English words that the English do not understand

Transcript:

Hello!

Today we will look at some words that Italian people have borrowed from English, but which are used in a way that native English speakers would not easily understand. In bold is what you should say if want a native English speaker to understand you:

• Basket – The sport is called basketball in English. We use a basket” for picnics. If you say “Do you want to play basket?” We will understand “Do you want to play cestino?” You should say “Do you want to play basketball?“;
• Bar – The Italian “bar” is similar to an English “café“. For us a “bar” means a “pub” where coffee and tea are not served. If you say “Let’s go to the bar for breakfast”, I presume we will have beer and fish and chips;
• Block-notes or Bloc-notes – In English we call it a notepad;
• Body rental – Is a temporary staffing firm when referred to the company offering temporary staff, or temporary staff if referring to the person who is filling a temporary position;
• Box – “Box” means “scatola” in English. A car is parked in a garage;
• Box doccia – shower cubicle;
• Cotton fioc – We say Cotton bud (UK) or cotton swab (USA);
• Un discount – A Hard-discount supermarket. “Discount” only means “sconto” in English;
• Una fiction – A miniseries. “Fiction” means “storia o racconto di fantasia” in English;
• Un talent – A talent show. “Talent” means “talento” in English;
• Un golf – A sweater or a jumper or a jersey. “Golf” is a sport in the UK and USA;
• Un Mister – A football coach;
• Un night – A nightclub. On its own “night” only means notte in English;
• Un residence – A residencial hotel, a residency hotel or an extended stay hotel;
• Un happy hour – A happy hour is a time when drinks are sold cheaply, or half price, in a bar to encourage drinking and to get the bar full earlier. There is no equivalent for what Italians take to mean as “apericena”. At a Happy Hour in the UK or USA you drink a lot and pay very little. At a Happy Hour in Italy you drink very little and eat a lot!;
• Fare footing – Go jogging. “Footing” in English means “appoggio per i piedi“;
• Plum cake – Loaf cake. For us a plum cake means “torta di prugne“;
• Pullman – Luxury bus or coach;
• Pungiball – Punching bag or punching ball;
• Sexy shop – Sex Shop. “Sexy shop” to us would mean that the shop, itself, is very sexy (che il negozio stesso è sexy e affascinante);
• Social – We say Social network;
• Fare un po’ di social – to go onto social networking sites for a while;
• lo Smartworking – Working from home or Remote working. We have no idea what you mean if you say “He is in smartworking”. Please say “He is working from home“;
• Spot – TV advert. For us “spot” means macchia;
• Stage – Internship. “Stage” means “palcoscenico; palco“. Fare uno stage – to do an internship;
• Un ticket – pay the cost associated to a National Health Care System service;
• Tight – Morning Suit or Morning Dress;
• Un trolley – Roller bag or Suitcase with wheels. Trolley means “carrello da supermercato o da trasporto” in English, So if you say “I’ll take a trolley on my trip”, we understand that you will be using a supermarket trolley, like a homeless person;
• Tutor – Speed camera or Traffic enforcement camera;
• Water – Water closet or W.C. or toilet. “Water” on its own only means “acqua“;
• Un Writer – Graffiti writer or Graffiti artist;
• Un Babykiller or Baby Killer – Juvenile murderer. If you say “baby killer” an English speaker would understand “a person who kills babies”.

Thank you very much and see you next time for more Peter’s Pills to improve your Legal English!

You might enjoy these 19 cultural differences that English people discover when living in Italy: “The Intrepid Guide“.

Legal English – Sommario delle Lezioni

• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 59 – Appurtenent vs In gross
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 58 – Building societies and Banks
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 57 – Valid, void and voidable contracts
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 56 – Rescission
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 55 – Golden expressions
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 54 – Pre-emption right vs Right of first refusal
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 53 – What do we mean by “agent” of a company?
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 52 – Voting at a meeting
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 51 – Contracts vs Deeds
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 50 – Executive and Non-Executive Directors
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 49 – Transfer of shares vs transmission of shares
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 48 – They, them, their for singular nouns
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 47 – Jointly and severally
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 46 – Invoice words
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 45 – Quotation
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 44 – Gazumping and Gazundering
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 43 – English words that the English do not understand
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 42 – Easement vs Profit à prendre
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 41 -er, -or and -ee names
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 40 – The Objects Clause
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 39 – When is Latin hot, and when is it not?
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 38 – Default
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 37 – Company Agent
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 36 – Injunction (false freind)
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 35 – Mortgage
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 34 – Freehold, Leasehold and Commonhold estates
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 33 – Transferor, Transferee and Transmittee
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 32 – Tax evasion, tax mitigation and tax avoidance
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 31 – Numbers
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 30 – Ordinary resolutions vs special resolutions
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 29 – AGM vs EGM
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 28 – A going concern
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 27 – Collocations: Violate, breach, break, disobey and infringe
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 26 – Company meeting words
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 25 – Mortgagor vs Mortgagee
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 24 – Fixed charges vs Floating charges
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 23 – Doctrine
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 22 – Construe
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 21 – Sign vs Execute
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 20 – The closing statement
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 19 – Writing Business Emails
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 18 – Limited companies
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 17 – Annual Accounts
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 16 – Meetings
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 15 – Attorney-at-law vs Attorney-in-fact
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 14 – Here and there compounds
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 13 – Subject Matter
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 12 – The clear days rule
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 11 – Shareholder, Member or Holder of shares?
• Legal English: Peter’s Pills – Lesson 10 – Competition Law

Peter Liebenberg

Peter Liebenberg è uno specialista nella formazione delle persone nella conoscenza della lingua inglese. Ha creato molti corsi nel campo dell’inglese per professionisti, tra cui English for banking, English for business e English for Insurance, ma ha sempre avuto un debole per l’inglese legale. Altri corsi che ha creato comprendono Phrasal Verbs I e II. Quando Peter non fa formazione, corre a Parco Sempione, crea arte nel suo studio sulla Martesana e fa volontariato.