Talk:List of words having different meanings in American and British English (M–Z)


 * 1) REDIRECT Talk:List of words having different meanings in American and British English: A–L

Words?
Cuppa, Naff, Biscuit, we need it! 112.201.8.170 (talk) 23:53, 22 August 2019 (UTC)


 * See Glossary of British terms not widely used in the United States, Glossary of British terms not widely used in the United States and List_of_words_having_different_meanings_in_American_and_British_English_(A–L) respectively. Mutt Lunker (talk) 00:40, 23 August 2019 (UTC)

Mad
In AmE this usually means "angry" and only means "crazy" in certain circumstances (see also here). Mapsax (talk) 21:16, 16 March 2021 (UTC)

Relevance of "sat" and "stood"
I have tried including the word "sat", which in British slang is often used to mean sitting, but it was removed by User:Mutt Lunker claiming that Notable usage/difference was unsupported although the word "stood" (used in a similar sense) is included in this article. I have so far not heard "sat" used in this sense in American popular culture of any kind so it sounds like it is chiefly British although usage may vary with dialect (according to this article, "stood" is used to mean standing mainly in northern England). I have so far heard "sat" used to mean sitting by inhabitants of the West Midlands, East Anglia and Wales. I am having difficulty providing citations for this considering that such colloquialisms tend to be oral with written English tending to be more formal. I would say the most formal example I can find is in the narration (as opposed to quotations) of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in chapter 17 (The Four Champions) i.e. ''Harry moved off along the teachers' table. Hagrid was sat there.'' I have found this in the first UK E-book edition (published in 2012) as well as the first UK paperback edition (not edited for American readers). An example outside popular culture is in a You Tube video conversation between a native English speaker from Norfolk, which comes under East Anglia, and a native American English speaker, who mocked the use of "sat" in this sense at about 2:25, who I think is from Cincinati, Ohio. I might have seen examples in the mainstream media but I have forgotton which articles but I could cite them if I ever come across any unless someone else does it first. Tk420 (talk) 21:15, 27 September 2022 (UTC) Tk420 (talk) 21:15, 27 September 2022 (UTC)
 * However plausible you believe your original research to be, as OR it is not admissable. The first source is an example of British usage but doesn't indicate it is distinctly or uniquely so or that it is not in use elsewhwere, including America. The YouTube clip is not a reliable source. As you rightly point out, the example of "stood" is similar and also an unsupported assertion; I'll remove it. Much of the article is unsupported and could fairly be removed. Mutt Lunker (talk) 22:00, 27 September 2022 (UTC)
 * I am still finding it hard to find reliable sources for "sat" and "stood" being used colloquially in the present tense more commonly in the UK than the US. I searches "sitting or sat" on Google and found an article in The Guardian suggesting that "sat" in this sense it is very common in the north of England but this is this only example in the mainstream media I could find. In the Google search, I also found the question "Why do English people say sat instead of sitting?" giving an article in The Grammarphobia Blog as the only answer. According to the article, a co-editor of several Oxford dictionaries noticed several instances on the BBC of "sat" and "stood" used in this sense. According to the same editor, such usage used to be restricted to some regional British dialects) is becoming more widespread in British English and is even appearing in edited writing such as newspapers and magazines and although the usage is uncommon in US English, it isn’t completely unknown there, with around 340 examples (11% of the total) in the Oxford corpus. This might suggest that "sat" and "stood" might be better placed in Glossary of British terms not widely used in the United States although there is the option in this article to put an asterisk next to a meaning which is used chiefly in that dialect but has some currency in the other dialect. An example of this is "student" which in the UK is more commonly associated with college and university students but also used chiefly in the US to mean a school pupil. This reminds me of my own school using the word "student" informally in my later years probably because the older pupils did not like being referred to as "children" and I had also seen examples of such usage in the media after I left. Tk420 (talk) 21:27, 28 September 2022 (UTC)-edited
 * I restored the thread on this page and and reverted your edits to the related M-Z article on the simple basis that "sat" begins with "s", so the discussion should be here, and that you should not copy and paste other editors comments into other articles or otherwise refactor them. If you wish to, it would be appropriate to add the comments you added at the M-Z article here but to pre-empt with a response to what you said there, you evidently still do not understand OR. If you are struggling to find RS, you have no grounds for your edits. Also WP:NOTFORUM. Mutt Lunker (talk) 21:56, 28 September 2022 (UTC)
 * In trying to find a reliable source to more common usage of "sat" and "stood" to mean "sitting" and "standing" in British English, I used Google advanced search using the term "was sat" in "this exact wording or phrase". I found a BBC language article on their Ask About English feature in which an Italian noticed "so many British saying 'I was sat' and 'I was stood'" and asked if it was grammatically correct. The clue here is the use of "British" when the question could have used the term "English speakers". Another source is the search is the Cambridge University Press which describes "The construction be sat/be stood with progressive meaning alternates with the standard form be sitting/be standing in a number of British English dialects". However, the study could have only covered the use of the words in British English. As the BBC source pointed out, the use of "sat" and "stood" in this context is mainly oral (as opposed to written) which adds to the difficulty in finding reliable sources so the more common use in British English is more likely to be implied than directly stated probably forcing a lot of guesswork in following clues. The use of the demonym "English" in the question "Why do English people say sat instead of sitting?" in the question in the Google search result for "sitting or sat" could be a clue considering the name "England" as a pars pro toto for the UK as a whole is common among foreigners. Tk420 (talk) 21:42, 29 September 2022 (UTC)
 * Again, please stop these lengthy forum posts about your failure to find suitable support for your assertions. The progress, or otherwise, of your latest OR is not appropriate for addition here, so please only post if you have found definitive support, without assumption, extrapolation, speculation or WP:SYNTH. Mutt Lunker (talk) 12:51, 30 September 2022 (UTC)

Nonplussed
This word is unsourced, and the meanings currently provided ('bewildered, unsure how to respond; unfazed') do not match how I am accustomed to see the word used. I usually see 'nonplussed' used to mean disappointed, frustrated, or unimpressed. Between the two factors I'm inclined to remove this entry, unless someone has a solid source on it. Elliptical Reasoning (talk) 19:32, 28 May 2024 (UTC)