meaning of rubbers. Poor man would have been very confused in the pharmacy...
Americas used to be hard tack or spelled bisket whereas British is from biscotti .. so both countries ended up with the word biscuit but two different products
Hey Kabir, u asked about why we say "Buzz Off" here in the US. It has nothing to do w/buzzards.😄 When we say "Buzz Off" we r telling someone to "Go Away" like one would pesky flying insect. Flying insects buzz.😊 @ least, that is what I have always thought.
Also from usage it tends to imply that they are annoying you like a buzzing insect or, if you’re in a noir movie, inconsequential as an annoying insect.
Imagine the confusion of Americans watching home buying shows like Escape to the Country when they first hear people walking into a room and calling it homely. lol. I had that experience and after the first couple of times of thinking the buyers we're incredibly rude, I picked up what they meant by context clues. I like the British use; it makes more sense and is sweet.
That was where I learned the difference between homely and homey. Same reaction, thought the first couple I heard say the house was homely was rather rude cause I thought it was quite pretty!!
In my experience, the word Homely didn't mean a person looked ugly but rather that they looked plain or unremarkable, which isn't quite the same thing.
An American term for a car that Brits might call a banger is one of my favorite words ever; a jalopy. It's almost affectionate, you drive a car to the brink of death and it's your jalopy.
You inspired me to look it up in Noah Webster's 1828 American Dictionary, which says it's "Of plain features; not handsome; as a homely face. It expresses less than ugly."
It may be new to you but definitely not recent at all. I have mostly heard homely mean slightly ugly but to also occasionally to mean plain. From Webster’s dictionary it’s both. homely adjective : plain or unattractive in appearance
Jolly has been in the states recently and their videos on trying southern American foods at popular restaurants has been great. It's aggravating to see anyone make our dishes that don't know the nuances of making them, or they get a version of a recipe that's not correct/good try it and are disappointed. Biscuits and gravy are so good!
Yeah homely here means not very attractive, this one would always get me because I watch a lot of BritBox and I use to hear people saying something was homely and wonder why the were calling things ugly but it didn't take long to catch the meaning.
banger in the US also has a relation to car culture. you may have heard it in movies about racing cars on the streets but a four banger, referring to a 4 cylinder enging. but that is the only engine we usually use it for. we dont commonly say 6 banger or 8 banger, etc. we say cyl or cylinder. also. one that wasnt actually part of his list but he said in conjunction with banger was mash. most of us know yall call mashed potatoes mash. but we also have sour mash, which is a process used in the distilling industry that uses material from an older batch of mash to start the fermentation of a new batch, analogous to the making of sourdough bread with a starter. The term can also be used as the name of the type of mash used in such a process.
Your on point with things changing. He's an older generation so his experiences are different. I haven't heard anyone even use the word "Homely" in quite some time. As far as hockey goes we call the grass and balls version "Field hockey".
I'm not sure if this one has ever been covered, but one of my favorite stores of this type was related by Emma Watson, who attended Brown University here in the States. She asked a classmate if she could borrow a rubber. In England, that's an eraser. Here, it's a condom.
yeah, kit would be substituted with gear "football gear" or "baseball gear" and yeah lovely or love would be substituted with beautiful, gorgeous or pretty.
I have never noticed American men not saying lovely. I as a woman use it a lot. Not just to describe people. I’d say something like “let’s go outside and enjoy this lovely afternoon.” I can think of some songs use the word lovely. Isn’t She Lovely by Stevie Wonder. Lovely Day by Bill Withers.
My older brother's name was Randy, though his proper name was Randall. After a visit to Europe, starting off in Scotland, he switched to Randall except in the family. 😄
If you want to hear something that is really funny eggplant the plant comes from India was name eggplant by British gardeners because when the pant is young the fruit are white at look like eggs. But do the British call them eggplant today nope. They call them aubergine which is funny because the word is French and literally means eggplant in French.
Thomas English Muffins are still the best. I have always thought they were inspired by crumpets. I never thought that homely meant ugly. I always thought it just meant not particularly pretty, just kind of plain looking.
What you refered to as Fairy cakes we call cupcakes. Which are individual sized frosted cakes. The other word theat Brits use to describe food which is not used here in the States is Morish
Most municipla ‘cities’ are chartered by their state. It also determines whether or not they have some sort of city council and whether or not they have a mayor or a city manager. For example, some places with small populations are ‘charter townships’ and they may not have a proper government, but may just have a city manager or something.
Yes carry on is used here and yes I would probably say by the older population when referring to a relationship, also as you stated we use as continue on/keep going. When used as luggage I hyphenate it ‘carry-on’, I wonder now if that is widely done or if it just makes sense to me.
