10 ms·
The other British invasion: how UK lingo conquered the US
- mmmBacon 2y agoYeah I don’t think UK lingo has conquered anything here in the US. I find most UK lingo rather dorky and quaint. To me it’s like talking to cousins you like from a quaint town that’s woefully behind the times. It’s not their fault though and it’s kind of endearing. However, Americans who use British lingo are the absolute worst; they remind me of a Will Farrell character except they are not funny.
- 082349872349872 2y agoAt some point after the 1950s, en-gb speakers had to resign themselves to the dominance (if not prestige) of en-us; might the same process happen with en-us and en-in? (and then there's en-gb vs en-eu...)
- petesergeant 2y agoNothing sounds as unnatural to my British-attuned ear than North Americans saying "mate" or "mates".
- UncleSlacky 2y ago"Twat" is worse, it comes out sounding like "twot" for some reason.
- sph 2y agoBecause they imported "mate" but forgot the crucial "oi!" part
- Starlevel004 2y agoAm I going insane? I've seen this posted before in the last week and some of the comments here are identical to the comments from last time. In fact algolia search shows this was first posted 3 days ago: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=how%20UK%20lingo%20conquered%20the%20US&sort=byPopularity&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
- nemomarx 2y agoYeah, the reply about the garbage lorry is word for word, isn't it? Did this get a second chance and it moved all the other comments with it, or...?
- mikeshi42 2y agoI read this exact reply N days ago... okay exact is stretching it but you get the point ;) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41683174 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41683174
- superluserdo 2y agoClicking the link to the comments on that post takes you to this comment section, so I think there's some by-hand deduping/merging going on
- jgalt212 2y agoDon't get your knickers in a twist.
- GauntletWizard 2y agoDang has been resurfacing threads that got limited engagement, but that either have a second posting that's doing better or that he simply manually resets the timer on. The process by which he does this also resets the time on comments, too, for some reason; I don't really know except that I've noticed it happen to threads I had open or threads I had commented on.
- bigstrat2003 2y agoThe article didn't mention what is by far my favorite British lingo: "faffing about". It's just so damn useful! I know that there are other phrases which work, but for whatever reason none of them really hit for me like "faffing about" does.
- sbuk 2y agoI like using it to say something is a waste of time or too much trouble; it’s a faff…
- Ylpertnodi 2y agoA good example of 'faff' is when you join a queue, get to the teller and they tell you a) you needed to take a number and/or b) you're in the wrong line.
- timthorn 2y agoOh, no. A faff is an activity, rather than a scenario. Going to the bank could be a faff, but your example is just a bloody nuisance...
- Lio 2y agoNow, I’d say the really correct usage would be “a bit of a faff” but if you find saying that too much faff it’s all the same to me mate. Anyway, I’m on the drag getting to the shops. I need to fix a picture thas on the huh. ;)
- carlmr 2y agoIt's nice lingo, but is it commonly used in the US now? I've never heard it in the US except from Brits.
- rprwhite 2y agoThe sound of the word just seems to capture the action, or lack of action, so well.
- itohihiyt 2y ago
- thecosas 2y agoAs an American, I still get hung up when hearing about a government "scheme" [0] in Britain without any negative connotation whatsoever. [0] https://www.cjr.org/language_corner/scheme.php https://www.cjr.org/language_corner/scheme.php
- habosa 2y agoIt’s so good hearing about a “bike to work scheme” and trying to imagine what the evil part is.
- jajko 2y agoHealthcare providers getting fat paychecks from all the treatment from accidents, or in later age prolonged lung cancer treatment? Funeral services? Or maybe just bike sellers being happy to sell junky overpriced fashionate ebikes that will drop embedded non-replaceable battery's capacity significantly within few years (or replace them for exorbitant costs). With the right mind the world is there to screw over, just look at the politicians and other high functioning sociopaths.
- Kwpolska 2y agoAn excuse to pay less cash to employees?
- williamdclt 2y agoThat’s really not how it works
- ndsipa_pomu 2y agoThat it provides greater benefit to the better paid employees and is inaccessible to the people trying to find work?
- wglass 2y agoBrilliant!
- yarg 2y ago> Children who in the US would be deemed “smart” or “bright” or “gifted” are called clever in the UK. It's interesting the way that words sometimes seem to have nuance that doesn't seem to be strictly within the definition. For no reason I can remotely explain, I'd divide these into clever/bright and smart/gifted. I've met several autists that I would readily describe as smart or even gifted, but I wouldn't describe as clever or bright. (Although the distinction might just be that I'm an arsehole.)
