So, the other day I was reading The Times (of London) and there was an article about the circus. It was a pretty standard report, but I nearly laughed out loud (out loud!) when I came to this part about the smell of burning “candyfloss” wafting through the fairgrounds. Candyfloss! What a silly word! Imagine flossing your teeth with candy! Anyways, here is a list of my favorite British words that sound silly to my American ears (this list does not include American words whose British pronunciations are silly, like “garage” or “vitamin.” Just British words.):
candyfloss
answerphone
orang-utan
numpty
whinge
pushchair
candyfloss
answerphone
orang-utan
numpty
whinge
pushchair
fairy lights
sellotape
people mover
zebra crossing
fizzy drink
Okay, that's all I could think of. Did I forget anything important?
(the picture is from here)
I can't think of any other silly words but I always liked how 'brilliant' is used.
ReplyDeleteAlso, how the hood of the car is called a bonnet. Still makes me laugh.