Yes. Homely means ugly here . We say Homey to mean cozy or comfortable. Every time I hear a British person say homely in such a positive manner it makes me smirk.
We do use the term 'ice hockey' to differentiate it from 'field hockey' and 'street hockey', if we have a need to do so. It isn't used a the time, but is well know. Your hockey is what we call field hockey. Street hokey is played in the street between houses, on roller skates.
Buzzard to me equals Turkey Vulture. Never ever heard of a firework called a banger in the U.S. Hockey is a generic term for ice hockey. No, homely is not someone who likes to stay home. Homely is someone who is not exactly good looking. Ugly is rather harsh. Muffin. Similar to a cupcake but not really a cupcake at all. Usually more crumbly. Sometimes banana nut muffins, blueberry muffin, bran muffin. No frosting.
Fairie cakes are what we call cupcakes. They're sweet cakes with frosting, usually a desert item. Muffins are usually bigger, they're more bread than cake. The most popular are blueberry and topped with a small amount of sugar crystals, and personally I like them with WAY too much soft butter. Usually a breakfast item, often appearing in the same section in stores. BTW, I'm positively obsessed with both English Muffins (usually with butter and grape jelly) and Bangers and Mash. I live in a fairly isolated small town in the southwest, so it's a bit suprising that there are 2 spots here that serve absolutely excellent Bangers and Mash. Just an observation, not a statitical fact, but UK-style pubs are starting to catch up with Irish-style pubs in the US of late. So we're getting a lot more food from your country, (to be honest, most Irish pubs serve Chicago street food rather than Irish food anyways).
"Carry on" is a formal sounding phrase when it means "continue". Homely, in the US, is used to mean "someone should stay at home because they're ugly".
“Carry-on” luggage in the US took on a whole new importance about 20 years ago when airlines stopped allowing free check-in luggage on flights. It used to be that you could check two large bags on any flight free of charge. When they did away with that, only luggage that was a certain size, i.e. ‘carry-on’ size, was allowed to be taken with you free of charge. So, now, it’s mostly the only kind of luggage most Americans use when they travel.
I think "homely" isn't necessarily ugly. More like "not pretty, kind of plain". If I want to describe someone who's ugly, I say, "they got hit with an ugly stick".
In Nevada the difference between a city and a town plays part with how many traffic lights there are. Pahrump NV wont add any more stop lights because if they do they cross over from town to city. so stop signs and roundabouts are the primary build.
The subtleties of language can be very regional. For example, the expression "bless his heart" often has a quite different meaning in the Southern US states than in the rest of the country
I think another meaning of "carry on" could be regional also. Here in the south, or at least Eastern Tennessee it can mean being hysterical. Not in a humorous way, but, for example when grieving at a funeral. "His widow was carrying on something awful for days.
Homely isn't ugly. Homely is closer to unattractive, and generally used in a socially polite context. There is also such a thing as "homely beauty," something\one that may be somewhat unattractive, but has charm, grace, charisma, nostalgia, or something that lends a characteristic of attraction.
I saw a British headline today that read Prince William helps knock up a chicken teriyaki....knock up is slang for getting pregnant, so my first thought wasn't cooking!
In school, our special classes for kids performing above grade level were called Academically Advanced. Or.. AA. So a bunch of us ten and eleven year olds were super proud when we “started doing AA.” Years later, as an adult, I ran into someone I’d known in school who had been in the group with me. We were laughing about it and then we toasted with our beers cheering, “To AA!” I realize now how insensitive that joke is, but at the time we were making fun of the school’s bad naming, NOT those enduring alcoholism.
The way my (American) mum used the word "homely" for someone's appearance, for her, it seemed to mean someone between plain & ugly. It wasn't a direct substitute for "ugly".
Your fairy cakes are our sweet iced usually decorated cupcakes like for a birthday, a muffin is ours that is not iced and not as sugary sweet or savory.
Homely is not necessarily "ugly", more accurately, it is used to describe a person of plain appearance. It is possible that the person has the potential to be made attractive by changing their clothing to become more fashionable or changing their hair or adding makeup. The term often referred to women who lived on a farm who looked worn from working in the fields.
I eventually understood that "homely" was being used in completely different ways after watching a ton of "Great British Bakeoff" episodes. Also, "Escape to the Country". British people kept using "homely" and seemed quite proud of whatever they were referring to. In the US, it might mean ugly, but at the very least it means very plain or unattractive. I'm so glad he finally addressed that one.
There's also headbanger - a metal fan, or one that rocks their head forward rather violently to the rhythm of the music. Yeah, homely is plain. Real ugly is "looks like a mud fence stuck full of corncobs." Or "like s/he got dragged backwards through a knothole."