- kragen 2y agoIn the US, the word is generally "asshole", although not, for example, in my grandfather's rural West Texas dialect.
- yarg 2y agoI know that - the only time I use the American spelling is when I use it as a suffix. (I often consider it shorthand for "I'm not an American".)
- fsckboy 2y agobut, in certain quarters in Great Britain, arse is pronounced as if it had no R
- Ylpertnodi 2y agoAn inherited Americanism in itself.
- kragen 2y agoWhile non-rhotic accents are common in parts of America, the dominant theory among linguists is that this was a result of Americans copying a trend in England, not the other way around, as you seem to be asserting: > By the 1770s, postvocalic /r/-less pronunciation was becoming common around London even in formal educated speech. The English actor and linguist John Walker used the spelling ar to indicate the long vowel of aunt in his 1775 rhyming dictionary.[4] In his influential Critical Pronouncing Dictionary and Expositor of the English Language (1791), Walker reported, with a strong tone of disapproval, that "the r in lard, bard,... is pronounced so much in the throat as to be little more than the middle or Italian a, lengthened into baa, baad...."[8] Americans returning to England after the American Revolutionary War, which lasted from 1775 to 1783, reported surprise at the significant changes in the fashionable pronunciation that had taken place.[16] ... > The loss of postvocalic /r/ in the British prestige standard in the late 18th and the early 19th centuries influenced the American port cities with close connections to Britain, which caused upper-class pronunciation to become non-rhotic in many Eastern and Southern port cities such as New York City, Boston, Alexandria, Charleston, and Savannah.[9] Like regional dialects in England, however, the accents of other areas in the United States remained rhotic in a display of linguistic "lag", which preserved the original pronunciation of /r/.[9] —https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhoticity_in_English#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhoticity_in_English#History
- 23B1 2y agoAs an American patriot who mists up when I hear The Star-Spangled Banner... UK slang, like their humor, is just objectively better.
- rconti 2y agoFor many people of my rough age and hobbies (cars/motorsport), Top Gear and other British motoring shows and podcasts have had a massive impact. We had virtually nothing good in the way of TV shows about cars in the 90s/2000s, which meant that anyone watching World Rally Championship and F1 were downloading clips or torrents of them. That, in turn, led straight into finalgear.com in the mid 2000s, before the BBC finally had the sense to bring Top Gear to BBC America, which led to another huge uptick in popularity.
- ryukoposting 2y agoLikewise. I didn't even know that several phrases I picked up from Top Gear were distinctively British, until my wife pointed one out recently. There are a few figures of speech I never adopted from the show, though. Ex: Is "oh cock" a British-ism, or just a James May-ism? I don't think I've ever heard that anywhere else. There's also the simple nature of being online at 6 AM. What other English-speaking country is awake at that time of day?
- UncleSlacky 2y agoI think it's a May-ism. I was going to say it could be a "posh public schoolboy"-ism, but it turns out he went to comprehensive school ("public high school" for the Yanks out there).
- zkldi 2y agoAn interesting one is "bread" to refer to money; I believe it comes from cockney rhyming slang. Bread and Honey = Money.
- htk 2y agoHe's the author of two books I really enjoyed and recommend: "The Sound on the Page" and "When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It".
- hermitcrab 2y agoAs a Brit, I feel the cultural traffic is more from the US to the UK. But that is hardly surprising given the larger American population and outsize influence of Hollywood. Ps/ Americans, please keep saying "bummed". It is a constant source of amusement for immature Brits like myself.
- trollied 2y agoI've heard a few Americans say "wanker" recently. It just doesn't sound right in their accent.
- corobo 2y ago"Twat" is another one that sounds weird. Americans sound like they're replacing the a with an o
- smcl 2y agoInterestingly, both twat and cunt are far more severe (and aimed at women) in US English than they are in UK/Aus/NZ English.
- flumpcakes 2y agoSouthern England seems to have more American sensibilities with respect to those words - but in Scotland "cunt" is pretty common and 99% of the time not gendered.
- smcl 2y agoYeah I was saying in UK/NZ/Aus (plus I guess Ireland too come to think of it) it's ungendered and not necessarily a severe swear word. I didn't think it was that harsh anywhere in UK but maybe I can't speak for England.
