What do you call...

[jonesthecurl]

I suspect this is a regional thing, rather than a US/UK thing.
What do you call the lights on a vehicle that say "I'm turning left/right"?
When I lived in NJ, I used the word "indicators" a few times, and people understood. Maybe they were being polite, and not saying "We call that XXXXX here", tho they didn't do that for anything else, and often pointed out words and phrases that I used that weren't the same as the locals used.
But when I was nearly run over by a car recently here in CA, because the car had not told me he was turning into the same bit of road that I was walking across, the driver politely remarked that I was not looking where I was fornicating going. My reply was that he had not used his fornicating "indicator". He asked what a fornicating "indicator" was and I politely replied that it was the little thing that goes "blinky-blink" and tells other people where one's vehicle is fornicating-well going.I may have added the descriptor "numb-nuts".
I think he was grateful for the instruction, because as he drove away (at well over the permitted speed limit, though I didn't have time to point that out since he was, well, a fair distance away by the time I could have remarked on that) he gave me a cheery wave. He must have been busy with his phone, GPS, and girlfriend, because his cheery wave only managed one finger.

[jfm10]

signal light

[DoomYoshi]

blinkers, or in New England blinkahs.\

That's how I give directions too - blinker, blinker, left; blinker, blinker, right. It's how I subtly reprogram the world to use their blinkers.

It's also a joke for someone who isn't good at cars - "looks like your blinker fluid is low".

That being said... turn signal is the more formal usage, like in this great piece of literature:
https://chapala.com/elojo/index.php/201 ... rn-signals

Indicators isn't incorrect, and most people would know what you mean.

[HitRed]

Turn signals are also called Flashers in Texas.

[Dukasaur]

Yeah, I'd say turn signals is the most common usage, but at one time or another I have heard all of the above (turn signals, blinkers, flashers, turn indicators).

[2dimes]

GHOST BUSTERS!!

Sorry, I got caught up for a moment there before reading past the title.

I call them signal lights. I note too many people call them "blinkers". Rediculas but yeah.

My wife said, indicator lights? Now she is claiming she probably uses turn signal lights more. Which is why people in England used to ask if she was Irish. Correct term for light is Lamps nio?

I wil wander in to edit or re-post when I think of others. Drawing blank right not.

I would understand if you used blinker but I would think you maybe were not as literate as you are or a five year old.

I'd possibly use flashers for the emergency/caution lights but more likely just shorten it up to "4 ways".

[KoolBak]

Blinkers is ridiculous? So judgemental. All I've ever heard them called when referring to them with one word is blinkers. Turn signal if you choose a two word descriptor. At least in Pacific Northwest. Flashers would mean the emergency setting where they all flash.

Don't listen to dimey. He can be ridiculous

[2dimes]

I'm totally rediculas. It's pretty much a lifestyle.

[The ram]

I suspect this is a regional thing, rather than a US/UK thing.
What do you call the lights on a vehicle that say "I'm turning left/right"?
When I lived in NJ, I used the word "indicators" a few times, and people understood. Maybe they were being polite, and not saying "We call that XXXXX here", tho they didn't do that for anything else, and often pointed out words and phrases that I used that weren't the same as the locals used.
But when I was nearly run over by a car recently here in CA, because the car had not told me he was turning into the same bit of road that I was walking across, the driver politely remarked that I was not looking where I was fornicating going. My reply was that he had not used his fornicating "indicator". He asked what a fornicating "indicator" was and I politely replied that it was the little thing that goes "blinky-blink" and tells other people where one's vehicle is fornicating-well going.I may have added the descriptor "numb-nuts".
I think he was grateful for the instruction, because as he drove away (at well over the permitted speed limit, though I didn't have time to point that out since he was, well, a fair distance away by the time I could have remarked on that) he gave me a cheery wave. He must have been busy with his phone, GPS, and girlfriend, because his cheery wave only managed one finger.

Can you tell Americans that you're from Canada, we have a terrible international reputation as it is

[TeeGee]

Just had this exact same conversation over the last 2 weeks after returning from USA.

I said to some Americans, do you guys even use indicators or have them on your cars?

There are lots of words that have different meanings, my wife screaming across the pool to our kids to grab there thongs and put them on was met with a few shocked faces and gasps. We wear thongs on our feet Think you call them flip flops.

[2dimes]

Can you tell Americans that you're from Canada, we have a terrible international reputation as it is

You can try that Ram, but your accent will out you to them right away.

They might believe you if you try a country they don't think they know so well.

[KoolBak]

At least the small differences from the Great White Hosers can be figured out easily (amongst all the oots, aboots and ehs)...the britishisms are sometimes just baffling. Had an English bud here send me a few recipes and I could NOT decypher them for the life of me...lol. Son grew up with a British chick and she was so funny with all her terms she'd constantly have to explain to us. Boot was one I recall...fun stuff.

Thong....lmao.