The word homely in the US is used to describe something or someone as ugly, run down or looking rough if you will. It's a nicer way of saying you're ugly here I guess. But personally I don't like to call anyone that. Moving on to muffins. He is right that muffins aren't frosted. Here muffins are usually sweetened with fruit, cinnamon or vanilla. But sometimes muffins can come with a glaze, crumble or powered sugar on top depending on where you get them. Or if you choose to make your own you can use the toppings of your choice. Or simply leave them as is of course. But no matter the word differences we are still brothers and sisters from the same mother England. Allies to the end.
FYI: a person that tends to stay home rather than going out is usually called a "homebody" here in the USA.
American muffins are usually a breakfast item, and are often in such flavors as blueberry, banana nut, bran or raisin bran, as well as chocolate, chocolate chip and pumpkin. While they may look like large unfrosted cupcakes, you are correct in that they are not as sweet as a cake and are not frosted/iced. They are typically eaten as is or with a spread, such as butter or cream cheese.
Hockey played on grass in the US and Canada is called field hockey. Hockey on concrete or pavement is called street hockey and ice hockey is on ice. By the way, field hockey is a female sport in the US and Canada.
We just call hockey played on ice, Hockey.
Wait, so...what's the difference between field hockey and lacrosse?
@@KiraBKADestroyerOfWorlds I was wondering that, too. We never had lacrosse at my school.
In field hockey, you use sticks to hit a ball along the ground toward the gosl. In lacrosse, the sticks have little nets on the ends, and the ball is thrown from, and caught in, these nets as it's maneuvered toward the goal.
Field hockey is international.
Kabir, you would absolutely love biscuits & gravy! But that definitely comes with a caveat, the gravy has to be made what's referred to here in America as "southern" made gravy & sometimes has crumbled up sausage (cooked breakfast style). Southerners have it for breakfast or brunch, served with over easy eggs, hashbrowns or home fries & either bacon or sausage if the gravy doesn't have sausage in it, if it does then either bacon or no meat. It's milk based & is made by starting with a roux, typically made from the drippings from the bacon or sausage. NO PACKAGE OR JAR gravy is EVER acceptable in a truly southern home!!
Almost no one outside the American South can stomach cream/white gravy.
my favorite breakfast dish. true southern classic
@LT Kell - I'm US, but not Southern ( Ex was), I'm upper mid West.. BUT have had the great pleasure of dining among the pine trees and humidity in the cold upper US months on a screened in side porch in Mississippi and can Testify a properly peppered, homemade sausage gravy w handmade biscuits... well... I miss that more than my Ex. Lost that breakfast in the divorce. 🤣 Done right, it is Heaven. This from a guy who likes good sushi, some vegetarian dishes, and eats the florets off broccoli (the in laws judged me a yankee Fidiot when they used the stalks for a salad and I took the florets and steamed 'em). They still let me sleep in their RV on the back 40.
Homely doesn’t necessarily mean ugly, just a very “ plain “ looking person. A comfy and cozy place here is “ homey “.🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦
In the USA it can mean plain or slightly ugly. In the South, we bless their heart after we call someone homely. 😂
As an American I have never understand the “zed” and “haych” stuff. I can’t wrap my mind around adding extra letters to make a pronunciation when the letter’s standalone pronunciation can just be the letter itself. It’s a pronunciation not a definition lol.
In the U.S., we usually refer to a banged-up vehicle as a "beater".
Also, "banger" can refer to the number of cylinders in an engine (as in 'He only has a six-banger in his S197 Mustang'). . .
If I see one of those cars in the winter especially In states like montana, Wyoming, Minnesota I think of it as a winter beater a cheap car that you don’t mind it getting beat up
Or a 'Junker'.
Rust bucket
Ooh ooh! Jalopy. ☺
Also banger could be a good song too.
One of my Irish mother’s expressions was that poor girl is as homely as a mud fence.
She had such a colorful language style
Bless her heart.
@kevinc6916 "homely as a mud fence"? I love that expression! I like that expression better than "getting hit with an ugly stick".
I’ve never heard firecrackers referred to as bangers.
I have. In particular, it is the loud ones that are just a flash of white light and a loud "bang!"
Nor I but an interesting new phrase nun the less.
Being in my mid 60s (and knowing that language evolves), we used to sometimes call an older raggedy car a jalopy. Also maybe a junker, hooptie or beater.
I’m 31 and love/loved playing The Sims growing up, and never knew why the cheapest car was called a “sloppy jalopy”! I work in linguistics and translation so this just made my day! 😂💜
Haha I randomly say jalopy quite a bit just because our teacher read out loud I think "grapes of wrath " which used it alot and just stuck in my Rolodex
Muffins in America are more breakfast foods. Think poppy seed muffins or blueberry. Basically another form of breakfast pastry like a croissant. It's different from cupcakes where cupcakes are there /as a desert/, purposefully sugary, where as muffins tend to be more on the 'buttery' side of things than sweet. In fact, they can even be savory such as cornbread muffins (cornbread baked in a muffin pan).