- hermitcrab 2y ago'The c word' is still pretty offensive in the UK. Except, perhaps, in places like Glasgow. Interestingly c*t and quaint have the same etymological roots.
- itohihiyt 2y agoMy favourite thing that Americans say that means something very different in the UK is: fanny. "Fanny pack" makes me smile every time I hear it. One of my favourite Scottish colloquialisms is: fannybaws.
- smcl 2y agoSimilarly (originating in linux circles in the 90s, revived recently by cryptobros) the acronym "FUD" always makes me smile. For our friends across the pond, both "fanny" and "fud" are Scots slang for the female genitalia. There's so many of these - recently a startup called "boby" appeared ("boaby" is a less harsh form of "dick"). You can encounter characters in Stardew Valley for the switch called "Rocket" (West Coast Scots for a crazy person) and "Bam" (Scots for a usually sketchy guy who is up to trouble). I love them, they're like a little hidden treat for a tiny minority of the planet.
- wlll 2y agoSomewhat related. Some US people came to visit our UK office back in about 2001, amongst them "Randy Bush". That entertained us. Also, there used to be a guy at Novell called "Randy Bender".
- hermitcrab 2y agoAn interesting article, somewhat let down by an inaccurate and overstated headline. No-one is getting 'conquered'. As it says at the end of the article: "But in the grand scheme of things, the traffic both ways has been modest. That is, American English and British English remain distinct dialects, with little danger of being homogenised."
- walrushunter 2y agoThe most interesting part of this article is the incendiary language in the headline. Nobody would click otherwise because it doesn't take a genius to know that the internet has caused Brits and Americans to interact more regularly and thus adopt more of each other's language.
- DrBazza 2y agoI’m down for that in the US. I’m up for it, in the UK.
- smcl 2y agoLet's meet in the middle and use "I'm game" - neither up nor down!
- Yeul 2y agoI have my PC set to UK English. But realistically in my day to day life I speak English with people who are not from any historically English speaking territory. It's not owned by anyone.
- MrDrDr 2y agoMy favourite UK/US words are the ones we share but have different meanings - e.g. nonplussed
- ryukoposting 2y agoHow much of this can be attributed to the internet? I have been exposed to a lot of British figures of speech because I get up early in the morning and interact with people on HN and other sites. The other folks active at that time of day tend to be Brits.
- flumpcakes 2y agoAn interesting one working in tech is "routers" (the network devices that route traffic) and "routers" (the machine that cuts wood). In British English the pronunciation is swapped. A "rooter" is the network device, and the "rahowter" is the woodworking machine.
- ks2048 2y agoOne I've noticed increasing is "cheers". Not the typical use (for my American mind) as a toast when drinking, but as "thanks" or "you're welcome".
- richliss 2y agoThe first non-shite thing I’ve seen from the Graun in years.
- dekhn 2y agoI once was talking wit some british people whilst in california and said "oh you can throw that garbage in the trash". They laughed and said it sounded really coarse, what did you do with it after? "It goes into a truck which takes it to the dump. Why, what do you say?" "We say you put your rubbish in the bin and the lorry takes it to the tip" which did sound more pleasant.
- rconti 2y agoThat reminds me of a phrase I've seen on signs in both the UK and in Aus/NZ (IIRC): "No fly tipping". I'm not sure if this is actually correct usage in those countries, or slang, but it certainly feels much more like slang, and felt virtually impenetrable, even to someone who's been exposed to a fair but of UK-isms in his life.
- Latty 2y agoI wouldn't call it slang, it is the common way to refer to the act in media, and the government uses it, e.g: https://www.gov.uk/report-flytipping https://www.gov.uk/report-flytipping (they do define it, however, as you say, it would be unclear if you aren't familiar).
- rprwhite 2y agoI don’t think Aus/NZ would use it in this manner. It would be more likely to see “no dumping”.
- klondike_klive 2y agoI remember going on a walk in London with my dad when I was little and we ended up in Hyde Park (this is late 1970s). There was a sign that said 'no dumping" which he chuckled at and explained to me the slang term 'dump', as in 'to defecate'.
- mattlondon 2y agoI don't think it is slang. I think it is a tad old fashioned, but any native speaker would understand it.
