The Language (and travel) Thread

[Liselle]

 

Did you get a chance to practice your Finnish?

 

Valitettavasti ei (unfortunately, no)

 

Well, the odd word here and there, but not much. We didn't really get much of a chance to socialise, because the hostel we were staying in didn't have a common area where people could meet and chat. Well, it did, but it was basically a dining room with a TV in it, and you kind of felt like you were intruding if you went in because most people used it to eat and not socialise. And although we went out at night, the bars and clubs were pretty empty. Finns don't go out until quite late at night, sort of 11-12 onwards, and things don't start getting busy until 1ish, which is when we were about ready to go home

 

 

Unfortunately, there's no "Series 3 Tidbits" thread, but you'll run across them while you're catching up in general. (I believe some of them are in the Star Trek thread, by the way.)

 

Yeah, I've come across a few already And thanks, I haven't checked the Star Trek thread out yet, but now I will

[Carol the Dabbler]

Finns don't go out until quite late at night, sort of 11-12 onwards, and things don't start getting busy until 1ish, which is when we were about ready to go home

 

Yeah, I can imagine!  That's kind of odd, actually -- I've always associated the late-night socializing with tropical countries, where it's so hot during the day that people tend to take a mid-day nap.  But I guess it would also be understandable in places where daylight lasts well into what would otherwise be the evening.  That wouldn't have been much the case when you were there, but perhaps people were still in a summer mood.

 

[Liselle]

I think it's mostly to do with the fact that alcohol in Finland is very expensive in bars and clubs, so the Finns tend to drink at home before they go out, and if they go out later, they don't have to buy as many drinks

[Carol the Dabbler]

I think I mentioned somewhere earlier on this thread that while watching The Office (the UK original) I had been surprised to hear Tim say "het up," which I had always thought of as a somewhat old-fashioned colloquial American expression.

 

Just recently, I thought to look up the term in two dictionaries, the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary (from the UK) and Webster's New World College Dictionary (from the US).  The Webster's (which defines it as "excited or angry") does indeed flag it as American slang.  But the Oxford ("anxious, excited or slightly angry") says it's an informal British expression!

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Old time Mainers still use that expression a lot.

[Carol the Dabbler]

So do old-time Hoosiers! 

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Coolness!

[aely]

And old time Scousers! I haven't heard 'het up' as much as I used to though.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Me neither.  My grandma used to say it a lot.

 

[Alice Holmes]

Old-time...Oxfordians?

[Carol the Dabbler]

Old-time...Oxfordians?

 

I believe the usual term is Oxonians (though heaven knows why).

 

[Alice Holmes]

I was making something up on the spot.  

 

Well, Oxonian refers to members of Oxford University. Oxfordian refers to a theory about the authorship of Shakespeare's works, which has to do with a certain Edward de Vere being the actual author.

 

So yes, you're right.

[Carol the Dabbler]

From another thread:

 

Christopher Lee is my #1 for voices, which is why I was so made up he got to be Saruman.

 

Over here, "made up" can mean a lot of things -- e.g., invented ("he just made up the whole story") or reconciled ("they fought but then made up") -- but in this case you seem to mean something like pleased.  Is this a standard UK expression that I've simply never encountered before, or a special bit of Scouse talk?  And what does it mean, more exactly?

 

[aely]

To be made up about something is to be rather pleased (in general) and is common parlance in Liverpool.

 

Urban Dictionary says this...

 

Used in the North of England particularly Liverpool and Merseyside, meaning delighted, happy about something, over the moon!
Though it can also be used as a sarcastic retort.

 

"When i found out i'd got the job, I was made up!" Or "her face lit up when she opened her present, you could tell she was really made up with it."

 

The sarcastic retort usage of the term, would be something like, when someone was jealous of someone. The person might say: "Hey i got a date with that fella! and you would reply, "I'm made up for ya!" (when really you were no such thing)

[Carol the Dabbler]

From another thread:
 

This should maybe go into the language thread, but what do English / American native speakers mean when they use the German noun "Angst"? It literally translates as fear, but I sense a slightly different meaning here.

 
Hmm, yeah, it's different in English -- more like dread and anguish?  Dictionary One (US) says "a gloomy, often neurotic feeling of generalized anxiety and depression," and Dictionary Two (UK/US) says, "a feeling of anxiety and worry about a situation, or about your life;" but perhaps those are short versions of the clinical definition.  Or maybe I've been using it wrong....
 
... or not.  At least the Urban Dictionary comes closer to agreeing with me:
 

Angst, often confused with anxiety, is a transcendent emotion in that it combines the unbearable anguish of life with the hopes of overcoming this seemingly impossible situation....

[T.o.b.y]

Carol, thank you so much. Of course I might have been smart enough to have a look at a dictionary myself - serves me right for having complained for 6 years about people who use up lecture time to ask questions they could have answered themselves with the help of a book.

 

Dread and anguish... that sounds more like some of the fan fiction out there than the actual BBC series. Neurotic? Yeah, that fits Sherlock, I guess - but not just recently. Worry about a situation? He'd better be a little bit worried about showing himself to people who have already been to his funeral.

[Alice Holmes]

Good show, T.o.b.y!

[T.o.b.y]

Uh... good thing this is already in the language thread: What does that expression mean in this context?

[Alice Holmes]

The exclamation, 'Good show' just basically means, 'good job', or 'nice work'. So I was just saying that your comment was well-thought out. About Sherlock being neurotic.

[T.o.b.y]

Oh! Thank you!

[Carol the Dabbler]

Just in case you ever want to translate "Good show!" into Hoosier, that would be "Ya done good!"

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

In Maine it would be "Wicked good!"

[T.o.b.y]

Oh Maine... I love Maine! If you live there, I envy you so much...

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

I do. I love it to. Tried moving away, but I got so homesick I had to come back and don't intend to ever leave it again except to travel. I dearly want to tour the British Isles. Maybe Europe some day, should I live that long.

[Liselle]

I'm always bewildered by the fact that non-British people want to holiday here in the UK; I mean, it's so... unremarkable But I guess everyone thinks that about their own country. And there are some good points about the UK I suppose; I mean, we have the whole monarchy thing going on, and some of the countryside can be quite beautiful...

After that I'm drawing a blank So what, for you non-Britons, is the allure of the UK?