Cupcakes are cake, muffins are usually bread and often have pieces of something baked in
No one in America has ever referred to the airline as "AA", even though that is their initials.
"Buzz off" refers to a house fly. It's noisy and annoying. When a person is annoying, you tell them to buzz off".
I've heard "carry on" being used both ways before, but the "relationship" version was only used by my grandparents. "Did you hear about Sarah from down the road? They say she's been carrying on with the mail man." Things like that. "Carry on" used to refer to luggage is hypenated as "carry-on".
Homely probably stems from someone who is so unattractive that they never leave the house for dates or social situations.
I believe "fairy cakes" refers to what we call cupcakes. Or a small version of a cake like birthday cakes. Our muffins are like cornbread muffins, banana nut muffins, or blueberry muffins. Not as sweet as a cake normally would be.
Thank you. And buzzard is pronounced buzzerd. Don’t know why Kabir persists with the wrong pronunciation of a word he’s never known after hearing the correct one repeatedly.
@@JustMe-dc6ks A lot of Brits do that. Listen to them pronounce the word taco. Most Brits will say Tacko instead of Tah-co. Even when they hear the correct pronunciation. One of my pet peeves!
Great reactions on this one, Kabir! Lawrence never disappoints, does he?! "Homely" is definitely a word I wouldn't use here in the U.S. to avoid offending anyone, especially if they're making you biscuits or muffins of any variety. haha!
"Homely" is a word that was jestingly used by my family to mean "at home". We'd say "Take off your coat & make yourself homely".
As I understand it “buzz off” comes from the phrase “shoo fly, you’re bugging me; buzz off”
I think "banger" arose as a slang term for a great song first in the US maybe 10-15 years ago and then when it crossed the pond it became a word for not just a great song but for a generally cool event or thing. In the US we would call an old, falling-apart car a "beater" btw
If you run into a real old timer he may call it a jalopy.
@@ultraman5168 clunker is popular for old broken down vehicle as is hoopty.
What about "jalopy"?
@@ultraman5168😳 Hey, I'm not that old, & I use "jalopy"!🙄
Beater, clunker, jalopy and hoopty are all pretty interchangeable. I use all of those terms, and I'm not an old timer lol.
Yes homely here means not very pretty or very plain. I knew almost all of these words and meaning on each side of the pond. Heard the English words in my American home because of my English Mom and Irish Dad. I’m
Bi-lingual. 😊
To help understand a muffin, think of it like this. Cupcakes are mini cakes, just as muffins are mini flavored quick breads. You can make banana nut bread, or make banana nut muffins. Cinnamon swirl bread, cinnamon swirl muffins. Muffins can be very sweet, or you can make them savory.
Your hockey in Britain we call "field hockey" here in the US.
I noticed the British use the preposition "to" as the comparison word. Conversely, Americans use the preposition "from." e.g. "This sandwich is different to/from that sandwich."
Buzzard is like a vulture. I worked in a legal department years ago. We were on the sixth floor and they used to like to perch on the ledge from our windows. We used to joke about how fitting it was that we had buzzards on our floor.
A fairy cake is a cupcake. A muffin usually has blueberries or some other fruit and/of nuts and no frosting
muffins have chocolate chips as well which is what I believe is the most popular, blueberry muffins and chocolate muffins are my favorite.
Never heard of homely. Learned something new :) I don't know why but the children's book "If You Give A Moose A Muffin' popped in my head. Cupcakes are on the sweeter side, I tend to view them as more of a dessert. Muffins you can eat anytime of day or more or less breakfast. Blueberry muffin, chocolate chip muffins, banana nut muffins, pistachio muffins, apple, lemon poppyseed...it's pretty versatile...and now I want a muffin lol.
I’m curious what state you are from. I’ve heard people use and have used homely all of my life. Of course we don’t say it to people’s face 😂
@@anndeecosita3586 Same, homely is a word I've known all my life. I don't hear it on a regular basis, but I do hear it or use it myself from time to time lol.
Homely isn't an everyday use word where I'm from the only time I run into the word is when I read historical romances.
You’ve never heard homeley as a word for ugly, I’ve never heard of fairy cakes, I guess we’re even 😂
I’m a member of both AA and AAA. We call an old car a “beater”. The only time I’ve heard the term “Fairy Cake” was in my Harry Potter game.
My "head canon" as a citizen of the US is that we combine "at home" and "lonely" to come up with homely, with the unfortunate fact that often people that are physically unattractive tend to stay at home while being lonely.