[Dukasaur]

At least the small differences from the Great White Hosers can be figured out easily (amongst all the oots, aboots and ehs)...the britishisms are sometimes just baffling. Had an English bud here send me a few recipes and I could NOT decypher them for the life of me...lol. Son grew up with a British chick and she was so funny with all her terms she'd constantly have to explain to us. Boot was one I recall...fun stuff.

Thong....lmao.

We had a dinner party once, with the guest of honour being a visitor from England.

"I like a poke!" he pronounced, several times, with gradually increasing enthusiasm.

Several people were growing horrified. Was he making a sexual proposition? Did he assume, that as the guest of honour, he would be provided with sexual favours? Is that an upper-class British custom?

Eventually someone worked up the courage to demand clarification. It seems the gentleman was complimenting the roast pork. Apparently they don't have 'R's in England. My personal theory is that when the House of Saxe-Cobourg-Gotha took over rule of Britain, they were forced to send all the 'R's back to Saxony as penance.

[2dimes]

Some put the "R" from pork on the end of Canada.

[KoolBak]

And in "wash" and "Washington"

[2dimes]

I don't think Jones is from that part of the U.K.

https://english.stackexchange.com/quest ... m-in-warsh

But I have no "idear" to be honest.

[The ram]

Strange fact, when yanks refer to the stoop (walkway) it comes from Dutch not English. Any other American English words that come from another language?

[KoolBak]

There's that "yanks" thang again Never in my life heard anyone say "stoop" in referring to a porch.

Bunch of frenchisms. Hear people saying "boocoo", "voila" and various other butchered bastardizations...lol. Kills me as I minored in french way back when.

And I am NOT a "yank", ya dipstick!

[jonesthecurl]

Some US words I never heard in the UK
Maven
Recuse
Sophomore (and all the other odd words for each year of school/College)
Sorority
Fraternity (in a college setting)

The language of food and cooking took a long while to get used to... a grill is a broiler, a cooker is a range, rocket is arugula, spring onions are scallions, courgettes are zucchini, coriander leaf is cilantro, a cafetiere is a french press, a bread bin is a bread keeper, butter comes in sticks, things are measured in cups, pints and gallons are the wrong size, starters are apps, etc etc. And in the UK, a salad is not a separate course, it's a side dish. First time I ordered a salad with my dinner, I sat waiting for the rest of the order for some time.

[2dimes]

Thank you, I never found out what "rocket" was and it has been a little more than a decade now since it was listed everywhere in menus in Melbourne. Eventually I just accepted that I was going to live out my days in ignorance.

I hope I can remember that. My memory is pretty weak these days.

So "Yanks" are they the ones that say warsh?

[KoolBak]

One of the recipes my english bud sent me was a Rocket Salad Thot he'd lost it.

Think I've posted this like 6 times....southerners (usa) refer to northerners as "Yanks", a derogatory term left over from the civil war. For instance, my buddy in texas calls me (an oregonian) a yank. No one else uses it aside from foreigners referring to all of us. Outdated and inaccurate. When I call someone a yank, it refers to what he likes to spend his free time doing....also derogatory but completely different

And I've heard a full range of different people say "warsh"...can't figure that one oot.

Another frenchism....the english call a two door car a coupe (pronounced coop-aye) I believe. We also refer to it as a coupe but pronounced COOP. I love Top Gear and Grand Tour....hilarious to hear all the car terms in the english vernacular. Like "torques" plural as opposed to Torque, which we say....so many....SUCH an excellent show - I'd say in the top 5 ever made ;o)

[TA1LGUNN3R]

Turn signals are also called Flashers in Texas.

Flashers are lovely women who drive by you and show you their tits. The lights on cars are turn signals. End of discussion.

[tzor]

Think I've posted this like 6 times....southerners (usa) refer to northerners as "Yanks", a derogatory term left over from the civil war.

It's actually much older than that. In fact it predates the Revolutionary war.

Yankee (n.) 1683, a name applied disparagingly by Dutch settlers in New Amsterdam (New York) to English colonists in neighboring Connecticut.

Eventually it got applied to all of New England. Yank itself first appeared in 1778 but at that point it referred to Americans in general.

In modern modern times the problem with the word is that what should be the center of Yankee culture (Massachusetts) properly hates the word because New York used the name for their most hated (at least to those in Boston) baseball team. Otherwise they would be Yankee Doodling all over the place.

(Don't forget Cohan's great 1917 song "Over there" with the line "The Yanks are coming.")

[spurgistan]

When I lived in NJ, I used the word "indicators" a few times, and people understood. Maybe they were being polite

I'd like to say I stopped reading when you accused New Jerseyans of being overly polite, but then I would have missed the rest of your charming anecdote.
While my upbringing may not be characteristic of the typical New Englander, I have in fact only ever heard "turn signals."

[jonesthecurl]

I think the oddest Americanism is one we encountered when we were first house-hunting. "Half-bathroom".