- Scoundreller 2y agoiunno, the last time I asked if I could bum a fag, it was made very clear to me that UK lingo has NOT conquered the US
- throwup238 2y agoSame when I asked my neighbor to “knock me up in the morning.” That was a very weird morning…
- dekhn 2y ago(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knocker-up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knocker-up)
- OJFord 2y agoWord of warning then - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LDsfzJXGAo8 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LDsfzJXGAo8
- card_zero 2y ago> It was early in April in the year ’83 that I woke one morning to find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my bed. “Very sorry to knock you up, Watson,” said he, “but it’s the common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she retorted upon me, and I on you.”
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- ccppurcell 2y agoSee also: "ejaculation" used to be synonymous with "exclamation" and it's used heavily all across the Sherlock stories eg "The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had framed himself in the aperture." For a list see https://thetaleofsirbob.blogspot.com/2013/07/watson-and-other-excitable-characters.html?m=1 https://thetaleofsirbob.blogspot.com/2013/07/watson-and-othe... If you mentally insert some commas some of them are really funny.
- OJFord 2y ago> "In the future" refers to a general or specific time that has yet to occur, and "in future" is used to mean "from now on". (The recent business jargon, on both sides of the Atlantic, is "going forward".) Funnily enough, I think 'going forward'/'going forwards' is a transatlantic difference?
- throw0101b 2y agoHow about the spelling of the word aluminium?
- nullhole 2y agoSpell it however you like, just don't make your tyres out of it.
- sbuk 2y agoFascinating story behind the origins of the naming of that element. Davey, the British scientist who first isolated it, originally suggested it be called alumium. Somewhat ironically, he referred to it as aluminum in his papers, while it was a Swede writing in a French journal that spelled it aluminium.
- defrost 2y agoCan you say that out loud in a sentence please?
- boomboomsubban 2y agoYeah, they at least pronounce aluminium like they spell it. It's not a "Leicester" piss take.
- DoingIsLearning 2y ago> It's not a "Leicester" piss take. It's a funny example but to be fair to the British that also happens in other Germanic languages and it also happens a hell of a lot more in Romance languages.
- happymellon 2y agoHopefully Map Men might help with this. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uYNzqgU7na4 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uYNzqgU7na4 TLDW; We have multiple different root languages in English city names, and you are only thinking one dimensionally, with the Roman Latin root. Cirencester is a good example, pronounced how you might expect while further north the town names get more germanic, and eventually Scandinavian. The video helps it makes sense.
- cardamomo 2y agoHow curious! (I feel that I've observed the Britishization of the word "curious" in my lifetime. As a child, it meant only interested, intrigued. Now it also means strange or bizarre.)
- carlmr 2y agoCould it be due to "The curious case of Benjamin Button"?
- pdpi 2y agoHuh. Curiouser and curiouser.
- authorfly 2y agoThe meaning of strange-comedic-unusual-interested is... curiously... conflated in several languages (even being a false friend in some to others).
- madaxe_again 2y agoThis might be my fault. I was in Charlottesville for a few months about 16 years ago doing some work for a startup, hanging out in my off hours with a group of sorority girls who had worked for me in London when I’d been an impresario. I say (or rather, said, as this episode made me very conscious of it) “hmm, curious” almost reflexively when working on something. They aped me. They partied, they spread the meme. Within a week I was suddenly overhearing people in cafes and gas stations going “hmm, curious” and by the time I left town I felt like I was living in a poorly written Monty Python sketch (or perhaps a Lovecraft bit), as an epidemic of “mmm, curious” had taken over the townspeople and the UVA student body. The latter all then went home at the end of the year, towards the end of my stay there, and spread it to every corner of the U.S. When I went back a year later, they were all still at it. I guess this ties in with the whole “teenage girls introduce new language” piece a few weeks back.
- physicsguy 2y agoI think the default understanding here (UK) would still be the same. I wonder if it’s Sherlock making the other understanding more popular.
- SturgeonsLaw 2y agoAs an Aussie I get a kick out of seeing Australianisms get picked up in the global vernacular. No worries seems to be increasing common outside of Australia, and cooked (to describe something that's fucked up) also seems to be prolific on social media these days.
- bitwize 2y ago"No worries" is the main phrase I brought back from visiting Australia in 2013. "no worries m8" is a common response from me on $CORPORATE_CHAT when a coworker thanks me. The other one I use occasionally is "yonks".