I love English muffins, but Blueberry muffins are the best!
We call everything a city. I have never heard a debate over a particular city being actually a town. We don't use village at all, unless we are talking about a historic period.
yeah, village is something Americans would use in historical context and cities are typically a population over 100,000 I believe and anything less is a town.
Homely....I'm in Ohio, US & I would use that word to indicate that something or someone is "quite ordinary", not ugly.
Kabir: Pronounces "Buzzard" "Buzz-AARRD"
Also Brits: Pronounce "Bernard" "BRR-Nerd"
Homely is more of an archaic word in the US. I've heard my grandma use it years ago but nobody else used it. The way she used it it didn't mean all out ugly but someone with more plain features who wasn't particularly pretty. It would still be very rude to use this word in the US.
Banger used in Britain referring to an old car in rough shape was interesting. In the states (or at least the Midwest), we call those a beater, because they are beat up, and you can use and abuse them because they’re value is pretty much gone. Additionally, in the upper-Midwest where I live, some people drive winter beaters. Many people park their good cars in their garage or storage space during the winter months, and drive an older beat up car during the winter to avoid winter hazards like road salt, sliding into ditches or other cars, etc. It is better to go into a ditch with a cheap car, than your expensive new car. Also, if your winter beater already has rust, then a little more corrosive salt won’t make a difference on your paint.
Finally I know what the heck a fairy cake is! Thank you, Kabir! I've heard British RUclipsrs use that phrase before but never knew what they were referring to. They just meant a muffin. Lol. :) And I'm not surprised you didn't know what "homely" means to Americans because no one would call you that, Kabir! They might call you a stud muffin, though. :)
Well, a fairy cake is a cupcake really. I don't think he quite gets what a muffin really is, if you see the confused look on his face when Lawrence was describing it.
@@natashadavis2959 Ah, okay, thanks! :) lol
Language can very tricky in the States even amongst ourselves. What you call a trolley we call a cart in the north, and a buggy in the south. What you call trousers, we usually call pants, and what you call pants we call panties.(women's underwear) Men's underwear is just that, but also has different slang terms. (Boxers, britches, skivies etc.) Anyway, you may want to check out Conan Learns Australian Slang and see how that compares to the U.K. It's also hilarious.
A lot of Americans I know call underwear as drawers/draws. It’s less common nowadays but some say bloomers for panties. I don’t call pants as trousers but I do say trouser socks for the kind of socks worn with dress pants/slacks.
The history guy in me would posit a few reasons. First, some American English terms that have the same word are based on 18th Century definitions about the time that we cut ties to put it very PC. Secondly is our experiences with Creole, Dutch ("cookie" is Dutch BTW), French, German, Spanish, Native American and African-slave cultures; and their words, phrases and of course cuisines influenced American English.
As a 38 year old American, Homely to me always meant someone who was rather plain or unremarkable in looks. Not flat-out ugly.
Love your reactions and this is meant to be helpful, not nit picky, so hopefully you take it that way. I feel like I need to do a Hermione voice here lol - It's Buzz-urd or buzz-errd, not buzz-ard, even though it's written with an A.
😄
Growing up we NEVER said 'no worries', or 'spot on'. I always though the first one to be Australian and the other British. Now I hear then all the time. Growing up we would say 'forget about it's or 'don't worry about it' for the first and for the second 'you hit the nail on the head' (now just 'nail it') or 'got it in one'. We always called a person with orange hair a 'red head', never a 'ginger', but now I hear it all the time. Modern media spreads these expressions like very before.
In Texas we have what we call cornbread muffins. They are made from cornmeal and they are not sweet. They are served with jelly, jam or either margarine or butter. I like to eat them plain with spaghetti.Yummy!
I’ve never had jelly on cornbread. Doesn’t sound appetizing. I don’t like my cornbread sweet. I like to eat cornbread with red beans and rice.
@@anndeecosita3586 The only kind of homemade jelly I make is jalapeno jelly just to eat on cornbread. Yum
I’ve always thought homely meant plain, but it may have slightly different interpretations depending on what region of my country you’re in
People I know use it to mean either Plane Jane or slightly ugly. But mostly slightly ugly. The word homely makes me think back to reading Anne of Green Gables as a child.
I've recently read in comments sections three funny stories concerning our different idioms. In the first, an American woman living in the UK was at a pub with a group of people. One of her party was carrying an alcoholic beverage in each hand. She jokingly accused this person of "double fisting." (This might be said in the U.S. to tease someone that it appears they are planning to get drunk rapidly.) There was an awkward silence. Her British acquaintances were not familiar with this expression, but assumed it was vulgar. Do the British have their own version?
