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AIBU?

Stuff I’d never heard before I joined mumsnet.

173 replies

TotalRecall · 10/12/2019 05:37

Disclaimer: I’m not from the UK!

“Grim” - I’ve heard of the word obviously but I’ve never ever heard anyone actually say it to describe anything. It’s a favourite here!

“Naice” - I’m still scratching my head over this one. What does it mean?

“Pants” - I’m going to assume these are undies/knickers? Otherwise some conversations I’ve read really don’t make sense

Also, what is half term please? I’m gathering it’s some sort of holiday half way through the school term, how long do your terms go for? Ours are only 8-10 weeks (4 terms per year) so obviously don’t need holidays in the middle..

Teach me all the UK things!!

I had a whole list, I’ll be back when I remember the rest..

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Hellofromtheotherside2020 · 10/12/2019 05:41

Where are you from OP?

TotalRecall · 10/12/2019 05:44

Australia.

Also sorry for enabling voting. I have no recollection of doing this.

OP posts:

OhWellThatsJustGreat · 10/12/2019 05:45

Naice means nice - I've always assumed it's a way of elongating the word, I sound posher when I say it out loud

Half-term, you are correct, 3 terms with a week long break in the middle.

The acronyms - this is the first forum I've ever used, so it took me ages to get to grips with them and now when I read them, I subconsciously say the words they mean and have been know to write them irl

ChessieFL · 10/12/2019 05:47

Naice does mean nice. It comes from a thread where a poster found a shopping list in a trolley and one of the items on the list was ‘naice ham’, so it’s now used as a bit of a joke to describe something a bit posh.

And yes, pants are knickers!

MiniGuinness · 10/12/2019 05:50

Grim is a very good word. As is pants (what do you say?)
One thing I had never heard until I joined mumsnet was “am I the only one who thinks.....blah blah blah” No you dumb fuck, of course you are not.

icklekid · 10/12/2019 05:52

Normally school terms are 12-14 weeks so after 6/7 weeks there is a one week break called half term.

TotalRecall · 10/12/2019 05:54

We say undies/knickers/underwear. Pants are trousers/jeans/leggings/clothing you put on the bottom half of your body.

Thanks for the naice explanation!

OP posts:

Hellofromtheotherside2020 · 10/12/2019 05:55

I digress ever so slightly from your post, but I hear ya!

I'm the opposite to you. I moved to Australia from England and had to learn a whole new language here 😂 5 years in and I'm getting there...

My children came home from their first day at school and told me that they'd tried their new friends poppers on the oval. WTF is an oval (playing field) and poppers where I come from are recreational drugs! Here they're cartons of juice.

Told to top up my bottle at a bubbler?!! Now know it's a water fountain.

Thongs (known to me previously as flip flops). When I went back to England in the summer my thong/flipflop broke as I walked into a cafe and I said as walking through the door "bummer, I've just had a blow out in my thong". In Aus it means the thong broke, in England it means I've had explosive diarrhea in my underwear.

In a lift at work, a CEO was nervous about a meeting. As he left the loft I said "don't worry, we're all rooting for you", thinking it meant we are all behind you. Actually means here we are all masterbating/having sex for you 😂

Sellotape as I know it is Durex here. Durex where I'm from Durex is condoms.

God, there's so many words lost in translation but I'm learning 😂 love hearing other people's too!

christmassymcchristmas · 10/12/2019 05:56

I call trousers pants and underwear knickers and I'm in the UK

TotalRecall · 10/12/2019 05:57

Ohhh I am actually not originally from Australia, moved here as a kid. I remember people talking about “the oval” at school and was like what the actual fuck is an oval and why are we going to play on it? Took me ages to work out it was a field.

OP posts:

Hellofromtheotherside2020 · 10/12/2019 05:58

Oh and Manchester is bedding?! Or a dooona for a quilt/duvet. I just put 'O' at the end of everything now! Servo etc!

Hellofromtheotherside2020 · 10/12/2019 06:00

Haha that's exactly what my children were like! They thought they had to sit in an oval shape to eat their lunch (sorry, morning or afternoon tea)!

TotalRecall · 10/12/2019 06:00

Haha yes can’t go wrong with an O at the end of everything. Servo, Bottle-O, Arvo...

OP posts:

Hellofromtheotherside2020 · 10/12/2019 06:07

Ooooooo, talking of bottle-o, I just can't get over drive through liquor stores 😂
Also do miss being able to get alcohol in supermarkets (I'm in qld, know other states are different). But LOVE how people who work at the checkout here also pack your shopping for you! You were very lucky to grow up here, it's truly beautiful

itsnotthatserious · 10/12/2019 06:12

@Hellofromtheotherside2020 I've never heard sellotape called durex. Durex is absolutely condoms! Usually we just call it sticky.

The half term thing. If you're having hols then aren't you actually just having 6 week terms?!

TotalRecall · 10/12/2019 06:17

I actually hated growing up here, I didn’t move here until I was 14, and found Australia to be hot and weird and everyone laughed at me when I didn’t know stuff and made fun of my accent. And I missed my family and friends!

I always vowed I would never ever move my kids if I could help it!

OP posts:

TotalRecall · 10/12/2019 06:22

Ohh just thought of another one!

“Are you on glue?”

Another mumsnet favourite I’ve never heard anyone IRL say before

OP posts:

Hellofromtheotherside2020 · 10/12/2019 06:23

@itsnotthatserious Durex is the brand name for sellotape (or one brand of it) - they make glues etc too.

Oh, sorry to hear you didn't enjoy growing up here. Thankfully my children love it, but they were aged 6, 9 and 10 when we moved here. I think 14 would be a difficult age for such a big move, you poor thing.

Stuff I’d never heard before I joined mumsnet.

MiniGuinness · 10/12/2019 06:25

Where did you move from OP?

TotalRecall · 10/12/2019 06:28

New Zealand. Not far in reality I guess but may as well have been a different planet to a 14 year old girl with a solid friendship group!

OP posts:

Vulpine · 10/12/2019 06:32

Grim is an awful word in the context its used in on mumsnet. Its for posters to look down their noses at anybody whose 'standards' dont quite match their own regarding anything cleanliness related or manners. Hate it.

MiniGuinness · 10/12/2019 06:34

is this you OP?

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Divebar · 10/12/2019 06:43

Yeah grim is used to describe people who don’t have obsessive cleaning tendencies, who don’t wash their towels daily or change their PJs nightly. I’m grim because I don’t actually wear PJs which means my naked body is in direct contact with my bedding. According to MN I also represent some kind of danger to my DD7 because she sees my naked body. 🤷‍♀️

Divebar · 10/12/2019 06:45

I love in that clip that the Kiwis are both wearing cycle helmets.

MiniGuinness · 10/12/2019 06:49

I’m grim and proud. I like the word.

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