“We are two nations divided by a common language.” -Winston Churchill
Churchill said it well. The quinta where we’ve been staying during our time in Portugal, Quinta dos Tres Rios, is owned by two British expats, Hugh and Jane Forestier-Walker. They are adherents to the “Queen’s English”, yet sometimes we have to think about what they’ve just said, and sometimes we even have to ask for an explanation. Seem’s the Queen’s English isn’t quite the same as English in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, so we put together this brief cheat sheet of some of the more common terms we’ve picked up from Hugh and Jane; some you’ll likely recognize, a few others might be new to you (in random order, because we’re too lazy to alphabetize).
- Loo – this is a toilet, as in, “I need to use the loo.”
- Telly – television; “Do you fancy the World Cup is on the Telly this evening?”
- Boot – trunk of a car; “Just put those bottles of wine in the boot.”
- Bonnet – hood of a car; “A bloody bird went to the loo all over my bonnet!”
- Lorry – a truck, but not a semi; “Let’s take the lorry up to the village to get some provisions.”
- Artic – a semi truck (from “articulated”, i.e. the hitch); “He drove an artic for years.”
- Snail Home – a motor home; “They drove their snail home on holiday to Switzerland.”
- Pavement – a sidewalk; “You best walk the pavement so as not to get hit by that snail home.”
- Motorway – an interstate-like freeway; “Just get on the motorway and don’t stop until Lisbon.”
- Petrol – gasoline; “This auto takes petrol, mind you, not diesel.”
- Right – used instead of ok; “Right, so let’s go to the village before it gets dark.”
- Lift – an elevator; “The lift is just down the hall and runs you up straightaway to the top floor.”
- Hoover – a vacuum cleaner; “Right, the floor is dirty and could do with a bit of hoovering.”
- Biscuit – a cookie (not a biscuit); “Do you fancy some chocolate biscuits?”
- Crisps – potato chips; “Crisps will make you fat, they will.”
- Spud – a potato; “Have another baked spud with your meat.”
- Peckish – hungry; “Those crisps didn’t hold me, I’m still quite peckish.”
- Squeeze Me – “excuse me”; “{Belch (After eating a bunch of crisps)} Squeeze me!”
- Quid – a British pound sterling (money)–much quicker to say; “It cost 6 quids you say?”
- Stone – 14 pounds of weight, only applied to people; “Dear, you need to lose a stone or two.”
- Kip – to sleep; “How’d you kip last night deary?”
- Nick – to steal; “Right, now let’s hop in the lorry and go nick us some fresh peaches.”
- Protectives – condoms; “I’ve got a big date tonight, I’m feeling I should nick some protectives.”
- Nappy – diapers; “I forgot the protectives so now I’m constantly buying disposable nappies.”
- Pudding – dessert; “For pudding tonight we’re having chocolate cake.”
- Pants – men’s underwear; “Oh, he wears those bikini pants.”
- Knickers – women’s underwear; “Oh, she wears those thong knickers.”
- Cheeky/Cheek – unfair/unfairness, used for general quirkiness; “If you’re cheeky with me one more time I’ll give you a whack.”
