Talking in questions! Yes. Or wording things differently than Americans. Is this common in Great Britain or not? In the US, if someone would like to offer you some tea, they ask "Would you like some tea?" But it Great Britain, I was asked "Are you sure you wouldn't like some tea?" Sure? I'd never said I didn't want tea. For a bit, I was upset that it was assumed that I didn't want tea. But then wondered maybe that's just how they ask the question.

Katerbug, I have heard and used the expression "hold the phone." But here in the Central US it means "I can't believe it. Please, explain some more before you continue." For example, if someone casually says "Yes, I got married on a whim last night to a random person I just met and we ..." and they're continuing their story as if it's no big deal, you interrupt them and say "Wait. Hold the phone. You are now married?"

Some common central US sayings, for your enjoyment:
"wigged out" - crazy
"my bad" - my mistake
"Let's make like a baby and head out" - let's leave (similar to the "off like a prom dress&quot
"not running on all 8 cylinders" - not very smart. As if the brain were an engine with 8 cylinders but was not using full power
"wicked" - Boston area term meaning "very"
"hella" - California term meaning "very"
"flipping a bitch" - Colorado term for "making a U-turn"
"BFE" - meaning "out in the middle of nowhere" or "far from civilization. The B stands for "butt." The E stands for "Egypt." I won't explain the F but it's not polite.
"sloshed" - drunk
"pissin' into the wind" or "high and dry" - left me by myself in a quandary or bad situation, without aid
"up $*** creek without a paddle" - facing a bad situation
"hair of the dog that bit ya" - generally used when someone has a hangover, and you suggest to them that they drink more alcohol to make the hangover go away.
"squeaky clean" - very clean
"hold your horses" - wait and don't jump to conclusions or start doing anything without permission
"that dog don't hunt" - Southern US term meaning "your argument is not logical"
"comparing apples to oranges" - trying to make a comparison between two things which are not similar

I always liked using the word "skint" to describe my financial status while studying abroad in England. It basically means being very, very poor.

The British (and Australian) equivalent of Spencerinc's BFE is "MAMBA country" = Miles and Miles of Bugger All.

I am quite partial to "pillock"

When looking for late night food when the pub was closing, my Yorkshire friend took us out for "mucky curry" a cheap curry take-away that's not to be confused with a good Indian restaurant's food.

To discribe someone who is all over the place running around like a fart in a colander

One of my favorites: too clever by half.

"too clever by half"

I saw this used on another message board. What does this mean? It seemed to be used as an insult, but I don't understand the logic behind it.

Having taken many haircutting classes at VS they always refer to the bangs as "fringe" and they always say, "cut right the way through" meaning to finish up. Besides learning to cut hair we had to relearn english! I often use this for someone to cut the whole loaf of bread for dinner.

A question; I was in London,
in a department store, with a friend, who actually is gay, and the salesperson said to her "you have a queer face". We were taken back a bit, then realized that she ment something entirely different, but to this day we still don't know exactly what was ment, only that she didn't really think that she was gay!

"Shut your cake hole" is a classic.

Brits say, "he couldn`t care less"-meaning that he doesn`t care at all. But Americans say, "he could care less" to say the the same thing if I am right?

When I was young we used to say "wicked" to mean great. We said "watcha" top say hello, and "sorted" to mean organized/ arranged.

Susanna, queer has 2 meanings - 'gay' or 'peculiar/odd/strange'. Sounds like the salesperson was using the latter, as in 'you have an odd/strange face'. But it still seems rather a 'queer' thing to say to someone!

We had a TV series a while ago called 'queer as folk' - from a common phrase 'there's nowt so queer as folk' which basically means people are strange/funny. You'd use it when commenting on someone's odd habits. This TV show was actually about young gay men living debauched lives, so the title had a double meaning.

I've just thought - had your friend pulled a strange expression for some reason? It's the only reason I can think of for the salesperson making that comment?

"too clever by half" means someone who is a bit too fond of showing off how clever they are (the ultimate sin in Britain), especially when their cleverness - or showing off - leads them to come a cropper: as it inevitably will.

A variant on jean's is "in and out like a fart (in the North of England, a penk) in a colander"; which neatly complements "up and down like a whore's drawers".

Oh and "queer" was quite commonly used to mean ill, out of sorts, dizzy or fainting, as in the old music hall song "My word, I do feel queer". Or "I've come over all queer" (or its comic old-lady-sounding variant - "I've come over all unnecessary".)

Cold enough to freeze the arse off a brass monkey.

Not arse, balls. But it's reputedly to do with the tray that carried cannonballs, so it's quite respectable. Allegedly...

Patrick's only half right about "too clever by half". It's certainly true that showing off is the ultimate sin, but there's often more to it than that.

It's either being assumed to be deviously clever, or just being - well too clever. Sound colleagues or associates need in Britain to have a healthy dose of scepticism and pragmatism if they want to command respect.

A management consultant with an Oxbridge First, a Harvard MBA and 0.2 nanoseconds' experience of the real world - however self effacing - would inevitably be assumed to be too clever by half, and therefore as much use as a lead parachute. He or she would traditionally go to some lengths to keep quiet about the academic background, though this is getting more difficult these days.

Patrick,

I stand corrected, but that was from my very proper Bostonian mother, who would have had to be "three sheets to the wind" before she said "balls." My mother's side of the family was Irish and English, living in Boston, so lots of these expressions make me think of them.