- JimTheMan 2y agoIf you want to take your 'fair dinkum'-ness to the next level, I offer you the equivalent phrase 'No Wokkas'
- madeofpalk 2y agoUnfortunately "not here to fuck spiders" hasn't really caught on, despite my best efforts.
- defrost 2y agoNo wuckers, coming soon?
- 082349872349872 2y agoI'm finna grab that phrase with glee, and stow it in my tucker bag.
- bigger_cheese 2y agoI think more Aussie way to say that would be: 'I'm heaps keen to chuck that saying into the old tucker bag'...
- malshe 2y agoThe article starts off with "run-up." What's the origin of that? I have heard of run-up in cricket.
- wiredfool 2y agoIt's when you put your bike on your shoulder and run up the too steep/muddy to ride hill/stairs/obstacle.
- defrost 2y agoAccording to the O.E.D. it's been used in the US in a stock market context since 1935. As an example of how seriously the British take their language, here's a shortened entry for the phrase "run-up". 1.The act of running up to a certain point; esp. 1.a Coursing. The race between two greyhounds up to the first turn or wrench of the hare. 1834 Thacker Courser's Comp. I. 134 One dog is sometimes behind the other in the first run up to the hare 1.b The act of taking or sending a ball up to the goal or into a position for final play. Also attrib. Chiefly in Golf. 1897 Outing XXX. 484/1 Foster‥, after a clean run from 'way down the field, puts the ball through the uprights.‥ The excitement of the run-up has been intense. 1.c A run made in preparation for jumping, throwing, etc., in Athletics; in Cricket, the bowler's approach to the bowling crease before delivery. 1897 Encycl. Sport I. 52/2 Pace in the run-up supplies the impetus; spring enables the jumper to lift himself into the air. 1.d = run-in | RAF lingo. 1942 R.A.F. Jrnl. 27 June 8 Another Stirling and a Wellington adopted almost identically the same run-up as ourselves. 1.e A period of time or series of occurrences leading up to some important (freq. political) event; an action which prepares the way for one on a larger scale. 1966 Sunday Times 20 Nov. 48/2 The Petit Palais show offers, also, invaluable evidence in its drawing section of the ways in which Picasso manoeuvred during the crucial run-up to the ‘Demoiselles d'Avignon’. 1968 Listener 5 Dec. 761/1 The run-up to the election of Oxford's new Poetry Professor has aroused a good deal of mirthful interest 2 Bookbinding. (See quot. 1875.) Also attrib. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2004/2 Run-up, a fillet-mark which runs from head to tail on the back, without mitering with the horizontal cross fillets on the panels. 1880 J. W. Zaehnsdorf Bookbinding 131 With a ‘run-up’ back, the edge of the leather round the end papers is to‥have a roll run round it in gold. 3 On the U.S. Stock Market, a rapid increase in the price or value of a commodity. Now also in gen. use. 1935 Sun (Baltimore) 13 Apr. 17/8 Corn advanced to 1 to 13/4 cents a bushel, but cotton was reactionary after Thursday's run-up. 1942 Ibid. 1 Oct. 21 Laclede gas preferred had a runup of 6½ points.
- zdw 2y agoI've never been so chuffed to read an article...
- silisili 2y agoThere's two I like in particular as an American, but mostly because their counterparts are ruined. 'Good on you' is the biggest one. 'Good for you', especially in text, to me comes across as bitter or sarcastic because of how often it's used that way, whereas the other doesn't. 'Mate', while I don't use it, is a solid word. We have buddy, pal, guy, etc, but again, they can each have their own negative connotation. Maybe 'mate' does too, but it always seemed like a neutral, friendly word.
- madeofpalk 2y agoMate can be used in the same negative diminutive way "buddy" or "pal" might be used in the US.
- zimpenfish 2y ago> Maybe 'mate' does too, but it always seemed like a neutral, friendly word. It can be negative, definitely, if said with the right intonation.
- twic 2y agoI think in both British and Australian English, it's what you call someone when you are a hair's breadth away from walloping them.
- JimTheMan 2y agoThe word mate can be used both positively and negatively, but is predominately used positively. One of Australia's core values is 'mateship'. You will be surprised to find that Champ is the word Aussies will use when unimpressed. For instance, "You alright there Champ?" means " You absolute idiot, what in the hell are you thinking?"
