Question for the Brits

Why is the word for a residence called a "flat "?

Why do some folks from the UK pronounce the sound "th" as a "v "? As in other pronounced uver?

I was watching the bbc america channel and was really impressed with the "Law and Order: UK" program as compared to the same show in the US. The English actors look like real people as opposed to the US version which only has models and pretty boys playing themselves.

Just sayin'.....

 

Thanks Pete.

I kinda figured that about the flat. I really was wondering why "flat" or what was flat as a word picture?

 

For those interested this is a very interesting link for the question.

 

It's all regional mate,

eg we in Dundee don't say other or uver we say ithir

Flat, as Pete suggests may be being replaced in his neighbourhood but here a flat is a flat (or flet), ie a home all on one level within a block of other flats. Mention apartment here and you'll get funny looks (snob/nose in the air etc)

 

Uver for other and bruvver for brother is how they talk in London where I started life. In London a flat is a flat, one floor in a block of flats.

 

You haven't even scratched the surface. Try this one: "My plates are killing me. I've been up and dahn the apples all day! "

This is Cockney Rhyming Slang. They substitute a phrase that rhymes with the word they should use, then drop everything except the first word.

In the above, "plates" is an abbreviation of the phrase "plates of meat" which rhymes with "feet" and "apples" is an abbreviation of "apples and pears" which rhymes with "stairs ". So the sentence really means "My feet are killing me because I've been going up and down the stairs all day ".

You can get quite a few of these phrases in the British series "New Tricks" which we get on PBS in the Seattle area. In the last episode, one of the cops said that a con-man had been "telling porkies again ". Porkies is a shortened version of "pork pies" meaning "lies ".

 

As I said it's all regional, a few years ago I had my nieces staying over the weekend, they didn't have a clue what a "pletty" or "cundee" was and they were brought up just 17 miles north of me.

 

Hi Bill,

By now I'm sure you realize (or "realise" for those on the other side of the pond) there's two major languages: English and American.

And, as Pete and wildfire have stated, it's regional. For instance, you're in Texas and a simple conversation might be: "Djeat? Nah. Y'unta?" Which translates to: "Did you eat yet? No. Do you want to? "

In the New England States they'd say; "Get the cah Mahk." Which translates to: "Get the car, Mark." You'd say: "Git tha carrr. "

American idioms are practically unfathomable in the rest of the world because we have our own slang words and a streak of sarcasm a mile wide. F'rinstance, we'd say: "Jeez, I've been pounding the pavement trying to find work." Whereas in another country they'd say: "Oh, my various gods! I've been slapping the sidewalk trying to find wordk. "

For translations you might want to start with American to English

 

That sounds about right JP. One exception - not "git the carr" but "git the pickup ".