Two countries seperated by a common language
Yeah, I'm up early and thus not at my mental best, but I have to say I'm confused. By Americans.
Words really do mean different things when you take them across the pond.
I was reading a piece on Feministing (hey, I'm a semi-evolved male) and both it and the article which prompted it had me very confused - until I realised that there's a word which Americans use as a synonym for something which, in the UK, is it's opposite.
That word is 'stockings'.
Which, to Brits, are two thin garments each shaped like one leg, sold in pairs. But to Yanks, it means both that and, at the same time, means what we call tights and Americans also call 'pantyhose' - one thin garment, shaped like a pair of legs and the hips.
Here's a quote from the article:
"It started with Miu Miu's fall show, with grandmotherly cardigans and pullovers tucked into the waistbands of flesh-toned stockings."
To a Brit, this sentence makes no sense. Stockings, by definition, cannot have a waistband. The cross-use of the two meanings continues throughout the piece.
Later comes the bit which had Feministing linking to it in the first place:
"Last summer, a 25-year-old Berkeley woman (who did not want to give her name for fear of her in-laws) was accused by her new mother-in-law of "indecent exposure" for failing to wear hose on her special day.
The mother-in-law might find solace in the fact that her views are supported by the president of the United States. One of his first actions upon taking office was to reinstate the White House dress code requiring, among other things, that women wear stockings in the West Wing."
The Feministing piece reads:
"Did you have any idea that one of Bush's first actions in office (right after reinstating the Global Gag Rule, I'm sure) was to require that all women in the West Wing wear pantyhose at all times?"
To add to the confusion...
Stockings have a sexual association. Especially over here, where stockings and suspender belt (another translation error - Yanks say 'garter belt') is these days strongly associated with being, shall I say, up for it.
So for Bush to say women in the White House have to wear tights/pantyhose is one thing. To order that they have to always wear stockings is quite another. I wonder which it was?
(Another version of the tale here. You can imagine the kind of hits I mostly got typing 'bush pantyhose stockings' into Google...)
Words really do mean different things when you take them across the pond.
I was reading a piece on Feministing (hey, I'm a semi-evolved male) and both it and the article which prompted it had me very confused - until I realised that there's a word which Americans use as a synonym for something which, in the UK, is it's opposite.
That word is 'stockings'.
Which, to Brits, are two thin garments each shaped like one leg, sold in pairs. But to Yanks, it means both that and, at the same time, means what we call tights and Americans also call 'pantyhose' - one thin garment, shaped like a pair of legs and the hips.
Here's a quote from the article:
"It started with Miu Miu's fall show, with grandmotherly cardigans and pullovers tucked into the waistbands of flesh-toned stockings."
To a Brit, this sentence makes no sense. Stockings, by definition, cannot have a waistband. The cross-use of the two meanings continues throughout the piece.
Later comes the bit which had Feministing linking to it in the first place:
"Last summer, a 25-year-old Berkeley woman (who did not want to give her name for fear of her in-laws) was accused by her new mother-in-law of "indecent exposure" for failing to wear hose on her special day.
The mother-in-law might find solace in the fact that her views are supported by the president of the United States. One of his first actions upon taking office was to reinstate the White House dress code requiring, among other things, that women wear stockings in the West Wing."
The Feministing piece reads:
"Did you have any idea that one of Bush's first actions in office (right after reinstating the Global Gag Rule, I'm sure) was to require that all women in the West Wing wear pantyhose at all times?"
To add to the confusion...
Stockings have a sexual association. Especially over here, where stockings and suspender belt (another translation error - Yanks say 'garter belt') is these days strongly associated with being, shall I say, up for it.
So for Bush to say women in the White House have to wear tights/pantyhose is one thing. To order that they have to always wear stockings is quite another. I wonder which it was?
(Another version of the tale here. You can imagine the kind of hits I mostly got typing 'bush pantyhose stockings' into Google...)