- TheBruceHimself 2y agoBrit living in the US here. Despite being here 7 years now i'll every so often have an American point out how odd something I say is. Recently it was me saying "I'll need to head home and get my swimming costume before heading to the pool". To which the response was "wow wow wow, "swimming costume"? Really? A costume. Not a uniform but a costume; something you wear for halloween? OMG that's adorable" Turns out Americans say "swim suite" :).
- ta1243 2y agoI was disappointed that your friend wasn't assuming skinny dipping to be honest Personally I hate swimming wearing clothes, feels so unnatural, and then you're dripping wet when you get out
- anthomtb 2y agoOn holiday in Whistler back in 2019, I had a brief conversation with an Englishman in the hotel elevator. A few days later, he recognizes me outside the hotel but I am noticeably slow to recognize back and he mentions "we chatted on the lift". I fake remembering while desperately searching my memory for the event of riding the chairlift with this English guy. An hour later I remember that in the UK, "lift" == "elevator". Me, being North American and having spent plenty of time in ski towns, always associates "lift" with "chairlift".
- asr 2y agoHah! But if you say “on holiday,” I would have expected you to know “lift.” (or is there a region in the US where this is common? Everyone I know would say “on vacation,” but the US is very regional.)
- rconti 2y agoYeah, but in a ski town I could see making the same mistake.
- fsckboy 2y agoin warehouse/trucking situations, lift is pretty common in the US
- yesco 2y agoHaving grown up in the US with what I would consider a higher than average exposure to the early 2000s internet, at least compared to other peers my age, much of my ability to read and write actually came directly from social media, instant messengers and online games rather than books. This meant I often found myself struggling with spelling errors in English class which sadly resulted in deducted points from my essays. I eventually came to realize many of my spelling "errors" were actually due to my exposure to the British spellings for many common words I would see online, like color/colour or behavior/behaviour for example. Unfortunately my teachers were a little unreasonable about this and would still deduct points when I pointed this out... To this day I still inconsistently use all spelling variants, and curse Noah Webster for his half assed attempt at regional spelling reform. In practice my phone just auto corrects them without me noticing though.
- 1659447091 2y ago> I eventually came to realize ... At least you use the "ize" suffix, so all else should have been forgiven! I prefer the "u" in colour/behaviour as I find it more aesthetically pleasing. But I absolutely despise the "ise" spelling of realize (realise) and am not entirely sure why. Though, I vaguely remember spelling all words with "ise" and getting some wrong some right and not understanding why (I'd learn later I'm dyslexic so I chalked it up to that and called it a day)
- hanniabu 2y agoI can never remember if I should use grey or gray
- kirubakaran 2y agoI prefer #666
- jcbrand 2y agoThe first vowel tells you from which country it comes. Grey is UK English, so think "e" for England. Gray is American English, so think "a" for America.
- hi_hi 2y agoA word of warning as a Brit in Australia. You'll get funny looks when talking about routers and root!
- unfunco 2y agoWhen I lived with an Australian in London, he'd say you can beat an egg, but you can't beat a root (pronounced like beetroot) – I think it was a type of joke.
- rikroots 2y ago(Note that my HN name is the same as my real name, without the space). On my first (and only) visit to Australia I got stopped at passport control. The security bloke took my passport and looked at it. Then kept looking at it, in silence. His face was straight and sour, but his shoulders were ... twitching. This went on for more than a couple of minutes until, finally, he looked up from the passport, stared into my eyes and asked: "Is that your real name?" Confused, I nodded. He handed me back my passport and waved me through - to his credit, the man never smiled or laughed at me, but I could see it had taken him a lot of effort to maintain his control. A day later I learned about the Wombat Joke. I grew to hate the Wombat Joke. I'd love to visit Australia again, but I'll probably use a false passport next time.
- tbrownaw 2y ago> the Wombat Joke The search engines tell me that there are lots of wombat jokes, but don't seem to know any that stand out enough to deserve a "the" in front.
- rikroots 2y ago"He's a bit of a wombat, that one: eats, roots and leaves." ... Yeah. I don't get Aussie humour either.
- UncleSlacky 2y agoJust makes me think of the acronym for "Waste Of Money, Brains And Time".
- CTDOCodebases 2y agoNow time to conquer CSS.
- sph 2y agobackground-colour: gainsborough;
- CTDOCodebases 2y agoI like the way you think.