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A lady yesterday accidentally drove out of a car park straight into a lake. Asked why, she answered "I must have been having a blonde moment". I assume that the Americans here know what she meant?

I can answer that one - it's what comes of hanging around with Americans for several years (at least online) !

It's an extension of "having a senior moment" because seniors (to be politically correct, people of more mature years ) are absent minded and so "senior moments" involve being forgetful in one way or another. To be less accurate, stereotypical blondes are not the sharpest knife in the drawer (hence the proliferation of "dumb blonde" jokes and to have a "blonde moment" means to do something really stupid.

Do the British say ground ground-nuts instead of peanut butter?

No. Peanut butter is known to us, but isn't as popular as I understand it is in the States. The nuts themselves are peanuts, but sometimes also called Monkey nuts (only when sold in their shells.

Kalleh - can you imagine raising kids without peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? My son doesn't like PB, but he sure loves the J!

No, CW, I can't. [If I recall, your son really loves grape jelly...unfortunately, the one kind I didn't have!]

The question came up because of a comment in 84, Charing Cross Road. Here's the paragraph; Helene was writing to Maxine, who was an American visiting England:

"I fail to see why you did not understand that groceryman, he did not call it 'ground ground nuts,' he called it 'ground ground-nuts' which is the only really SENSible thing to call it. Peanuts grow in the GROUND and are therefore GROUND-nuts, and after you take them out of the ground you grind them up and you have ground ground-nuts, which is more accurate than peanut butter, you just don't understand English."

I was struck by Helene's habit of using commas to separate sentences, as above.

As far as I know it's always peanut butter over here- my girlfriend's daughter loves the stuff!
Getting back to 84 Charing Cross Rd I wonder at the use of 'groceryman', which is a bit ponderous- what's wrong with grocer? As for the ground nuts bit, Helene Hanff is an American, perhaps she was trying to imitate a British way of speaking? I'm not really familar with the book so I can't really comment further.

My natural tendancy when writing letters (or emails) to friends (and sometimes posts on forums) is to write as much like I speak as possible. I will often put commas or dashes (or parenthesis) between sentences instead of full stops. I'm sure you've all noticed this bad habit of mine, but it feels more conversational to me.

Ahhh, me, too, CW.

Erik, this book was actually a collection of letters between a British bookseller and an American book lover, from 1949 to 1969. Helene definitely wasn't trying to make fun of the British way of speaking, if that's what you meant by "imitate." Helene loved the British. Perhaps peanut butter used to be called "ground ground-nuts" in England?

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"Groundnut" is definitely a British term for "peanut" - or rather the tuber itself, which usually contains two peanuts. A lot of money was wasted by the government in the Tanganyikan groundnut scheme in the late 1940s, but I've never seen or heard the word used other than in reference to the scheme.

At a guess, "ground ground-nuts" is an attempt at a pun. I'm not sure here, but I suspect that peanut butter was pretty well unknown in Britain prior to the coming of the GIs in the second world war.

"Groundnut" is a common term (for what the Americans call peanut) all over Africa, where it is often the main, or one of the main, crops.

Mark, have you ever heard ground goundnuts used as a term for peanut butter?

My friend overheard her ten-year-old son saying a prayer that included this mondegreenish line ... "Give us this day our jelly bread."

Love it, Jerry!

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Originally posted by Kalleh:
Ahhh, me, too, CW.

Erik, this book was actually a collection of letters between a British bookseller and an American book lover, from 1949 to 1969. Helene definitely wasn't trying to make fun of the British way of speaking, if that's what you meant by "imitate." Helene loved the British. Perhaps peanut butter used to be called "ground ground-nuts" in England?

I didn't mean she was trying to make fun of the British, more that she was perhaps an American trying to sound British- a bit like Don Cheadle in Ocean's 11 trying to sound Cockney- "Cor, luvaduck!" etc.! As I said I'm not at all familiar with the book although I have heard of it.

Oh...yes, I see what you mean. I have seen that before. I wonder why Americans want to sound British, but the British don't want to sound American. [Or, to our British friends, is that obvious? ]

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but the British don't want to sound American

Huh! You should listen to the radio here some time. There are plenty trying to sound American - or at least mid-Atlantic.

I didn't know that, Arnie. I thought the British only looked on the American accent with disdain.

I just read today that the British call colorful, rubber boots "Wellies." Is that true? Where does it come from? Why is it capitalized?

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Originally posted by Kalleh:
I just read today that the British call colorful, rubber boots "Wellies." Is that true? Where does it come from? Why is it capitalized?

The Duke of Wellington (back in the 19th century) made a form of long boot fashionable. Although they were made from leather rather than rubber, the style has been known as a Wellie (or Welly) ever since.

In rural areas they often have an event called "Welly whanging" at their village fetes - the idea being to fling the boot further than anyone else in order to win a prize. For pictures of this event (and others) at a typical village fete (this one being in Onchan on the Isle of Man, which is in the Irish Channel between Ireland and Wales), see here. For an explanation of the Rotary Club see here.

This morning on the radio one of the broadcasters was surprised to report that the British spend more hours per day on the Internet than watching TV. His sidekick said, "That's not a surprise. They have 3 channels and 2 only have gardening shows." Of course she was being facetious, but how many channels do you have in England?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kalleh,

quote:

Originally posted by Kalleh:
This morning on the radio one of the broadcasters was surprised to report that the British spend more hours per day on the Internet than watching TV. His sidekick said, "That's not a surprise. They have 3 channels and 2 only have gardening shows."

I'm now in a position to catch glimpses of daytime TV and I can say that most of that is awful . It seems to be mostly programmes about houses (buying in Britain and abroad, rebuilding and redecorating), game shows and buying and selling second hand junk .

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Of course she was being facetious, but how many channels do you have in England?

See here. I haven't had a TV since I moved into my present flat - which was 9 years ago. I get stunned reactions from people when I say I don't have a TV but, even if I could afford the licence (note the penalties for not having a valid licence), there is only a small handful of programmes which I really regret not being able to watch. I have my computer (a MUST), a radio (also a must), CDs and tapes and that's quite enough for me.

We have 5 main broadcast channels but hundreds of cable and satellite channels.

On the whole our TV is extremely good (that programme on the Holocaust which was also broadcast in the USA is an example of the kind of thing that the Beeb does very well) - although clearly there is some dross.

I didn't bother to get a television for many years since I believed there was "nothing worth watching". However, since getting one I have seen the error of this reasoning, since all you need to do is watch what you choose to watch and use that feature of all modern televisions (so often overlooked) the off-switch, to avoid being upset by the dross.

"Peanuts are also known as earthnuts, goobers, goober peas, pindas, pinders, manila nuts and monkey nuts (the last of these is often used to mean the entire pod, not just the seeds)." Wikipedia. In Mexico, I found peanuts called cacahuates, and, in France, cacahouettes.

I never really much cared for PB&J sandwiches. While in Tamilnadu for a friend's wedding, I discovered a fruit that is quite popular in India and Africa, but of which I had never heard: the drumstick.

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Incredible! Have I got this right? You have to have a license to watch TV in Britain! Or at least to own one. And it only costs £126.50 for a colour TV Licence and £42.00 for a black and white TV licence (How much is that in US dollars?). Each year. But, you get a break if you're blind. If you move, you may have to buy a new license. If the TV police catch you watching TV without a license, you could be fined up to £1000. But a lot of people risk it. The TV police catch an average of over 1,000 people watching TV without a licence every day.

By the way, which came first, licence or license, and what's the difference?

Tinman

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Of course, not that I think of it, some in the US do pay inordinate sums of money so they can get 124 TV channels.

Tinman