The other two involved an idiom used in both countries but with different meanings. In one story, a British woman had travelled to America for the first time to visit a male cousin who had moved here. She decided to "have a kip" after her long fight, and in front of her cousin's male American friends asked him to "knock her up" at a certain time. After everyone finished laughing, she learned to her embarrassment that rather than asking to be awakened, she had asked to be impregnated. (There is the 2007 American movie "Knocked Up.") Similarly, an American woman was staying at a small hotel in the UK. While checking-in, she asked for a wake-up call for the following morning. Perhaps they did not have an automated system like many large hotels, so the man working at the desk in what we Americans would call the hotel lobby told her that he would be "happy to knock her up."
In the US, an old car can sometimes be called a "beater."
I live in Akron, OH and Alcoholics Anonymous was started here in Akron. Dr. Bob's house can be toured in person or virtually.
Languages are living things: constantly growing & changing with new usage & new slang terms.
Waiting for this one 😂😂
I think because of tv and movies, millennials and gen z have done a bit of mashing ourselves.. Lawrence left 14 years ago and language changes in that time.. the only thing on this list I’m put off by is buzzard, by all rights vultures are the waste management and very necessary, but to call a hawk or falcon a buzzard seems kinda rude.. lol.. and yes buzzard is like buzz off u scavenger, but they do need to clean up waste. Good thing they can digest bone and rotting meat doesn’t make them sick..
Buzz off is more like go away you annoying insect.
I never knew there was a bird other than vultures called a buzzard.
One of my favorite stories to tell from my time cashiering at a grocery store was a guy walking in at about 2-3 a.m. He asked where the rubbers were. Luckily for him, I knew the English meaning of rubbers. Poor man would have been very confused in the pharmacy...
Americas used to be hard tack or spelled bisket whereas British is from biscotti .. so both countries ended up with the word biscuit but two different products
Hey Kabir, u asked about why we say "Buzz Off" here in the US. It has nothing to do w/buzzards.😄 When we say "Buzz Off" we r telling someone to "Go Away" like one would pesky flying insect. Flying insects buzz.😊 @ least, that is what I have always thought.
Also from usage it tends to imply that they are annoying you like a buzzing insect or, if you’re in a noir movie, inconsequential as an annoying insect.
Imagine the confusion of Americans watching home buying shows like Escape to the Country when they first hear people walking into a room and calling it homely. lol. I had that experience and after the first couple of times of thinking the buyers we're incredibly rude, I picked up what they meant by context clues. I like the British use; it makes more sense and is sweet.
That was where I learned the difference between homely and homey. Same reaction, thought the first couple I heard say the house was homely was rather rude cause I thought it was quite pretty!!
Carry on can also mean, "continue as you were," or if you say someone was carrying on, you might say they're talking too much.
Liking to stay home is a homebody. Homie is your friend. Homey is cozy.
Yes, "Homely" is a "more polite" way of saying ugly or just rather plain. I do like the way Brits would use it, where we would say "homey"
Buzz-off has more to do with bees. In some parts of the South a nosy person is a busy bee. At least at the "After Church Gossip" parking lot sessions.
In my experience, the word Homely didn't mean a person looked ugly but rather that they looked plain or unremarkable, which isn't quite the same thing.
An American term for a car that Brits might call a banger is one of my favorite words ever; a jalopy. It's almost affectionate, you drive a car to the brink of death and it's your jalopy.
and god help you if you get it muddy, because it then becomes your sloppy jalopy
Homely has never meant ugly until recently, it has meant being rather plain or average. For some it was not wearing any make-up.
You inspired me to look it up in Noah Webster's 1828 American Dictionary, which says it's "Of plain features; not handsome; as a homely face. It expresses less than ugly."
It may be new to you but definitely not recent at all. I have mostly heard homely mean slightly ugly but to also occasionally to mean plain. From Webster’s dictionary it’s both.
homely
adjective
: plain or unattractive in appearance
Jolly has been in the states recently and their videos on trying southern American foods at popular restaurants has been great. It's aggravating to see anyone make our dishes that don't know the nuances of making them, or they get a version of a recipe that's not correct/good try it and are disappointed. Biscuits and gravy are so good!
Hannah Gadsby described the American biscuit as a "scone what done lost its manners." As an American, I think she nailed it.
Yeah homely here means not very attractive, this one would always get me because I watch a lot of BritBox and I use to hear people saying something was homely and wonder why the were calling things ugly but it didn't take long to catch the meaning.
banger in the US also has a relation to car culture. you may have heard it in movies about racing cars on the streets but a four banger, referring to a 4 cylinder enging. but that is the only engine we usually use it for. we dont commonly say 6 banger or 8 banger, etc. we say cyl or cylinder. also. one that wasnt actually part of his list but he said in conjunction with banger was mash. most of us know yall call mashed potatoes mash. but we also have sour mash, which is a process used in the distilling industry that uses material from an older batch of mash to start the fermentation of a new batch, analogous to the making of sourdough bread with a starter. The term can also be used as the name of the type of mash used in such a process.
