Some further clarifications from the British guy:
Actually, there's many, many series' of Doctor Who. There were 26 series of the original run, then the movie, then the series "rebooted" from series 1 again and is up to series 5. Ignoring all the "specials" they did because they couldn't afford to do a whole series. So in theory there's 31 series of Doctor Who so far.
Thing is, it's very rare for "aeroplane" to be said out loud and in full. Both airplane and just plane are much more common in speech and informal writing, while "aeroplane" is almost considered the engineering or "proper" term for them.
You pronounce it
A-LOO-mi-num and spell it aluminum, while we pronounce it
A-loo-MI-ni-um and spell it aluminium.
Biscuits are a national treasure here and come in many shapes, sizes, colours and flavours. From rich tea and digestives through to bourbons and garibaldis (look em up).
We refer to a very particular kind of biscuit as a "cookie". Usually a particular texture or cooking method and more often than not they have chocolate chips in.
What follows are not translations so much, as we use both the British terms on the left and the more widely used terms on the right; The Brits love a good insult and will ensure to get as many uses out of it as possible:
Having a wank = masturbating
Being a wanker = being an asshole (presumably one who wanks all the time)
A load of wank = A load of crap (in this case, the insinuation is that the work is so bad that it resembles the result of a wank - that is a mess of spunk)
Fanwank = Self-gratifying fanboyism (OK, the term on the left is more commonly used, but the insinuation here is that the fanboy is wanking himself off to his own fan theories).
I'm presuming that if it's being used to mean "whining" then that's due to Americans misunderstanding the term "fanwank" entirely.
Friend means the same pretty much everywhere, but I don't
hang with my buddies, I
hang out with my mates.
Similarly, it's interesting you include "pal" as well, because I always see that as more frequently used as a passive-aggressive term - "Watch it, pal!" or "Hey pal, what do you think you're doing?"... Which is also a perfect fit for mate... "Watch it, mate!" or "Mate, what do you think you're doing?"
Buggery means anal sex, and it's still used in this way sometimes but it's most common as a standard light expletive. It's nowhere near as strong a swearword as "fuck".
Here's some phrases to get you started with this wonderful word:
Bugger me! / Bugger me sideways! ("Well how about that!")
Bugger it! ("Screw it!")
Oh bugger... ("Oh damn!")
You can also use it freely when talking about someone going to prison. "I hope you get buggered by a burly bastard!"
Balls and bollocks are more interchangable as expletives, and they all mean "testicles" (we also say "balls").
Oh balls! / Oh bollocks!
A load of balls! / A load of bollocks!
Big balls / Big bollocks
There's a phrase "It's cold enough to freeze the bollocks off a brass monkey" as well. No idea where it originated, but if you ever hear anyone saying "it's brass monkeys out here!" that's what they mean...
As much as we all love Hugh, he's not necessarily the best role model for learning everyday English as he's extremely posh and old fashioned British. Which makes his portrayal of House even more astounging.
"Having a chin-wag" is the kind of thing you'd hear old ladies say. We "have a chat" too, or also quite common "have a natter".
Not quite. Chav is a word for a very specific set of young people, not necessarily white kids who adopt black culture. Chav is more inclusive: You can have chavs of all colours and creeds!
Every 10 years or so the name for them changes. When I was at school they were "townies".
There isn't really a specific definition for a "chav" but key indicators include cheap knock off clothes/jewellery, loudmouthed but with nothing to say, fake London accents ("mockney"), binge drinking, baseball cap wearing, hairsprayed, skinhead, bling, etc. etc...
Basically, it's a group term for criminalised, unpleasant young people.
If you want to go proper West Country on it, you can pronounce the R for a good, pirate sounding word. "Arrrrse!" The shorter you make that pirate sound, the more authentically west country you will be
I think everyone just calls them "burgers" now, but yes, we call them beefburgers rather than hamburgers... because "hamburgers" is wrong. There's no ham in them. And apparently there is no evidence that the name originated from "Hamburg, Germany".
On the topic, "burgers" can also refer to somebody's large nipples.
I'm sure you'd get people who say "Porygon Zed" and "Porygon Zee", but because it's an overseas product, I'd call it "Porygon Zee". Zee just sounds cooler, you know?
On the subject of Zee... we also say Ze-bra, rather than Zee-bra. But it's a right arse to write out pronunciations
