Things you were shockingly old when you learned

well if we set up a "Things you were shockingly old when you learned" wiki we wouldn't have to go over this again.

You also frown when you're concentrating.

Or can do.

I can confirm this, or you might stick your tongue out like janet from the secret seven

Ha, yes, I do that.

I was not aware of the "frown" distinction. It's definitely something you do with your brow to me, whereas puting is done with the mouth when you're annoyed or sad (but now also something people do in Instagram pictures)

I've definitely heard people say "close" when it comes to weather.

I always thought 'close' was a Scottish expression, I've never heard anyone in England use it.

― Authoritarian Steaks (Tom D.), Tuesday, April 27, 2021 2:15 PM (two hours ago)

Midlands reporting in: I understand and occasionally use 'close' in this context.

North West here, yeah 'Close' definitely used 'round arr way.

We use “close” that way in Ireland too.

Also the south west of England.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdg4mLErl8I

I use "close," and I'm in Philadelphia. So do my parents and other people I know.

So I could have been using it all along instead of humid, doh!

I use 'close', didn't think there was anything odd about it. It's a good word to describe what it is!

I can confirm this, or you might stick your tongue out like janet from the secret seven

I learnt 'frown' from Enid Blyton, I'm sure. Frowning was a bit like a milder 'scowling'.

the night was sultry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c1sgug6prw

The odd use of "close" I heard when I was younger was my mom asking me to "close the light" when I left the room. I used to think that was just one of her peculiar expressions, but then I learned it was fairly common in Quebec where she grew up, since in French you fermez la lumière so why wouldn't you open and close lights in English too? There are several such odd expressions I hear there stemming from direct translations from French that don't quite work in English.

Okay I admit that for most of my life, I thought that when UK people said it was "time for tea," they literally just had a cup of tea. Like, I didn't realize it entails an actual meal for large parts of the island.

xp

There's actually a wikipedia page for Quebec English (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_English) full of expressions I hear all the time, though not generally from people whose first language is English.

my neighbors and uh, sorta unofficial godparents almost? from mid 20th century bkln, very italian american, often said "close the light," which baffled me. i never asked them about it.

Another amusing direct-translation fail, from an old roommate from Equador: apparently the Spanish word for "namesake" can be used to address someone that actually is your namesake, so if he wanted to greet someone who happened to have the same name as him, he'd say "hey namesake, how ya doing?" He did that for years before learning that doesn't work in English.

eu usage of frown is a totally new on e on me

John Prine says “Cathy was closing the lights” in Far From Me, so maybe it’s not just a Quebec thing.

There's actually a wikipedia page for Quebec English (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_English) full of expressions I hear all the time, though not generally from people whose first language is English.

I've been known to use: 'delay' (in the sense of 'délai'), 'soft drink' (all the time, I would never say 'soda' or 'pop'), 'pass' (occasionally, when talking about the bus), 'dep' (it would be extremely weird not to if you live here), 'metro' (instead of 'subway' – always, without exception), 'stage' (instead of 'internship' – sometimes), 'terrace' (pronounced à la française, obviously – 'terr-uhss' is utterly alien to me), 'take a decision' (had to force myself to stop saying that one when I was younger), 'we're Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday, etc.' (sometimes), I drop the 'do' when asking questions (sometimes, in colloquial settings), I definitely distinguish between 'marry' and 'merry', I pronounce all place names like a local (duh), and that's about it, really. Also, 'all-dressed' and 'cégep' are hardly false cognates.

I never use 'close the lights' because it was drilled into kid me that you're not supposed to say 'fermer la lumière' either.

grew up hearing close = humid from my coal-mining elders in western pennsylvania, which may well have come from their coal-mining elders in the uk

xp I would never say 'soda' or 'pop'

or 'pepsi'?

I mean, if it's an actual Pepsi, sure. Unless you're talking about the obsolete slur, in which case… no, definitely not.

he'd say "hey namesake, how ya doing?" He did that for years before learning that doesn't work in English.

it works even if it's not a thing, and anyone who didn't enjoy him doing it to them is lame and dull

'terrace' (pronounced à la française, obviously – 'terr-uhss' is utterly alien to me)

Where I live this word is pronounced "terr-iss," which is also how you pronounce "terrorist."

Montreal anglophones say “make dodo” to kids— “go to sleep” which I understand comes from French.

lol

yeah it’s “fais dodo” in french

Where I live this word is pronounced "terr-iss," which is also how you pronounce "terrorist."

Does it describe the same thing (bar/restaurant/café outdoor seating)? I'm guessing not, since ime everyone says 'patio' outside of Quebec.

"terrace" = balcony or rooftop area with seats
"patio" = bar/restaurant/café outdoor seating (ground level)

It also bears noting that, barring a handful of notable exceptions, Quebec English is remarkably un-Frenchified given the context, whereas Quebec French is chock-full of anglicisms. It's never been a two-way street.

xp ah, interesting, so it's not completely off either.

Huh, I picked up a habit of saying "shut the light" years ago and couldnt work out why, but it must have been the Quebecois ex.

Well, you shut the lights off don't you?

In fact...

"Shut the light, shut the shade
You don't have to be afraid
I'll be your baby tonight"

... and that's a Nobel Prize winner there.

I could never get with the idea that some people in the construction industry referred to switches as "rockers" as in "maybe it's a faulty rocker". Like maybe just say switch instead because that describes what it is and what its function is perfectly.

You frown with both imo

>:(

xxpost I think that's a thing where laypeople just think of rocker switches as switches, whereas electricians deal with a variety of switches and don't consider how weird it sounds to laypeople when they refer them as rockers.

you frown with your butt

Metro / boulot / dodo

(Commute/work/sleep)

xp - the "rockers" for switches thing I've noticed in several industries, where they refuse to adopt the lay term. Like how computer manufacturers until recently insisted on calling portable computers "notebooks", even though everyone calls them "laptops". I hear telecom industry people speak of a "wireline"; to everyone else it's a landline.

Curious about the "metro" for subway thing though. I've from the Washington DC area where the local subway is usually called the "metro" too (parts of it literally aren't a subway as it pops aboveground in the suburbs), but I've always considered "metro" the name of *this* subway, not any subway. Just like BART is the San Francisco subway or "the tube" is the London subway or the Boston subway is sometimes "the T". I almost always call the DC subway "the metro" but would never call the London or NYC subway that.

In French, it's always 'métro', which is why even anglophone Montrealers call it that in English.

Beyond that, however, London's Metropolitan Railway inaugurated the history of rapid transit in 1863 so it's likely that the abbreviated version stuck even in parts of North America.

Bit of whiplash in the last minute as I went from realizing, on seeing the abbreviation FKA elsewhere, that the FKA in FKA Twigs stood for 'formerly known as', to discovering that in fact, despite her being known as just Twigs for a time, the FKA doesn't stand for 'formerly known as', according to her anyway, and is just "a selection of letters that sounded quite kind of masculine and strong".

i do not believe that at all

does that mean my pronunciation of "fucker Twigs" is correct after all?