Stonecrop Expressions
Since I arrived at Stonecrop, I've been hearing a lot of funny expressions and words. Specifically, there are a lot of British terms in use around here. Which is understandable, considering that the gardens bare the indelible mark of the director, who is British, and has been at Stonecrop for more than 20 years. I guess I had just always thought in the back of my head that my encyclopedic knowledge of Monty Python and Black Adder meant I knew oh-so-much about English culture. And I suppose that compared to most people around me, I did. Anyway. Funny terms. Some may be British, some may just be Caroline. Some of the terms are funny, or confusing, and some have obvious meanings, and are just odd to hear in common usage by everyone here, not to mention their presence on signs and garden literature. Anyway, without further ado:
bits & bobs = bits & pieces
bothy = the gardener's cottage (on the lord/master's estate)
carpark = parking lot (The signs here actually say carpark!)
(dog) cookies = dog biscuits
crisps = potato chips
faffing = detail work (though I think faffing more properly is the doing of unimportant minutia that prevents one from getting "real" work done)
fire = portable heater (or possibly any heat source)
heavy on the sausage = heavy on technical/scientific detail (this is my favorite so far)
kitchen roll = paper towel
loo = bathroom (The signs here actually say loo!)
queue = line
rotor = rotation (as in "weekly chores rotor") skeleton = outline
slippers = socks (a sign meaning take off your shoes says "slippers only")
strike = scrape (we use "striker-offers" to scrape/level soil in pots)
torch = flashlight
herbs pronounced "hurbs" instead of "urbs"
pets with honorifics (two of the cats here are Mr. President and Ms. Kit)
"...followed a rubbish cart because he thought it was a wedding" = "When you assume, you make an ass of u and me"
How many of these did you already know?
Other random observations:
I still enjoy going to work every morning.
I am the tallest person at Stonecrop.
This is the first place anyone has ever complimented me on my handwriting.
posted by gimpadelic at 11:20 PM
7 Comments:
I've secrely loved your handwriting for years. Weep, weep.
I knew seven of them, many of which I ascribe to spending my spring senior year in Jolly Old England. Or perhaps those very same Black Adder and Monty Python episodes, with a healthy dash of Fawlty Towers and Are You Being Served? Thrown in. Still, there wer some new ones, "faffing" being highest, and wackiest, amongst them. How *funny* to hear that Stonecrop has Anglospheric signage; must be tough to be out of the know or a visitor and need to find the loo!
Happy to go to work in the morning? By gawd, Jim, I do b'lieve 'ees found 'is niche.
I had something to say but now I've forgotten. Yay for being happy at work.
I knew nine. Because I am a Girl Scout.
My girlfriend being Australian, I am familiar with most of these and more. "Carpark" and "torch" are big with her. She also calls the seeds in oranges "pips" and says that someone "rung" her on the phone. Continuing the "carpark" theme, a space is actually a "spot." There are tons of others, and I wish I could remember them.
I have never heard of the word "Anglospheric."
I'm quite sure that I've complimented you on your handwriting. . . that's why I make you keep score for the scrabble games.
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