Your on point with things changing. He's an older generation so his experiences are different. I haven't heard anyone even use the word "Homely" in quite some time. As far as hockey goes we call the grass and balls version "Field hockey".
I'm not sure if this one has ever been covered, but one of my favorite stores of this type was related by Emma Watson, who attended Brown University here in the States. She asked a classmate if she could borrow a rubber. In England, that's an eraser. Here, it's a condom.
Haha, I wonder if that classmate was a guy or girl. Could've given a very wrong impression.
Also the word "kit" is much more limited in the US. And few American men would use the word "lovely." Kinda like wearing pink I suppose.
yeah, kit would be substituted with gear "football gear" or "baseball gear" and yeah lovely or love would be substituted with beautiful, gorgeous or pretty.
I have never noticed American men not saying lovely. I as a woman use it a lot. Not just to describe people. I’d say something like “let’s go outside and enjoy this lovely afternoon.” I can think of some songs use the word lovely. Isn’t She Lovely by Stevie Wonder. Lovely Day by Bill Withers.
A common male name in America is Randy, but in the UK, it has a very different meaning.
My older brother's name was Randy, though his proper name was Randall. After a visit to Europe, starting off in Scotland, he switched to Randall except in the family. 😄
If you ever write something in the US in pencil please don't ask for a rubber 🤣...eraser is fine a rubber means condom 😳
Ooops, I said that one too. I should have read more comments! lol
If you want to hear something that is really funny eggplant the plant comes from India was name eggplant by British gardeners because when the pant is young the fruit are white at look like eggs. But do the British call them eggplant today nope. They call them aubergine which is funny because the word is French and literally means eggplant in French.
Thomas English Muffins are still the best. I have always thought they were inspired by crumpets.
I never thought that homely meant ugly. I always thought it just meant not particularly pretty, just kind of plain looking.
What you refered to as Fairy cakes we call cupcakes. Which are individual sized frosted cakes. The other word theat Brits use to describe food which is not used here in the States is Morish
We call banged up or beat up car a beater. A really good party can be a banger after the fact. During the party it's banging.
Most municipla ‘cities’ are chartered by their state. It also determines whether or not they have some sort of city council and whether or not they have a mayor or a city manager. For example, some places with small populations are ‘charter townships’ and they may not have a proper government, but may just have a city manager or something.
Yes carry on is used here and yes I would probably say by the older population when referring to a relationship, also as you stated we use as continue on/keep going. When used as luggage I hyphenate it ‘carry-on’, I wonder now if that is widely done or if it just makes sense to me.
Yes. Homely means ugly here . We say Homey to mean cozy or comfortable. Every time I hear a British person say homely in such a positive manner it makes me smirk.
We do use the term 'ice hockey' to differentiate it from 'field hockey' and 'street hockey', if we have a need to do so. It isn't used a the time, but is well know. Your hockey is what we call field hockey. Street hokey is played in the street between houses, on roller skates.
Buzzard to me equals Turkey Vulture. Never ever heard of a firework called a banger in the U.S. Hockey is a generic term for ice hockey. No, homely is not someone who likes to stay home. Homely is someone who is not exactly good looking. Ugly is rather harsh. Muffin. Similar to a cupcake but not really a cupcake at all. Usually more crumbly. Sometimes banana nut muffins, blueberry muffin, bran muffin. No frosting.
Fairie cakes are what we call cupcakes. They're sweet cakes with frosting, usually a desert item.
Muffins are usually bigger, they're more bread than cake. The most popular are blueberry and topped with a small amount of sugar crystals, and personally I like them with WAY too much soft butter. Usually a breakfast item, often appearing in the same section in stores.
BTW, I'm positively obsessed with both English Muffins (usually with butter and grape jelly) and Bangers and Mash. I live in a fairly isolated small town in the southwest, so it's a bit suprising that there are 2 spots here that serve absolutely excellent Bangers and Mash.
Just an observation, not a statitical fact, but UK-style pubs are starting to catch up with Irish-style pubs in the US of late. So we're getting a lot more food from your country, (to be honest, most Irish pubs serve Chicago street food rather than Irish food anyways).
When you said you thought the word homely meant someone that stayed home a lot I was screaming God no never say that in the United States 🫣😆
"Carry on" is a formal sounding phrase when it means "continue". Homely, in the US, is used to mean "someone should stay at home because they're ugly".
