American English help please!

[tōkai devotee]

Hi all! As an Aussie, I have a few questions about American English

1. Can someone tell me what it means to trip on someone ?! To me, it sounds like you stumble on someone!!

2. Why do you call lemonade 7-up, but you call lemon juice lemonade??

3. I had a high school student from Japan tell me that his English teacher who was from America, taught him that 'funky' could mean dirty. Is this true, or was the teacher pulling his leg (joking with him)? We only use funky to mean 'stylish' or 'cool'.


I have heaps more questions, but I think that'll do for now!

[Harisenbon]

It's been a while since I've been stateside, so my info might be a little bit old, BUT:

1) To trip on something is to really like (or dig) it.

2) 7-up is a brandname for a soda, just like sprite. I've never heard anyone call lemon juice 7-up. Perhaps Aussies are calling 7up Lemonade?

3) Funky can mean smelly as in: "He smells kinda funky." or "Those old shoes are kinda funky."
It also has the same meaning as in Oz as being kind of "Eccentrically cool"

[phreadom]

Hi all! As an Aussie, I have a few questions about American English

1. Can someone tell me what it means to trip on someone ?! To me, it sounds like you stumble on someone!!

2. Why do you call lemonade 7-up, but you call lemon juice lemonade??

3. I had a high school student from Japan tell me that his English teacher who was from America, taught him that 'funky' could mean dirty. Is this true, or was the teacher pulling his leg (joking with him)? We only use funky to mean 'stylish' or 'cool'.


I have heaps more questions, but I think that'll do for now!

1) Tripping on someone basically means to go nuts on them. To "trip out". Like if you go crazy and start screaming at someone, they might say you're tripping on them.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=trippin (warning: Urban Dictionary can have very offensive language!)

2) I call lemonade lemonade, and 7up 7up. Maybe you could enlighten me as to what exactly you use those words to describe... with pictures perhaps?

3) Funky as in dirty clothes? Yes, we can refer to smelly things as funky. If you mean dirty as in lewd, I'm not sure... probably that as well. Funky is usually used here to describe certain kinds of music or style I think.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=funky (warning: Urban Dictionary can have very offensive language!)

(EDIT: Ninja'd by Harisenbon! )

[tōkai devotee]

Thanks for the speedy replies guys!!

3. Yes, I meant dirty as in not clean, definately not lewd. "He smells kind of funky"??? ~ We don't say that in Oz!

2. Lemonade in Oz is like the soft-drink sprite, but my American buddies call lemon juice, lemonade, and call the other 7-up.* By that I mean, squeezed lemons with sugar and water. You know, like kids might have lemonade stand to make some money and they'd sell it by the cup or whatever. Well, that kind of 'lemonade' is what we call lemon juice. Is that making sense!??


* Maybe the terms differ from region to region.

[chikara]

.... 2. Why do you call lemonade 7-up, but you call lemon juice lemonade?? .....

Based on my brief experience of living in the USA what we call lemonade is lemon soda in the USA of which 7-Up and Sprite are brand names. What they call lemonade is not lemon juice as such but lemon juice with lots and lots and lots of sugar. I don't know of any equivalent drink here. It is not even like Lemon Squash.

What we call "soft drink" is called "soda" in the USA. Here if some asks for "soda" I give them just that, carbonated water.

.... Perhaps Aussies are calling 7up Lemonade? .....

Yes we are. Not sure if you can buy 7-Up here but certainly Sprite is lemonade.

[phreadom]

Thanks for the speedy replies guys!!

3. Yes, I meant dirty as in not clean, definately not lewd. "He smells kind of funky"??? ~ We don't say that in Oz!

2. Lemonade in Oz is like the soft-drink sprite, but my American buddies call lemon juice, lemonade, and call the other 7-up.* By that I mean, squeezed lemons with sugar and water. You know, like kids might have lemonade stand to make some money and they'd sell it by the cup or whatever. Well, that kind of 'lemonade' is what we call lemon juice. Is that making sense!??

