But we speak the same language!!

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I was talking about "fanny packs" the other day with my Aussie friend and she was shocked since "fanny" to her means like, uh, vagina, but in America, a "fanny pack" is one of those little pouches you wear around your waist...

What other words can you think of that are perfectly innocent where you are, mean something totally rude somewhere else?

phil-two (phil-two), Friday, 21 March 2003 17:59 (twenty-three years ago)

bloody.

hstencil, Friday, 21 March 2003 18:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Well, 'twat' isn't perfectly innocent in UK, but it surely is nowhere near as vulgar there as in the US

oops (Oops), Friday, 21 March 2003 18:01 (twenty-three years ago)

I saw Graham Norton holding a can of Fanny brand tuna from Brazil.

Speaking of... how about ‘fag?’

No One (SiggyBaby), Friday, 21 March 2003 18:07 (twenty-three years ago)

fanny can also mean butt/ass in the US.

Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 21 March 2003 18:09 (twenty-three years ago)

in the US fanny means butt/ass

in the UK/Australia fanny means vagina

that's what he means.

(one time when I saw Teenage Fanclub they had t-shirts that read "I'm a Teenage Fanny")

hstencil, Friday, 21 March 2003 18:10 (twenty-three years ago)

The got a cheese called "COON" in Australia! WTF?

phil-two (phil-two), Friday, 21 March 2003 18:11 (twenty-three years ago)

There's a brand of Australian sellotape called Durex

C J (C J), Friday, 21 March 2003 18:29 (twenty-three years ago)

I Love 1982 (I think?) had a bit about how great "smelly rubbers" were.

rosemary (rosemary), Friday, 21 March 2003 19:21 (twenty-three years ago)

haha phil i reference you to my coon cheese story (the one affixed by an asterisk is the one you want):

oh this was the biggest disappointment of them all: on the telly there used to be ads for 'coon' (worst name for a cheddar ever and i have another story about that*) in which an anonymous hand would descend on the virgin block of cheese and slice the end off to reveal the word coon embossed within the cheese! it was a frustating nightmare for me - every week we'd come home from the supermarket with the fresh untouched cheese block and every week i asked if i could be the first one to slice it... i was allowed of course, yet somehow my slicing only ever revealed a mocking blank face of cheddar. obviously someone else had quickly nipped in and stolen that glorious coon moment but nobody ever admitted it.

*when in sri lanka mum asked a black woman to take a photo of her next to some giant bamboo. when the woman said "say cheese!" mum without thinking said "coon!" - it was an awkward moment.


minna (minna), Saturday, 22 March 2003 02:56 (twenty-three years ago)


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