“Carry-on” luggage in the US took on a whole new importance about 20 years ago when airlines stopped allowing free check-in luggage on flights. It used to be that you could check two large bags on any flight free of charge. When they did away with that, only luggage that was a certain size, i.e. ‘carry-on’ size, was allowed to be taken with you free of charge. So, now, it’s mostly the only kind of luggage most Americans use when they travel.
11:00 - Not exactly. "Homely" is used in NA to refer to someone plain, not necessarily ugly. If they're truly ugly, we'll just say they're ugly.
I think "homely" isn't necessarily ugly. More like "not pretty, kind of plain". If I want to describe someone who's ugly, I say, "they got hit with an ugly stick".
The one I usually use is "fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down!"
In Nevada the difference between a city and a town plays part with how many traffic lights there are. Pahrump NV wont add any more stop lights because if they do they cross over from town to city. so stop signs and roundabouts are the primary build.
We will call a beat up old car a beater. Of course, that's also what we call the operative part of a kitchen mixer.
I was raised in the Village of Fairport in the town of Perinton in the County of Monroe in the state of New York.
"buzz off" is in reference to flying bugs buzzing around you. You shoo them away to go "buzz" somewhere else.
You should watch Laurence's newest two videos. He got a new home. 🏠
The subtleties of language can be very regional. For example, the expression "bless his heart" often has a quite different meaning in the Southern US states than in the rest of the country
I think another meaning of "carry on" could be regional also. Here in the south, or at least Eastern Tennessee it can mean being hysterical. Not in a humorous way, but, for example when grieving at a funeral. "His widow was carrying on something awful for days.
Yes, we do use it that way in East Tennessee! Don't carry on like that, straighten up! Lol
Homely isn't ugly. Homely is closer to unattractive, and generally used in a socially polite context. There is also such a thing as "homely beauty," something\one that may be somewhat unattractive, but has charm, grace, charisma, nostalgia, or something that lends a characteristic of attraction.
Where I come from, "ugly" and "unattractive" mean exactly the same thing, and neither is a nice thing to call anybody sapient.
I saw a British headline today that read Prince William helps knock up a chicken teriyaki....knock up is slang for getting pregnant, so my first thought wasn't cooking!
In school, our special classes for kids performing above grade level were called Academically Advanced.
Or.. AA.
So a bunch of us ten and eleven year olds were super proud when we “started doing AA.”
Years later, as an adult, I ran into someone I’d known in school who had been in the group with me. We were laughing about it and then we toasted with our beers cheering, “To AA!”
I realize now how insensitive that joke is, but at the time we were making fun of the school’s bad naming, NOT those enduring alcoholism.
The way my (American) mum used the word "homely" for someone's appearance, for her, it seemed to mean someone between plain & ugly. It wasn't a direct substitute for "ugly".
Your fairy cakes are our sweet iced usually decorated cupcakes like for a birthday, a muffin is ours that is not iced and not as sugary sweet or savory.
Homely! Not really ugly. Just rather plain and frumpy.
Homely is not necessarily "ugly", more accurately, it is used to describe a person of plain appearance. It is possible that the person has the potential to be made attractive by changing their clothing to become more fashionable or changing their hair or adding makeup. The term often referred to women who lived on a farm who looked worn from working in the fields.
Banger was used to reference sex in America during the 80's. Also, "muffin" in America used to also refer to women's genatelia.
true but I think the shortened term "muff" was used more
@@kevinprzy4539 hence muff diving
Any donut shop will have muffins. Chocolate Chip is my favorite.
Buzzard can in the US also mean an old crochety man. " Dont listen to that old buzzard" .
I eventually understood that "homely" was being used in completely different ways after watching a ton of "Great British Bakeoff" episodes. Also, "Escape to the Country". British people kept using "homely" and seemed quite proud of whatever they were referring to. In the US, it might mean ugly, but at the very least it means very plain or unattractive. I'm so glad he finally addressed that one.
There's also headbanger - a metal fan, or one that rocks their head forward rather violently to the rhythm of the music.
Yeah, homely is plain. Real ugly is "looks like a mud fence stuck full of corncobs." Or "like s/he got dragged backwards through a knothole."
Homely is not quite ugly, it is more just plain.
The word homely in the US is used to describe something or someone as ugly, run down or looking rough if you will. It's a nicer way of saying you're ugly here I guess. But personally I don't like to call anyone that. Moving on to muffins. He is right that muffins aren't frosted. Here muffins are usually sweetened with fruit, cinnamon or vanilla. But sometimes muffins can come with a glaze, crumble or powered sugar on top depending on where you get them. Or if you choose to make your own you can use the toppings of your choice. Or simply leave them as is of course. But no matter the word differences we are still brothers and sisters from the same mother England. Allies to the end.