* Maybe the terms differ from region to region.

Makes sense. Yes, we call your "lemon juice" lemonade, and we call your "lemonade" Sprite or 7-up, which are both actually lemon-lime flavored.

I suppose it's just one of those differences in language... like the difference here in the US by region of soda versus pop. (it's pop around here, soda many other places, and down south plenty of people simply call all such soda/pop "coke", which makes for a really confusing exchange when a southerner asks for a "pepsi coke" here in the north. haha)

[chikara]

Looks as if I was a bit slow on the post button

..... plenty of people simply call all such soda/pop "coke" .....

That one got me confused. The other problem was that when I asked for a "coke" no one could understand me because of my accent.

[tōkai devotee]

... with pictures perhaps?

Sorry, phreadom, I didn't read it proeprly and didn't realise you wanted pics!!
Perhaps I could try and upload some pics of a wild koala the kids and I saw yesterday. We got really close to it ~ close enough to touch it. I've never had much luck uploading pics to this site but I'll try after tea. (That's dinner or supper, whatever you Americans call it!!)



EDIT: For anyone interested I managed to upload some photos of the koala to my gallery. Have a look!!

[Harisenbon]

..... plenty of people simply call all such soda/pop "coke" .....

That one got me confused.

The reason for that is that Coke was started and is still manufactured in Georgia, and their market share is many times higher than Pepsi in the south. So, the name coke turned into one of those brand-name common names like "Xerox" or "Kleenex"

Any dark soda is called "Coke" while any light soda (your lemonade) would be called "Sprite"
It's not uncommon for us to ask "What kind of coke you got?"

[pm215]

Makes sense. Yes, we call your "lemon juice" lemonade, and we call your "lemonade" Sprite or 7-up, which are both actually lemon-lime flavored.

FWIW, I think the usual UK usage would be to call both of those things 'lemonade', with the assumed meaning being the fizzy soft drink (much more common). "lemon juice" is what you get when you squeeze a lemon -- you put it on pancakes

[phreadom]

FWIW, I think the usual UK usage would be to call both of those things 'lemonade', with the assumed meaning being the fizzy soft drink (much more common). "lemon juice" is what you get when you squeeze a lemon -- you put it on pancakes

True. Lemon juice here is something we put on fish etc.

LemonJuice_Full.jpg (36.47 KiB) Viewed 1598 times

But we still differentiate between the soda and actual lemonade. Lemonade here refers only to the drink made from lemon juice, water, and lots of sugar.

lemonade.jpg (110.91 KiB) Viewed 1598 times

[AJBryant]

2. Lemonade in Oz is like the soft-drink sprite, but my American buddies call lemon juice, lemonade, and call the other 7-up.* By that I mean, squeezed lemons with sugar and water. You know, like kids might have lemonade stand to make some money and they'd sell it by the cup or whatever. Well, that kind of 'lemonade' is what we call lemon juice. Is that making sense!??

If you're adding water and sugar, it's no longer lemon JUICE, is it? It's a drink made using lemon JUICE -- that is, the juice from a lemon -- as an ingredient. We call such drinks -ade. Limeade, lemonade, grapeade, etc. (You don't want to know about Gatorade. ).

[IceCream]

nah, it has to be fizzy to be an -ade. lemonade has to be fizzy.

if it's not fizzy, it's lemon cordial, lemon juice, or lemon squash!

[two_heads_talking]

nah, it has to be fizzy to be an -ade. lemonade has to be fizzy.

if it's not fizzy, it's lemon cordial, lemon juice, or lemon squash!

Try telling that to any Lady (from the South specifically) while she brings you a glass of Ice cold Lemonade .. She'll knock the fizzy right outa you..

who says it has to be fizzy to be an -ade?

[IceCream]

haha... sorry i should have done a *

*In Britain.

from Wikipedia:

In the UK, the suffix 'ade' means a 'carbonated sweet soft drink'