The way we speak and the words we use are constantly changing and evolving. Humans have a tendency to make their own rules anyway, then create new rules that reverse the old rules. Like, did you know the original meaning of “awful” was “to inspire wonder”? Somewhere along the way, we decided to make it mean the opposite.
Home and design terms are no exception to the language madness. And in light of recently announcing Houzz sites in the U.K. and Australia, we thought it would be fitting to take a look at how everyday terms differ across oceans.
For example, when Americans travel to the U.K. or Australia, they might be confused about what floor they’re on. There the first floor is located on what Americans would call the second. And what we call the first floor, they call the ground floor.
So, if you’re ever in, say, London or Sydney, you actually have to ascend a flight of stairs to reach the first floor.
So, if you’re ever in, say, London or Sydney, you actually have to ascend a flight of stairs to reach the first floor.
Author Jonathan Bernstein, who was born in Scotland and now lives in Los Angeles, wrote Knickers in a Twist: A Dictionary of British Slang about his experience trying to figure out why some U.K. words and phrases percolated across the Atlantic and some didn’t.
Few in America use “loo” when referring to the bathroom, for example. “When I came to America, I’d be talking to someone, and there’d be nothing but a blank look,” Bernstein says. “They didn’t understand, or I didn’t understand. ‘Restroom’ was one of those words that gave me years of trouble. A restroom to me was just a room upstairs for relaxing or something.”
Through Bernstein’s research, he found that a lot of U.K. lingo traveled with immigrants during the 1800s, who created a melting pot of cultures. “A lot of people just misheard stuff,” he says. “There was a lot of Jamaican patois, Yiddish — it was just an amalgamation of so many languages.”
Word origins aren’t always clear even in the original countries. In Bernstein’s native Glasgow, the word everyone used for bathroom when he was growing up was “cludgie”; he has no clue of its origins. “It’s just that Scottish thing of trying to make things as disgusting as possible,” he says.
Few in America use “loo” when referring to the bathroom, for example. “When I came to America, I’d be talking to someone, and there’d be nothing but a blank look,” Bernstein says. “They didn’t understand, or I didn’t understand. ‘Restroom’ was one of those words that gave me years of trouble. A restroom to me was just a room upstairs for relaxing or something.”
Through Bernstein’s research, he found that a lot of U.K. lingo traveled with immigrants during the 1800s, who created a melting pot of cultures. “A lot of people just misheard stuff,” he says. “There was a lot of Jamaican patois, Yiddish — it was just an amalgamation of so many languages.”
Word origins aren’t always clear even in the original countries. In Bernstein’s native Glasgow, the word everyone used for bathroom when he was growing up was “cludgie”; he has no clue of its origins. “It’s just that Scottish thing of trying to make things as disgusting as possible,” he says.
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