Being an American living over here in Scotland, I occasionally encounter new words, or new meanings for words. For example, when I first moved here, one of the first unusual-to-me word uses that threw me was for the word salad. I went to a sandwich shop for lunch and after ordering my typical sandwich fillings of tuna and cheddar, I was asked if I wanted salad on my sandwich.
My response: "Ummm."
The word salad here has evolved to also mean "lettuce, tomato, and cucumber, and possibly other veggies one might put on a sandwich."
This past week, I picked up a new word. Ironically, it was used by a fellow American who has just lived here for a long time. It always surprises me to hear her use British words or speak the occasional word with a British accent, because otherwise, her accent is very American.
New word: stroppy
It is an adjective used to describe a person who is easily offended or annoyed, bad-tempered or hostile. There is a theory that it might originate somehow from the word obstreperous.
So, know anyone who is stroppy?
Oh, and if you are interested in learning to speak with a British accent, this was one of adds Google listed when I was looking things up on dictionary.com.
http://www.speakmoreclearly.com/downloadbritishaccent
Wow, get a British accent in just 15 minutes a day! Think I should I go for it?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
Maybe I should change my screen name to stroppy. Partly because of the definition, but also partly because it sounds just slightly vulgar, like another name for floozy. And that amusues me. I'm easily amused.
You know, it might mean floozy in Polish or something. When I first googled it, I got a bunch of hits for webpages that ended in .pl. It was a word on those pages, but I have no idea what it meant.
I love the word stroppy.
I experienced the 'salad' term when I went to the kabob van for the first time. Threw me a bit at first.
Oooh, do give us a running report on this stuff. Very interesting. Not as interesting as pictures of men in kilts would be, but ...
I'm getting the feeling that "men in kilts" is a bit of a running theme here... ;)
Theresa--
Lately, maybe I would be considered stroppy, only I'm not that hip.
Yes, we learned about the "salad on your sandwich" thing when we went to England. Otherwise, you just get meat and bread. And, maybe, margarine. Much better with salad.
And we decided that what we liked for bread was a (I think) bapp. A whole grain roll, rather than the characterless bread...
Post a Comment